英语国家概况 P17
1. Britain is now a multiracial society which produces a population of which 1 in 20 are of non-European ethnicity.
2. Britain is a country with a history of invasions. In 43 AD Britain was invaded by the Roman Empire in the 11th century they suffered invasions from Normans.
3. Charles the first, king of Britain, was executed, because he attempted to overthrow parliament in the English Revolution.
4. Name two Scottish cities which have ancient and internationally respected universities: Edinburgh and Glasgow.
5. Both the Scottish and Welsh people elect their members of parliaments to the London Parliament and each holds 72 and 38 seats respectively. P47
6. The doctrine of the “divine right of kings” held that the sovereign derived his authority from God not from his subjects. 7. During the civil war in the 17th century, those who represented the interests of Parliament aare called roundheads, and those who supported the King were called loyalists.
8. In 1215, some feudal barons and the Church forced King John to sign the Magna Carta to place some limits on the King’s power.
9. In medical times, kings would summon a group of wealthy barons and representatives of countries, towns and cities—called the Great Council to raise money.
10. In 1689, Parliament passed the Bill of Rights to ensure that the king would never be able to ignore Parliament.
11. In Britain, the official head of state is the Queen while the real centre of political life is in the House of Commons. 12. Strictly speaking, the Parliament today consist of the Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
13. Life peers should be nominated by Prime minister and appointed by the sovereign. P67
14. The UK is divided into 650 constituencies with each of them represented by a member in the parliament.
15. The party which wins the majority seats in parliament forms the government and its party leader becomes the Prime Minister. 16. Normally, a government can be in power for 5 years, and then it has resign and hold a general election.
17. National Health Service was established by the Labour government in 1948, providing health care for all the people.
18. One distinctive feature about the class system in British is that it still retains a hereditary aristocracy.
P117
19. Two famous public schools mentioned in the text are Eton and Winchester.
20. Children in Britain must receive a full-time education legally from the age of five to sixteen.
21. Pupils from the age of 5 to 11 mainly attend state-run primary schools.
22. Students attend secondary schools from the age of 11 up to around the age of 19.
23. Comprehensive schools provide a general education, teaching students everything from academic subjects like literature and science to more practical subjects like cooking and carpentry. 24. Name two of the four Scottish Universities dating from the 14th and 15th centuries St. Andrews and Glasgow. 25. In Britain, people can go to the Open University without having any formal educational qualifications.
26. GCSE stands for General Certificate of secondary Education 27. GCEA stands for General Certificate of Education-Advanced 28. GNVQs stands for General National Vocational Qualifications 名词解释
1. The Anglo-Saxons They were two groups of Germanic peoples who settled down in
England from the 5th century. They were regarded as the ancestors of th English and the founders of England. 2. The Bill of Rights of 1689 In 1688, King James II’s daughter Mary and her husband William were invited by the politicians and church authorities to take the throne, on condition that they would respect the rights of parliament. The Bill of Rights was passed in 1689 to ensure that the King would never be able to ignore Parliament. 3. The Constitution Britain has no written Constitution. The foundations of the British state are laid out in statute law, which are laws established through common practice in the courts; and conventions. 4. The functions of Parliament The function of Parliament are: to pass laws, to vote for taxation, to scrutinize government policy, administration and expenditure and to debate the major of the day. 5. The House of Lords
The House of Lords consists of the Lords Spiritual, who are the Archbishops and most prominent bishops of the Church of the England; and the Lords Temporl, which refers to those lords who either have inherited the seat from their forefathers or they have been appointed. The Lords mainly represented themselves instead of
the interests of the public. 6. The House of Commons The House of Commons is the real center of British political life because it is the place where about 650 elected representatives (Members of Parliament) make and debate policy. These MPs are elected in the General Elections and should represent the interests of the people who vote for them.
7. Comprehensive schools
Comprehensive schools are the most popular secondary schools in Britain today. Such schools admit children without reference to their academic abilities and provide a general education. Pupils can study everything from academic subjects like literature to more practical subjects like cooking. 8. Grammar schools It is a type of secondary schools in Britain .Grammar schools select children at the age 11, through an examination called “the 1-plus”. Those children with the highest marks go to grammar schools. These schools lay emphasis on advanced academic subjects rather than the more general curriculum of the comprehensive schools and expect many of their pupils to go on to universities. 9. Independent schools