英美文化

Geography

Explain the following terms.

1.The British Isles

The British Isles is the name of some islands in Western Europe, separated from the European continent by the North Sea, the Strait of Dover and the English Channel. Among the islands, Great Britain and Ireland are the two main ones. The country of the U.K. mainly consists of these two islands.

2.London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the world?s ninth largest city. As one of the world's most important business, financial and cultural centers, it carries a lot of influence in aspect of politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion and the arts. The city is also a major tourist destination for both domestic and overseas visitors.

3.Edinburgh Festival

Edinburgh is w ell known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, the world?s largest arts festival. Established in 1947, it takes place in the city during three weeks every August alongside several other arts and cultural festivals, collectively known as the Edinburgh Festival.

4. New York City

The city of New York, the largest city in the United States, is known for its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center. The city consists of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Among American cities, New York is unique for its 24-hour mass transit, so the city is sometimes referred to as "The City that Never Sleeps". New York City is the most populous city in the United States, and it is unique for the density and diversity of its population.

5. White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. It was built between 1792 and 1800 in the late Georgian style and has been the executive residence of every U.S. President since John Adams, the 2nd president of the U.S.

6.Hollywood

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California. Because it is well known as the historical center of movie studios and stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a symbol for the American film and television industry. Many historic Hollywood theaters are used as venues to premiere major theatrical releases and host the Academy Awards. Hollywood is a popular destination for nightlife and tourism and home to the Walk of Fame.

7. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is that part of the British Isles ruled over by the Queen. It consists of Scotland, Wales and England, and also the Northern part of Ireland. The full title of the United Kingdom is therefore “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.

8. The highland zone

The highland zone is an area of high hills and mountains in the north and west. And the highest elevations in the Britain Isles are in the highland zone. The highland zone is cooler than the lowland zone, and receives more rainfall and less sunlight.

9. The lowland zone

The lowland zone in the south and east of Britain consists mostly of rolling plains with a gentle, undulating surface and extensive areas of almost-level ground. It receives less rain and more sunshine than the highland zone and much of the soil in the zone is fertile. Most of Britain?s population lives densely packed into the lowland zone, which covers most of England. The metropolis of London and most of Britain?s large cities are located in the lowland zone.

10. The Pennine Chain

The Pennine Chain is the backbone of England. It is a massive upland area extending 260km north to south, starting at the Cheviot Hills on England?s border with Scotland and ending in the Midlands of central England. It is made up of several broad, rolling, windswept moorlands separated by deep river valleys. Many of England?s major industrial areas lie on the flanks of the Pennie Chain, where there are many coalfields.

11. Thames

The Thames is the second longest river in Britain. It is 338km long, and flows eastward out of the Cotswold Hills and weaves through the metropolis of London. The Thames provides water to the city of London and is used to carry commercial freight.

12. The Church of England

It is the established church of the English nation, with the king or queen as the head of the Church and being crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster. 13. Free Churches

They are Protestant churches outside the Church of England, including Baptists, the United Reformed Church, Quakers and Methodists. They suffered religious and political persecution in the 17th century, and were excluded from many offices and places, until the early 19th century. They were once called “dissenters”and “non-conformists”, now they are called members of Free Churches.

14. Easter

It is a Christian festival, kept on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox, commemorating Christ?s resurrection. Parents usually color hard-boiled eggs before Easter. Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning the eggs are hidden, and the children have an Easter egg. Little children believe the Easter rabbit comes and leaves the eggs for them.

15. Westminster Abbey

It is an ancient church where kings and queens are crowned and where, particularly in Poets? Corner, many famous men and women are buried.

16. Reformation

It began as a political movement as much as a religious one: when the Pope would not let Henry VIII divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Henry declared himself head of the English Church and dissolved the monasteries. Protestantism, of a Calvinist type, was introduced under Edward VI, Mary I brought a catholic reaction, but with Elizabeth I the Church of England was established on a moderate protestant basis.

History

Explain the following terms.

1. The Anglo-Saxons

In the 5th century, the tribes called the Angles and Saxons invaded Britain, coming from northern Europe. By the end of the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxons ruled most of Britain. Their language was called Old English. From them comes the name of “England” and “English”; England came from “Angle-land” meaning the land of the Anglo-Saxons.

