Unit 2 The United Kingdom
第二单元 英国
Reading
阅读
Puzzles in Geography
地理之谜
People may wonder why different words are used to describe these four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
人们也许觉得奇怪，为什么用来描述英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰和北爱尔兰这四个国家的词语不太一样。
You can clarify this question if you study British history.
但如果你学过英国历史，就能弄清楚这个问题。
First there was England.
首先是英格兰。
Wales was linked to it in the thirteenth century.
威尔士于13世纪同英格兰联合了起来。
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".
接着，英格兰、威尔士同苏格兰于17世纪联合了起来，名字就改成了“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，当苏格兰的詹姆斯国王成为英格兰和威尔士的国王时，这三个国家和平地实现了联合。
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，英国政府打算于20世纪初把爱尔兰也同另外三个国家和平联合起来以形成联合王国。
However, the southern part of Ireland was unwilling and broke away to form its own government.
然而，爱尔兰的南部却不愿组建联合王国，它分离出去，并建立了自己的政府。
So only Northern Ireland joined with England, Wales and Scotland to become the United Kingdom
因此只有北爱尔兰同英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰联合起来，
and this was shown to the world in a new flag called the Union Jack.
而组成了联合王国，这一点从新的联合王国国旗上就可以看得出来。
To their credit the four countries do work together in some areas (eg, the currency and international relations) ,
值得赞扬的是，这四个国家的确在一些方面共同合作，例如在货币和国际关系方面；
but they still have very different institutions.
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
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。
as well as different football teams for competitions like the World Cup!
在参加像世界杯之类的比赛时，它们有着各自的足球队。
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。为了方便起见，它大致可以划分为三个地区。
The zone nearest France is called the South of England,
最靠近法国的那个地区叫做英格兰南部，
the middle zone is called the Midlands and the one nearest to Scotland is known as the North.
中部地区叫做英格兰中部，最靠近苏格兰的那个地区叫做英格兰北部。
