《新视野》第三册.docVIP

《新视野》第三册 Unit 1 Section A The Expensive Fantasy of Lord Williams 1. Pre-reading 1.1 Background information 1.1.1 Tomintoul Tomintoul (pronounced Tom-in-Towl) is a village which is the base camp for climbers and walkers in the area round the rivers Avon and Livet. Nearby, Cromdale and the Ladder Hills foreshadow the Cairngorm Mountains. 1.1.2 Scotland Scotland is one of four constituent nations which form the United Kingdom (the other three are England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Scotland forms the northern part of the island of Great Britain. Scotland is 31,510 sq. miles in area; it is 274 miles long from North to South and varies in breadth between 24 and 154 miles. The official language is English, although Gaelic is spoken, primarily in the North and West of Scotland. The national flower is the thistle, although the heather which covers significant moorland areas is also closely associated with the country, providing peat for the fire and, along with lichens, dyes for tartan. Scotland is divided into three main regions; the Highlands, the Midland Valley and the Southern Uplands. The cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee together with numerous towns, most of the population and the majority of Scotlands industry is located within the Midland Valley. This broad valley averages 50 miles across and runs WSW to ENE across the centre of the country. Scotland includes 787 islands, of which most belong to groups known as the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland. Only 62 exceed three square miles in area. Scotland is well known for its mountainous and beautiful scenery. Much of the upland within the UK is contained within the borders of Scotland, along with the highest peaks. 1.1.3 Irish Republican Army(IRA) The provisional Irish Republican Army [IRA] is an outgrowth of a group that fought for and won independence from Britain during the years 1916-1921, when Ireland was partitioned and the six northern counties reconstituted as the British province of Ulster or