評論
打印
Unit 2 The United Kingdom
第二單元 英國
Reading
閱讀
Puzzles in Geography
地理之謎
People may wonder why different words are used to describe these four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
人們也許覺得奇怪，為什么用來描述英格蘭、威爾士、蘇格蘭和北愛爾蘭這四個國家的詞語不太一樣。
You can clarify this question if you study British history.
但如果你學過英國歷史，就能弄清楚這個問題。
First there was England.
首先是英格蘭。
Wales was linked to it in the thirteenth century.
威爾士于13世紀同英格蘭聯合了起來。
Now when people refer to England you find Wales included as well.
如今只要有人提起英格蘭，你就會發現威爾士總是包括在內的。
Next England and Wales were joined to Scotland in the seventeenth century and the name was changed to "Great Britain".
接著，英格蘭、威爾士同蘇格蘭于17世紀聯合了起來，名字就改成了“大不列顛”。
Happily this was accomplished without conflict when King James of Scotland became King of England and Wales as well.
令人慶幸的是，當蘇格蘭的詹姆斯國王成為英格蘭和威爾士的國王時，這三個國家和平地實現了聯合。
Finally the English government tried in the early twentieth century to form the United Kingdom by getting Ireland connected in the same peaceful way.
最后，英國政府打算于20世紀初把愛爾蘭也同另外三個國家和平聯合起來以形成聯合王國。
However, the southern part of Ireland was unwilling and broke away to form its own government.
然而，愛爾蘭的南部卻不愿組建聯合王國，它分離出去，并建立了自己的政府。
So only Northern Ireland joined with England, Wales and Scotland to become the United Kingdom
因此只有北愛爾蘭同英格蘭、威爾士、蘇格蘭聯合起來，
and this was shown to the world in a new flag called the Union Jack.
而組成了聯合王國，這一點從新的聯合王國國旗上就可以看得出來。
To their credit the four countries do work together in some areas (eg, the currency and international relations) ,
值得贊揚的是，這四個國家的確在一些方面共同合作，例如在貨幣和國際關系方面；
but they still have very different institutions.
但是有些制度仍然區別很大。
For example, Northern Ireland, England and Scotland have different educational and legal systems
例如，北愛爾蘭、英格蘭和蘇格蘭在教育體制和立法體制上都存在著差異。
as well as different football teams for competitions like the World Cup!
在參加像世界杯之類的比賽時，它們有著各自的足球隊。
England is the largest of the four countries, and for convenience it is divided roughly into three zones.
在這四個國家中，英格蘭是最大的。為了方便起見，它大致可以劃分為三個地區。
The zone nearest France is called the South of England,
最靠近法國的那個地區叫做英格蘭南部，
the middle zone is called the Midlands and the one nearest to Scotland is known as the North.
中部地區叫做英格蘭中部，最靠近蘇格蘭的那個地區叫做英格蘭北部。
