20111214英语国家社会与文化复习提纲

201112《英语国家社会与文化》复习提纲

Chapter1 Introduction

The flag of the United Kingdom, known as the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses.

The second Nordic Invasion at the end of the 8th century changed the history of Western Europe.

Britain is separated from the rest of Europe by the English Channel in the south and North Sea in the east.

invasion from the Roman Empire and its influences (Roman civilization was based on city life in hundreds of walled towns linked by military roads; The Romans introduced Christianity into Britain. )

the ancestors of the English and the founders of England: the Anglo-Saxons

the Norman Conquest and its influences (ppt):In 1066, Harold was defeated by William near Hastings.

On December 25, 1066, William was crowned William I at Westminster Abbey in London.

Influence：

1) the beginning of the centuries’ long struggle between the English king and the pope.

2) a strong central government which brought a new unified discipline and control of England

3) the conquerors intermarried with the ruling Saxon families 4) They made French the official language

5) They firmly established the feudal system

6) Contacts between England and France were greatly increased

The Tower of London (built by William the Conqueror)

Chapter 2 the Government of the UK

The UK today is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy.

The parliament: it was first used officially in 1236 to describe the gathering of feudal barons and representatives from counties and towns which the king occasionally summoned if he wanted to raise money.

The three institutions in the British parliament (the Queen, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons) are interdependent as they are all involved in the process of legislation.

The foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Defense and the Treasury are involved in making foreign policy.

The current British government is the first coalition government since World War II. The two major partiesThe Conservative party ，The Labour party

The Bill of Rights1) passed by the Parliament in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution

2) it laid down a number of things that future monarchs could not do. 3) it marked a sharp decline in powers of the Monarch.

4) it marked the beginning of the British Constitutional Monarchy

The English Civil War, also called the Puritan Revolution, is generally regarded as the beginning of modern world history.

It has been seen as a conflict between the parliament and the King, and a conflict between economic interests of the Crown.

The English Civil War not only overthrew feudal system in England but also shook the foundation of the feudal rule in Europe. It is generally

regarded as the beginning of modern world history. The Glorious Revolution

1) refers to the event of 1688 in the English Revolution, when the Catholic king James II was forced to flee with his baby son to France

2) The throne was offered to his Protestant daughter and her husband Dutch king William.

3)The bill of Rights was passed by Parliament to restrict the power of the Monarch.

4) this was the beginning of the Constitutional Monarchy in Britain.

Chapter 3 The UK Economy

Dominions and colonies

1. The growth of dominions自治领的兴起

English colonial expansion began with the colonization of Newfoundland in 1583.

The Industrial Revolution In a period loosely dated from the 1770s to the 1820s, Britain experienced an accelerated process of economic change that transformed a largely agrarian economy into the world's first industrial economy. This phenomenon is known as the "industrial revolution", since the changes were all embracing and permanent

Britain’s physical isolation has long been reduced by the development of airlines and more recently by the opening of Channel Tunnel, which links Britain to continental Europe.

Thatcherism referred to the policies put forward by Margaret Thatcher, the first woman prime minister in England in 1979. The main contents of her policies included the return to private ownership of state-owned industries, the use of monetarist policies to control inflation, the weakening of trade unions, the strengthening of the role of market forces in the economy, and an emphasis on law and order. To some extent her program was successful and she led to one of the most remarkable periods in the British economy

Chapter 4 British Education System

Red Brick Universities

new universities were constructed out of the everyday cheap material used throughout England: red brick.

Since Oxford and Cambridge had elegant stone buildings, the differences between the old and new were obvious.

They have no religious affiliations and often have professional specializations, such as in law, architecture, and civil engineering.

They are the true heirs of the Dissenting Academies.

The two oldest universities in Britain are Oxford (University) and Cambridge (University).

The 1944 Education Act of the UK (P105) made entry to secondary schools and universities “meritocratic”.

Chapter 5 British Foreign Relations

Institutions involved in making foreign policy

The Prime Minister

Cabinet

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Ministry of Defence

The Treasure

.

the British Media

The world’s oldest national newspaper: the Observer (1791)

The UK’s oldest daily newspaper: the Times (1785)

The Advertising Code which ensure that advertisements are legal,decent,honest and truthful;have a sense of responsibility for consumer and society;and respect the principles of fair competition

The quality press and the tabloids

The BBC is funded by licence fees and viewers must buy s license each year for their TV set.It is no longer just about TV shows.Nowadays it is a multimedia business with wide publishing and educational interests.

