The official name of Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. People usually say Britain, the United Kingdom or simply UK. This is one country on the British Isles and the capital is London.

 

2. The British Empire

About a hundred years ago, as result of its imperialist expansion, Britain ruled and empire that had one fourth of the world’s people and one fourth of the world’s land area. The two world wars greatly weakened Britain. The British Empire gradually disappeared and it was replaced by the British Commonwealth or the Commonwealth of Nation in 1931.

 

3. The Roman Occupation

The Roman first invaded Britain in 55 B.C. It was not until AD43 that they eventually conquered the Celts living in what is today England and Wales. The Roman Occupation of Britain lasted for nearly 400 years, but it was never a total occupation, so the Romans did not leave very much impact upon the Britons.

 

4.The Magna Carta

Also known as the Great Charter, it was a document signed in 1215 by King John under compulsion by the powerful barons. Its purpose was to make the monarch recognize the rights of the barons , or in other words, to limit the powers of the monarch. It has been popularly regarded as an important political document in the history of England.

 

5.The English Renaissance

(1)Renaissance was a cultural movement in Europe from the 14th century to the 16th century.

(2)It originated in Italy and began to come to England in the late 15th century.

(3)The English Renaissance was largely literary, and achieved its finest expression in poetry, drama and prose.

(4)The greatest Literary writer of the English Renaissance was William Shakespeare.

 

6.The Reform Act of 1832

(1)It is also known as the Greater Charter of 1832, it was passed by Parliament in 1832.

(2)According to the Act, “rotten boroughs” were abolished, and parliamentary seats were redistributed more fairly among the growing industrial towns.

(3)It also gave the vote to many householder and tenants who were required to have certain property.

 

7. Charles Darwin

(1) A famous British scientist in the 19th century.

(2) He has been especially remembered for his important book “The Origins of Species” in which he developed his theory of evolution.

(3) The theory of evolution caused evident reaction of the Victorians and contributed to the decay(消亡) of Victorianism.

 

8. the Victorian Age

(1)It refers to the monarchy of Britain under Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, the longest reign in British history.

(2)The Victorian Age was an age of national development and national optimism.

(3)The Victorians were very religious and conservative in family life. It was also, in its later stages, an age of imperialism.

 

9. the Statute of Westminster

(1) In 1931, the British Parliament passed a bill which later has been known as the Statute of Westminster, according to which, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Southern Ireland, New Foundland and South Africa turned into “Dominions”.

(2) These self-governing dominions enjoyed the right of self-government both internally and externally, although they still regarded the British monarch as their head of state (Southern Ireland and South Africa later became completely independent and New Foundland became part of Canada).

(3) This marked the disruption of the British Empire and the establishment of the British Commonwealth.

 

10. The European Economic Community

(1) Also known as the Common Market, it was established by the Treaty of Rome on January 1, 1958.

(2) Originally it was composed of six Western European countries——France, West Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg.

(3) Britain did not become a full member of the Community until 1973. Today, there are altogether 12 members in the Community.

 

11. Thatcher’s Privatization

(1) It was one of the major reforms adopted by Mrs. Thatcher’s government in the 1980s.

(2) It was a return of the state enterprises nationalized in the 1940s and 1950s to privatization, that is to be returned to the private hands again.

(3)major privatizations included British Petroleum, British Aerospace, British Telecom, British Airways,British Steel,National Bus Company, etc.

(4) It was an attempt to cure the “British disease”, and was successful to some extent.

 

12. Invisible earnings (无形收益)

(1) The wealth created by Britain’s service industries is called invisible earnings.

(2) Invisible earnings fall into three main types: receipts and payments for services supplied abroad, interests, profits and dividends arising out of British investment overseas and foreign currency brought into the country by visiting tourists.

(3) Britain’s invisible earnings are second only to that of the United States.

 

13. the British Constitution

It is not written in any single document. It is made up of Statute law, common law and Conventions. It is more flexible than the written constitution of other countries.

 

14. British Parliament

It includes three elements: the Crown, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It is the Supreme law-making authority in Britain. The real center of parliamentary power lies in the House of Commons. Its other functions include: to control and criticize the executive government; to control the raising and the spending of money.

