Chapter 1 The Rise and Fall of the British Empire

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Chapter 1
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire
Ⅰ. Agricultural Changes in the Late 18th Century
Farming was an important occupation in England in the 18th cen tury. Village and agriculture were the backbone of the nation. Changes in farming methods (农耕方法的改变)therefore would affect lives of millions. Agricultural changes in the late 18th and early 19th centuries were indeed so great that they merit the term “revolution”.(冠以革命这个词)Traditional farming involved (the open field village 是开放田地农村), a system that dated back to the 5th century. Villages were surrounded by 3 great hedgeless fields which centred all the arable land(把可耕土地集中于内). These fields were divided into strips(条、快)shared out among the villagers. Each family's land was scattered about, so good land was fairly distributed.
In the mid-18th century the population in England increased rapidly, and most of this increase was in the towns, depending on the countryside, for food. Greater productivity meant handsome profits(生产力的进一步提高意味着可观的利润), so landowners wanted to replace the small farms by larger, economically more efficient farms. During the late 18th and early19th centuries , the Enclosure Acts(圈地法)enabled wealthier landowners to seize any land to which tenants could prove no legal title(头衔)and to divide it into enclosed fields(划入圈地内). Agricultural enclosure had good as well as bad results:
(1) Farms became-bigger and bigger units as the great bought up(随着大农场兼并小农场)the small;
(2) more vegetables, more milk, more diary product were consumed, and diet became more varied(饮食种类更加丰富);
(3) enclosure was a disaster for the tenants evicted(驱逐)from their lands by the enclosures. These peasant farmers were forced to look for work in towns, which rapidly became hopelessly overcrowded. Riots erupted in many areas but they could not prevent the march of progress. In Ireland and the Scottish Highlands land(苏格兰高地)enclosure led to mass emi gration, particularly to the New World(新大陆);
(4) a new class hos tility was introduced into rural relationships. Concentration of land in fewer hands increased the price of land and dashedthe labourers hopes (粉碎了希望)of ever owning his own land. Many had to leave the land to survive(背井离乡去谋生). Others became wage labourers(工薪阶层), earning rates which were very low in spite of agriculture's new prosperity(尽管农业繁荣).
讨论:总体上讲,英国圈地运动功大于过,一方面为城市提供了劳动力和粮食,另一方面,农村实现了现代化,农民成为市民。

试问,中国可以借鉴吗?
Ⅱ. The Industrial Revolution
While the movement to enclose the land and use new agricultural methods was at its height(当圈地运动和使用农业新方法如火如荼之时), similar things took place in manufac ture. Before the 18th century most industries were done in the home in villages and small towns, using very simple hand operated machines. Now new techniques and water
powered machines resulted in organization of industries on a large scale(产生了更大规模的工业). At this time popula tion became increasingly concentrated in towns, especially in Mid lands, North of England, Southern Wales and Central Scotland. Changes occurred earliest and quickest in textiles(纺织业的变革最早也最快), especially cotton and silk(棉布和丝绸业)and in other trades like hardware(五金), pottery(陶瓷)and chemicals(化工).
The Industrial Revolution refers to the mechanization of industry and the consequent(随之发生的)changes in social and economic organization(所谓工业革命,是指工业机械化以及由此而导致的社会结构和经济结构的变化)in Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Britain was the first country to industrialize because of the following factors:
(1) Britain was, well placed geographically to participate in European and world trade;
(2) Britain had a peaceful society,which after the 17th cen tury, was increasingly interested in overseas trade and colonies. In ternational trade brought wealth to merchants and city bankers. They and those who had done well out of new farming methods pro vided capital in large quantities for industrialization.
(3) The limited monarchy which resulted from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 ensured that the powerful economic interests in the community could exert their influence over Government policy.(1688年光荣革命限制了君主的权力,这使得强大的经济利益集团能对议会政策施加影响。


(4) It was a country in which the main towns were never too far from seaports, or from rivers, which could distribute their products;英国的主要城镇皆靠近海港或河流,货物运送便利。

(5) Britain had many rivers, which were useful for transport but also for water and steam power. Britain also had useful mineral resources.英国许多河流不仅用于交通,还提供水力及蒸汽动力。

英国还有可用的矿产资源。

(6) British engineers had sound training as craftsmen.英国工程师为训练有素的手工艺人。

(7) The inventors were respected. They solved practical problems;
(8) probably Protestant work ethic helped.很可能利益于"新教工作道德"。

