英语课文

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. Wales was linked to it in the thirteenth century.首先是英格兰。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意而分离出去了，并建立了自己的政府。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，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), but they still have very different institutions.值得赞扬的是，虽然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；但是它们在制度上仍然存在很大的区别。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。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, the middle zone is called the Midlands and the one nearest to Scotland is known as the North.最靠近法国的那个地区叫做英格兰南部，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。You find most of the population settled in the south, but most of the industrial cities in the Midlands and the North of England.你可以看到英国的大部分人口聚居在南部，而多数大工业城市都位于中部和北部。Although, nationwide, these cities are not as large as those in China, they have world-famous football teams and some of them even have two!尽管，英国任何一个城市都不像中国的城市那样大，但是他们都有着自己的享有威名的足球队，有的城市甚至还有两个队。It is a pity that the industrial cities built in the nineteenth century do not attract visitors.很遗憾，这些建于19世纪的工业城市对游客并没有吸引力。For historical architecture you have to go to older but smaller towns built by the Romans.要找历史性建筑你得去更古老的、比较小些的由古罗马人建造的城镇。There you will find out more about British history and culture.在那儿你才可能找到更多的有关英国历史和文化的东西。

The greatest historical treasure of all is London with its museums, art collections, theatres, parks and buildings.最具历史意义的宝地是伦敦。那儿有博物馆，有艺术珍品、剧院、公园和各种建筑物。It is the centre of national government and its administration.它是全国的政治中心。It has the oldest port built by the Romans in the first century AD, the oldest building begun by the Anglo-Saxons in the 1060s and the oldest castle constructed by later Norman rulers in 1066.它有公元一世纪由罗马人建造的最古老的港口，有由盎

格鲁——撒克逊人始建于11世纪60年代的最古老的建筑，还有公元1066年由后来的诺曼人统治者建造的最古老的城堡。There have been four sets of invaders of England.曾经有四批侵略者到过英国。The first invaders, the Romans, left their towns and roads.最早的入侵者是古罗马人，他们留下了他们的城镇和道路。The second, the Anglo-Saxons, left their language and their government.接着是盎格鲁——撒克逊人，留下了他们的语言和政体。The third, the Vikings, influenced the vocabulary and place-names of the North of England, and the fourth, the Normans, left castles and introduced new words for food.第三是斯堪的纳维亚人，他们对词汇和北部的地名造成了一定影响；第四是诺曼人，他们留下了城堡和新的食物名称的词语。If you look around the British countryside you will find evidence of all these invaders.如果你到英国乡间去看看，你就会找到所有这些入

侵者的痕迹。You must keep your eyes open if you are going to make your trip to the United Kingdom enjoyable and worthwhile. 如果想使你的英国之旅不虚此行又有意义，你就必须留心观察。

n August 1996, Peter Hessler, a young American teacher of English, arrived in the town of Fuling on the Yangtze River. He and a colleague were to spend two years there teaching English at a teacher training college. They were the only foreigners in the town. The first semester finished at the end of January and they had four weeks off for the Spring Festival. They could go anywhere they wished. They decided to take a boat downstream. We decided to buy tickets for the Jiangyou boat. 我们打算买到“江油号”的船票。 Our colleagues said, “You shouldn’t go on those ships. They are very crowded. They are mainly for goods and people trading along the river. 同事们说：“你们不要坐那种船。它们太拥挤，主要是用来运货的。乘客多事沿江做生意的人。 They don’t stop at the temples and there won’t be any other foreigners.” That sounded fine to me. 那些船不停靠庙宇，也不会有别的外国游人乘坐。”我觉得听起来还不错。 We just had to show our passports and they let us get on the boat.我们出示护照后边上了船。 We left the docks on a beautiful afternoon. The sun was shining brightly as we sailed downstream through a hilly region. 在一个美丽的午后，我们离开码头。当我们顺流而下穿过山区的时候，阳光很灿烂。 Men rode bamboo rafts along the river’s edge and coal boats went past. 男人们乘坐着江边的竹筏，运煤的小船来来往往。 As the sun set we docked at Fengdu. We could see the sun setting behind the white pagoda. It was beautiful. 太阳落山时，我们的船在丰都靠岸。我们目睹太阳在白塔后西沉，美丽极了。 We slept through the first gorge, which is called the Qutang Gorge. 穿过长江第一峡——翟塘峡时，我们正在睡梦中。 The gorge narrows to 350 feet as the river rushes through the tow-mile-high mountains. 江水在两英里高峰峦间奔流，峡谷狭窄处只有350英尺。 “Oh, well,” my friend said, “at least we have two more left.” 我朋友说；“至少我们还能看见另外两个峡谷”。 At Wushan we made a detour up the Daning River to see some of the smaller gorges. 船到巫山时，我们绕道溯游大宁河，观赏了几处小峡谷。 The next day we went through the ig gorges on the Yangtze River. It was a lovely morning as we went through the Wu Gorge. 第二天，我们经过了长江的大峡谷。在一个美丽的上午轮船驶过巫峡。 We passed the Xiang River, home of Qu Yuan, the 3rd century BC poet. There was so much history long the Yangtze River. 我们还经过了湘江，那是公元前三世纪一位诗人——屈原的家乡。 Every rock looked like a person or animal, every stream that joined the great river carried its legends, every hill was heavy with the past. 长江有太多的历史。块块巨石形象各异，条条支流都流淌着传说，座座小山承载着过往。 As we came out of the third gorge, the Xiling Gorge, we sailed into the construction site of the dam. 穿过长江三峡+西陵峡后，轮船驶入大坝建设处的江面。 All the passengers came on deck. We took pictures and pointed at the site, but we weren’t allowed to get off the boat. 所有乘客都上了甲板，大家拍照片，对着工地指指点点，但不可以下船。 The Chinese flag was blowing in the wind. On a distant mountain was a sign in 20-foot characters. “Build the Three Gorges Dam, Exploit the Yangtze River,” it said.