英语国家概况.docx

1、英语国家概况英语国家概况（1）（2）100问1. British history has been a history of invasion. Please illustrate this point with the examples from the text. How did each of the invasions influence English culture ?2. What are some general characteristics of Scotland ? 3. Describe Wales unification with Great Britain.4. A

2、re there any differences between England and Wales in terms of cultural tradition ?5. Why is Northern Ireland, according to the author, so significant in the United Kingdom? What is the political problem there?6. What are some of the factors in Irish and English history that affect the situation in

3、Northern Ireland today?7. Different parties and groups in the United Kingdom have different solutions to the political problem in Northern Ireland. Please sum up their different attitudes.8. Has the author offered a solution to the political problem in Northern Ireland?9. What is the oldest institut

4、ion of government?10. What is the name of the charter of liberty and political rights granted by King John in 1215?11. Do you think Elizabethan Drama occupies a significant position in British literature? Who is the most important figure in Elizabethan Drama? What are some of his major works?12. Wha

5、t do we call the group of important Parliamentarians?13. Which party forms the government and who becomes Prime Minister?14. What are some of the changes that have take place recently in the Chinese attitude towards sports? How do you account for these changes?15. For how many years is a general ele

6、ction held once in the UK?16. Who can stand for election as an MP?17. What are the three major parties? Which party is the party that spent most time in power?18. Which party does Tony Blair belong to?19. When was the British economy dominant in the world?20. By what time was the UK overtaken by oth

7、er countries, such as the US and Germany?21. Which country does it refer to as the Jewel in the Crown? When did it gain its independence?22. What are some of the positive and negative effects of non-white immigrants on British society according to the author?23. What is the general situation of raci

8、al relations in the UK?24. Why is Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote in Middle English, still read and studied today?25. When was the term parliament first used officially?26. The author says that the media are central to British leisure culture, why does the author say so?27. What are some of the characte

9、ristics of British newspaper culture? In what way is it different from the United States?28. Is the British press free from the government control and censorship? What is the relationship between the British press and politics or business?29. How does the BBC operate? How is it different from Americ

10、an broadcasting systems?30. What are some of the features of Romantic Literature?31. What is Modernism? Can you illustrate your points with specific books as examples?32. What is Postmodernism? Can you illustrate your points with specific books as examples?33. How has the Christian church influenced

11、 British sports? Please pick up some examples from the text. 34. What is the origin of football? 35. How is the violence of football hooligans related to the British history of football?36. Why is cricket very English? Why does the author believe that cricket was associated with a set of English mor

12、al values? 37. Christmas is the biggest and best-loved British holiday? How do the British celebrate this holiday?38. How do the British celebrate the Queens Birthday? What is the origin of this holiday?39. Bonfire Night is one truly English holiday. How and why do the English celebrate this holiday

13、?40. How do the Protestants and Catholics celebrate their own holidays in Northern Ireland? What traditions are behind their celebrations?41. How is Hogmanay celebrated in Scotland? What other festivals are celebrated in Scotland?42. Which are the two most important and famous universities in Britai

14、n?43. What is the goal of education in the U.K.?44. Is the British education system run by the state or the private sector?45. Where do British universities receive their funds besides students tuition?46. Why does the author say that the way the living arrangements of a society as a whole are organ

15、ized tells us something about that society?47. What are the four main types of home in Britain? How do they reflect the cost and status of homes? What are some of the major types of home in China?48. How are people in the UK divided into different classes? 49. Is the class system similar with the Un

16、ited States?50. What and how did the British empire end? How did the British react to this reality?51. What are the foundations of Britains foreign policy?52. How is Britains foreign policy made? Does the governments foreign policy represent the desires of British citizens?53. Why does the author sa

17、y that the decision to join the EC was and remains controversial in Britain?54. Why does the author think that Britain has the special relationship with the United States? Does this relationship still exist?1. British history has been a history of invasions. Before the first century AD Britain was m

18、ade up of many tribal kingdoms of Celtic people: a powerful culture originating in central Europe. Then in 43AD Britain was invaded by the Roman empire, and England and Wales (though not Scotland or Ireland) became a part of the Roman empire for nearly 400 years.Two more groups of invaders were to c

19、ome after the English: from the late 8th century on, raiders from Scandinavia, the ferocious Vikings, threatened Britains shores.2. Scotland is the second largest of the four nations, both in population and in geographical area. It is also the most confident of its own identity because alone amongst

20、 the non-English components of the UK it has previously spent a substantial period of history as a unified state independent of the UK. Thus it is not a big leap for the Scottish to imagine themselves independent again. Physically, Scotland is the most rugged part of the UK, with areas of sparsely p

21、opulated mountains and lakes in the north (The Highlands), and in the south (The Southern Uplands). Three-quarters of the population lives in the lowland zone which spans the country between these two highland areas. The largest city is Glasgow, in the west of this zone. Scotlands capital city is Ed

22、inburgh, on the east coast forty miles away from Glasgow. It is renowned for its beauty, and dominated by its great castle on a high rock in the centre of the city. Both cities have ancient and internationally respected universities dating from the 15th century.3. Wales was always under pressure fro

23、m its English neighbours, particularly after the Norman conquest, when Norman barons set up castles and estates in Wales under the authority of the English Crown. Some brief campaigns are the only times in history when Wales has existed as a unified independent nation.4.Yes, there are. The close lon

24、g-standing relationship means that modern Wales lacks some of the outward signs of difference which Scotland possessesits 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 k

25、ey markers of that difference is the Welsh languagethe old British Celtic tongue which is still in daily use.5. Until 1921 the full name of the UK was The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, not only Northern Ireland, because the whole island of Ireland was politically integrated with Great

26、 Britain, and had been since 1801, while Britains domination of the Irish dated back centuries even before that date. But Irish desires for an independent Irish state were never lost, and one of the key issues in late nineteenth century British politics was a campaign in parliament for what was call

27、ed home-ruleIrish political control of Irish affairs. The Home Rule Bill was finally passed in 1914, but the process was overtaken by the First World War and was suspended for the duration of the war.6. Along with the political campaign for home-rule there were groups who followed a more direct meth

28、od 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.7. Margaret Thatchers government di

29、d not give in to this demand for political status and 11 prisoners starved to death. This event revitalised the political campaign of Sinn Fein, the legal political party which supports the IRAs right to fight. Its leaders spoke of a twin campaign for union with Ireland, both political and military,

30、 which they called the policy of The Bullet and the Ballot Box.8. The problem lay in the commitment to peaceful methods aspect of the possible talks. Province-wide elections are planned under a complex formula to ensure a wide range of representation on the body which will carry out these talks, in

31、an attempt to give them legitimacy. Without the participation of Sinn Fein and the IRA it is hard to see them succeeding. Northern Ireland is poised on the brinka new peaceful future, or a return to the violence that has claimed 3150 lives so far.9. The oldest institution of government is the Monarc

32、hy (rule by the king).10. It was a gang of feudal barons and the Church which opposed some of King Johns (11991216) policies. This opposition was so powerful that the king finally granted them a charter of liberty and political rights, still known by its medieval Latin name of Magna Carta. Magna Carta placed some limits on the kings ability to abuse his royal power. This is still regarded as Britains key expression of the rights of citizens against the Crown.11. Shakespeare is the most important figure at that tim