英语国家概况课后题答案

英语国家概况课后题总结

Chapter 1 land and people

are the differences between Britain and the British

Isles, Great Britain,England,the United Kingdom and the

British Commonwealth?

The British Isles,Greant Britina and England are geographical

names, no the official names of the country,while the official

name is the United Kingdom,but the full name is the United

Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern British

Commonwealth is a free association of independent

countries that were once colonies of Britian.

be the geographical position of Britian?

Britain is an island country. It lies in the north Atlantic Ocean

off the north coast of is separated from the rest of

Europe by the English channel in the south and the North

Sea in the east.

bouts in Great Britain are mostly highland and

lowland?

The north and west of Britain are mainly highland, while the

south and south-east are mostly lowlands.

Britain have a favourable climate? why?

Yes,it has a favourable climate, because it has a maritime

type of climate---winters are mild,not too cold and summers

are cool, not too has a steady reliable rainfall

throughout the whole has a small range of

temperature,too.

are the factors which influence the climate in Britain?

Which part of Britain has the most rainfall and which part is

the driest?

The factors which influence the climate in Britain are the

following three:1)The surrounding waters balance the

seasonal differences;2)the prevailing south-west winds bring

warm and wet air in winter and keep the temperatures

moderate;3)the North Atlantic Drift,a warm current,passes

the western coast of the British Isles and warms them.

The northwestern part has the most rainfall,while the

south-eastern corner is the driest.

be the distribution of Britain’s population.

Britain has a population of 57 million. It is densely populated,

with an average of 237people per square kilometre. It is also

very unevenly distributed , with 90%of the population in

urban areas,10% in rural areas. Geographically, most British

people live in England. Of the total of 57 million people, 47

million live in England, 14 million live in London and

Southeastern England.

are the three natural zones in Scotland?

The three natural zones in Scotland are : the Highlands in the

north, the central Lowlands ,and the southern Uplands.

is the difference between the ancestors of the

English and Scots, Welsh and Irish?

The ancestors of the English are Anglo-Saxons,while the

Scots,Welsh and rish are Celts.

are the differences in character and speech between

southern England and northern England? How do the Welsh

keep their language and culture alive?

The Welsh are emotional and cheerful Scots are

hospitable ,generous and are known for their

charm and vivacity as well as for the beauty of their Irish

girls.

Throughout the year they have festivals of song and dance

and poetry called these occasions

competitions are held in Welsh poetry,music,singing and art

and in this way they keep the Welsh language and Welsh

culture alive.

is the main problem in Northern Ireland?

Hundreds of years ago Scots and English Protestants were

sent to live in Northern then there has been

bitter fighting between the Protestants and the Roman

former are the dominant group,while the latter

are seeking more social,plitical and economic

british Government and the government of

Ireland are now working together to bring peace to Northern

Ireland.

Chapter 2 The Origins of a Nation

do you know about the Roman invasion of Britain?

In 55 BC and 54 BC, Julius Caesar, a Roman general, invaded

Britain twice. In AD 43, the Emperor Claudius invaded Britain

nearly 400 years Britain was under the

Roman occupation. Though it was never a total occupation.

British recorded history begins with the Roman invasion.

was the Roman influence on Britain so limited?

Britain was under the Roman occupation for nearly 400

years. The Romans built many towns,roads,baths,temples

and make good use of Britain’s natural

also brought the new religion,Christianity,to

r,although Britain became part of the Roman

Empire,Roman influence upon Britain was very

Romans treated the Britains as a subject people of slave

never romans has no influence

on the language or culture of ordinary Britains.

were the Anglo-Saxons and how did the Heptarchy

come into being?

The Anglo-Saxons referred to the three Teutonic tribes who

invaded Britain in the mid-5th were

Jutes,Saxons and Angles.

In the 7th century, the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain and the

three tribes settled in different part of britain which was

divided into many small kingdoms of

Kent,Sussex,Wessex,East Anglia,Mercia and

they have been given the name of Heptarchy.

were the early Anglo-Saxons converted to

Christainity?

