The Cociety And Culture Of Major English-Speaking Countries An Introduction.doc

Unit 1 A Brief Introduction to the United KingdomI 1. The full name of the UK is ________________________________________. 2. Four parts: _________ 3. The national anthem ：“God save the queen” --- National flower：Rose --- National bird： redbreast/robin 4. one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a founding member of NATO, and of the Commonwealth, Member of European Union (1937) and the Group of seven (1985) 5. the Group of Seven: the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy and Canada 6. The effects of its imperial past: 1) It helps maintain close links among many countries which used to be its colonies. 2) It has great effects on the makeup of the multiracial society. 7. Racial, class, regional and economic differences in the society: 1) a multi-racial society: most are Christians and because of immigration, many are Muslims; 2) class difference: the class structure of UK society is relatively obvious （3） Economic and regional difference within each of the 4 countries: 1) difference between highland and lowland Scots 2) difference between north and south England (South is on average more wealthy than the north) 8. A significant role of London 1) capital city 2) in the south; largest city in the country 3) culture center 4) business center 5) financial center, one of the 3 major international financial centers in the world (another two are New York and Hong Kong ) 6) long-standing historical role in the UK 9. British history has been a history of invasions. (1) Roman Invation ---first landing in 55 BC led by Julius Caesar ---complete control over the land in 43 AD ---Result: England and Wales became a part of Roman Empire for nearly 400 years. (2) Anglo-Saxon Invasion ---In the mid-5th century a new wave of invaders, Jutes, Saxons, and Angles came to Britain, they were three Germanic tribes. ---Result: Anglo-Saxon invaders were the founders of “Angle-land”----England (3) The Vikings’Invasion ---From the late 8th century on, the