 

15. the Jury System

(1) A legal System that has been established in England since the time of King Henry II.

(2) In England the jury consists of 12 ordinary, independent citizens summoned by the court.

(3) The jury does not pass sentence, but decides the issue of guilt or innocence.

 

16. The Civil Law

The Civil Law deals with disputes between individuals about their rights, duties and obligations; and dealing between individuals and companies, and between on company and another.

 

17. “either way” offences

“either way” offences refer to theft, the less serious cases of burglary (盗窃) and some assaults (袭击,人身攻击).

 

18. the Church of England

(1) Also called the Anglican Church, it is one of the many Protestant sects (教派) which broke away from Roman Catholic church during the Reformation in the 16th century.

(2) It is an established church which means that it represents the official state religion.

(3) Its religious leader is the Archbishop of Canterbury and its secular (世俗的) leader is the British Monarch.

 

19. Free churches

(1) Also known as Non-Conformist Churches in England, Free churches are protestant sect that have separated from the established church of England. (2) These include the Methodist, the Congregational, the Baptist, and the Quakers, and many others. (3) All these sects agree on the essentials of Christianity, but have different forms of service and points of emphasis.

 

20. The Quakers (贵格派或教友派)

(1) Also known as the Religious Society of Friends. The Quakers are a Protestant group that originated in England in the 17th century, under George Fox.(2) They refuse to participate in the church of England services.(3) They advocate simple living and hard work and believe in complete equality and fraternity(兄弟般友情).

 

21. The welfare state

(1) It is a system of government by which the state provides the economic and social security of its citizens through its organization of health services, pensions, and other facilities.

(2) Britain began to try this system in the postwar years and it has ever since been regarded as a welfare state.

 

22. The “eleven plus”

(1) Under the old selective system of secondary education in Britain, the “eleven plus” is the examination taken by children in their last year at primary school.

(2) The results of this examination determine the kind of secondary schooling each child will receive.

(3) Those with the highest marks go to grammar school; other children may go to technical schools or secondary modern schools.

(4) In the 1960s and 70s, this examination was abolished and has ever since gradually been replaced by comprehensive schools which take children of all abilities.

 

23. Grammar schools

(1) It is a type of state secondary schools in Britain. It has been in existence since the 16th century.

(2) These schools concentrate on academic subjects and expect many of their children to take higher examinations and go on to universities.

(3) Now, its importance in the British educational system has been largely diminished due to the growth of comprehensive schools.

 

24. Pubic school

(1) It is a kind of independent privately-owned secondary boarding schools in Britain.

(2) These schools are financially supported by tuition fees and private funds.

(3) Most of their students come from rich families and are very likely to go on to famous universities.

(4) The word “public” is a traditional one with little meaning today since far from being public these schools are restricted to a comparatively small section of the population.

 

25. Prep schools (准备学校)

(1) Also called preparatory schools. They are private elementary schools in Britain, which prepare their students for public schools. (2) The prep school curriculum differs considerably from that of the state junior schools, and there is a distinctive emphasis on classical subjects. (3) At the age of thirteen, the pupils will take the “common entrance” examination for admission to a public school.

 

26. Open University

(1) As a new type of higher education, Open University only appeared in Britain in 1969.

(2) It is open to everybody, especially to people who have missed the opportunity for higher education.

(3) It does not demand the same formal qualification as the other universities.

(4) It uses modern communications means such as television, radio or correspondence.

(5) It is non-residential although there is a network of study centers throughout the country for contact with tutors and fellow students.

(6) After passing the examinations of all required course, students are awarded a university degree.

 

27. The Times

(1) It is the most famous of all British national newspapers and is read by the most important British all over the world. (2) Politically it is independent, though it is traditionally inclined to be more sympathetic to the Conservative Party. (3) It is not an organ (候属) of the British Government and has a reputation for extreme caution is its attitude.

 

28. BBC

(1) It is the abbreviation of British Broadcasting Corporation.(2) It has both radio and television services.

(3) For radio broadcasting, it uses 39 languages and broadcasts to the whole world.(4) There is no advertisement on any BBC program.(5) It is financed by payments which must be made by all people who own television sets.(6) It has a Board of Governors, who are appointed by the Government.

