高二英语原文

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. 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. 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! 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. 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. 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.

SHOWING OUR FEELINGS 肢体语言是最有效的交流途径之一,有时甚至比口述语言表达更好.全世界的人们表现出的感觉,愿望和态度各种各样,这些情感或许很难用语言表述出来.但我们还是有可能“读懂”身边的人,即使他们不想让我们知道他们的无言的交流.当然,肢体语言表达的意思会被误解,但很多手势和动作都是被广为接受的. 最大众化的表情当然是笑了-它的作用是表达幸福感并使人感觉安逸.笑并不总是意味着我们真的很高兴,然而世界上很多的笑容都是虚假的,笑容背后隐藏着其他的感情,像气愤,恐惧或者担忧.也有不开心的笑,比如当有些人“丢脸”的时候,他们就会用笑容来掩饰.不管怎么样,笑总的来说还是表达好的情感的. 自从我们出生,我们就用皱眉头表示不开心或者生气.在世界上大多数地方,皱眉头和转身背向对方表示生气.握拳和抖动拳头大都表示某人对另一个人生气或者恐吓另一个人. 世界上有很多表示赞同的方式,但是用点头来表示赞同基本是全世界通用的.大多数人也知道摇头意味着反对或者拒绝. 那么怎么表示我厌烦呢?一般情况下,故意不看人或者打哈欠显得我正烦着呢.而然,如果我转向或者看着某人或某物的话,不管什么文化背景的人都会认为我想得到关注.如果我转眼珠子或者把头转向别的方向,我大都是表示我不相信或者不喜欢我正在听到的东西. 是否尊敬别人是一种基于各自文化的主观思想,但一般来说去拥抱上司或者老师不是个好主意.在每种文化背景下,通常站的离比你地位高的人太近都不太好.保持一点距离,双手张开表示我乐意聆听. 人与人之间有很多文化差异,还好我们的肢体语言都有很多相似点.我们经常误解对方,所以能够尽可能地理解对方真是一件很棒的事啊!