英国社会文化 重点名词解释汇总

Anglo-SaxonsThey were two groups of Germanic peoples who settled down in England from the 5th century. They were regard as the ancestors of the English and the founders of England.The Easter RisingIn order to gain independence, different Irish groups had been fighting against the British institutions and the British military forces, one such activity was the Easter Rising which took place in 1916. The rebels occupied Dublin's Post Office and forced the British to take it back by military force. The leaders of the rebellion were executed by the British authorities.Home RuleIreland had long been dominated by Britain, but Irish desire for an independent Irish state was never lost. "Home Rule" refers to a campaign for Irish control of Irish affairs. The Home Rule Bill was finally passed in 1914, but the process was overtaken by the First World War and was suspended for the duration of the war.The Bill of Rights of 1689In 1688, King James II's daughter Mary and her husband William were invited by the politicians and church authorities to take the throne, on condition that they would respect the rights of Parliament. The Bill of Rights was passed in 1689 to ensure that the King would never be able to ignore Parliament.The Constitution Britain has no written Constitution. The foundations of the British state are laid out in statute law, which are laws passed by Parliament; the common laws, which are laws established through common practice in the courts; and conventions.The functions of ParliamentThe functions of Parliament are: to pass laws, to vote for taxation, to scrutinize government policy, administration and expenditure and to debate the major issues of the day.The House of LordsThe House of Lords consists of the Lords Spiritual, who are the Archbishops and most prominent bishops of the Church of England; and the Lords Temporal, which refers to those lords who either have inherited the seat of their forefathers or they have been appointed. The lords mainly represent themselves instead of the interests of the public.The House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the real center of British political life because it is the place where about 650 elected representatives (Members of Parliament) make and debate policy. These MPs are elected in the General Elections and should represent the interests of the people who vote for them. The formation of the government651 members of parliament are elected in the general election representing 651 constituencies in the UK. The party which holds amajority of those “seats” in parliament forms the government, with its party leader as the Prime Minister.The electoral campaignBefore a general election, the political parties would start their electoral campaigns in order to make their ideologies and policies known to the public. The campaign involves advertisements in newspapers, door-to-door campaigning, postal deliveries of leaflets and “party electoral broadcasts” on the television. The parties also try to attract and criticize the opponents’ policies. Therefore, these campaigns sometimes can be quite aggressive and critical.RomanticismRoughly the first third of the 19th century makes up English literature’s romantic period. Writers of romantic literature are more concerned with imagination and feeling than with the power of reason. A volume of poems called Lyrical Ballads written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is regarded as the romantic poetry’s “Declaration of Independence.” Keats, Byron and Shelley, the three great poets, brought the Romantic Movement to its height. The spirit of Romanticism also occurred in the novel.ModernismModernism refers to a form of literature mainly written before WWⅡ. It is characterized by a high degree of experimentation. It can be seen as a reaction against the 19th century forms of Realism. Modernist writers express the difficulty they see in understanding and communicating how the world works. Often, Modernist writing seems disorganized, hard to understand. It often portrays the action from the viewpoint of a single confused individual, rather than from the viewpoint of an all-knowing impersonal narrator outside the action. One of the most famous English Modernist writers is Virginia Woolf. Comprehensive schools Comprehensive schools are the most popular secondary schools in British today. Such schools admit children without reference to their academic abilities subjects and provide a general education. Pupils can study everything from academic subjects like literature to more practical subjects like cooking.Britain and the EUBritain joined the European Economic Community in 1973 which is now called the EU. Britain’s participation in the EU remains controversial. At the center of the controversy is the fact that it is not clear about what the EU is and what it will become. The UK has always been interested in encouraging free trade between countries and is therefore very supportive of the EU as a free trade area. Britain likes to regard the EU as a place where economic cooperation ispossible and where a flow of trained personnel and goods are possible. But Britain has always been less enthusiastic about giving up its national sovereignty to a European government.Britain and the United States The British foreign policy is also affected by its relationship with the United States. During World War 2, the two countries were closely allied and continued to work together closely in the postwar years, because they had many things in common about the past and the world situation. Even today, British and American policy-makers share the general ideas in many respects. However, Britain’s “special relationship” with the United States has gone through many ups and downs. The British are beginning to realize that their own foreign policy actions can be limited by the United States. But both sides have worked hard to maintain the “special relationship”.The CommonwealthIn the author’s opinion, the Commonwealth is a voluntary association of states which is made up mostly of former British colonies. There are 50 members of the Commonwealth: many of these are developing countries like India and Cyprus; others are developed nations like Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Commonwealth was set up as a forum for cooperation and as a sort of support network.Quality papers They belong to one of the categories of the national dailies. The quality papers carry more serious and in-depth articles of particular political and social importance. They also carry reviews, such as book reviews, and feature articles about high culture. These papers are also referred to as “the broadsheets” because they are printed on large size paper. The readers of such newspapers are generally a well-educated middle class audience.TabloidsA tabloid is a small format newspaper with colour photos and catchy headlines. Tabloids are interested in scandals and gossip usually about famous people .They also carry lots of crime, sports and sensational human interest stories so as to attract readers. Stories are short, easy to read and often rely more on opinions than fact. They belong to a category of national papers different from quality paper.ParliamentThe word parliament comes from the verb “to parley”, that is, to discuss or talk. The term was first used officially in 1236 to describe the gathering of feudal barons and representatives from counties and towns which the king occasionally summoned if he wanted to raise money.Parliament has a number of different functions.①First and foremost, it passes laws. Another important function is that itprovides the means of carrying on the work of government policy, administration and expenditure and to debate the major issues of the day. ②Parliament is supreme in the British state because it alone has the power to change the terms of the Constitution. ③There are no legal restraints upon Parliament. It can make or change or overturn established conventions or even prolong its own life without consulting the electorate. However, it doesn’t assert its supremacy, but bears the common law in mind and acts according to precedent. Strictly speaking, the Parliament today consists of the Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. These three institutions must all agree to pass any given legislation.The Role of the Monarchy Today is primarily to symbolize the tradition and unity of the British state….House of Lords is below the queen, it consists of the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal House of Commons consists of about 650 Members of Parliament elected by the people to represent them.The Political PartiesThere are three major national parties: The Conservative party and the Labour party are the two biggest, and any general election is really about which of those two is going to govern. But there is a third important party, the Liberal Democrats, who usually receive up to about 20% of the votes: not enough to form a government, but enough to have a big impact on which of the other two parties does so.The Labour party is the newest of these three, created by the growing trade union movement at the end of the nineteenth century. As a socialist party, they believe a society should be relatively equal in economic terms, and the government acts as a “redistributive” agent: transferring wealth from richer to poorer by means of tax.The Conservative party is the party that spent most time in power.The Liberal Democrats are the third biggest party, and to some extent may be seen as a party of the “middle”, occupying the ideological ground between the two main parties.Trend: move to the “right”, “public”to wards “private” “social” towards “individual”.。