英语国家概况
A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES
Part One The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
第一部分大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国
第一章国土与人民Chapter 1 Land and People
Ⅰ.英国的不同名称及其区域1. Different Names for Britain and its Parts
人们说到英国时常常使用不同的名称:不列颠、大不列颠、英格兰、不列颠群岛、联合王国等。这些名
称一样吗?还是有所区别? 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? Or are they different?
严格地讲，不列颠诸岛、大不列颠和英格兰都是地理名称。它们并不是这个国家的正式名称。不列颠
诸岛是由两个大岛和几百个小岛组成的。两个大岛是不列颠岛和爱尔兰岛，其中不列颠岛较大，它与爱尔
兰岛的北部一北爱尔兰构成联合王国。因此，联合王国的正式国名是大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国。但一
口气说出这么长的国名太费事，因此，人们就说不列颠，联合王国或简单地说UK。这是不列颠岛上的一
个国家，首都是伦敦。另外还有一个国家，叫爱尔兰共和国或称爱尔兰，也位于不列颠岛上。它占据了爱
尔兰岛的其余部分，在岛的南部。1949 年始爱尔兰独立，首都是都柏林。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 two large islands and hundreds of small ones. The two large islands are Great Britain and
Ireland. Great Britain is the larger of these 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 remainder of Ireland—the southern part of Ireland. It has been an independent republic since 1949 and its capital is Dublin.
大不列颠岛上有三个政治区:英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士。英格兰面积最大、人口最多，一般说来也最富
裕。因此人们常用英格兰指代英国，用英格兰人指代英国人。这有时令苏格兰人和威尔士人不快，他们不
认为自己是"英格兰人"，他们有自己的文化，甚至有自己的语言。There are three political divisions on the
island of Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. England is the largest, most populous and generally speaking 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.
英国一直是世界上最重要的国家之一。约一百年前，由于推行帝国主义扩张政策，英国成为一个帝国，
这个帝国占有世界上四分之一的人口，四分之一的面积。它不仅在北美，而且在亚洲、非洲和澳洲都有殖
民地。但是两次世界大战大大削弱了英国，英国殖民地接二连三独立，大英帝国逐渐消失，1931 年由英
联邦所取代。Britain has been one of the most important countries in the world. About a hundred years ago, as a result of its imperialist expansion, Britain ruled an empire that had one fourth of the world’s people and one fourth of the world’s land area. It had colonies not only in North America, but also in Asia, Africa and Australia. However, the two world wars greatly weakened Britain. The British Empire gradually disappeared and it was replaced by the British Commonwealth or the Commonwealth of Nations in 1931.
英联邦是一个自由联合体，由曾经是英国殖民地变为现已独立的国家构成。成员国之间实行经济合作，
有一定的贸易协议。英联邦没有特别的权力，是否参加英联邦由各成员国自己决定。目前( 1991 年) ，英
联邦有50 个成员国。The commonwealth (of Nations) is a free association of independent countries that were once colonies of Britain. Member nations are joined together economically and have certain trading arrangements. The commonwealth has no special powers. The decision to become a member of the commonwealth is left to
