Explanations

 1. the British Isles（不列颠群岛）

 (1)The British Isles lie northwest of Europe in the Atlantic Ocean. (2) They consist two large islands--Britain and Ireland and several small islands.

2. Celtic people（凯尔特民族）

 (1)They were people from north-western Europe who invaded Britain around 700 BC. (2) By the time the Romans first landed in 55BC, the Celtic culture was well established. (3) They are ancestors of the Scots, Welsh and Irish today.

3. the Roman Occupation（罗马征服）

  (1) The Romans first invaded Britain in 55BC. (2) They eventually conquered the various Celtic kingdoms then flourishing in England, Wales and the Scottish Lowlands. (3) The Roman occupation lasted for about 350 years.

4. the Highlanders（苏格兰高原人）

  (1) They are the Scots who live in the mountainous regions of the highlands in Northern Scotland. (2) They are a proud, independent and hardy people who maintain their strong cultural identity. (3) They mainly lived by faming sheep in mountain areas or fishing on the coasts and islands.

5. the Westminster Parliament（威斯敏斯特议会）

  (1)It refers to the British Parliament. (2) Westminster Palace in London was built between 1840 and 1860, and became the meeting place for Parliament.

6. National Eisteddfod（威尔士每年举行的诗歌演唱会）

  (1)Eisteddfod is the Welsh word for “sitting”. National Eisteddfod is the most famous festival of music and verse in Wales. (2) It takes place each August and lasts for about a week. (3) The highlight of the Eisteddfod is a competition for the best epic poem about Wales written and read in Welsh. (4) The winner is crowned Bard, considered the supreme honor in Wales.

7. the Protestant Reformation（(新教）宗教改革）

 (1) It was a religious reform movement that stared in 1517, when the German monk Martin Luther posted for a debate a series of theses that challenged Roman Catholic teaching. (2) Those who separated themselves from Catholic Church were called Protestants. (3) Most of the protestants stress the Bible as the source and their law of teaching instead of the Pope as the source of authority.

8. the Ulster Unionists （忠于英国的北爱尔兰新教徒）

  (1) The Ulster Unionists refer to the ruling Protestant party in Northern Ireland. (2) They are also called loyalists. (3) They remain loyal to the United Kingdom.

9. the Orange Day celebrations(奥伦治庆祝纪念日)

  (1). Celebrations held by the Protestants on 12 August each year in Northern Ireland to commemorate the Battle of the Royne in 1690 when the protestant King William III (William of orange) crushed a Catholic rebellion in Londonderry. (2) The celebrations were always aggressive and fightings often broke out between Protestant marchers and Catholic bystanders.

10. the Provisional IRA(临时爱尔兰共和军）

  (1) IRA, the Irish Republican Army, is a national organization dedicated to the unification of Ireland. (2) It was organized in 1919. (3) The IRA refused to accept a separate Northern Ireland under British rule. (4) In 1969 it split into an “official” majority, which disclaimed violence, and a terrorists “provisional” wing, whose attacks on British troops in Northern Ireland, random bombings, and other acts of terror in England kept tensions high.

11. the Peace People（和平人民）

  (1) In the summer of 1976 Betty Williams, a Protestant housewife, was so horrified at the killing of two children by a running IRA car that she decided to organize the women of Ulster, both Protestant and Catholic, into a pressure group. (2) It is a pressure group working for peace and unification in Ireland. (3) Williams and her Catholic partner, Corrigan, soon gathered thousands of followers despite threats and intimidation from both sides. (4) They continued to pursue their aims and at the end of 1976 the two leaders were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

12. the Norman Conquest（诺曼征服）

     (1) In AD 1066, William of Normandy landed his army in England. (2) He defeated the Saxon king Harold and the English soldiers, and became the king of England the same year. (3) French was made the official language and the feudal system was firmly established in England.

13. Home Rule

    The control of internal affairs by an assembly in Dublin.  

Questions:

1. What is a traditionally typical Englishman thought to be like? Why is not easy to talk about a typical Englishman?

  Traditionally, an Englishman is thought to be reserved, unemotional, courteous; shy of strangers; suspicious of change and slow to accept new ideas; solid and dependable with a high sense of honesty, duty and justice; physically and morally courageous; conscious of his place in the social order, dislike any show of emotion and lack of control; and fervently believing that the British are superior to any other race on earth.

  This stereotype is far from true, especially in today's world. The English are as individual as the inhabitants of any other nation. Perhaps even more so because they are descended from so many different peoples who all came and settled in England at some time or other. These are the reasons that it is not easy to talk about a typical Englishman.

2.The influences of the Romans on the English culture

  In 55 BC, the Romans invaded and brought with them their laws, taxes, engineering skills, architecture and social system as well as their language, Latin, and their system of writing and numbering. They introduced Christianity and when the departed in AD 411, they left behind a well established Celtic-Roman culture. They also left behind the first written description of the land and its peoples as well as records of their administration.

3. The main consequences of the Norman Conquest

  William of Normandy and his French-speaking followers set up a strong government which brought a new unified discipline and control to England. The conquerors intermarried with the ruling Saxon families; they made French the official language and established the feudal system. Contacts between England and France were greatly increased. The French influence grew so strong that many aspects of England’s social and cultural life became totally French.