The Anglo-Saxons brought their own Teutonic religion to

Britain when they invaded Britain,and Christianity was only a

fringe , in 579,Pope Gregory I sent St. Augustine to

England to convert the heathen English to

ine was very successful in converting the

king and the nobility, and became the first Archbishop of

the conversion of the common people was

largely due to the missionary activities of the monks in the

samll monasteries sprang up throughout the

ocuntry.

contributions did the early Anglo-Sasons make to the

English state?

Though the anglo-Saxons were brutal people, they laid the

foundation of the English y, the modern names of

“England”and “English”derived from the

ly,they divided the country into shires, with

shire courts and shire reaves, or sheriffs, responsible for

administering y ,they divised the

narrow-strip,three-field farming system which continued to

the 18th ly , they also eatablished the

manorial system, whereby the lord of the manor collected

taxes and organized the local y , they crated the

Witan to advise the king, the basis of the Privy Council which

still exists today.

were the Vikings and how did they invade Britain.?

The Vikings were the Norwegians and the Danes from

attacked various part of England from the

end of the 8th century. They bacame a serious problem in

the 9th century,especially between 835and 878. They even

managed to capture York, an important center of Christianity

in 867. They gained control of the north nad east of England.

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do you know about

king Alfred ? What makes

him worthy of the title of

“Alfred the Great”?

Alfred was the king of

Wessex. He defeated the

Danes who attacked England

and reached an agreement

with them in 879. The Danes

gained control of the north

and east, while Alfred ruled

the rest. He also converted

some leading Danes into

Christains.

Alfred is known as “the father

of the British navy” as he

founded a strong fleet to

beat the Danes at sea, to

protect the coasts and to

encourage trade. He

recogonized the Saxon army

to make it more efficient. He

even translated Bede’s

Ecclesiastial History of the

English people from Latin to

English. He also establish

schools and formulated a

legal system. All this makes

him worthy of his title”Alfred

the Great”.

did the William the

Conqueror invade England

after Edward’s death?

It was said the king Edward

had promised the English

throne to William, but the

Witan chose Harold as king.

So , William led his army to

invade England. In October

1066, during the important

battle of Hastings, William

defeated Harold and killed

him. On Christmas Day,

William was crowned king of

England, thus beginning the

Norman Conquest of

England.

were the

consequences of the Norman

conquest?

The Norman Conquest of

1066 is one of the best

known events in English

history, It brought about

many consequences.

William confiscated almost

the land and gave it to his

Norman followers. He

replaced the weak Saxons

rule with a strong Norman

the feudal

system was conpletely

established in England.

Relations with the continent

were opened, and civilization

and commerce were

extended. Normand-French

culture,language,manners,an

d architecture were

church was

brought into closer

connection with Roma,and

the courts were separated

from the civil courts.

do we say that the

English nation is a mixture of

nationalities of different

orgins?

The population of Britain is

made up of the English ,the

Scotish,the Welsh,the

Irish,the Northern Irish and

other peoples. The formation

is complicated because

England was invaded by

different races at various

times from Europe.

Besides the early settles,the

Iberians,and the

Celts,including Gaels and

Britons, Roman occupied

Britain for nearly 400 years

after 55BC. Then the

invasions of Anglo-Saxons

helped to form English race

and language and laid the

foundation of the English

state. After that, was the

invasions of the Vikings and

y, in 1066,

William of Normandy invaded

England and began the age

of the Norman Conquest

which resulted in great

French influence.

Therefore,many different

people of different origins are

living in ’s the

reason why we say English

nation is a mixture of

nationalities of different

origins.

Chapter 3 The Shaping of the

Nation

was feudalism like in

England under the rule of

William the Conqueror?

Under the rule of William the

Conqueror,the feudal system

in England was completely

established. According to this

system, the king owned all

the land m

gave his barons large estates

in returnfor military services

and a proportion of the land’s

estates were

scattered all over the king.

Then, the barons parceled

out land to the lesser

nobles,knights and

freemen,also in return for

goods and the

bottom of the feudal scale

were the serfs. One peculiar

feature of the feudal system

of England was that all

landowners must take the

oath of allegiance not only to

their immediate lord,but also

to the king.

did King Henry II

consolidate the monarchy?

