国情论述题.doc

国情论述题 1. “British history has been a history of invasion.” Please illustrate this point with the examples from the text. How did each of the invasions influence English culture? . British history has been a history of invasions: 1) Before the 1st century AD British was made up of many tribal kingdoms of Celtic people; 2) In 43 AD British was invaded by the Roman Empire, and became part of the Roman Empire for nearly 400 years; They came to build temples and buildings in British. They also made good use of Britain’s natural resources. But the Romans always treated the Britons as a subject people of slave class. And they had no impact on the language or culture of ordinary Britons. 3) Then it came under threat from Germanic peoples --- the Angles, and the Saxon; Though king Arthur with the help of his sword “Excalibur” and his knights defeated the Anglo- Saxons once; but the Anglo- Saxons did succeed in invading Britain and became the forefathers of the English. and “England” has become known. 4) From the late 8th century on, raiders from Scandinavia, the ferocious Vikings threatened Britain’s shores; King Alfred the great turned in the tide in the south against the Vikings; As a result of that, there remains a certain cultural divide between northerners and southerners in England. 5)The next invaders were the Normans, from northern France, who were descendants of Vikings; William the Conqueror in 1066 crossed the English Channel, and became William the First of England; the Tower of London was built after that ; 6) The English is a mixture of nationalities of different origins. The ancestors of many English people were the ancient Angles and Saxons. Some English people are of the Norman-French origin. The next few hundred years following the Norman invasion can be seen as a process of joining together the various parts of the British Isles under English rule. At the same time power was gradually transferred from the monarch to the parliament. 2. What are some gener