英语国家概况英国部分答案

1. Blank fillings: 1) England; 2) Ben Nevis; 3) North Sea; 4) Britain; 5) British; 6) cotton;

7) agricultural; 8) Iberians; 9) Birmingham; 10) Liverpool 2. Questions:

1) To other Europeans, the best known quality of the British, and of the English in particular, is

\"reserve\".

2) The reluctance to communicate with others tends to give the impression of coldness, and it is

true that the English (except perhaps in the North) are nor noted for their generosity and hospitality. On the other hand, they are perfectly human behind their barrier of reserve, and may be quite pleased when a friendly stranger or foreigner succeeds for a time in breaking the barrier down.

3) The English self-deprecation, mixed with their reserve, often produces a sort of general air of

indifference which appears to foreigners as a pose, difficult to understand and irritating. 4) Along with the political campaign for home-rule there were groups who followed a more

direct method of pursuing Irish independence, engaging in guerilla or terrorist activities against British institutions and the British military forces. During the First World War and immediately after, this activity increased, sometimes brutally suppressed by British forces. 5) Yes, there are. The close long-standing relationship means that modern Wales lacks some of

the outward signs of difference which Scotland possesses—its legal system and its education system are exactly the same as in England. Often official statistics are given for \"England and Wales\". However, Wales is different, and one of the key markers of that difference is the Welsh language—the old British Celtic tongue which is still in daily use. 3. Terms for explanation:

1) Union Jack: flag of United Kingdom: the flag of the United Kingdom, which combines the flags of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

2) Lake District: region of mountains and lakes in Cumbria, northwestern England. The district extends about 50 km/30 mi from north to south and 40 km/25 mi from east to west.

3) The Bible: also called the Holy Bible, the sacred book or Scriptures of Judaism and

of Christianity.

4) The Puritans: members of a group of Protestants in 16th- and 17th-century England and 17th-century America who believed in strict religious discipline and called for the simplification of acts of worship.

5) Great Charter: document sealed by King John of England on June 15, 1215, in

which he made a series of promises to his subjects that he would govern England and deal with his vassals according to the customs of feudal law (see Feudalism). Over the course of centuries, these promises have required governments in England (and in countries influenced by English tradition) to follow the law in dealing with their citizens.

4. Analysis and comments:

1) In the United Kingdom, the upper classes are the aristocracy and royalty, with wealth playing a less important role in class status. Many aristocratic peerages or titles have „seats‟ attached to them, with the holder of the title (e.g. Earl of Bristol) and his family being the custodians of the house, but not the owners. Many of these require high expenditures, so wealth is typically needed. Many aristocratic peerages and their homes are parts of estates, owned and run by the title holder with moneys generated by the land, rents, or other sources wealth. The middle class is the most contested of the three categories, the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the lower and upper classes. Lower class are those employed in low-paying wage jobs with very little economic security.

2) It was sealed under oath by King John at Runnymede, on the bank of the River Thames near Windsor, England. Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their rights. The charter is widely known throughout the English speaking world as an important part of the protracted historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in England and beyond.

Chapter Two

1. Blank fillings:

1) parliamentary democracy;

2) the House of Commons, the House of Lords; 3) the House of Commons; 4) the Queen; 5) executive; 6) constitution;

7) European Union (EU)； 8) military equipment; 9) The Lord Chancellor; 10) proven guilty 2. Questions:

1) The contemporary foreign policy of the UK is greatly influenced by its imperial history and

also by its geopolitical traits. Perhaps the most important single factor which influences British policy-makers is its history.

2) The word \"parliament\" comes from the verb \"to parley\

was first used officially in 1236 to describe the gathering of feudal barons and representatives from counties and towns which the king occasionally summoned if he wanted to raise money. 3) There are three major national parties: The Conservative party and the Labour party are the

two biggest, and any general election is really about which of those two is going to govern. But there is a third important party, the Liberal Democrats, who usually receive up to about 20% of the votes: not enough to form a government, but enough to have a big impact on which of the other two parties does so. The Conservative Party spent most time in power 4) The House of Commons.

5) The party that wins most votes in general election and the leader of this winning party would

become Prime Minister.

3. Terms for explanation:

1) Britain‟s legislature is made up of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the king

in his constitutional role. The House of Commons has 651 elected Members of Parliament (MPs), who represent local constituencies. The center of parliamentary power is the House of Commons.

2) The nonelected upper house of Parliament in the United Kingdom, made up of life peers,

some hereditary peers, and some bishops.

3) In British criminal trials the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Trials are in

open court and the accused is represented by a lawyer. Most cases are tried before lay

justices sitting without a jury. The more serious cases are tried in the higher courts before a jury of 12 (15 in Scotland) which decides guilt or innocence.

