英国概况Unit 1.docVIP

英美文化与国家概况 British and American Studies ( British Part ) Unit One 大学英语第一教研室 余非编 2013年2月 Unit 1 The Country and the People Contents: Geographic Features People and Religion Official and Local Languages ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Geographic Features Component （组成部分） To the west and off the European Continent, several thousand of islands exist on the Continental Shelf. They are generally called the British IslesOf all these isles, the largest one is called Great Britain（大不列颠；英国）. For the sake of convenience, Great Britain is often shorten to Britain. The island of Great Britain runs nearly 1,000 kilometers from south to north . It extends , at the widest part, about 500 kilometers from west to east. Still to the west of Great Britain is Ireland , the second largest island. It is politically divided into two parts, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国) is made up of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and a number of smaller islands around them. The total area of U.K. is over 245,000 square kilometers. Its total population is about 60.94million (2008) Traditionally, Great Britain is divided into three countries or political regions: England in the south Scotland in the north Wales in the southwest. England : The largest area of all the three Its area : almost 60% of the whole island Its population : over 50 million . The importance of England is so great in Britain that some foreigners just say “England” when they mean Britain, and they say the “English people” when they mean the British people. Scotland : The second largest both in area and population Its area : about 78,760 square kilometers Its population : more than 5 million. Wales The smallest of the three both in area and population Its area : about 20,700 square kilometers Its population : about 2.7 million