Chapter1
Land and People
Great Britain is the largest island in Europe. It is made up of England, Scotland, and Wales.Together with Northern Ireland, it forms the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern lreland. This is the full name of the country which constitutes all these places. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or the United Kingdom, is “the UK\for short. However,most people call the UK ”Britain\or “Great Britain,” and some people simply say “England,\
According to the 2011 census, the total population of the UK was around 63 million. It is the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and France) and the 22nd-largest in the world.
The UK is a developed country. According to 2013 statistics it has the sixth-largest national economy in the world (and third-largest in Europe) measured by nominal GDP and eighth-largest in the world (and second-largest in Europe) measured by purchasing power parity (PPP). It was the world's first industrialized country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power because it still has considerable economic,cultural,military,scientific and political influence internationally.
The capital of the UK is London, which is among the world's leading commercial, financial,and cultural centers. Other major cities include Birmingham,Liverpool, and Manchester in England, Belfast and Londonderry in Northern Ireland, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Swansea and Cardiff in Wales.
I. Geographical Features
1. The UK's Geographical Location and Its Size
The UK is bordered on the south by the English Channel. It is bordered on the east by the North Sea, and on the west by the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The UK's only land border with another nation is between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The UK is separated from the rest of Europe by the English Channel. The English Channel between England and France is quite narrow and the narrowest part is called the Suraits of Dover, which is only 33 km across. In 1985 the British government and the French government decided to build a channel tunnel under the Straits of Dover so that England and France could be joined together by road. After eight years of hard work this channel tunnel, which is called\was open to traffic in May 1994.
The UK covers a total area of 244,110 sq km. lt runs 1,000 km from north to south and extends,at the widest part, about 500 km. So no part of the UK is very far from the coast and it provides a valuable resource. The British coast is long and has good, deep harbors. Sea routes extend far inland, providing cheap transportation.
England is the largest, most populous, and wealthiest division of the UK. It makes up 130,400 sq km of the UK's total area.The area of Scotland is 78,800 sq km, the area of Wales is
20,800 sq km, and the area of Northern Ireland is 14,100 sq km.This means that England makes up 53.4% of the area of the UK, Scotland 32.3%, Wales 8.5%, and Northern Ireland 5.8%.
2.Rivers and Lakes
Since the UK has a moist climate with much rainfall, it has many rivers and lakes.Rivers in central and eastern Britain tend to flow slowly and steadily all year long because they are fed by the frequent rain. Many have been navigable, and from the earliest times they have served peoples interested in either commerce or invasion. The Highlands act as a divide and determine whether rivers flow west to the Irish Sea or east to the North Sea.Rivers and streams moving westward down from the Highlands tend to be swift and turbulent; rivers flowing eastward tend to be long and gentle, with slowly moving waters.
The Thames and the Severn are the longest rivers in Britain and are almost equal in length. The Severn flows south out of the mountains of central Wales to the Bristol Channel at Bristol. It is 354 km long. The Thames,338 km long, flows eastward out of the Cotswold Hills and weaves through the metropolis of London. The Thames provides water to the city of London and is used to carry commercial freight. Other important rivers in England are the Mersey,which enters the Irish Sea at Liverpool; the River Humber on the east coast,into which the Trent River and several other rivers flow; and the Tyne River in northern England,which flows past Newcastle upon Tyne to the North Sea.
In Scotland the important rivers are the Clyde and the Forth, which are joined by a canal. The River Clyde flows northwest, past Glasgow, and empties into the Atlantic at the Firth of Clyde. (Firth is the Scottish name for an arm of the sea that serves as the broad estuary of a river.) The River Forth flows eastward into the Firth of Forth, where Edinburgh rises on its south bank.The most important rivers in Northern Ireland are the Lagan, the Bann, and the Foyle.
Most of the large lakes in the UK are located in the upland areas of Scotland and northern England,although Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest lake in the UK. Loch Lomond, on the southwestern edge of the Highlands of Scotland, is the largest on the island of Great Britain, measuring 37 km long and from 1.6 to 8 km wide.Lake Windermere is the largest of 15 major lakes in the famous Lake District of northwestern England.It is about 1.6 km wide and more than 16 km long.
Ⅱ.Climate
1.A Maritime Climate
When we say climate we mean the average weather conditions at a certain place over a period of years.We don’t mean the day-to-day weather conditions at a certain place. Though it seems that people are always complaining about the weather in the UK because it is rainy and so changeable and unpredictable,the climate in the UK is in fact a favorable one. The UK has a maritime climate. Winters are mild,not too cold and summers are cool,not too hot.It has a steady reliable rainfall throughout the whole year.It has a small range of temperature.The average temperature in winter in the north is 4—6℃ and in summer in the south is 12—17℃.So even in winter one can still see stretches of green grass in the open country,in the parks and round the houses.
2.Factors Which Influence the Climate
The UK is an island country which lies between latitude 50°to 60° north. It lies farther north than even the northernmost par of Heilonjiang Province of China. Compared with other countries of the same latitudes it has a more moderate climate. This is influenced mainly by three factors:
(1) The surrounding waters tend to balance the seasonal differences by heating up the land in winter and cooling it off in summer. As the sea heats up and cools off relativelyb slowly it brings warm air in winter and cool air in summer.
(2) The prevailing southwest winds or the Westerlies (winds which come from the west) blow over the country all the year round, bringing warm and wet air in winter and keeping the temperatures moderate.
(3) The North Atlantic Drift, which is a warm current, passes the western coast of the British Isles and warms them.
Since the UK's climate is of the maritime type, it is characterized by cool temperatures, frequent cloudy days and rainstorms. It changes from day to day, and this makes it difficult to forecast. It is so changeable that sometimes one can experience four seasons in the course of a single day. Day may break as a fine spring morning; an hour or so later black clouds may have appeared from nowhere and rain may be pouring down. At midday conditions may really be wintery with the temperatures down to about 8 °C. Then in the Jater atfternoon the sky will be clear, the sun will begin to shine again, and for an hour or two before darkness falls, it will be summer. It has been said that the uncertainty about the weather has had a definite effect upon the Englishman's character. It tends to make him cautious, for example. You may laugh when you see an Englishman going out on a brilliantly sunny morning wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella. However, most frequently it comes in drizzles and you don't necessarily need an umbrella.
3.Rainfall
The UK has a steady reliable rainfall throughout the whole year.The average annual rainfall in the UK is over 1,000 mm. It has 750 mm to 1,250 mm of rainfall along the coast in the east and south except a small area in the southeastern corner of the country which receives less than 750 mm. In the west there is as much as 1,250 mm to 2.000 mm of rainfall and in some areas in the northwest it is over 2,000 mm.The Westerlies blow over the UK all the year round, bringing warm and wet air from the Atlantic Ocean. They rise, climb the highlands and the mountains in the west, become colder and then cause heavy rainfall. There is not so much rainfall in the east because after climbing over the highlands and mountains the air gets warmer and drier when it descends and does not give so much rain.
As a result of the rainfall distribution in Britain there is a water surplus in the north and west, and a water deficit in the south and east. Reservoirs have therefore to be built in such highland areas as Central Wales,the Lake District and the Scottish Highlands, so that water can be stored here and then transferred to the more populated and industrial areas of lowland Britain.
Generally speaking,the climate in the UK is favorable and equable (neither too hot nor too cold).Extremes of heat or cold, or of drought or prolonged rainfall are rarely experienced. It is estimated that on average about 3-6 cubic meters of rain per person per day fall over the UK. This
英语国家概况第一章