4) Actions brought to court are usually tried without a jury. Higher courts deal with more

complicated civil cases. Most judgments are for sums of money, and the costs of an action are generally paid by the losing party.

5) The Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary branch of government.

4. Analysis and comments:

1) Constitutional monarchy is a form of democratic government in which a nonpolitical monarch acts as head of state within the boundaries of a constitution, whether written or unwritten.[1] While the monarch may hold formal reserve powers and while government officially takes place in the monarch‟s name, they do not set public policy or choose political leaders. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a constitutional monarch as \"a sovereign who reigns but does not rule.\" This form of government differs from absolute monarchy, in which the monarch controls political decision-making and is not effectively bound by a constitutional order.

2) Debates can be witnessed very commonly in House of Commons. They take place sometimes in harmony, but more times in a very heated situation. Think about if the debates necessary in House of Commons.

Chapter Three

1. Blank fillings: 1) Banking; 2) Insurance; 3) service;

4) manufacturing;

5) North Sea;

6) Margaret Thatcher; 7) military; 8) 1970s; 9) London; 10) service; 11) electronics 2. Questions:

1) By the 1880s the British economy was dominant in the world, producing one third of the

world‟s manufactured goods, half its coal and iron, half its cotton.

2) But even by 1900 this was no longer the case, the UK having been overtaken by both the

United States and Germany; and certainly from 1945 until the present, the story of the UK economy is usually thought of as one of decline.

3) India, popularly known as \"The Jewel in the Crown\" of the British Empire, gained its

independence in 1947.

4) This has a number of consequences for British society, mainly positive, though with some

indirect negative effects. On the positive side such immigrant groups bring their culture with them, which increases the variety and interest within British culture: for example, the UK, which used to have a bad reputation for food, now has a cuisine as varied as any, with Indian and Chinese restaurants in every community, as well as many other varieties in bigger cities. This variety in restaurant food has resulted in more experimentation at home, so that shops now carry a much wider variety of goods to supply the demand, and there are many TV programmes and books devoted to all kinds of different cooking. The negative side of things lies largely in the attitude of some of their white neighbours.

5) While there is a growing ethnic minority middle-class, and many individual success stories,

by most measures the immigrant population is worse-off economically speaking than the white population as a whole. Individuals from ethnic minorities are more likely to be unemployed; and they are under-represented in politics too, though there are now a number of black and Asian MPs. But there are also a number of small political parties in the UK with overtly racist policies. 3. Terms for explanation:

1) Conservative Party (Britain), oldest political party in the United Kingdom. The Conservative

Party evolved as the successor to the Tory Party in the 1830s. It is known in full as the Conservative and Unionist Party. The party‟s tenets of conservatism include the continuance of monarchical parliamentary government. Until after the end of World War II in 1945 imperialism was also a major force in British conservatism. For decades Northern Ireland‟s major political party, the Ulster Unionist Organization, was an integral part of Britain‟s Conservative Party, but that relationship has eroded considerably. The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Association also is related to the larger unit but has a separate existence.

2) Margaret Thatcher, born in 1925, British politician and the first woman to hold the office of

prime minister of the United Kingdom. The winner of three consecutive general elections, Thatcher served as prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.

3) The London Stock Exchange, one of the largest exchanges in the world, has always been a

focus of international trade. In 1986 it was substantially deregulated, an event known as the Big Bang in financial circles. This led to the rapid expansion of products, markets, and numbers of employees, a movement that slowed in the early 1990s but has since rebounded. 4) HSBC: HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational banking and financial services

company headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom. It is one of the world‟s largest banks.

5) Second Industrial Revolution: The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the

Technological Revolution, was a phase of the larger Industrial Revolution corresponding to the latter half of the 19th century until World War I. It is considered to have begun around the time of the introduction of Bessemer steel in the 1860s and culminated in early factory electrification, mass production and the production line. 4. Analysis and comments:

1) Town and country planning in the United Kingdom is the part of English land law which concerns land use planning. Its goal is to ensure sustainable economic development and a better environment. Each country of the United Kingdom has its own planning system that is responsible for town and country planning devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.

2) Based on the collection of history of two countries‟ economic development, a summary can be made.

Chapter Four

1. Blank fillings:

1) owner occupation, 2) semi-detached, 3) Detached houses, 4) Class, 5) Christmas, 6) Boxing Day, 7) Easter egg, 8) The Guardian, 9) 1400,

10) The Broadcasting Act 2. Questions:

1) There are, broadly speaking, four main types of home. The first kind are \"flats\" (or

apartments), of varying size, often in modern multi-storey purpose-built buildings, though sometimes made by sub-dividing big old houses. Flats are often publicly owned. The second kind are \"terraced\" houses: that is, individual two-storey houses built joining on to each other at each side in a terrace or row. The second kind are \"terraced\" houses: that is, individual two-storey houses built joining on to each other at each side in a terrace or row; the fourth one is “detached.” 2) (Open ended)

3) On an average day, 90 per cent of Britons over the age of 15 read a national or local paper.

