A Course of the Fundamentals of British and American Culture

英美文化基礎(chǔ)教程

王恩銘 主編

出版說明

大學(xué)英語教學(xué)指南

課程性質(zhì)定位：工具和人文

工具性：進(jìn)一步提高學(xué)生英語聽說讀寫譯的能力，獲得在學(xué)術(shù)或職業(yè)領(lǐng)域進(jìn)行交流的能力

人文性：文化載體，文化的組成部分，除了學(xué)習(xí)先進(jìn)的科技，還要了解國外的社會歷史與文化，增進(jìn)對不同文化的理解，對中外文化異同的意識

Contents

The United Kingdom

Chapter 1 The Country

Chapter 2 The People

Chapter 3 The Political System

Chapter 4 The British Economy

Chapter 5 Religion in Britain

Chapter 6 British Beliefs and Values

Chapter 7 Education in Britain

Chapter 8 Social Services

The United States of America

Chapter 1 The Country

Chapter 2 The People

Chapter 3 The Political System

Chapter 4 Capitalist Economy and Business Civilization

Chapter 5 Religion in Britain

Chapter 6 British Beliefs and Values

Chapter 7 Education in Britain

Chapter 8 Social Services

Chapter 1 The Country

Learning Objectives

1.Understand the geographical and physical features of the Unites Kingdom.

2.Know the characteristics of the climate and weather of the country.

3.Have an idea of what the four components of the UK are.

Project

What information about the UK can be inferred from its full name? Of the four components of the UK, which one is the largest and the most important one? And why?

Text

Physical Features

The official name of the UK is the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. Great Britain is the island that consists of England, Scotland and Wales, while Northern Ireland is physically separated but is part of the union with Great Britain. However, while the term “United Kingdom” is used on formal occasions such as government conferences and diplomatic dealings, in everyday conversation the term “Britain” is a widely accepted name for the nation. It is, however, noteworthy that it is incorrect to use the term “England” to refer to the whole country, as it might be offensive to people from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which are all equally integral parts of the United Kingdom.

The most notable geographical fact about the UK is that it is an island state. Situated north-west of the European Continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, the UK is separated from the northwest coast of France by the English Channel. The only land border connecting the UK to another country is between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In terms of its territory, the United Kingdom is made up of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and numerous smaller islands including the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, and the Scilly, Orkney, Shetland, and Hebridean archipelagos.

The United Kingdom is a small nation in physical size. With an area of about 243,000 square kilometers, the UK is about 1,000 kilometers from the south coast to the extreme north and less than 500 kilometers from east to west at the widest point. Due to its small size, height, length, or climate in this country. It has no great mountain chains, no great rivers, no large lakes, and no sweeping forests.

At the same time, though, the UK is notable for variety of its landscapes, from flatlands to hills and mountains. Such variety is the product of a combination of geological and climatic change over time, and of centuries of human activity. In fact, Britain boasts of having one of the richest and most diverse sets of geological features of any country in the world: examples of most of the different types of rocks, soils, mineral and land forms found elsewhere in the world can be found somewhere here in the UK.

Topographically, Great Britain can be divided into two major natural regions - a highland zone and a lowland zone. The highland zone is a region of high hill and mountains in the north and west that are frequently broken by valleys and plains, which includes Scotland, Wales and parts of England. The lowland zone, which lies in the south and east of Great Britain and occupies most of England, consists mostly in rolling plains broken up by chains of low hills.

There are many rivers and lakes in Britain. But due to the small size of the country itself, the rivers are never very long, nor are the lakes impressively large. The longest river, the Severn, is just 354 kilometers in length. However, it's the second largest river that enjoys the great significance in Britain - the Thames. It flows through Oxford and London and drains rainfall from large areas of central England along the Trent and Mersey rivers.?

District, located in northwest England and comprising 15 major beautiful lakes, has become a popular tourist destination in the country, mainly because of its association with the Lake Poets from the 19th century.