英国基本知exercise about the UK.doc

Exercises 1 I. decide whether the following states are true (T) or false (F). 1. The United Kingdom is located in southern Europe. 2. The United Kingdom consists of four political divisions — England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. 3. England is one of the two large islands in the British Isles. 4. The British Isles are made up of three large islands and hundreds of small ones. 5. Wales lies on the east coast of the island of Great Britain. 6. The Commonwealth of Nations is a free association of independent countries which has 54 members. 7. In Scotland, rugged mountains, green valleys, and deep, blue lakes provide some of the most beautiful scenery in Europe. 8. The longest river in Britain is the Thames. 9. The largest lake in Britain is the Lough Neagh in northwest England. 10. Britain’s climate is influenced by the Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current that sweeps up from the equator and flows past the British Isles. The English, the Scots, and the Welsh are Anglo-Saxons, but the Irish are Celts. London and England as a whole have great influence over the rest of the United Kingdom because of their large population. People of Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi origin are the largest group of immigrants in Britain. Compared to the rest of the world, the UK has a smaller percentage of older people and a higher percentage of younger people. The Welsh language is the official language in Wales. Scottish Gaelic is the official language in Scotland. The English language is the predominant language in Northern Ireland. English people all strive to free themselves of regional or local accents in order to sound like educated English-speaking people. Social class in the UK lays more emphasis on money and property. Britishness is associated with political, historical, technological, sporting, and cultural achievements in Britain. The first Roman invasion took place in 43 AD, headed by the Emperor Julius Caesar. The name “England” derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic