英美概況解答題復(fù)習(xí)資料

1、英美概況解答題1. Why is the climate of Britain much milder than of many places in the same latitude?a. The climate of Britain is moderated by the Atlantic Gulf Stream.b. It is influenced by the west wind belt, which blow over the country all the year round and bring warm and wet air from the Atlantic Ocean

2、.c. Topography of Great Britain .Britain is surrounded by seawaters, which can balance the seasonal differences by heating up the land in winter and cooling it off in summer.2. What are the characteristics of the British economy?a. Britain is one of the worlds most advanced manufacturing and trading

3、 nations.b. Its currency, the pound sterling, is the exchange currency for about one third of the worlds foreign trade.c. the British economy was the first to have been fully industrialized.d. British agriculture does not produce enough food to meet the countrys basic needs, and therefore part of al

4、l vital foodstuffs has to be imported.e. the British labour force is remarkably homogeneous.3. Why do British people think of themselves as Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen and Irishmen, not as Britons? The British people have a way of living together without really doing so, that is peculiarly Britis

5、h. In normal times they take the national division very much for granted. They have their own way traditions. For example, Scotland has its own national church and its own system of law. Wales possesses a language and a culture of its own.4. What were the consequences of the Norman Conquest?a. The N

6、orman Conquest caused important consequences. It increased the process of feudalism.b. William the Conqueror established a strong monarchy in England.c. In 1086 William the Conqueror had his officials go through England and make a general survey of the land, known as the Domesday Book.d. After the c

7、onquest William retained most of the old English customs of government.e. The Norman Conquest also brought about changes in church.f. Along with the Normans came the French language.5. In what ways did Henry II consolidate the monarchy?a. Henry II took some measures to consolidate the monarchy. Firs

8、tly, he carried out a series of reforms to strengthen his power. He strengthened the Great Council .But the most important step is that the Royal powers of justices were greatly expanded.b. As for administration, the major reform of his reign was the Inquest of Sheriffs in 1170.c. In 1181 Henry issu

9、ed the “Assize of Arms”.d. Henry II wanted to restore the relationship between church and state that had existed under the Norman kings.6. What were the comments and the nature of the Great Charter?Comments: (1)The king was not to exact extra payments from the feudal vassals (or towns) without their

10、 consent;(2)that laws were not to be modified by arbitrary action of the king;(3)if the king should attempt to free himself from the law, the vassals had the right to force the king to obey it, by civil war or by otherwise.Nature: (1)The Great Charter was essentially a feudal document.(2)It had a pr

11、ogressive significance.(3)The basic mass of peasantry, who constituted five-sixths of the population was not taken into consideration.7. Where is the UK located?It is located in northwestern Europe, lying to the north of France and the west of the Netherlands and Denmark.8. What do you know about th

12、e Roman influence on Britain?The Roman occupation lasted for almost 350 years. The resulting growth of its civilization was more obvious in urban areas than among the agricultural peasants and weakest in the resistant zone. In the southeastern part the Romans influenced life and culture radically. T

13、he English upper classes were thoroughly romanized and transformed into Roman landlords and officials. Yet the Romans came to govern and to trade, not to settle; and they were too few in number to change the language and customs of the people as they did in France and Spain. Some of the native peopl

14、e became slaves of the Romans; true slave society was introduced into England.9. Why and how did the English Parliament come into being?(1)The English Parliament originated in the Great Council;(2)the main purpose of the kings summoning parliament was to get consent for taxation;(3)Henry III extende

15、d the membership of parliament;(4)Henry hoped that with Romes help he could defeat the lords and their charter;(5)the barons rose up in opposition under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, the kings brother-in-law, they forced him to dismiss his foreign advisers and to accept their own council of a

16、dvisers instead;(6)in 1264 Montfort defeated the royal army at Lewes and took the king prisoner. In the following year, he called Parliament. The parliament of 1265 which is known as the “All Estates Parliament” is generally considered the “beginning of parliament”.10. The reasons of the HHundred Ye

