Chapter 1 |The Land of the UK

1.1 GeographicalPosition

The UK constitutes the greater part of theBritish Isles to the North-West of Europe. The largest of the island is GreatBritain.

The united kingdom is a small nation inphysical size, with an area of about 243,000 square kilometers.

Great Britain consists of England,Scotland, Wales.

England is in the southern part of GreatBritain. It is the largest, most populous section.

Scotland is in the north of Great Britain.

Wales is in the west of Great Britain.

Northern Ireland is the fourth part of theUK.

The united kingdom comprises Great Britainand Northern Ireland.

The official name of the country is TheUnited Kingdom  of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1.2        National Symbols

National Flag: the Union Jack. It is madeup of three crosses: the cross of St. George (the patron saint of England); thecross of St. Andrew (the patron saint of Scotland) and the cross of St. Patrick(the patron saint of Ireland)

National Anthem: God save the queen/king

National Emblem: the symbol of unity in ashape of a shield

National Flower: Rose

National Bird: Robin

1.3         Climate

Britain’s climate is often thought of ascool, wet, cloudy, it is typical temperate maritime

the British weather is controlled mainly bythe drift from north Atlantic. therefore there is plenty of rainfall, humidity& fog.

warm summers & cold winters,

Rivers:

The longest river: Severn River (354kilometers long)

The second longest river: Thames (332kilometers long)

The lake district famous for its lake poetWilliam Wordsworth

1.4         Major Cities

1.4.1     Capital: London, The capitalof GB, the capital of England

Today, the city of London is both awonderful place for historical sites and modern buildings. It is the historicalcore of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held the city amajor business and financial center. The political center of the Commonwealthand a  major port.

Tower Bridge; Buckingham Palace; The bigBen; Swiss Re Tower ; The Lloyd’s Building

If you are tired of London, you are tiredof life.

1.4.2     Other Major Cities

Manchester and Leeds are large metropolitan conurbations.

Birmingham isthe 2nd largest city , well known for its rich resources of coal and iron ore.And its production of automobiles.

Liverpool isthe second largest seaport in Britain. As the birthplace of Beatles, Liverpoolis renowned as world capital of pop.

Edinburgh,Capital of Scotland; administrative, financial, legal, medical and insurancecenter of Scotland.

Cardiff,Europe’s youngest capital city;

Belfast iscapital of Northern Ireland；an important historic city.

2    People

2.1        Population

Overall population: over 60 million

In England: 50 million people

In Scotland: over 5 million

In Wales: around 3 million

In Northern Ireland: about 1.7million

2.2        Ethnicity

the Anglo-Saxons

the Celtic

Nordic

Norman French

Q&A: Whoare the British?

Politically speaking, all the peoples ofthe united kingdom and northern Ireland including the indigenous English,Scots, Irish and welsh, those from the former colonies, and the many others whohave made Britain their adopted country are called British.

EthnicGroups                       of total

White British                        85.7%

WhiteIrish                          1.2%

White(other)                        5.3%

Mixedrace                          1.2%

Indian                              1.8%---3.4%

Pakistani                            1.3%

Bengali                            0.5%

Other Asian (non-Chinese)             0.4%

BlackCaribbean                    1.0%

BlackAfrican                      0.8%

Black(others)                         0.2%

Chinese                                 0.4%

Other                             0.4%

The indigenous cultures

Empire cultures

2.3   Language

2.3.1   Old English (5th ~ 11th)

Language of Anglo-Saxons, influenced by Old Norse; Latin and Greek words;Danish words

Works: Beowulf

2.3.2   Middle English (11th ~ 15th )

French: the official language,

English: the Language of lower class

Eg. pig — pork; sheep — mutton; cattle — beef

Works: The Canterbury Tales,written by Geofery Chaucer

2.3.3   Modern English (15th~ )

The printing press—brought standardization of English

Samuel Johnson’s dictionary—established a standard form of spelling

Renaissance—assimilated foreign words throughout the Renaissance

The Industrial Revolution—necessitated the introduction of new words fornew things and ideas

The rise of the British Empire or the Commonwealth of Nations—led to theassimilation of words from many other languages

Works: works of William Shakespeare

2.3.4   Standard English

based on the speech of the upper class of southeastern England

adopted as a broadcasting standard in the British media

also called as Queen’s English or BBC English

based on the London dialect

becoming a world language

2.4        Characteristics

2.4.1   Gentleman Manners

Q& A: What isthe typical British?

ladies and gentlemen

The behaviour of the concept “lady first” is one of perfect interpretationof gentleman manners

This is influenced by the knight spirit of the middle age, now the concepthas become a symbol of modern civilization and good manners

“the ox and the cow are in the field ” right”

A Lady First Quiz:who should be first?

Enter a room or restaurant

Men should always allow the lady to precede them

Get off a car or taxi

Men should get out of the car first, then go to the other side and open thedoor for the lady, if it is a taxi, men should pay the fare

Go out of a concert hall

Gentleman should wait till the lady leave

Walking along the street

Men should walk on the outside, if the man is walking with two ladies, heneed walk in the middle.

Seat

Men should draw the chair, let woman sit first– which side is better/ whotakes first

Introduction

Men are introduced to women

In danger

Let the ladies be saved first

2.4.2   Pub Culture

2.4.2.1  The center of social life

2.4.2.2  Interesting old names

2.4.3   Six Senses

A Sense of Trust — gentlemen agreement

A Sense of Irony — good for body, mind and spirit

A Sense of Duty — charity and volunteer work

A Sense of Order — stand in line and uniform

A Sense of Superiority— they just know they’re the best

A Sense of Fair Play— tolerance and an instinct forcompromise

A Sense of Trust — Trust in taken for granted in Britain to manage theircountry and daily life. The tradition of the gentlemen agreement shows thephilosophy of life and continued to be cherished. Britain and Japan are takenas the high trust people.

A Sense of Superiority — because of their great empire and the class system(upper, middle, lower or working class), they don’t have to tell others how wonderful they are -- like theFrench, Germans, or Italians; they just know they’re the best.

A Sense of Duty — almost one in five British had taken part in unpaidcharity and volunteer work.

A Sense of Fair Play—fair play, tolerance and an instinct for compromise arefundamental qualities of the British character. In other words, English societyis not governed by a written constitution, but on a basis of the sense of fairplay and mutual trust.

A Sense of Order — the English expression there is a time and a place foreverything suggests a need for order. This can be seen in the way people standin line for public transport and a love of uniforms.

A Sense of Irony — irony has to do with self-deprecation，it comes from a tendency to laugh at oneself and one’s situation, British see it good forbody, mind and spirit.

Some key words tosummarize British:

    practical, humorous, honest, superior, polite, stubborn,conservative, tolerant

2.4.4   British Celebrities

Guess the names of the celebrities.