The British Broadcasting Corporation is funded by licence fees and viewers must buy a licence each year for their TV set

Chapter 6 Sports, Holidays and Festivals in Britain

Trooping the Color (on Queen’s birthday):One of Britain`s most impressive and colourful festivals happens on the second Saturday in June when the Queen`s birthday is officially celebrated by Trooping the Color

Chapter 7 American Beginning

the three forces that led to the modern development of Europe

1. capitalism 2. Renaissance 3. Religious Reformation

Four colonial patterns and their influences

1) the settlement in Virginia (the 1st English permanent settlement in North America)Developed a plantation system with the exploitation of slave labor

2) Puritan New England--- Massachusetts Bay(A center for lumbering(伐木业）, shipping and fishing)

3) Catholic Maryland---Lord Baltimore and his feudal plan(Became a region of small farms)

4) Quaker Pennsylvania

What legacies did Puritanism in New England leave to Americans? (P39)

Founding fathers: 1.George Washington 2. Thomas Jefferson 3. Benjamin Franklin John Locke

Benjamin Franklin and his contributions

Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the American Republic. He participated in writing the Declaration of Independence and making the U.S. Constitution.

New York, known as The Big Apple, is a city full of opportunities.

The American Revolution

the causes:

1.The English people and Europeans in the 13 English colonies in the North America had become Americans, ready to separate themselves from the Old World.

2. Britain’s victory in the war fought between Britain and France led directly to a conflict with its American colonies.

3. In1773, the “Boston Tea Party ” tossed British merchants’ tea into Boston harbor.

4. The Americans disobeyed the Intolerable Act passed by British Parliament and boycotted British trade.

The Declaration of Independence

1.mainly drafted by Thomas Jefferson and was adopted by the Congress on July 4, 1776, when the people of 13 English colonies in North America were

2.fighting for their freedom and independence from the British colonial rule. The document declared that all men were equal and that they were entitled to have some unalienable (不可剥夺的) rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

3.It also explained the philosophy of governments: the powers of governments came from the consent of the governed and the purpose of governments was to secure the rights mentioned above. The theory of politics and the guiding principles of the American Revolution mainly came from John Locke(约翰·洛克)

Chapter 8 the Political System in the US and American Economy

two major political parties and presidents out of them: the Democratic Party, formed before 1800; the Republican Party, formed in the 1850s, by people in the states of the North and West.

America’s first constitution:the Articles of Confederation

The Congress of the United States is pided into two houses: the House of Representatives that comprises lawmakers who serve two-year terms and the Senate that comprises lawmakers who serve six-year terms.

the power of the American president--the executive power

Industrial Revolution in America (P83)：

The first factory in the United States

The best-known stock exchange is New York Stock Exchange, located in Wall Street area of New York City.

Chapter 9 American Literature

Washington Irving, largely credited as the first American Man of Letters, and the first to earn his living solely by his pen

James Fenimore Cooper, Leatherstocking Tales , featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo.

Masterpiece：

Ralph Emerson and his Nature, As a lecturer and orator, Emerson—nicknamed the Concord Sage—became the leading voice of intellectual culture in the United States.

Nature： the Bible of New England

Edgar Alan Poe’s role in American literature, Nathanial Hawthorne and his the Scarlet Letter

Ernest Hemingway and his major works (P109)Spokesman of “the Lost Generation”（迷惘的一代）

Notable award(s)

1954

– 1953

Mark Twain and his The Gilded Age(The United States developed very quickly during the period between the Civil War and World War I. Mark Twain described the time as the Gilded Ages in which superficial prosperity covered tremendous poverty and suffering.)

The ten years between 1919 and 1929, usually called the “Roaring Twenties” or the “Jazz Age”, a time of carefree prosperity, isolation from the world’s problems, bewildering social changes and a feverish pursuit of pleasure.

The masterpiece of T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land

Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, the first Afro-American writer to receive this honor.

Chapter 10 American Education

the ladder education system 1.Elementary schools 2.Secondary education 3.Colleges and Universities

What contributions did Puritans make to American education?

1. In 1634, they open a “Latin grammar” school, a school for those who wanted to prepare for college.

2. In 1636, Harvard College was founded for the training of religious ministers

3. In 1634 and 1638, the Puritans passed laws declaring that all property could be taxed for the common good, which included the support of schools.(清教徒制定的法律规定，所有的财产都要上税，用于支持公益项目，包括对学校的赞助

4. In 1642 and 1647, the Bay Colony passed laws requiring all parents to provide reading education for their children.

5. In less than 20 years, the Puritans introduced two practices that still influence American youth

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, or GI Bill of Rights

the development of American higher education (ppt)

Chapter 11 Social Movements of the 1960s

The civil rights movement, together with the youth’s anti-war movement, and women’s movement during the 1960s had been deeply rooted in US history.

The Civil Rights Movement：When? Why? How? What consequences/ influences?

Chapter 12 Foreign Relations of the United States

the Louisiana Purchase doubled America’s geographical space

the Monroe Doctrine (ppt)

Chapter 13 Canada

The capital city of Canada

French colonists first came and settled Canada.

Around the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese laborers came to Canada to build the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

Bilingualism

Apart from Paris, France, Montreal is regarded as the largest French-speaking city in the world, known as “Paris the Second”

Multiculturalism

Chapter 14 Australia

Australia’s practice of racial segregation

The gold rush

the massive post-war immigration program

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