 

29. Great Famine

(1) The Great Famine in 1845 marks the end of one era and the beginning of another in the social history of Ireland. (2) The population of Ireland declined drastically and many desperately poor people took ships to either Great Britain or across the Atlantic to US or Canada. Thus today many Americans are of Irish origin.

 

30. Irish nationalism

(1) Nationalism is deeply rooted in Irish people’s minds after centuries of persecution and deprivation.

(2) It became stronger and even more violent in the early decades of the 20th century and climaxed in the Easter Uprising of 1916 in which an Irish Republic was proclaimed.

(3) Nowadays, Irish nationalism is one of the toughest problems for the British government in dealing with Northern Ireland, which is still in the power of Great Britain.

 

31. IRA

(1) Unofficial semi-military organization based in the Republic of Ireland.

(2) It was created in Jan, 1919 as successor to the Irish Volunteers, a militant group founded in 1913.

(3) Its purpose was to render British rule in Ireland ineffective by the use of armed forces and thus to assist in achieving the broader political objective of an independent republic.

(4) It gained its notorious fame in 60s and 70s as it was responsible for many bombing, accessioning and kidnapping.

 

32. Oireachtas

(1) Orieachtas is Irish parliament.(2) It was two House of Representative (Dail) and the Senate (Seanad).(3) Under the Constitution, the Orieachtas has the Sole power of making laws.(4) Member to the Dail are called TDs.(5) Both TDs and Senators are elected for five-year terms.

 

33. Taoiseach

(1) Taoiseach is Irish Prime Minister, appointed by the president. He/She is responsible of the nomination of other members of government, although it is the president who appoints them.

(2) The prime minister has no limits for the service in the Oireachtas.

(3) He/She holds office either until he/she chooses to resign or until he/she loose the support of the majority in the Dail.

 

34. Seanad

(1) Seanad is Irish Senate.(2) Unlike other nations Ireland gives less power to the Seanad.(3) It only has complementary powers with the Dail in broad areas such as the removal from office of a president or judge, etc.(4) But the Seanad has other powers.(5) A Petition to the president to decline to sign a bill until the matter can be put before the people in referendum requires the assent of a majority of the members of the Seanad.

 

35. the South

(1) The American South stretches two thirds of the way across the continent. It includes thirteen states.

(2) They are Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

 

36. the geographical characteristics of the United States.

(1) The first characteristic is its vast area.(2) The United States spreads from the Pacific coast to the forth largest country in the world in size.(3) The second characteristic is its diversity of land features.(4) It has land features like forest, desert, mountains, plateaus, plains and one of the world’s largest river systems.

 

37. the sunbelt areas

(1) The sunbelt areas refer to the West and the South.

(2) They are characterized by a warm, sunny climate and regarded as the areas of rapid population and economic growth.

 

38. the Bill of Rights

(1) In 1789, James Madison introduced in the House of Representatives a series of amendments which later were drafted into twelve proposed amendments and sent to the states for ratification.

(2) Ten of them were ratified in 1791 and this first ten amendments to the constitution were called the Bill of Rights because they were to insure individual liberties.

 

39. Abolitionists

They were people, mostly Northern humanitarians, who strongly opposed slavery and aimed to abolish the system.

 

40. the Constitutional Convention

(1) Since 1781, the thirteen states had been governed by the Articles of Confederation which set up a very weak central government.

(2) In May, 1787, the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia with instructions to revise the Articles of Confederation.

(3) After much debate, the Constitution was later ratified.

 

41. the Federalist Papers

(1) During the ratification period, beginning on October 27, 1787, the newspapers of New York City carried at shat intervals a total of 85 letter to the public written under the name of Publius.

(2) Later it was known that these letters were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay and there letter came to be called the Federalist Papers.

 

42. the Compromise of 1850

(1) With the territorial expansion towards the west, the problem of whether slavery should be allowed to spread into the new states arose.

(2) The Compromise of 1850 was passed which allowed California to be accepted as a free state, New Mexico and Utah to be organized as territories without legislation either for or against slavery and a more efficient machinery to be set up for returning runaway slaves to their masters.

 

43. the Big Four

It refers to the four most influential countries after the WWI. They were the Unite States, Britain, France and Italy.

