Question

　　Did anyone find the names of “Great Britain”, “the United Kingdom”, “England” and “the British commonwealth” which have the same meaning? Strictly speaking, these names all refer to something different①. None of them are exactly the same as any of the others.

　　The British isles refer to the main islands and several thousand small ones as well, which you can see on the map②. Great Britain, or Britain, refers to the larger of the two main islands. But the word “Britain” is often used as a short form for the United Kingdom or you call it the UK .

　　Now as for England, it refers simply to the largest of the three countries on the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom is the name of the state and the official name of the country, which many people popularly refer to England.

　　Finally, the Britain commonwealth is the usual name for what is left of the British Empire (帝国). This change shows the weakening of British Empire and the rising of the national liberation movements throughout the world today.

 

　　1. According to the passage, we know that ____ .

　　A. Great Britain has the same meaning as Britain

　　B. the United Kingdom has the same meaning as Britain or England

　　C. all the names in the first paragraph have the same meaning

　　D. all the names refer to England

　　2. It is clear that the British isles refer to ____ .

　　A. Britain, England and the UK.

　　B. the two main islands and thousands of small ones

　　C. three countries and several islands

　　D. Great Britain or the United Kingdom

　　3. Which of the following shows the right relationship (关系) between the British isles (BI), Britain (B) and England (E)?

　　A. B>BI>EB. BI>E>BC. E>B>BID. BI>B>E

　　4. If you want to write to someone in Edinburgh that lies in Scotland, you should write the address as ____ .

　　A. Edinburgh, England

　　B. Edinburgh, Great Britain

　　C. Scotland, Edinburgh, England

　　D. Great Britain, Scotland, Edinburgh

Answer 1

　　本文主要向读者介绍有关英国的几个英语名称所包括的范围，让读者清楚它们之间的不同之处。

　　1.A本题为推理判断题。由第一段可知，the Untied Kingdom, Great Britain, England 的含义是不同的，可排除B、C和D。也可根据第二段第二句“Great Britain, or Britain, refers to the larger of the two main islands.”得出答案A。

　　2.B本题为细节考查题。由第二段第一句“The British isles refer to the main islands and several thousand small ones as well, which you can see on the map.”可得出正确答案。

　　3.D本题为排序题。由全文可知，the British isles包括英国地图上所有的岛屿，Britain是指其中的一个岛屿，而England是指Britain岛屿上的一个国家。

　　4.B本题为常识题。众所周知，Scotland是英国的一部分，再根据本文有关英国的知识和写地址按照由小到大的顺序，可得出答案B。