2. Norman Conquest

After King Edward died, Duke William of Normandy, from northern France, declared that Edward had promised to let him become the king. On October 14, 1066, William and his army invaded England and defeated the English army. He was made king and crowned in Westminster Abby on Christmas Day, 1066. William is often referred to as William the Conqueror in English history.

3. Robin Hood

England's best-loved legend of Robin Hood is an outlawed Saxon nobleman oppressed by the Normans. He hid in the forest near Sherwood with his band of followers, called “merry men”. From this secret wood, they went out to rob from the rich to give to the poor with their longbows. Robin Hood has been a popular subject of numerous films, television series, books, comics and plays.

4. The Hundred Years? War

At the beginning of the 14th century, England developed into a stronger state in Europe. Consequently, the rich wanted to control more markets and the nobles wanted to regain their lost land. When King Edward III of England declared that he should

become the French king, the French rejected his claim so he declared war on France in 1337. The war lasted intermittently for 116 years, hence being known as the Hundred Years? War.

5. The Civil War

In January 1642 the Civil War broke out between the Roundheads (supporters of Parliament) and the Cavaliers (supporters of the King). The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory and it led to the execution of Charles I, and his son Charles II was driven out of the country in 1649. In addition to that, Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the Roundheads,formed republican England, known as the Commonwealth of England and the English monarchy was abolished.

6. American Indians

The American Indians were the descendants of the Mongoloid. The name “Indians” was given by Columbus when he mistook them for the people of India. It is believed that about 25,000 years ago the Indians crossed the Bering Strait land bridge to Alaska. The American Indians developed the brilliant civilizations of the Aztecs, the Incas and the Mayas.

7. Columbus? “discovery ” of America

In 1492, Columbus persuaded the king and queen of Spain to finance his voyage. He believed that by sailing west from Europe, he could reach India. Columbus failed to reach India but landed at one of the Caribbean islands instead. He mistook these islands for part of India and called the local people Indians.

8. The Mayflower

The Mayflower has a famous position in American history as a symbol of early European colonization. With their religion oppressed by the Church of England, in the autumn of 1620, 102 people sailed to the New World in a ship named the “Mayflower”. Late in December, the Mayflower finally landed in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.

9. Declaration of Independence

On July 2, 1776, the Congress finally determined that these United Colonies ought to be free and independent states. Thomas Jefferson, assisted by Benjamin Franklin, drafted the Declaration of Independence, which the Congress adopted on July 4, 1776. It announced the independence of 13 North American colonies and the birth of a new nation.

10. Abraham Lincoln

In March 1861 Abraham Lincoln took the office of president. He realized that by making the war a battle against slavery, he could win support for the Union at home and abroad. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which granted freedom to all slaves.

11. William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): English playwright and poet, whose body of works is considered as the greatest in English literature. His plays, many of which were performed at the Globe Theater in London, include historical works, comedies and tragedies. He also composed 154 sonnets and 36 plays.

12. Sir Francis Bacon

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626): English philosopher, essayist, courtier, jurist, and statesman. His writings include The Advancement of Learning (1605) and The Novum Organum(1620), in which he proposed a theory of scientific knowledge based on observation and experimentation that came to be known as the inductive method. 13. Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder Plot: Conspiracy of a group of English Catholics to blow up the Houses of parliament where King James I was present on 5 November, 1605. The plan was discovered and Guy Fawkes was caught and burnt alive. In England, 5 November is celebrated with bonfires, fireworks and the burning of the effigies.

14. Great Fire of London

Great Fire of London (2-5 September, 1666): Worst fire in London?s history. It destroyed a large part of the city, including most of the civic buildings, St. Paul?s Cathedral, 87 parish churches, and about 13,000 houses. It began accidentally at the house of the king?s baker in Pudding Lane near London Bridge.

15. Suez Canal Crisis

Suez Canal Crisis: A major international incident that arose in 1956 from the decision by Gamal A. Nasser, President of Egypt, to nationalize the Suez Canal, which long had been controlled by Great Britain. After Nasser took over the canal, Britain and France induced Israel to provoke a conflict with Egypt that would serve as a pretext for an Anglo-French invasion of Egypt. The United States, which had been excluded from the planned invasion, denounced it. The incident severely damaged Anglo-American relations.

