Chapter one
★The land FULL NAME:
1.“United Kingdom of Great Britain And Northern ireland” 2.“Britain” comes from “Brythons” (300BC)
3.“England” comes from the “Anglo-saxon” conquerors. Means “Angla-land” , It also known as “Angles” LOCATION: 1.English islands are seperated by “North sea” “English channel “ “Dover strait”
2.50 degree and 60 degree north latitude 2 degree east and 8 degree west longitude 3.The prime meridian of 0 degree passes thorgh “Greenwich” 4.“on which sun never sets” LANDFORMS: 1.Lowland area : Midland, Southern and eastern England.
2.Highland area:pennines, the lake district, most of Wales and Scotland 3.England and Northern ireland are plains
4.Wales and scotland most are mountainous and highland. ★The rivers and lakes
1.The MOST IMPORTANT river: THE THAMES RIVER,passes through the centre of London. 2.The LONGEST river: THE SERVEN RIVER(流浪剑客之河，锤子长) 3.The MERSEY River: Manchester by a ship canal,port Liverpool. 4.The MOST BEAUTIFUL PART in English: THE LAKE DISTRICT. 5.The LARGEST LAKE:THE LAKE NEAGH NORTHERN IRELAND
★The Climate
1.temperate,maritime climate:damn,warm 2.London is a foggy city. 3.Rains a lot.less`sunny 4.Weathers are instable. ★Population
Including: ENGLISH (ANGLO-SAXON); SCOTTISH ; WELSH(CELTS) ; IRISH(CELTIS) ★Religion (most important part)
1.Conclusion: UK is a CHRISTIAN Country.
2.Established Church: THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
3.The head of church: Queen or king, crowned by archbishop of canterbury westminster Abbey. Henry VIII
4.Kinds: a.Protestantism(Free church)
b. non-christain religions: Buddhist, Jews, The Moslems
c.Roman catholic is quite weak cause of the failure of Roman colonists ★Major cities
London: The capital of England and UK. Inner outer Edinburgh: The capital of Scotland
Cardiff : The capital of Wales coal shipping port Belfast: The capital of Northern ireland.
Birmingham: The second largest city in Britain. Glascow: The largest city in Scotland.
Manchester: The oldest city in Britain and the centre of the textile industry.
Chapter Two
★Currency and banking:pound sterling
1. Old system: 1 pound = 20 shillings, 1 shillings= 12 pence 2.New system: 1 pound = 20 pence Cupronickel Coins: 50p 10p 5p Bronze: 2p 1p 0.5p
Paper:1 pound , 5pound, 10 pound, 20pound
3.The Bank of England is Britain’s Central bank. Both as a agent of government and for it’s own profits.
4.”Big Four” : Lloyd, Barclay, Midland, National westminster Bank group.
Chapter three
★The Monarchy
1. constitutional monarchy :Queen or king(Queen Elizabeth II)
2.Theoretically: The Monarchy has all the power----------“Head of government” ,”Pardon criminal”, “Commander-in-chief of army forces”, “The head of The church of England”, “Declearing war” 3.In reality: All the power rights are on the advice of prime minister. A formality of appointment. 4.Monarchy’s importance: a. Public attitude.
b. a symbol that queen seems helpful.
5.Her royal duties: a. Visiting many parts of Britainic, cheer those workers up. b.Paying visit to foreign countries. c.To other Commonwelth countries.
★Parliament
The Uk is a unitary, not a federal country.
Parliament is the supreme legislative authority in the realm.
Consists: Sovereign(queen,give out a speech), House of lord(consists of peers. The head names The Lord Chancellor.) , House of Commons(650member,elected from 650 constitiencies. The meeting places: A Chamber, named St.Stephen’s Chapel)
Mainfunction: debating, passing legislation and supervising the goverment and finance.
Method of legislation:a. Providing a bill by either The commons or lords. Lord cannot come up with any bills involving finance and money.
b. The house of lord Cannot delay nor involve the bills of finance ★Government
1. Britain is a constitutional Monarchal country. Prime minister and other ministers that they all are appointed by Queen.
2. A lot of ministers except for three specially titled ministers: The chancellor of the Exchequer(财政部长). The lord chancellor. 3.Civil Service
The civil service is non- political, servants will not get changed when government changed it’s
main leading party. Only by public competition.
4.The Cabinet, Prime minister decided that few people can get into this group. There are few ministers of important department, and some other ministers without department.
5.The Privy Council: All the ministers and ex-ministers. Gave as an honour, and entitled to the prefix “The right honourable” before their name.
6.The prime minister: Control both Cabinet and Parliament that as he is the leader of the majority party in the Commons. ★General Election 5 years a time.
Two principle parties: Conservative Party and the Labour Party.
Some people who cannot be the voter: people under 18. Peers, Lunatics, the people who have already has seat in the house of Lords , Churchman.
Chapter Four(History):
★Earliest man in Britain.
Iberians, from Iberian peninsula 3000BC,However, Only some stone monuments remained. Celts : 700BC
Two Celts invasions:
1. Gaels or Goidels , found in Ireland and Scotland. 2. Cymric and Brythons, found in wales. ★ Roman Britain
1. twice invaded by Roman troops under Julius Caesar in 55BC and 54BC 2. Roman province beginning of `5TH century 3. 410AD,Roman troops back to continent
4. 3 things of value:Welsh Christianity,the roman roadside, cities(London) ★ Angol-Saxon British
1. 5TH century three Teutonic groups,Angles,Saxons and Jutes, migrate from the region of
Denmark and the Low Countries and settle in British
2. by the end of 7th century all england had been Christianized,and by 737 the Church of
England had been well organized
3. the development of agriculture and trade(原因)
social class:king, earl, thegn, freeman, serfs
★ Feudal society
1. 1066,William of Normandy defeated english army at the battle of Hastings
After Norman Conquest, feudalism was established in england Social class:king, vassals, tenants
2. The Great charter:1215,limit the king’s power ★ Decline of feudalism
1. the hundred years’ war(1337-1453)
a feudal war, a trade war:accelerated the breakdown of feudal society,the burden on the feudal lords and merchant, the new bourgeoisie
2. black death:shortage of labour, wages and freedom to wage labours, accelerated the
breakdown of the manorial system