(9) England, Scotland, and Wales formed a customs union af ter 1707 and this included Ireland after 1807. So the national market was not hindered by internal customs barriers.
(10) The enclosures and other improvements in agriculture made their contributions by providing food for the rising population,labour for the factories, and some of the raw materials needed by industry.
Ⅲ. Colonial Expansion
English colonial expansion began with the colonization of New foundland(纽芬兰的殖民化)in 1583. In the early 18th century, settlements were made in North America(北美有了定居点). Encouraged by Britain's control of the seas, especially by the rising tide of emigration, the British colonialists stepped up their expansion in the late 18th century and the early 19th century.
1. The growth of dominions(自治领导兴起)
In the late 18th century Britain acquired vast, under populated territories: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
After the Seven Years' War (1756-63 ) between Britain and France, Canada was ceded(割让)to Britain by the 1763 Treaty of Paris.
Australia was first discovered by the Dutch in the early 1600s. Captain James Cook(詹姆斯库克上校)discovered Botany Bay (波特尼湾)and claimed the east coast region for Britain(声称东海岸为英国所有), naming it New South Wales in 1770. The English began to transport convicts(囚犯)to Australia in 1788. The gold rushes (1851-1892) brought more people to Aus tralia.
New Zealand was sighted (发现)by the Dutch seaman Abel Tasman (荷兰水手阿贝尔塔斯曼)in1642. In the1770s Captain James Cook visited New Zealand and claimed it for England.
2. The Conquest of India征服印度
The establishment of the British East India Company in 1600 was a case of economic penetration(经济渗透的实例). The company took control of areas(控制了大片地区)and as a result the British government became directly involved in Indian affairs. By 1819 the British conquest of India was almost complete.
3. The Scramble for Africa掠夺非洲
The Dutch East India Company established a settlement at Cape Town开普敦in 1652. Settlement extended inland to form Cape Colony in the 18th century.
Britain took the colony in 1806 to protect its route to India. The discovery (1866) of gold at Witwatersrand (非洲一地名)brought many new immigrants to the Transvaal特兰斯法尔. Presi dent of Transvaal's refusal to give them the right to vote and the Jameson Raid (1895) resulted in the Boer War(布尔战争)(1899-1902). After the British victory, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (桔树州)be came British colonies in 1902.
By 1900 more than 90% of Africa had been colonized. Britain led the way in this race to take over the fertile and productive areas, but France, Portugal['pɔ:tjuɡəl] Belgium, Germany and Italy all claimed a share(都分得一份). In 1885 in Berlin they even signed a treaty which laid down rules by which the scramble(抢夺)was to be conducted. Apart from the colonies in the South and West, which continued to expand at this time, Britain was also involved in the North East in Egypt and the Sudan. [sʊ'dæn
4. Aggression against China侵略中国
In the 1830s British merchants began to smuggle opium['əʊpɪəm into China from India.Although China had banned the opium trade in 1799, the British merchants stiff made enormous profits from it. In 1839 the Chinese led by Imperial Commissioner(行政官员)Lin Zexu, confiscated 没收about20,000 chests of opium and burnt them at Canton ['kæntən](广东,旧称). The British colonialists, seeking to force China to open ports(港口)and end her restrictions on foreign trade, used this as a pretext and launched a war of aggression against China in
1840. The British troops occupied Hong Kong in 1841,and the fall of Zhenjiang in 1842 threatened Beijing itself. By the Treaty of Nanking (1842) China ceded Hong Kong to Britain and opened five ports of Xiamen, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai to British trade. Britain was to receive over ﹩6 million war indemnity(战争赔款).
By 1900 Britain had built up a big empire, on which the sun never set(太阳永不落的大英帝国). It consisted占有25% of the world's population and area.
Ⅳ. Britain and the Two World Wars
At the beginning of the 20th century, France, Germany and America were becoming powerful competitors 强大的竞争对手for world markets. The newly united German state新统一的德国was emerging as the biggest threat to Britain.The war was fought from 1914 to 1918 primarily between two European power blocs主要在两大欧盟集团: the“Cent ral Powers”同盟国,Germany and Aus tria-Hungary奥匈帝国, and the “Allies”协约国, Britain, France and Russia. The spark was struck at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, when the Austrian Crown Prince奥国皇储Franz Ferdinand 弗兰兹·费迪南was assassinated 暗杀by a Serbian nation alist塞尔维亚民族主义者. Austria awaiting a pretext for suppress ing Slav nationalismz(镇压斯拉夫民族)declared war on Serbia (July 28), 'with Germany's blessing. Britain was afraid that Germany would overrun(横行)Europe and gain control of parts of the British Empire. This brought Britain into World War I on August 4, 1914. Germany and Austria were joined by
Turkey (Oct. 30, 1914) and Bulgaria保加利亚[bʌl'ɡεəriə。

Allies were joined by Japan,Italy and the U. S. A. The war lasted 4 long years. During World War I Britain lost over a million people, most of them under the age of 25. Apart from the loss of manpower, there had been considerable disruption of the economy and society.
During the Second World War, German bombing raids destroyed many British cities, of which Coventry was the worst hit(考文垂市受创最重). The Blitz radi cally changed the face of London.德国闪电战另伦敦面目皆非
One of the most far-reaching consequences of the war was that it hastened the end of Britain's empire. India gained her independence in 1947, Burma缅甸in 1948; Newfoundland joined the Dominion of Canadian 1949, several British colonies in Africa won their inde pendence. Soon few of Britain's old colonial possessions were left.
By the mid-1950s things were definitely looking up出现转机: Unemployment was low; wages were far higher than they had been before the war; and more and more people were buying cars and going on holidays. By the 1960s Britain was one of the world's leading industrial as well as nuclear powers.
Questions
1. What is your comment on land enclosures in England?
2. What was the industrial revolution? Why was Britain the first country to start the industrial revolution?
3. What was the colonial expansion like during the 19th century?。

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