16. John Major

John Major (1943- ): British banker and conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997. during this administration, he advocated privatization, anti-inflationary budget discipline, and negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland. 17. the First Continental Congress

In September 1774, 55 representatives from all the colonies except Georgia held a meeting in Philadelphia to talk about their troubles with their mother country. The meeting was called the First Continental Congress. At the meeting the majority of representatives still thought they could settle their quarrel with the British by peaceful

means. They agreed to refuse to buy British goods, hoping in this way to force the British Government to give in to their demands. They also agreed to raise a volunteer army to protect the colonies if Britain used force to break the boycott.

18. Louisiana Purchase

The most glorious achievement of Jefferson as President was the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase, in 1803, gave Western farmer use of the important Mississippi River waterway, removed the French presence from the western border of US, provided US farmers with vast expanses of land, and furthered American leaders?vision of creating a “Great Nation”.

19. US-Spanish War

The US-Spanish War broke out in April, 1898, lasted for only 70 days and ended with US as the victor. A peace treaty was signed in December 1898 in Paris. As a result of the war, Spain was forced to cede her former colonies Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to US; US agreed to pay 20 million dollars for them in an attempt to put a good face on its foreign expansion. Cuba remained a US “protectorate” for some years, while the Philippines were not granted its independence until after the end of WW I. US seized Hawaii from Spain after the US-Spanish War. The US-Spanish War was the first imperialist war for re-dividing the world. It marked a new stage in which US transformed into an imperialist power. From that time the US began its modern history.

20. roaring twenties

The expression of “roaring twenties” is often used to describe the period of American life. The roaring twenties ushered in an exciting time of social change and economic prosperity, as the recession at the end of WW II was quickly replaced by an unprecedented period of financial growth. The stock market soared to unimaginable heights because of the so-called Second Industrial Revolution at the turn of the 20th century, which saw the development of new inventions and machines that changed American society drastically.

21. Wathergate Scandal

In the presidential election year 1972, five men of the Committee for the Reelection of the President broke into the Democratic national headquarters at the Water Hotel, Washington, D.C., where they planted bugs in order to get information for the Committee. But unfortunately they were arrested. Although it was never approved that Nixon planned the Watergate break-in or that he ever knew about it beforehand, he was eventually forced out of office because he was found guilty for his effort to avoid the investigation and disclosures.

Politics

Explain the following terms.

1. British Parliament

The British Parliament today consists of three parts: the Queen, the House of

Lords and the House of Commons. The Parliament has a number of different functions. First and foremost, it passes laws. Another role of the Parliament is to scrutinize, or examine the government.

2. Life peer

Life peers receive their noble titles from the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. However, a life peer cannot pass the title on to his or her children. These appointments are usually made for people?s outstanding careers or contributions to society. Famous people who have been made peers are former British Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

3. British Constitution

The U.K. does not have a written constitution, which most countries have. While much of the constitution is written down, it is not systematically written into a single document. The British Constitution is made up of three main parts: Statutes, Common Laws and Conventions.

4. The Labour Party

The Labour Party was developed by the growing trade union movement at the end of the 19th century. It quickly replaced the Liberal Party as one of the two largest political parties in the U.K. The Labour Party supported state control of important industries and a more equal distribution of wealth. It has drawn financial support from the trade unions.

5. The U.S. Constitution

The Constitution of the United States was written as a single political document in 1787. There were only 7 articles in it. The Constitution demands the election of the president, and provides that federal laws would only be made by a Congress. It also provides for a national court system headed by a Supreme Court. The Constitution follows these principles: federal system, “checks and balances” of the powers and respect for the Constitution.

6. A federal system

A federal system is one in which power is shared between the central government and the state government. Therefore, each of the Americans is under the two governments--the federal government and the state government. The federal government has the right to declare war, to tax, to borrow or coin money and to regulate business and trade. Generally speaking, the federal government deals with foreign affairs and matters of general concern to all the states.

7. Checks and balances

When Americans talk about the system of “checks and balances”, they often refer to the three-part government. The system limits the powers of the three branches. Each branch has powers that the others do not have, and each branch is given power

to check the operations of the others, so that no one branch can become too powerful.

8. The Congress

The Congress is the supreme legislative branch of the U.S. government. Under the Constitution, it is the only branch that can make federal laws, levy federal taxes, and declare war upon other countries. The American Congress is made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both Senators and Representatives of the House are chosen by a direct election from all of the states. 9. Bill of Rights

Many of the recommendations of the states ratifying conventions were considered later by James Madison as he drafted what became the Bill of The Rights. It is commonly viewed as consisting of the first 10 articles of Amendments to the Constitution. These amendments give all Americans rights to believe in any religion; to speak, write and publish as they like; to gather together peaceably and to petition the government; to be secure in their homes without fear of unreasonable searches and seizure of persons and property; and to receive fair and just treatment in courts of law. The Bill of Rights was added in 1791.

10. jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is the authority to hear and decide cases. According to the Constitution, the federal courts exercise jurisdiction over cases in which the subject involves either the U.S. Constitution, statutes, or treaties; maritime law; or cases in which the litigants include either the U.S. government, more than one state government, one state government and a citizen of another state, citizens of more than one state, or a foreign government or citizen. The state courts exercise jurisdiction over the remaining cases. These include most criminal cases.

11. Electoral College

It is a body that elects the president and vice president. Each state is represented by the same number of members as in its congressional delegation. In another word, each has as many electors as the total representation in Congress (House plus Senate). The voters vote for electors who will cast their ballots in the Electoral College. Because of the winner-take-all feature of the Electoral College, the system gives an advantage to large states and their urban populations.

12. Manifest Destiny

The 19th century journalist John O?Sullivan coined the phrase “manifest destiny” in an 1839 article. It conveyed the belief in the divinely conferred right of the republic to expand westward and bring more of the continent into “the great experiment of Liberty and Federated self-government”.

Religion

Explain the following terms.

1. The Reformation

The Reformation refers to a period of time in the history. In 1517, a German monk, Martin Luther, led the breakaway from the Roman Catholic Church. The new Christians called themselves …Protestants? because they were protesting against the teachings and customs of the Roman Catholic Church. Their demand for reform led to this period in history called the Reformation, which later spread all over the European continent.

2. Puritanism

Puritanism is a church broken away from the Protestant Church. Puritans objected that the Protestant Church of England had not moved far enough away from the Roman Catholic Church. They do not have archbishops and their services and the decoration of their churches are very simple. At the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, many Puritans suffered from persecution from the Church of England. Then, to seek freedom to practice their own religion, they escaped to the New World, where they set up a new nation later: the United States of America.

3. The Church of England

The Church of England came into being during the Reformation of the 16th century. It is the state religion of the U.K. It is the most important denomination in the U.K.. The monarch is head of the Church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury of the Church of England is regarded as the spiritual leader. Today it is characterized by being both Catholic and Protestant. The Church of England plays an active role in national life.

4. Worship

Worship is a form of Christian service. Attending religious services provides an opportunity to glorify God among a gathering of fellow believers. Most services tend to involve prayers, singing, bible reading and possibly a sermon. Christians can worship together in public or on their own in private. The main day on which Christians gather together to worship God is on a Sunday. Other forms of worships include baptisms, weddings and funerals.

5. Charity

Charity means the giving of help to those in need. The Roman Catholic Church believes that God brought love to the world, so humankind should do good deeds in return to keep the world a nice place to live in. In its earliest days the Roman Catholic Church met the needs of the lower classes. It taught people to work hard as a way to salvation. The church also called for charitable work, giving help to the needy and protecting the weak. It is still regarded as a moral obligation to help the poor, the elderly and the handicapped, and so on.

6.Melting Pot

The melting pot is an expression used to describe societies experiencing large scale immigration from many different countries, just like the U.S., where people of different cultures, races and religions are combined so as to develop a multi-ethnic society.

7.WASP

"WASP" stands for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. It is considered the basis of the mainstream culture of the United States. The people who settled in the 13 North American colonies were mostly white European Protestant believers. The United States was founded and formed largely by Protestants.

8.Self-improvement

Self-improvement is one of the most important values mainly held by Protestants in the U.S. Instead of going to priests for forgiveness of their sins, individuals get guidance, forgiveness, and grace directly from God in order to improve themselves. Some Protestants? lives are changed through this. Others believe a relationship with God will improve their lives and will lead them to Heaven after death. Because of these Protestant ideas about personal religion even non-religious Americans often actively seek personal growth and self-improvement.

9.V olunteerism

Unpaid service is common in American social life. People think helping others is a way of self-improvement. Individuals make themselves into better persons by contributing some of their time or money to charity, education and religion. This philosophy is called volunteerism. Many Americans believe that they should show their love to people in need by devoting part of their time and wealth. This idea comes from the Christian belief that if you love God, you will also love your neighbors. 10. Presbyterian

Presbyterian: a member of a branch of the Christian Protestant Church that is the national Church of Scotland.

