英语国家概况译文.docVIP

CHAPTER ONE LAND AND PEOPLE Different Names for Britain and its Parts When people refer to Britain, they often use different names such as Britain, Great Britain, England, the British Isles, the United Kingdom or the U. K. Do they mean the same thing? 当人们提及英国时，常用不同的名称，如不列颠、英格兰、不列颠群岛、联合王国，以及缩写的U.K…这些不同的称呼是不是指向相同的事物？ Strictly speaking, the British Isles, Great Britain and England are all geographical names. They are not the official name of the country. The British Isles are made up of the two large islands—Great Britain and Ireland and hundreds of small ones. The two large islands are Great Britain and Ireland. Britain, or Great Britain, is the larger of the two islands. It forms the United Kingdom with Northern Ireland——the northern part of Ireland. So the official name of the United Kingdom is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But it is too much of a mouthful to say such a long name for a country, so people just say Britain, the United Kingdom or simply U. K. This is one country on the British Isles and its capital is London. There is another country called the Republic of Ireland or Eire on the British Isles. It takes up the reminder of Ireland——the southern part of Ireland. It has been an independent republic since 1949 and its capital is Dublin. 严格地说，不列颠群岛、大不列颠群岛和英格兰都是地理名称。它们并不是这个国家的官方名称。英伦群岛由两个大点的岛屿大不列颠和爱尔兰及上百个小岛屿组成。两个大岛是大不列颠和爱尔兰群岛。不列颠或称大不列颠是这两个岛屿中较大的那一个。它与爱尔兰岛的北部——北爱尔兰——组成联合王国。因此，联合王国的正式名称叫大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国。但是一口气说出这样长的一个国家的名称太拗口，因此人们只说不列颠、联合王国，或者更简单地称U.K…它是大不列颠群岛上的一个国家，首都是伦敦。岛上还有另外一个叫做爱尔兰共和国或称爱尔兰的国家。占据了爱尔兰的其余部分——爱尔兰南部。1949年始成为读丽共和国，首都是都柏林。 There are three political divisions on the island of Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. England is the largest, most populous, and generally the richest section. So people tend to use England and English when they mean Britain and British. This sometimes annoys the Scots or the Welsh who do not regard themselves as English and who have a culture and even a language of their own. 大不列颠岛