英美概况复习大纲.docVIP

复习大纲 Volume One An Outline Introduction to Britain Lecture I Land Area, Names and position of Britain 1。 Land Area Total area of the whole country is 240,000skms with 230,000skms of Great Britain, the air-distance of Britain from south to north being 1,000kms and 500kms from west to east。 The whole population is about 56,000,000 General view 2.Questions on the Names Where are the British Isles? Where is Britain? Where is England? Where is Scotland? Where is Wales? Where is “Ireland” Where is Northern Ireland? What is the Northern Ireland Problem? What is IRA? Where is the UK----The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland? What is the difference between UK, Britain and England? Map of Great Britain and Northern Ireland England The largest (takes up 60% of the whole island) Most populous (makes up 85% of the country’s whole population) The richest section Economic cultural center(p.2) “We English people take this too much for granted, and tend to use the words ‘England’ and ‘English’ when we mean ‘Britain’ and ‘British’。 This sometimes annoys the Scots and Welsh” (data from other sources) Northern-Ireland problem What is IRA? What is the serious headache of UK over the Northern-Ireland problem? (ref. to p.6-7) Northern Ireland, also known as Ulster, has a population of one and a half million. About 1/3 of them are Roman Catholics who are not glad to see the unification with Great Britain dominated by Protestantism. The Catholic extremists organized the Irish Republican Army to continue their struggle. The goal of IRA is to oust the English and unify Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. The guerrillas resort to terrorist campaigns of bombing, murdering and arson. They even launched mortar attacks on London’s Heathrow Airport; their political wing is known as Sinn Fein. The bloody political and sectarian fighting in N.I. has promoted Brit. and N.I. to reach an agreement known as Downing Street Declarat