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1、Unit9IntroducingtheBritishBackgroundInformation1.Geography:TheBritishIslesaresituatedinthenorthwestofEurope.TheyarecutofffromthecontinentbytheEnglishChannel.OnthenorthandtheeasttheIslesfacetheNorthSeaandonthewesttheyfacetheAtlanticOcean.TheUnitedKingdomisthatpart
2、oftheBritishIslesruledoverbytheQueen.ItconsistsofScotland,WalesandEngland,andalsoaboutone-sixthofIreland(theNorthernpart).TherestofIrelandisself-governing.ThefulltitleoftheU.K.istherefore“TheUnitedKingdomofGreatBritainandNorthernIreland.”Itstotalareais244,110squa
3、rekilometers,makingitoneofthecountrieswiththelongestcoastline.TherearethreepoliticaldivisionsontheislandofGreatBritain:England,ScotlandandWales.England,thelargestandmostpopuloussection,isinthesouthernpartofGreatBritain.ScotlandisInthenorthpartanditscapitalisEdinb
4、urgh.WalesisinthewestofGreatBritainwithCardiffasitscapital.NorthernIrelandisthefourthregionoftheU.K.withBelfastasitscapital.TheGreaterLondonisthecapitaloftheU.K.,whichliesinsoutheastEngland.TheCommonwealthisafreeassociationofindependentcountriesthatwereoncecoloni
5、esofBritain.Itwasfoundedin1931,andhas50membercountriesuntil1991.Population:ThepopulationoftheU.K.isabout60million,ofwhichthemajority(94%)consistsoftheEnglish(80%),theWelsh,theScottishandtheIrish.Inaddition,thereareIndians,WestIndians,Pakistanies,Africans,Banglade
6、shis,Chinese,andArabs.Englishistheofficiallanguage,butnotalloftheBritishpeoplespeakit.InWalesmanypeoplespeakWelsh(aboutoneinfour);inScotlandabout80,000peopleintheHighlandspossesstheirownGaeliclanguage.Insuchplaces,onlywhenthenationalanthemisbeingsungcanwehear“God
7、SavetheQueen”inEnglish.Thepopulationisunevenlydistributedwithabout90%livinginurbanareas.TheChurchofEngland(orAnglicanChurch)hasthelargestnumberofadherentsofanyreligioninGreatBritain,accountingfor48percentofthepopulation,andmostofitsmembersresideinEngland.Thesecon
8、dlargestreligion,numerically,isRomanCatholicism(16%),whosemembersresidethroughoutthekingdom.Otherreligiousincludeprotestantism,Islam,Judaism,Hinduism,andSikhis
