3.学生版A General Survey -UK.pdf

1 Understanding U.K. Ireland Understanding U.K. Chapter Nine A General Survey Map of the United Kingdom 2 United Kingdom is the third most populous state in the European Union and is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN), where it holds a permanent seat on the Security Council. The UK is also one of the worlds major nuclear powers. 1. Country Name The full and official name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island. It’s usually shortened or abbreviated to the United Kingdom or U.K., Great Britain, Britain, or sometimes informally England. Many foreigners say England and English when 3 they mean Britain, or the UK, and British. This is very annoying for the 5 million people who live in Scotland, the 2.8 million in Wales and 1.6 million in Northern Ireland who are certainly not English. (46 million people live in England.) However, the people from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England are all British. So what is the difference between the names Great Britain and the United Kingdom’, and what about the British Isles? The United Kingdom is an abbreviation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is often further abbreviated to UK, and is the political name of the country which is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Several islands off the British coast are also part of the United Kingdom; all these islands do recognize the Queen. Great Britain is the name of the island which is made up of England, Scotland and Wales and 4 so, strictly speaking, it does not include Northern Ireland. The British Isles is the geographical name that refers to all the islands off the North West coast of the European continent: Great Britain, the whole of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The nickname of the country is John Bull.