17、ars War:a. the claim of Edward III to be the rightful King of Franceb. the real causes were deeper and more complex, because of lands(territory)c. the economic interests of England and France clashed in Flandersd. the English national identity had taken shape faster than that of France11. The reason

18、s of Wat Tylers Rising:a. the conditions of the peasants were not improved, the villeins struggled for full freedom.b. the government of Edward III and the Parliament issued orders and passed statutes (“Statutes of Labourers ”). This aroused a general hatred against the ministers, lawyers, and landl

19、ords.c. lollards, provided ideological preparation for the labour movement of the 14th centuryd. all of those led to the rising of 1381. it was precipitated by the collection of the Poll Tax. The third collection in the early part of 1381 became the fuse of the rising12. What do you know about the n

20、ature and consequences of the Wars of the Roses? Nature: it was a feudal civil war, the war of power and wealth and at last for possession of the Crown between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. Consequence: the wars of the Roses lasted 30 years and ended in 1485 with the accessions of Henry Tudor a

21、s Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor Monarchy. The ending of the Wars of the Roses was seen as the ending of the Middle Ages in European history and the beginning of the modern world history.13. How did Henry VII strengthen his monarchy? 1. Henry VII first confined his rival-Edward. 2. He also prom

22、ised pardon to those who had stood on the side on the side of the House of York . 3. In 1486 Henry married Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the rival Houses of York and Lancaster. 4. Henry faced four separate armed rebellions, but all of them were put down. 5. He arranged his sons and daughters marri

23、ages in such a way to strengthen his position abroad and prevent help being given to claimants to his crown.14. What are the reasons of the Reformation? 1. The Church of the Middle Ages had not been only a religious body; it had been a political and legal power as well. 2. The greed and laziness of

24、the Church was hindering the social and political progress of England. 3. Henry VIII wanted to exalt his own authority in the Church as well as in the State. 4. The Parliament, which represented the interests of the bourgeoisie, supported him. 5. The lower classes also took its side in the Reformati

25、on because of their hatred towards the Church . 6. Even many honest leaders of the Church itself were in favour of its reform. 7. The external pretext for the Reformation was Henry VIIIs divorce case.15. What do you know about the English Renaissance? “Renaissance” means “rebirth”- Europe rediscover

26、ing its origins in the cultures of ancient Greek and Rome. It was a cultural movement. They were disintegrating movements, but also liberating ones, and they were consistently related, by cause and effect, to liberating movement in politics, commerce, and society in every country. The thinkers, who

27、worked for freedom and enlightenment, were called “humanists”. The greatest English humanist was Sir Thomas More, who wrote his masterpiece Utopia. The English Renaissance was largely literary, William Shakespeare was the greatest dramatist of the age. The late part of the Renaissance in England was

28、 also the period of materialism, whose progenitor, according to Marx, was Francis Bacon.16. Whats the nature of the conflict between Catholicism and the English Church? The struggle between the English Church and Catholicism was essentially a struggle between the new “nobility” of money and bourgeoi

29、sie on the one hand and the remains of feudalism on the other.17. Whats the means of primitive accumulation of capital? a. Enclosure Movementb. foreign tradec. colonial plunderd. slave trade18. Whats the importance of English Revolution?a. the English Revolution is an epoch-making event in the histo

30、ry of the world.b. It concluded the medieval period the period of feudalism, and marks the beginning of the modern period the period of capitalism.c. It paved the way for the rapid growth of capitalism in England.19. What do you know about Oliver Cromwell? He was the leader of the Independents durin

31、g the British Bourgeois Revolution. In the Civil War he led his new army “New Model Army” and defeated the kings army. In 1649 he signed to executed Charles I and established Commonwealth. He suppressed the Diggers. In August 1649, Cromwell confiscated the land of the “rebels”, and drove the Irish t

32、o the poor part of the island. He also defeated Scottish army. In 1653 Parliament was dissolved and Cromwell was made Lord Protector for life and started his military dictatorship openly. The Commonwealth became the Protectorate. He died in 1658.20. What do you know about the development of Foreign Affairs? Foreign trade was further developed. The wool trade continued to enjoy prosperity. In addition to this, silk articles were exported to the Continent and cotton goods to the West