As you are students of English, it's very likely that you'll be interested in England. That's where the language was first spoken. But England is often called by other names. This often confused（混淆）people and I wonder if you know what these names mean. So, what I'd like to tell you about now is this matter of names. I believe you've heard people use the names England, Britain or Great Britain. Let's see what each of these names means.

　　If you look at a map of Europe, you'll see a group of island--one larger island off the northwest coast, one smaller and many tiny（极小）ones. These make up what is called the British Isles. The largest island of the British Isles is Britain. It is also called Great Britain. The smaller island is Ireland.

　　Britain is divided（分开）into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England, but sometimes the word“England”is used instead of“Britain”. Why so?

　　In ancient（古代）times, what is Britain now used to be three different countries. People in these different countries spoke different languages. Over many years the three countries became one. England is the largest and richest of the three and it has the most people. So the English people take it for granted（认为当然）that their own name stands for（代表）the whole island.

　　There's another thing that confuses people: Sometimes you may hear people say“the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That is the official name of the country. Northern Ireland is only one sixth of the island of Ireland. The rest of the island is an independent（独立）state , called the Republic of Ireland. So we have the names of”England“,”Britain“,”Great Britain“and”the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, now do you know what each of them means?

(1）English was first spoken ________.

(2）Britain is divided into ________、________ and ________.

A．England, Britain, Wales

B．Wales, Scotland, Great Britain

C．England, Scotland, Wales

D．Great Britain, Wales, Scotland

(3）Britain is divided into three parts, which of the following is true?

A．Britain is the only name of the largest island of British Isles.

B．Scotland is the largest of the three.

C．Wales is the richest of the three.

D．Sometimes England is used instead of Britain.

(4）The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is ________.

A．the largest country of all mentioned（提到）in the passage

B．part of Britain

C．part of British Isles

D．the official name of the whole country“England”

(5）Which of the following is an independent country?

I will never forget my first English class. It is very interesting. It’s the first
class in the morning. The teacher goes into the classroom with a smile on his
face. At the beginning, he makes a self-introduction(自我介绍). And he tells us
that his English name is John. Then he asks all of us to think of English names
for ourselves. We are very excited(兴奋的) to find a good name. Then he asks
us to write our names down on a piece of paper. I think about my English
name for a long time. Then I come up with(想出) a beautiful name ---Shirley.
All the students write their names down and give the paper to the teacher. When
the teacher calls “Shirley” to answer his question, three girls stand up at the
same time.
【小题1】What do we do in the first English class?

I will never forget my first English class. It is very interesting. It’s the first class in the morning. The teacher goes into the classroom with a smile on his face. At the beginning, he makes a self-introduction(自我介绍). And he tells us that his English name is John. Then he asks all of us to think of English names for ourselves. We are very excited(兴奋的) to find a good name. Then he asks us to write our names down on a piece of paper. I think about my English name for a long time. Then I come up with(想出) a beautiful name ---Shirley. All the students write their names down and give the paper to the teacher. When the teacher calls “Shirley” to answer his question, three girls stand up at the same time.
【小题1】What do we do in the first English class?