PUZZLES-IN-GEOGRAPHY逐句翻译.doc

PUZZLES IN GEOGRAPHY 1.People may wonder why different words are used to describe these four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 人们可能会奇怪为什么用不同的词语来描述英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰和北爱尔兰这四个国家。You can clarify this question if you study British history. 如果你研究英国的历史，你就能够弄明白这个问题。First there was England. Wales was linked to it in the thirteenth century. 首先是英格兰。威尔士于公元13世纪就同英格兰联合起来了。 Now when people refer to England you find Wales included as well. 如今只要有人提起英格兰，你就会发现威尔士总是包括在内的。Next England and Wales were joined to Scotland in the seventeenth century and the name was changed to Great Britain. 然后，于17世纪英格兰、威尔士同苏格兰联合起来，名字改为大不列颠。 Happily this was accomplished without conflict when King James of Scotland became King of England and Wales as well. 令人庆幸的是，当苏格兰的詹姆士国王成为英格兰和威尔士的国王时，这三个国家在无（军事）冲突的情况下实现了联合。Finally the English government tried in the early twentieth century to form the United Kingdom by getting Ireland connected in the same peaceful way. 最后在20世纪初通过同样的和平方式，英国政府尽力把爱尔兰也纳入进来，组成了联合王国。However, the southern part of Ireland was unwilling and broke away to form its own government. 然而，爱尔兰的南部却不情愿这样并分离出去建立了自己的政府。So only Northern Ireland joined with England, Wales and Scotland to become the United Kingdom and this was shown to the world in a new flag called the Union Jack. .因此只有北爱尔兰同英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰联合起来组成了联合王国，这一点从新的联合王国国旗（“联合杰克”）上就可以看得出来。To their credit the four countries do work together in some areas (eg, the currency and international relations), but they still have very different institutions. 值得称赞的是：这四个国家在一些方面（比方说在货币和国际关系上），它们的确是共同合作的，但是有些制度仍然区别很大。For example, Northern Ireland, England and Scotland have different educational and legal systems as well as different football teams for competitions like the World Cup! 例如，北爱尔兰、英格兰和苏格兰在教育体制和立法体制上都存在着差异，并且它们有着各自的足球队参加像世界杯之类的比赛！England is the largest of the four countries, and for convenience it is divided roughly into three zones. 在这四个国家中，英格兰是最大的。为了方便，它大致可以划分为三个地区。The zone nearest France is called the South of England, the middle zone is