英语必修五第二单元课文翻译

英语必修五第二单元课文翻译

Unit 2 The United Kingdom

Reading

PUZZLES IN GEOGRAPHY

People may wonder why different words are used to describe these four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. You can clarify this question if you study British history.

人们可能会奇怪为什么用不同的词语来描述英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰和北爱尔兰这四个国家。如果你研究英国的历史，你就能够弄明白这个问题。

First there was England. Wales was linked to it in the thirteenth century. Now when people refer to England you find Wales included as well. Next England and Wales were joined to Scotland in the seventeenth century and the name was changed to "Great Britain". Happily this was accomplished without conflict when King James of Scotland became King of England and Wales as well. Finally the English government tried in the early twentieth century to form the United Kingdom by getting Ireland connected in the same peaceful way. However, the southern part of Ireland was unwilling and broke away to form its own government. So only Northern Ireland joined with England, Wales and Scotland to become the United Kingdom and this was shown to the world in a new flag called the Union Jack.

首先是英格兰。威尔士于公元13世纪就同英格兰联合起来了。如今只要有人提起英格兰，你就会发现威尔士总是包括在内的。然后，于17世纪英格兰、威尔士同苏格兰联合起来，名字改为大不列颠。令人庆幸的是，当苏格兰的詹姆士国王成为英格兰和威尔士的国王时，这三个国家在无(军事)冲突的情况下实现了联合。最后在20世纪初通过同样的和平方式，英国政府尽力把爱尔兰也纳入进来，组成了联合王国。然而，爱尔兰的南部却不情愿这样并分离出去建立了自己的政府。因此只有北爱尔兰同英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰联合起来组成了联合王国，这一点从新的联合王国国旗(“联合杰克”)上就可以看得出来。

To their credit the four countries do work together in some areas (eg, the currency and international relations), but they still have very different institutions. For example, Northern Ireland, England and Scotland have different educational and legal systems as well as different football teams for competitions like the World Cup!

值得称赞的是:这四个国家在一些方面(比方说在货币和国际关系上)，它们的确是共同合作的，但是有些制度仍然区别很大。例如，北爱尔兰、英格兰和苏格兰在教育体制和立法体制上都存在着差异，并且它们有着各自的足球队参加像世界杯之类的比赛!

England is the largest of the four countries, and for convenience it is divided roughly into three zones. The zone nearest France is called the South of England, the middle zone is called the Midlands and the one nearest to Scotland is known as the North. You find most of the population settled in the south, but most of the industrial cities in the Midlands and the North of England. Although, nationwide, these cities are not as large as those in China, they have world-famous football teams and some of them even have two! It is a pity that the industrial cities built in the nineteenth century do not attract visitors. For historical architecture you have to go to older but smaller towns built by the Romans. There you will find out more about British history and culture.

在这四个国家中，英格兰是最大的。为了方便，它大致可以划分为三个地区。最靠近法国的那个地区叫做英格兰南部，中部地区叫英格兰中部，最靠近苏格兰的那个地区叫英格兰北部。你会发现大部分人口居住在南部，但是大部分工业城市在中部和北部。虽然就全国范围来说，这些城市都不像中国的城市那样大，但是它们都有着世界闻名的足球队，有的城市甚至还有两个队!令人遗憾的是这些建于 19 世纪的工业城市对游客并没有吸引力。 要找历史性建筑你得去更古老的、 比较小些的由古罗马人建造的城镇。 在那儿你才可能找到更多的有关英国历史和文化的东西。

The greatest historical treasure of all is London with its museums, art collections, theatres, parks and buildings. It is the centre of national government and its administration. It has the oldest port built by the Romans in the first century AD, the oldest building begun by the Anglo-Saxons in the 1060s and the oldest castle constructed by later Norman rulers in 1066. There has been four sets of invaders of England. The first invaders, the Romans, left their towns and roads. The second, the Anglo-Saxons, left their language and their government. The third, the Vikings, influenced the vocabulary and place-names of the North of England, and the fourth, the Normans, left castles and introduced new words for food.

最具历史意义的宝地是伦敦。那儿有博物馆，有艺术珍品、剧院、公园和各种建筑物。它是全国的政治中心。它有公元一世纪由罗马人 建造的最古老的港口，有由盎格鲁——撒克逊人始建于 11 世纪 60 年代的最古老的建筑，还有公元 1066 年由后来的诺曼人统治者建造的最古老的城堡。曾经有四批侵略者到过英国。第一批入侵者是古罗马人，留下了他们的城镇和道路。接着是盎格鲁——撒克逊人，留下了他们的语言和政体。第三是斯堪的纳维亚人，他们对词汇和北部的地名造成了一定影响; 第四是诺曼人，他们留下了城堡和食物名称的新词语。

If you look around the British countryside you will find evidence of all these invaders. You must keep your eyes open if you are going to make your trip to the United Kingdom enjoyable and worthwhile.