11. Episcopal

Episcopal: (of a Christian Church) that is governed by bishops.

12. Anglican

Anglican: a member of the Church of England or of a Church connected with it in another country.

13. Kirk

Kirk: a name often used for the official Church of Scotland.

14. diocese

diocese: a district for which a bishop is responsible.

15. secularism

secularism: the belief that religion should not be involved in the organization of society, education, etc.

16. Non-conformist

Non-conformist: a member of a Protestant Church that does not follow the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Church.

17. fundamentalism

Fundamentalism refers to a belief in, and strict adherence to, a set of basic principles. It was originally coined to describe a narrowly defined set of beliefs that developed into a movement within the Protestant community of the United States in the early part of the 20th century.

18. religious pluralism

Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of different religions. It is used as the name of the worldview according to which one?s religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values exist in other religions.

19. cyber church

Cyber church is the extension the church universal into cyberspace. It includes different aspects of Christian community online, especially by those who view this phenomenon as a subset of emerging church, the developing expressions of the faith in relation to culture change.

Translation

1.Christianity was first introduced into Britain by the Romans in the first century

BC.

2.Before the 20th century, Judaism had been the only important non-Christian

religion in Britain.

3.British society was more tolerant of Jews than most other European nations.

4.After the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church in Britain experienced much

persecution and discrimination, and had difficulties in surviving.

5.It may take diocesan bishops a number of years before they qualify to take their

seat.

Questions for Discussion

1.Christian Churches: Protestants, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox

Churches.

2.The fate of America has from the very beginning been closely linked to notions of

religious destiny. The Puritans presented themselves as God?s Chosen People, searching for the Promised Land. Although the Constitution declares the

separation of Church and State, religion has always pervaded American political life. During inaugural ceremonies, U.S. presidents take the oath of office on the Bible. Almost all American presidents have claimed affiliation with an established church.

3.New telecommunication technologies would boost cyber churches –especially

among professionals, baby boomers, and perhaps large segments of the elderly in the U.S. One can find religious news and chat groups abound on the Net.

Currently, Christian denominations, especially Roman Catholics, dominate cyberspace, accounting for almost 80% of the 10 million or so websites devoted to religion. Recently, an increasing number of religious organizations are using computer technology to spread their message via the Internet to people everywhere in the world.

Education

Explain the following terms.

https://www.sodocs.net/doc/70324947.html,prehensive school

Comprehensive schools were established before 1960, when pupils were not separated by the criterion of academic ability. Such schools provide general education. The pupils study a wide variety of subjects at first and after two or three years they may give up some of them and only study the subject they like.

2.Grammar school

Grammar schools are the oldest schools in the U.K. Grammar schools select children; the children who get high marks in the“Eleven Plus” examination can attend them. The students who show academic potential can attend grammar schools in which the emphasis is advanced academic work rather than the more general curriculum of comprehensive schools.

3.Independent school

Independent schools are also confusingly called public schools. Independent schools are funded through the private sector, tuition fees and minimal government assistance. Independent schools generally recruit the best teachers and provide advanced facilities. As a result, graduates of independent schools are more likely than those of state schools to be accepted by famous universities.

4.Oxbridge

The term Oxbridge is used to refer both Oxford University and Cambridge University as a single entity.

5.Open University

The Open University （OU）is the U.K.?s largest university for part-time higher education. It was founded in 1969 and began its first courses in 1970. It is open to everybody and doesn?t require the same formal educational qualifications as the other universities. University courses are taught through TV, radio, videos and a network of study centers.

6.credit

Credit is used to measure an undergraduate in academic progress. A credit equals to one hour of classroom lecture, or two or three hours of experiments per week in a semester.

7.higher education

Higher education in the United Stated began with the founding of Harvard College in 1636. When the students have finished high school (twelfth grade), they may go on to a college or a university. College or university study is known as “higher education”.

8.Harvard University

Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, was established in l636, and named for its first benefactor，John Harvard. Harvard University is known around the world for its outstanding academic achievements. It has produced more than 40 Nobel laureates.