Henry II took some measure

to consolidate the monarchy.

He forced the Flemish

mercenaries to have

England; recalled grants of

Royal lands made By

Stephen;demolished scores

of castles built in Stephen’s

time;strengthened and

widened the powers of his

sheriffs and relied for armed

support upon a militia

composed of English

freemen.

did king Henry II

reform the courts and the

law?

Henry II was the first king of

the House of

greatly strengthened the

king’s Court and extended its

judicial Henry II’s

reign a common law,which

over-rode local law and

private Henry’s day

the jury system was at last

replacing old English ordeals

by fire and water and old

Norman trials by battle.

was the quarrel

between king Henry II and

Thomas Becket?

The Great Council of Henry II

drew up the Constitutions of

Clarendon in 1164 to

increase the jurisdiction of

the civil courts at the

expense of the church

reluctantly

signed the

shortly afterwards rejected

II was so angry

that he drove Becket into

exile.

was the contents and

the significance of the Great

charter?

Contents:no tax should be

made without the approval of

the Grand Council;no

freeman should be

arrested,imprisoned,or

deprived of his property

except by the law of the

land;the Church should

possess all its rights,together

with freedom of

elections;London and other

towns should retain their

ancient rights and

privileges,and there should

be the same weights and

measures throughout the

country.

It was a statement of the

feudal and legal relationship

between the Crown and the

barons,a guarantee of the

freedom of the Church and a

limitation of the power of the

king.

and how did the

English Parliament come into

being?

Henry III’s many measure

was brought matters

between he and barons to a

the barons force

the king to swear and accept

the Provisions of Oxford.

Simon de Montfort

summoned in 1265 the Great

Council to meet at

Westminster, together with

two knights from each

country and two burgesses

from each town,a metting

which has been seen as that

the earliest parliament.

were the causes of

the Hundred Years’ War?

The causes were partly

territorial and partly

economic.

harm did the Black

Death do to the English

society?

The Black Death swept

through England in

1348-1349 without warning

and any reduced

England’s population from

four million to two million and

the economic consequences

were far reaching.

Much land was left untended

and there was a terrible

shortage of labour. The

surviving peasants were in

favourable position to

demand higher wages and

changed their serfdom into

paid labourers. So the

government issued statutes

of Labourers to protect the

interests of landowners.

These repressive measures

and a series of poll taxes

caused much hatred and

resulted in the Peasant

Uprising in 1381.

do you know about

Wat Tyler’s Uprising?

The uprising broke out in

Kent and Essex in 1381 and

was led by Wat Tyler and

Jack Straw. Tyler led the

mared villagers to occupy

London. The king was forced

to accept their demands.

Most of the rebels dispersed

and went home, while Tyler

and other leader stayed on

for more rights. Tyler was

killed at a meeting with the

king,who suppressed the

Uprising brutally.

Although the Uprising

failed,it had great importance

in English history. It directed

against the rich clergy, the

lawyers and the landowners.

It effectively blew the

serfdom,and a new class of

yeomen farmers

emerged,paving the way for

the development of

capitalism.

were the

Lollards?what role did they

play in the Peasant Uprising

of 1381?

The Lollards were poor

priests and travelling

preachers who were John

W

yclif’s followers in the 14th

century. They went about

preaching the equality of

men before god. The most

famous one was John Ball.

Their ideas provided mental

preparation for the Peasant

Uprising of 1381.

Chapter 4 Transition to the

Modern Age

do you know about

the nature and consequences

of the Wars of the Roses?

In 1453 England was at last

defeated in the Hundred

Years’ War, at this time

power in England was in the

hands of a number of rich

and ambitious nobles.

Because the Hundred Years’

War ended,they had to seek

a new outlet for their

ambition by a attempt to

dominate the government at

home . There was also a

mass of unemployed soldiers.

In 1455,war broke out

between the House of

Lancaster,symbolized by the

red rose,and that of

York,symbolized by the white

rose.

Although the Wars of the

Roses were waged

intermittently for thirty years,

ordinary people were little

affected. Feudalism received

its death blow. The great

medieval nobility was much

weakened and discredited.