如果你到英国乡间去看看，你就会找到所有这些入侵者的痕迹。如果想使你的英国之旅不虚此行又有意义，你就必须留心观察。

Using language

SIGHTSEEING IN LONDON

伦敦观光记

　　Worried about the time available, Zhang Pingyu had made a list of the sites she wanted to see in London. Her first delight was going to the Tower. It was built long ago by the Norman invaders of AD 1066. Fancy! This solid stone, square tower had remained standing for one thousand years.Although the buildings had expanded around it, it remained part of a royal palace and prison combined. To her great surprise, Zhang Pingyu found the Queen's jewels guarded by special royal soldiers who, on special occasions, still wore the four-hundred-year-old uniform of the time of Queen Elizabeth I.

　　由于担心时间不够，张萍玉早就把她想要在伦敦参观的地点列了一张单子。她最 先想参观的地方是伦敦塔，它是很久以前由入侵的诺曼人在公元1066年修建的。真是太棒了!这个坚实的用石头砌的方形塔已经在那屹立一千年了。尽管在塔的四周扩建了一些建筑，但它仍然是皇宫和监狱联合体的一个组成部分。让张萍玉很惊讶的是，她发现女王的珠宝由皇家特别卫士守护着，而这些卫士在一些特殊的日子仍然穿着400年前伊丽莎白一世女王时代的制服。

　　There followed St Paul's Cathedral built after the terrible fire of London in 1666. It looked splendid when first built! Westminster Abbey, too, was very interesting. It contained statues in memory of dead poets and writers, such as Shakespeare. Then just as she came out of the abbey, Pingyu heard the famous sound of the clock, Big Ben, ringing out the hour. She finished the day by looking at the outside of Buckingham Palace, the Queen's house in London. Oh, she had so much to tell her friends!

　　接着参观的是圣保罗大教堂，它是公元1666年伦敦大火以后建造的，刚建成的时候，它看起来真是金碧辉煌。威斯敏斯特大教堂也是很有意思的地方，里面珍藏着一些已故诗人和作家的雕像，例如莎士比亚的雕像。正当萍玉走出大教堂的时候，她听到了著名的大本钟整点敲响的钟声。她参观了女王伦敦住所白金汉宫的外景，以此结束了一天的观光。啊，她要同朋友们讲的实在太多了!

　　The second day the girl visited Greenwich and saw its old ships and famous clock that sets the world time. What interested her most was the longitude line. It is an imaginary line dividing the eastern and western halves of the world and is very useful for navigation. It passes through Greenwich, so Pingyu had a photo taken standing on either side of the line.

　　第二天，萍玉姑娘参观了格林尼治天文台，看到了古老的轮船和那座著名的为时间定时的时钟。她最感兴趣的是那条通过天文台的经线。这是一条假想的线，它把世界分成东西两半球，从而有利于航海。这条线穿过格林尼治，萍玉就跨着这条线拍了一张照片。

　　The last day she visited Karl Marx's statue in Highgate Cemetery. It seemed strange that the man who had developed communism should have lived and died in London. Not only that, but he had worked in the famous reading room of the Library of the British Museum. Sadly the library had moved from its original place into another building and the old reading room was gone. But she was thrilled by so many wonderful treasures from different cultures displayed in the museum. When she saw many visitors enjoying looking at the beautiful old Chinese pots and other objects on show, she felt very proud of her country.

　　最后一天，她参观了伦敦海洛特公墓里的卡尔·马克思的雕像。这似乎是一件怪事：这位发展了共产主义的人竟然在伦敦生活过，并且在伦敦去世。不仅如此，他还在大英博物馆著名的图书阅览室工作过。遗憾的是，这个图书馆已经从原来的地方搬到另一座大楼里去了，而原来的阅览室也没有了。但是她感到最为震惊的却是博物馆里展出的那么多来自不同文化的奇妙宝物。当萍玉看到那么多参观者用欣赏的目光注视着古老漂亮的中国陶瓷和其他展品时，心里充满了对祖国的自豪感。

　　The next day Pingyu was leaving London for Windsor Castle. "Perhaps I will see the Queen?" she wondered as she fell asleep.

　　再过一天，萍玉就要离开伦敦去温莎城堡了。她边睡觉边想：“也许我能见到女王呢?”

本文来源：https://www.2haoxitong.net/k/doc/2f0ef07029160b4e767f5acfa1c7aa00b52a9dde.html