Short Answer Questions

1. The traditional “three R?s” are: reading, writing and arithmetics.

2. After the Second World War a new educational system emphasizing equality was constructed with the assistance of church and trade unions. The Education Act in 1944 made entry to secondary schools and universities meritocratic. In other words, more children had access to a good education not because of their social class or their parents? possession, but for the abilities they display. All children were given the right to a free secondary education.

3. British high education is world renowned for two reasons: history and research output.

4. Most universities in the United Kingdom can be classified into six main categories:

1) Ancient universities – universities founded before the 19th century.

2) London universities – universities founded in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

3) Red Brick universities – universities founded in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The term “redbrick” is not used much today, but it is a useful way of describing this group of universities, many of which were built in the favorable building material of the time – red brick.

4) Plate Glass Universities –founded in the 1960s which were known as “New Universities”when first created, but which are now more commonly considered a sub-section of the “Old Universities” which existed prior to the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 which allowed Polytechnics to become Universities.

5) The Open University –founded in 1968, Britain?s sole mainly distance-learning University.

6) New Universities –created in or after 1992 often called post-1992 universities, from polytechnics and colleges of Higher Education.

5. The Open University is a degree-granting institution that provides courses of study for adults of all ages through television, radio, produced books, audio/video cassettes, correspondence courses and local study programs.

6 .No Child Left Behind Act was passed to mandate Adequate Yearly Progress, which helped, to some extent, set some national learning standards.

7. Because the individual state has the law-endowed rights to make its own educational decisions.

8. American universities select their students up to their GPA and SAT mainly, at the same time, they may also take into consideration some subjective factors such as a commitment to extracurricular activities, a personal essay, and possibly an interview.

9. GPA stands for Grade Point Average; SAT stands for School Aptitude Test.

10. Charter schools receive public money but have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school?s charter.

School vouchers, or education vouchers are a certificate issued by the government by which parents can pay for the education of their children at a school of their choice, rather tahtn the public school to which they are assigned.

Social Life and Customs

Explain the following terms.

1. Tabloid

Tabloids always deal in some scandals and gossip of the famous people in politics, sports or entertainment.

2. BBC

For a long period, the only television programs in Britain were produced by the BBC, the British Broadcasting Company, which was funded by the sale of TV licenses. The BBC was sponsored by the national government, which broadcasts radio and television programs for domestic and foreign markets.

3. Wimbledon

Wimbledon is the place now where the best tennis players gather to compete for a championship. It is a suburb of London. The Wimbledon Cup is one of the major sports events in Britain and probably the most famous tennis event in the world.

4. Horse racing

Horse racing is the true sport of British Kings and Queens. The two types of horse racing are flat racing and hurdle racing. Flat racing is racing where horse riders compete on a flat track. Hurdle racing is racing across the countryside or around the obstacles encountered.

5. Christmas

Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and is the greatest of the Christian festivals. Christmas is a religious holiday during which Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. There are three traditions for Christmas Day in Britain. The first is Christmas Pantomime, which is a comical musical play. Another tradition on Christmas is to hear the Queen of Britain give her Christmas message through television and radio. The third British tradition is Boxing Day which is the day after Christmas.

6. USA Today

Of all the newspapers, the most widely circulated paper in the United States is USA Today averaging over 2.25 million copies every weekday.

7. All-Star Game

It is the game in which the best players from basketball teams from the eastern and western divisions display their skills. It begins in mid-February.

8. Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving always occurs on the fourth Thursday in November at the end of the harvest season. It is a festival to express thanks for the year?s harvest. On Thanksgiving Day family members always gather for a rich dinner of roast turkey with stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie, which are traditional foods eaten on the first Thanksgiving.

9. Halloween

Halloween is celebrated on October 31st, shortened from All-Hallows-Eve, the night when the ghosts of the dead walked around. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, haunted houses, reading scary stories and watching horror movies.

10. Trick-or-treating

On this day the children will dress like the character of a book or movie and go “trick-or-treating”. Children knock on neighbors? doors asking for candy as a treat. Short Answer Questions

1.These magazines often contain short stories and serials of strong romantic interest,

as well as practical advice and hints for housewives.

2.These are terms which refer to the size of the paper: broadsheet being double the

size tabloid. However, the term “tabloid”is traditionally associated with the popular press and concentrates on entertainment; broadsheet is associated with the quality press and places its emphasis on information and analysis.

3.In the nineteenth century, students at Oxford and Cambridge, Britain?s two oldest

universities, were huge fans of rowing. In 1829, the two schools agreed to hold a race against each other for the first time on the Thames River. The oxford boat won and a tradition was born.