The king’s power became

supreme. From then on,five

Tudor monarchs ruled

England and Wales for over

two hundred years.

and how did the

Reformation happen in

England? And what was the

effect?

The reform began as a

struggle for a divorce and

ended in freedom from the

Papacy(

罗马教皇

).

They stressed the power of

the monarch and certainly

strengthened Henry’s

position. Parliament had

never done such a long and

important piece of work

before; His attack on the

Pope’s power encouraged

many critics of the abuses of

the Catholic Church to expect

some movement wawy from

Catholicism towards

Protestant ideology.

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did Queen Elizabeth deal with the religious problem after

she became Queen of the country?

Elizabeth’s religious reform was a compromise of views. She

broke Mary’s ties with Rome and restored her father’s

independent church of England, i.e. keeping to Catholic doctrines

and practices but to be free of the Papal control. Her religious

settlement waas unacceptable to both the extreme Protestants

known as Puritans and to ardent Catholics.

do you know about the English Renaissance?

The English Renaissance had 5characteristics:1)English culture

was revitalized not so much directly by the classics as by

contemporary Europeans under the influence of the classics;

2)England was a great extent independent of the course of history

elsewhere in Europe; 3)owing to the great genius of the 14th

century Chaucer,the native literature was sufficiently vigorous

and experienced in assimilating foreign influences without being

subjected by them; 4)English Renaissance literature is primarily

artistic,rather than philosophical and scholarly;and 5)the

Renaissance coincided with the Reformation in England.

was the absolute rule of James I of England? How did the

Puritans think abou

t the King’s rule?

He is a firm believer in the Divine Right of Kings.

In early time they were happy to have James as king because the

Scottish Church was a pure Protestant Church with democratically

elected later they increasingly suspected him of being

a secret Catholic. And James had little sympathy with their

demands.

do you know about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605?

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was the most famous of the Cathlic

conspiracies. On November 5, 1605, a few fanatical Catholics

attempt to blow King James and his ministers up in the House of

Parliament where Guy Fawkes hadn planted barrels of

gun-powdeer in the cellars. The immediate result was the

execution of Fawkes and his fellow- conspirators and the

imposition of severe anti-Catholic laws.

did the Civil Wars break out?What were the consequences

of the Civil Wars?

King Charles I rejected the demands of the Parliament ,and the

Parliament concluded that the only way it could impress it views

on such a king would be to defeat him in battle.

Charles was condemned to death.

The English Civil War not only overthrew feudal system in England

but also shook the foundation of the feudal rule in is

generally regarded as the beginning of modern world history.

were the Commonwealth and the protectectorate?

After king Charle’s execution in 1649, Oliver Cromwell and the

Long Parliament declared England a Commonwealth. One of

Cromwell’s first acts was to crush without mercy a rebellion in

Ireland. Another was the suppression of the Levellers, a group

within his own army.

In 1653, Cromwell became Lord protector of the Commonwealth

of England. He instituted direct military rule by dividing the coutry

into 11 districts commanded by major generals. The

characteristics of this Period were:the destruction of numerous

treasures in churches and cathedrals throughout the country;

establishment of colonies and colonial trade; religious toleration

for all;and greater understanding of the economy;

did the Restoration take place?

When Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 and was succeeded by his

son,Richard,The regime began to collapse. One of Cromwell’s

generals occupied London and arranged for new parliamentary

elections. The Parliament thus was elected in 1660, and to resolve

the crisis, it asked the late king’s son to return from his exile in

France as king Charles II, It was called the Restoration.

did the “Glorious Revolution”break out? What was the

significance of it?

In 1685 Charles II died and was succeeded by his brother James

II. James , who was brought up in exile in Europe, was a Catholic.

He hoped to rule without giving up his personal religious views.

But England was no more tolerant of a Catholic king in 1688 than

40years ago. So the Protestant king , William of Orange, to invade

and take the English throne. William landed in England in 1688.

The takeover was relatively sommoth, with no bloodshed,nor any

execution of the king. This was known as the Glorious

m and his wife Mary were both protestants and