 

44.Henry Ford

He was one of the most admired businessmen in the 1920s. He introduced the assembly line into automobile production.

 

45. the black Thursday

It refers to the day of October 24, 1929. On that day the New York stock market collapsed and the Great Depression began.

 

46. the Great Depression

(1) It refers to the economic depression started from the New York stock market collapse on October 24, 1929.

(2) After that, thousands of bands and businesses failed.

(3) Many people lost their jobs.

(4) It was due the New Deal started in 1933 and the defense build up before and during the WW II, that the United States finally recovered from the Great Depression.

 

47. George Kennan

(1) George Kennan was a high-ranking official in the American embassy to Moscow.

(2) He sent a long telegram to the State Department and suggested the containment policy towards the Soviet Union.

 

48. McCarthyism

(1) Senator Joseph R. McCarthy started a campaign of wild accusation and arrests in 1950.(2) His full-scale anti-Communist hysteria was called McCarthyism.(3) In 1954 he was condemned by the Senate and McCarthyism ended.

 

49. Brown vs Board of Education

(1) It was a legal case in May, 1954.(2) The Supreme Court judged that the doctrine of “separate but equal” had no place and paved the way of desegregation in education.

 

50. the War Power Act

(1) The Vietnam War led to contradiction between Congress and the Executive.(2) The War Power Act was passed to limit the President’s power in sending troops abroad and required the President to consult Congress before any such decision.

                                                                                                                                 

51. the Berlin Blockade

(1) The Soviet Union blocked the Western routes to the jointly occupied city of Berlin in June, 1948.

(2) It wanted to object the merging of three western-occupied zones of Germany and their currency reform.

(3) The United States used airlift and it proved to be successful.(4) The Soviet Union lifted the blockade in May, 1949.

 

52. the Wheat Belt

(1) The Wheat Belt is located near the Corn Belt in the Midwest.(2) Due to the two types of wheat that are grown, there are the Spring Wheat Belt, which covers western Minnesota, nearly all of North Dakota, northern South Dakota and northern Montana, and the Winter Wheat Belt, which covers nearly all of Kansas, parts of Nebraska, eastern Colorado, northwestern Oklahoma and the northwestern part of Texas.

 

53. the Dairy Belt

Dairy farming can be found in New England, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. The Dairy Belt in the Midwest covers almost all of Michigan and Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota and lowa.

 

54. the Supreme Court

(1) The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States.(2) and is the only organ which has the power to interpret the Constitution.(3) It consists of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices.

 

55. public school and private schools

(1) The names public and private refer to the way in which these institutions are funded and controlled.

(2) Public schools, usually larger in size, are created, financially supported and governed by states or communities, and private ones by religious groups, or non-religious private organizations or individuals.

 

56. diversity of American education

(1) Diversity considered to be and outstanding characteristic of American education.

(2) This can be seen not only in the type, size and control of the institutions but educational policies and practices.

(3) As is stated by the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, education is a function of the state, not eh federal government.

(4) As each state has the freedom the develop its own school system and delegate its power over education to local districts, many variation can be found in the education system of the 50 states.

 

57. state board of education

An elected or appointed board. It is responsible for establishing policies and , through a state department of education, delegates authority for the operation of schools to local school districts.

 

58. school districts

(1) They are subdivisions of the states.(2) Currently, there are some 15,500 operating local public school districts.(3) Each local school district has a government board which is usually elected by the voters.(4) Its major responsibilities are the hiring of professional and support staff, determining the most suitable local curriculum, and developing and approving a budget to carry out educational programs.

 

59. the makeup and function of high schools

(1) High school are made up of comprehensive, academic vocational and technical schools with somewhat different tasks.(2) Comprehensive high schools provide both academic and vocational education.(3) Academic high schools only aim to prepare students for college.(4) Vocational and technical ones generally provide for a variety of occupations and vocations though some are specialized in a single vocational or technical area.

 

60. the general standards for admission to institutions

They include successful completion of high school, high school grade point average (GPAP)(the average of all the grades on gets) and class rank, course studied in areas of English, mathematics, and science and results from standardized tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and American College Testing Program’s examination (ACTP). Open admissions are also being practiced in some public institutions.