英语国家慨况课后讨论题

13机械1班英美社会文化期末复习资料 1.Briefly discuss the international influence which the UK exercises on today’s world. 1、简要论述英国在当今世界的国际影响力。 Britain is the world's first industrialised country and a pioneer in civilian nuclear power. In modern times,it retains links with parts of its former empire through the British Commonwealth,including sharing with some of them the same monarch--Queen Elizabeth2--as head of 16 Member States. Its parliamentary and legal systems have also been emulated throughout the world .But more impo rtant today in British’s international relations is the European Union, of which the UK has been a member since 1973. As one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and a founding member of NATO, the UK today pursues an active global approach to foreign policy, which invariably invo lve a close military and political relationship with the United State. A leading member of the Group of Eight, the Organization, the UK is a highly developed country with a US$ 1.833 trillion economy and the fifth largest gross domestic product in the world. Socially, it is a highly prosperous and peaceful country and culturally, it is preeminent in the arts , sciences and technology. 2.Discuss how England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland have become united in history forming the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 讨论英国、苏格兰、威尔士和爱尔兰在英国和北爱尔兰历史上是如何形成联合王国的。 In 1282, King Edward I finally conquered the last remaining native Welsh principalities in north and west Wales,putting Welsh under the rule of England. In 1535, the kingdom of England annexed the Welsh principalities with the Act of Union. England and Scotland continued to be separate states until the Act of Union in 1707 which abolished England and Scotland as separate kingdoms and created the United Kingdom of Great Britain with a single Parliament during the reign of the last monarch of the Stuart Dynasty, Queen Anne. The Act of Union of 1800 formally assimilated Ireland within the British political process,and created a new state,”The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland”. In 1921,the Anglo-Irish treaty established the Irish Free State as a separate nation,leaving Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. 1282,爱德华国王终于征服了最后剩下的土生土长的威尔士公国在威尔士北部和西部,把威尔士在英国的统治下。1535年,英格兰王国以《联合法案》吞并威尔士公国。 英国和苏格兰仍然是独立的国家,直到1707的斯图亚特王朝最后一位君主安妮女王统治期间,联合法案废除了英国和苏格兰作为单独的王国,并建立了大不列颠的联合王国与一个单一的议会。 1800年《联合法案》正式吸收了爱尔兰的,创造了一个新的国家,“大不列颠和爱尔兰联合王国”。 在1921,盎格鲁-爱尔兰条约确立了爱尔兰自由国家作为一个单独的国家,留下北爱尔兰作为联合王国的一部分。 3.What are the charecteristics of the British Constitution? 英国宪法的特点是什么? The British Constitution demonstrates the following characteristics: (1)Constitutional monarchy.The United Kingdom,as the name implies,remains a monarchy,but one with limited power.君主立宪 (2)Parliamentary sovereignty.In formal terms,Parliamentary authority in the UK is unlimited.In other words,Parliament can make or unmake law on any subject.议会最高权力 (3)Representative democracy.People are entitled to voting rights and the Prime Minister and head of government should be a member of the democratically elected House of Commons,and normally the elected leader of the majority party.代议民主制 (4)The rule of law.As a fundamental principle,people are subject to law,but not to the arbitrary will of governors.法治非人治 4.What are the principles of the rule of law in the UK? 在英国,什么是立法的原则 1)Everyone is bound by the law.No one is above the law. 2)All persons are equal before the law.All citizens have legal rights and can resort to the law,and the law is supposed to treat all citizens on an equal basis. 3)Law and order must be maintained through the officials and institutions of the state. 4)Legal redress is provided for citizens with complaints against other individuals, organizations or the state when they feel they have experienced injustice. 5)The law and legal processes and personnel should be independent from political interference. 5.Examine British economic policies and performance in modern times. 考察现代英国的经济政策和现 In the 19th century, Britain had the world’s leading economy. The British economy remained relatively strong, but already began to decline from the beginning of the 20th century. British government applied the economic theories of Keynes and carried out state involvement in the 1950s and 1960s. British economy was referred to as the “Sick Man of Europe”by the 1970s. Thatcherism was the reason for the boom in Britain in the 1980s. Since around 1992, Britain had witnessed the longest period of sustained economic growth for more than 15 years. In 2008 the United Kingdom entered a recession brought about by the global financial crisis. 6.Comment on the problems the Social Security system confronts in the present UK. 当前英国社会保障体系面临的问评析 It makes citizens dependent and less inclined to work. It has been expanded to provide a large number of people indiscriminately with more money than the country can afford. The funding of its insurance side has always been problematic. It is very complicated for claimants and administrators alike with its array of benefits and is subject to fraud. One technical difficulty in implementing the system is that accurate figures of poverty are hard to define. The system has been criticised for the racism and sexism in the mind of the original architect of the system. 