And in the evening, most Britons settle down to watch some television: 96 percent of the population watch TV at least once a week, making it Britain‟s most popular leisure activity. The third most popular pastime, after watching telly and reading newspapers, is listening to the radio, an activity in which 73 per cent of the population engages in on a weekly basis. It is obvious, then, that the media are central to British leisure culture.

4) British newspaper culture is unusual in the extent to which class and educational differences

are reflected in the newspapers people read. In other developed countries like Japan and the United States, newspaper reading is a mainly middle-class habit, but in Britain the \"lower classes\" are also regular readers.

5) While officially speaking the British press is \"free\" from government control and censorship

and can print what it likes, there are limits to what will appear in the daily paper.

3. Terms for explanation:

1) Terraced houses: refer to those individual two-storey houses built joining on to each other at

each side in a terrace or row. They often have two rooms downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs, plus a small kitchen and bathroom in a projection(突出部分) at the back. These kinds of houses are most common in inner-city areas.

2) Detached houses: the most desirable houses for the British people to live in. They usually

stand alone with garden on all sides separating them a little from their neighbours. It might be one-storey house, called bungalow or two. These houses are usually built in the suburban areas.

3) The Christmas Pantomime: a typical British Christmas tradition. It is a comical musical play

usually based on a popular traditional children‟s story. There are two main characters in the play: “the principal boy”, played by a young woman, and “the Dame”（滑稽老太婆角色）, played by a man. It is a play with songs and jokes which can be enjoyed by both adults and children.

4) Boxing Day: a typical British tradition celebrated on the day after Christmas. People used to

give Christmas gifts or money to their staff or servants on this day. And now they mostly do shopping, pay visits, enjoy eating or just relax.

5) The Financial Times: The Financial Times (FT) is a British English-language international

daily newspaper with a special emphasis on business and economic news internationally. The paper, published by Pearson PLC in London, was founded in 1888 by James Sheridan and Horatio Bottomley, and merged with its closest rival, the Financial News (which had been founded in 1884) in 1945. 4. Analysis and comments:

1) The United Kingdom has one of the world‟s oldest established newspaper industries. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, as the British economy began to industrialise, as the democratic franchise was extended to larger segments of the population, and as literacy levels rose through the introduction of mass education, more and more newspapers began to appear. They began to influence British society and people‟s life. Try to gather different types of newspaper and their functions as a further study.

2) In cultural studies, media culture refers to the current western capitalist society that emerged and developed from the 20th century, under the influence of mass media. The term alludes to the overall impact and intellectual guidance exerted by the media (primarily TV, but also the press, radio and cinema), not only on public opinion but also on tastes and values.

Chapter Five

1. Blank fillings:

1) Reading, Writing, Arithmetic 2) A-level 3) Flexibility 4) Oxbridge 5) glorious wit 6) church

7) math, physics, computer science and economics 8) 12th and 13th centuries 9) Forty 10) tutorial 2. Questions:

1) In the UK, the amount of funding each university receives is based on its size, the number of

students it teaches, and the research it conducts. So far, the UK has only one privately funded university, the University of Buckingham.

2) The British education system is run by the state. 3) Cambridge University and Oxford University.

4) The goal of British education is to socialize children. 5) (Open ended)

3. Terms for explanation:

1) middle-class man: The middle class is a class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class. The common measures of what constitutes middle class vary significantly among cultures.

2) “A-level”: A-level—is an academic qualification offered by educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the British Crown dependencies to students completing secondary or pre-university education.

3) “Oxbridge”: Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the

University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and the term is used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status. \"Oxbridge\" can be used as a noun referring to either or both universities or as an adjective describing them or their students.

4) working-class: The working class (or lower class, labouring class, sometimes proletariat) are those employed in lower tier, subordinate jobs. These typically include blue-collar jobs, but also include large amounts of white collar and service work.

5) tutorial system: At Cambridge University and Oxford University, undergraduates

are taught in the tutorial system. Students are taught by faculty fellows in groups of one to three on a weekly basis. At Cambridge, these are called \"supervisions\" and at Oxford they are called \"tutorials.\" One benefit of the tutorial system is that students receive direct feedback on their weekly essays or work in a small discussion setting.

4. Analysis and comments:

1) There are advantages in attending schools abroad. Students who have studied abroad can act as mediators between people of different cultures. Students can learn much more advanced knowledge of science and technology from foreign countries. Students can learn foreign languages more quickly. However, there some disadvantages. Most of the students are too young to live by themselves without any living experience. Besides, being far away from their home country, they may feel lonely and homesick. Of course the costs are much.

2) Knowledge/ Discipline/ hardworking/ creativity/ imagination/…