4.Shakespeare?s famous plays include tragedies, such as Hamlet (1603), Othello

(1604), and King Lear (1605); comedies, such as A midsummer Night’s Dream (1594-96) and Twelfth Night (1602); and history plays, such as Henry IV, part 1 –

2.

5.Rugby League is played mainly in the north of England, and Rugby Union is

played in the rest of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The main difference between the two is that the former (which used to be strictly amateur) is played with teams of 15 players, and the latter (which is played by amateurs and professionals) has 13 players to a team.

7

Explain the following terms.

1. The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer?s The Canterbury Tales is made up of a series of stories. These stories are told by pilgrims who were on their way to the important Christian church at Canterbury. Although these tales are incomplete, they cover all major types of medieval literature. It contains almost all the typical medieval figures. It is a miniature of the English society of Chaucer?s time.

2.William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is probably the best known literary figure in the world. His many plays include tragedies, comedies and history plays. Shakespeare created four great tragedies. Hamlet is the most performed play in the world. Shakespeare is regarded as one of the founders of realism in the world literature.

3. Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre tells the story of an orphan, who has a loveless childhood at a terrible boarding school. When she grows up, she goes to work for Mr. Rochester as a governess to his child. Mr. Rochester becomes attracted to her because of her independence and free spirit.

4. Tess of the D’Urbervilles

This story tells the tragic fate of Tess, a beautiful country girl. Tess is seduced by Alec D?urbervilles and has an illegitimate baby. She meets Angel Clare and they fall in love with each other. However, she is abandoned by Angel when he knows her past story. Tess has no choice but to live with Alec because her father dies and the family is starving. Later Angel regrets how he abandoned Tess and comes back to find her. Tess kills Alec in strong despair and great madness.

5. Stream of consciousness

In literary criticism, “st ream of consciousness” is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions.

6. Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early to middle 19th century. Among transcendentalists' core beliefs was an ideal spiritual state that “transcends” the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions. Prominent transcendentalists included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

7. The lost generation

This is a term coined by author and poet, Gertrude Stein. Often it is used to refer to a group of American writers who lived in Paris and other parts of Europe, some after military service in the First World War. Figures identified with the "Lost Generation" include authors and poets Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ezra Pound. The Lost Generation captures the zeitgeist of the time period: disillusionment.

8. Moby Dick

It is considered one of the world?s greatest masterpieces. This is a story about a whaling voyage. The hero Ishmael went out to sea on the whaling ship, Pequod. The captain, Ahab, lost one leg on a previous voyage when he met the white whale Moby Dick, so he was determined to kill the white whale. At last Moby Dick appeared and Captain Ahab ordered his ship to fight with it. All the crew were drowned except Ishmael, who survived to tell the story.

9. Mark Twain

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Twain had an American sense of humor; he dealt with the lower strata of society. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was an immediate success and its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, became his masterwork. Mark Twain made colloquial speech a literary medium. This is his great contribution to American literature. His style influenced writers who followed, like Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemmingway.

10. The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald?s masterpiece is The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald created a myth out of American life from his personal experience. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy, but he is too poor to marry her. Daisy married Tom Buchanan. In order to win his love back, Gatsby began bootlegging and other activities to make a big fortune.

But finally he found Daisy was not the ideal love of his dreams. He had a strong sense of loss and disillusionment.

11. Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin (16 April 1889 –25 December 1977) was an English comic actor and film director of the silent film era. He became one of the best-known film stars in the world before the end of the First World War. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914. From the April 1914 one-reeler Twenty Minutes of Love onwards he was writing and directing most of his films, by 1916 he was also producing, and from 1918 composing the music. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, he co-founded United Artists in 1919.

12. John Lennon

John Lennon (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, and together with Paul McCartney formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century. Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, on film, and in interviews, and became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while his songs were adapted as anthems by the anti-war movement. Disengaging himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family, Lennon reemerged in 1980 with a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered three weeks after its release.

13. David Beckham

David Beckham (born 2 May 1975) is an English footballer who currently plays in midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and Milan, as well as the England national team, for whom he holds the all-time appearance record for an outfield player.Beckham has twice been runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year and in 2004 was the world's highest-paid footballer when taking into account salary and advertising deals. Beckham was the first British footballer to play 100 Champions League matches. He was Google's most searched of all sports topics in both 2003 and 2004. With such global recognition he has become an elite advertising brand and a top fashion icon. When joining the MLS in 2007 he was given the highest player salary in the league's history, with his playing contract with the Galaxy over the next three years being worth $6.5m per year.

