1、Part One The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国第一章国土与人民Chapter 1 Land and People Ⅰ英国的不同名称及其区域 1. Different Names for Britain and its Parts 人们说到英国时常常使用不同的名称，不列颠，大不列颠，英格兰，不列颠群岛，联合王国。这些名称一样吗？还是有所区别？When people refer to Britain, they often use differ
2、ent names such as Britain, Great Britain, England, the British Isles, the United Kingdom or the U.K. Do they mean the same thing? Or are they different? 严格地讲，不列颠诸岛、大不列颠和英格兰都是地理名称。它们并不是这个国家的正式名称。不列颠诸岛是由两个大岛和几百个小岛组成的。两个大岛是不列颠岛和爱尔兰岛，其中不列颠岛较大，它与爱尔兰岛的北部一北爱尔兰构成联合王国。因此，联合王国的正式国名是大不列颠及北
3、爱尔兰联合王国。但一口气说出这么长的国名太费事，因此，人们就说不列颠，联合王国或简单地说UK。这是不列颠岛上的一个国家，首都是伦敦。另外还有一个国家，叫爱尔兰共和国或称爱尔兰，也位于不列颠岛上。它占据了爱尔兰岛的其余部分，在岛的南部。1949年始爱尔兰独立，首都是都柏林。Strictly speaking, the British Isles, Great Britain and England are all geographical names. They are not the official name of the country. The
4、British Isles are made up of two large islands and hundreds of small ones. The two large islands are Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain is the larger of these two islands. It forms the United Kingdom with Northern Ireland—the northern part of Ireland. So the official name
5、of the United Kingdom is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But it is too much of a mouthful to say such a long name for a country, so people just say Britain, the United Kingdom or simply U.K. This is one country on the British Isles and its capital is Lo
6、ndon. There is another country called the Republic of Ireland or Eire on the British Isles. It takes up the remainder of Ireland-the southern part of Ireland. It has been an independent republic since 1949 and its capital is Dublin. 大不列颠岛上有三个政治区英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士。英格兰面积最大、人口最多，一般说来也最富裕
7、。因此人们常用英格兰指代英国，用英格兰人指代英国人。这有时令苏格兰人和威尔士人不快，他们不认为自己是"英格兰人"，他们有自己的文化，甚至有自己的语言。There are three political divisions on the island of Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. England is the largest, most populous and generally speaking the richest section. So people tend to use ‘En
