西⽅⽂化UNIT1
2. The effects of its imperial past
1) The days of empire ended after World War II. But there are close relationships which exist with the 50 or more colonies of that empire, and which maintain links through Commonwealth of Nations (⼆战后，帝国主义时代过去了。但是⼤英帝国的50多个殖民地之间仍然有着紧密的联系，这种联系主要通过英联邦这个组织来维系).
2) It has great effects on the makeup of the British population:
对英国的⼈⼝构成有着很⼤的影响
Because of the immigration from India, Pakistan, or Caribbean countries in the 1950s and1960s, 1 in 20 are non-European ethnicity (由于在20世纪50、60年代，来⾃印度、巴基斯坦或位于西印度岛与中南美洲海域的加勒⽐国家⼤量涌⼊英国，现在1/20的英国⼈是⾮欧洲⾎统的⼈).
3. Racial, gender, class, regional and economic differences in the society
1) a multi-racial society: most are Christians and because of
immigration, many are Muslims;
2) gender difference: male and female live different lives
3) class difference: the class structure of UK society is
Relatively obvious (A white-collar worker’s lives are very
different from a blue collar worker’s.)
●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
4. A significant role of London
1) capital city
2) in the south; largest city in the country; 1/7 of the nation’s population
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
England
1.A cultural and economic dominance of England
1）London dominant in the UK in government, finance
and culture
2) England’s dominance in size --- largest of the 4
nations with largest population is reflected in acultural
and economic dominance
Result: people in foreign countries and English people
sometimes mistake England for U.K in their talks.
2. The conquest of Britain (Before AD. 1st C., made up of many tribal kingdoms of Celtic people)
British history has been a history of invasions:
1).Before the 1st century AD British was made up of
many tribal kingdoms of Celtic people;
2). In 43 AD British was invaded by the Roman Empire,
and became part of the Roman Empire for nearly 400
years;
3). Then it came under threat from Germanic peoples ---
the Angles, and the Saxon;
4). From the late 8th century on, raiders from Scandinavia,
the ferocious Vikings threatened Britain’s shores; King
Alfred the great turned in the tide in the south against the
Vikings;
5). The next invaders were the French-speaking Normans,
from northern France, who were descendants of Vikings;
William the Conqueror
in 1066 crossed the English Channel,
and became William the First of England; the Tower of
London;
3. Legends
1). King Arthur and his Round Table, giving knights equal
precedence (优越) and showing knights’ demand for a
more democratic system (During Anglo-Saxon’s invasion)
2). Robin Hood hid in the forest, rebelled against Normans
and robbed from the rich to give to the poor (During the
period of Norman rule)
--- a clue to the English Character: a richly unconventional
interior life hidden by an external conformity
(体现英国⼈个性的迹象: 表⾯上似乎⼀致, 但实际上保持着⼀种强烈的独特的⽣活⽅式) 4. Parliament’s dominance over the throne
1）The next few hundred years following the Norman
invasion: join together the various parts of the British
Isle under English Rule, unite the kingdom internally and
externally
2) Power gradually transferred from the monarch to the
parliament
① Charles the First’s attempt to overrule parliament
in the 1640s led to a civil war in which parliamentary
forces were victorious, and the king was executed in
1649.
② England was ruled by parliament’s leader, Oliver Cromwell for
11 years. In 1660, the son of Charles I restored the monarchy and
was called Charles II (ruled 1660-1685, that is “Restoration” )??
③ Further conflicts between parliament and the king led to
removal of the Scottish house of Stuart and the final
establishment of parliament’s dominance over the throne in 1689.
James II (1685-1689) was the younger brother of Charles II.
After James II was overthrown, his daughter and daughter’s
husband Mary and William were imported from Holland to take the
throne. (1688, the “Bloodless Revolution” or “Glorious Revolution.”),
thus finally establishing parliament’s dominance over the throne.
Scotland
Basic facts about Scotland
1. Scotland is the most confident of its own identity because it
has previously spent a substantial period of history as a unified
state independent of the UK.
2. The largest city is Glasgow, and its capital is Edinburgh.
Both cities have ancient and internationally respected universities
dating from the 15th century.
3. Hadrian’s Wall（哈德良长城）: a stone wall
which the Roman emperor Hadrian ordered to
be built across the north of England in 122 AD
from the east coast to the west, in order to
defend Roman Britain from attack by northern
tribes such as Picts, the original Scottish Celts.
1. Physical features of Scotland
1) the 2nd largest of the 4 nations
2) most rugged (崎岖不平) part of UK, the most confident
of its own identity;
3) in the north --- the Highlands --- mountains and lakes
in the south --- the Southern Uplands?in the middle --- the
lowland zone with 3/4 of the population
4) Capital: Edinburgh --- east coast, famous for its beauty, dominated
by its great castle on a high rock largest city:
Glasgow --- in the west of Lowland zone
2. Cultural division between highland and lowland
1) Scotland was neither conquered by the Romans nor by
the Anglo-Saxons
2) Around the AD 6th C, people from Northern Ireland
invaded the South-west --- the lowland zone. ?
3) They were called Scots and gave the modern country of
Scotland its name
4) The original Scottish Celts, called the Picts (⽪克
特⼈) were left with the non-productive highland zone,
where in addition to English, some people speak the old
Celtic language — Gaelic (盖尔语).
The division between highland and lowland Scotland
remains a cultural divide today, in much the same way as
north and south England see themselves as different
from each other.
3. the Battle of Bannockburn (班诺克本战役)
Time: 24th June, 1314
Who: Scots under the leadership of Robert Bruce and English army Result: Scots were victorious, leading to 300 years of full independence 4. Union with England in 1707
1). In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died. James the 6th of Scotland took the throne, called James the First of England; uniting the two thrones
2). Scotland maintained its separate political identity.
3). In 1707, Scotland joined the Union by agreement of the English and Scottish Parliaments
4). Scotland sends 72 representatives to the London Parliament. In 1922, only 3 were from the Scottish Nationalist Party, wanting an independent Scotland; 49 was from the Labor Party, wanting to set
up a regional parliament for Scotland to manage its own internal affairs within the UK.?
5. Strong Scottish identity
Scotland has a great tradition of innovation in
the arts, philosophy and science.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde 《吉基尔医⽣与海德先⽣》
shows that: Scotland was superficially fully
integrated into the UK, but concealed beneath
this is a still-strong Scottish identity.
Wales
1. A brief introduction of Wales
1) capital: Cardiff, on the south coast
西印度岛位于2) rich coal deposits attract foreign investment from Japan
and U.S, etc.
--- new industries to replace coal and steel
3) smallest on the British mainland; close to central England;
hilly and rugged
4) retains a powerful sense of difference from England
5) retains its own language; 19% population speaking
2. Campaigns for independence of UK --- resist the English
1）1267, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (卢埃林·阿普·格鲁菲德), forced the English to acknowledge him as Prince of Wales by a military campaign, and unified Wales as an independent nation.
2) 1282, he was killed. The English King Edward I named his son the Prince of Wales, trying to bring Wales into the British nation.
3) 1400, Owain Glyndwr (欧⽂·格林道⽡尔) led an unsuccessful rising against the English.
4) 1536, Wales was brought legally into t
he UK by an act of the
British Parliament.
5) Wales sends 38 representatives to the London Parliament. 4 are from the Nationalist Party.
版权声明：本站内容均来自互联网，仅供演示用，请勿用于商业和其他非法用途。如果侵犯了您的权益请与我们联系QQ:729038198，我们将在24小时内删除。
发表评论