14. James Watt

James Watt (19 January 1736 –25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor and

mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both the Kingdom of Great Britain and the world.

15. Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820 –13 August 1910) was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. A Christian universalist, Nightingale believed that God had called her to be a nurse. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night. Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment, in 1860, of her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London, the first secular nursing school in the world. The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honour, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday.

Translation

1. 值得怀疑的是在人们最需要开心、快乐与放松的时候，是否能有人比卓别林带给人们更多的欢乐。

2．几乎U2所有的歌词都出自Bono之手，他常以政治、社会、宗教为主题。3．乐队解散后，他成功开创了自己的事业：成为一名独唱艺术家，后来作为Traveling Wilburys乐队中的一员，他还是电影、唱片制作人。

4．车祸中意外身亡，随后公众自发且长久地哀悼。

5．2003和2004两年中，他是谷歌体育类主题里搜索率最高的人物。

1. What is the greatest argument about public schools in Britain? Why are the public schools today no longer as superior and exclusive as they used to be?

The greatest argument for public schools, some people feel, is the strikingly high proportion of ex-public-schoolboys occupying senior posts in the government, the armed forces, the church, the universities, the professions, and even in business. This, they say, proves the superiority of a public school education. Others say that this is the greatest argument against public schools, since it simply proves the social exclusiveness and fovouritism. There is no doubt that the public schools are undemocratic, often snobbish, and they constitute the biggest barrier to social equality in modern England.

But the public schools are no longer as superior and as exclusive as they once were. Their prefect system, their house system and their tradition of sport have been widely adopted in state secondary schools, and many grammar schools have academic records which many a public school might envy. Moreover, many so-called public schools are dependent on an annual grant from the central government, in return for which they award between a quarter and a half of their places to pupils paying reduced fees or none at all. These schools admit pupils at eleven, just like grammar schools. All public schools too, except a few of recognised standard, are liable to be

inspected by the state. There is thus a gradual progress away from exclusiveness in British education. (p180-181)

(考题参考答案：

There have been arguments both for and against public schools in Britain.

The greatest argument for public schools, some people feel, is the strikingly high proportion of ex-public-schoolboys occupying senior posts in the government, the armed forces, the church, the universities, the professions, and even in business.

This, they say, proves the superiority of a public school education. Others say that this is the greatest argument against public schools, since it simply proves the social exclusiveness and favoritism.

The public schools today are no longer as superior and as exclusive as they used to be.

Firstly, their prefect system, their house system and their tradition of sports have been widely adopted in state secondary schools, and many grammar schools have academic records which many a public school might envy.

Secondly, many so-called public schools are dependent on an annual grant from the central government, in return for which they award between a quarter and a half of their places to pupils paying reduced fees or none at all.

Thirdly, all public schools too, except a few of recognized standard, are liable to be inspected by the State.

There is thus a gradual progress away from exclusiveness in British education.)

2. What is the major difference between the “quality” papers and “popular” papers? Use The Times and Daily Mirror as examples to show some of the characteristics of the “quality” paper and “popular” paper respectively.

The “quality” papers (内容较严肃的大报)(because they are printed on large-size paper) give more comprehensive coverage of all aspects of news. They carry more serious and in-depth articles of particular political and social importance. They also carry reviews and feature articles about high culture and will generally be read by well-educated, middle class audience. The “popular” papers, also called “the tabloids”, smaller format newspapers with colour photos and catchy headlines, aim for a more general readership. They are often called “the gutter press”because they deal in scandals and gossip, usually about famous people, whether in politics, sports or entertainment, and carry lots of crime, sports and sensational human interest stories. The stories are short, easy to read and often rely more on opinion than fact.

The Times (circulation approximately 340, 000) is the most famous of all British newspapers, and has always been the paper of the “Establishment”. It was the last of the papers to put news, instead of advertisements, on its front page. It made this change in the middle 1960s, when its circulation was still below 300, 000, and it was losing money. In 1967 it was taken over by the Thomson group, though its editorial independence was graranted. It became much less austere than before, and increased its circulation rapidly. The most important British people all over the world still read it,