7.Critically examine state secondary education in the UK, analysing its structures, aims and achievements. 批判性地评价英国的中学教育,其结构、目标和成就。 The UK has since provided universal and free state secondary education. The secondary education, which is organized in a variety of ways for children aged 11 to 19, is free and compulsory to age 16. The 1944 Education Act divided state schools into three different types: grammar, secondary modern and technical to cater for the different academic levels and other aptitudes of children. Entry to these schools was based on the 11 plus examinations. Although schools were supposed to be equal in their respective educational targets, the grammar schools were equated with a better (more academic) education preparing students for better jobs and entry into higher education and the professions. Since 1964, the Labour governments have been committed to abolishing the eleven-plus selection and the secondary school divisions. Today, in most parts of the UK, secondary schools are non-selective comprehensive, that is, they are open to pupils of all abilities. 英国提供了普遍的和自由的国家中学教育。中等教育,这是组织给11岁至19岁的儿童的,在16岁之前是免费和强制性的。1944教育法分公立学校分成三种类型:语法,中学现代技术来适应不同的学术水平和其他能力的孩子。进入这些学校是基于11加考试。虽然学校应该是平等的,在各自的教育目标,语法学校等同于一个更好的(更多的学术)教育,准备更好的就业机会和进入高等教育和专业的学生。自1964以来,工党政府一直致力于取消十一加上的选择和中学师。今天,在英国大部分地区,中学都是非选择性的,也就是说,他们对所有能力的学生都是开放的。 8.What were the main reasons that made the United States the world’s leading industrusial power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? The factors that enabled the United States to become the world’s leading industrial power were many: a Yankee tradition of trade and commerce that provided both the skill and the capital required for industrial expansion; a commitment to private property and the profit system that gave the Rockefellers, the Morgans, and the Carnegies the incentive to build corporate empires; an abundant and skilled labor supply; political institutions and a constitution that fostered the growth of business and prohibited tariffs with the boundaries of the United States; the annexation of territories from foreign countries; immense and easily accessible raw materials; excellent natural and man-made transportation facilities; and expanding markets at home and abroad. 9.Americans are said to be more racial-conscious than class-conscious. Why is that? To what extent can such a statement be justified? 据说美国人种族意识比阶级意识重,这是为什么呢?在何种程度上,这样的观点是合理的? A nation of immigrants,The United States, is a multi-racial and multi-ethnic nation with people from all over the world. Moreover, the U.S. is also a nation of associations, where people join organization of every type, including racially- and ethnically-based interest groups. The U.S. government and its ruling elite have spared no effort to preach bourgeois values and capitalist doctrine to the American public. The ruling class and its parties have never hesitated to crush radical movements. 一个移民的国家,美国,是一个多种族和多民族的国家,有来自世界各地的人们。 此外,美国也是一个协会国家,那里的人们加入各种类型的组织,包括种族和种族为基础的利益集团。 美国政府和它的统治精英们不遗余力地将资产阶级价值观和资产主义理论向美国大众宣传。统治阶级及其政党毫不犹豫地镇压激进的运动。 10.Why has the turn out been so low in American general elections during the past few decades? The perception that one is busier is common, and might be just as important as a real decrease in leisure time. Geographic mobility has increased over the last few decades. Single people are generally less likely to vote. In the United States, the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal may have caused voters to lose faith in their political leaders during the 1960s and 1970s. The decline in turnout is the product of a change in campaigning strategies as a result of the so-called new media. It has been argued that attack ads and smear campaigns give voters a negative impression on the entire political process. 11.What could be the possible reasons for Americans to be so slow and so reluctant in initiating and developing their social services, particularly in comparison with other developed countries in the world? 什么可能的原因使得美国人那么慢,那么不情愿地启动和发展他们的社会服务,特别是与世界其他发达国家相比? Private charity organizations have been highly developed since the early days of the settlement. Church organizations have been heavily involvedin community services. Americans have a long tradition of self-reliance, self-help, and self-independence. Americans in general do not trust government. 12.Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of local responsibility for public elementary and secondary education in the U.S.探讨美国公立中的地方责任的优缺点 Regarding the power over, or responsibility for, education, Americans tend to believe it is the business of local governments. Americans are skeptical of governmental power, particularly the power of the central government. Americans want to limit, if not control, power delegated to the government. The advantage of local responsibility for public education is that it will be more responsible and responsive to the needs of local education. The disadvantage is that the local government does not have enough financial resources.