英语国家社会与文化入门考试答案

London

London is the largest city located in the south of the country. It is dominant in Britain in all sorts of ways. It is the cultural and business centre and the headquarters of the vast majority of Britain’s big companies. It is not only the financial centre of the nation, but also one of the three major international financial centres in the world.

Robin Hood (罗宾汉)

RH was a Saxon nobleman. As he could no longer put up with oppressions from the Normans, he became an outlaw and hid himself with his band “merry men” in the forest. From this secret place, he went out to rob from the rich to give the poor.

The Anglo-Saxons

They were two groups of Germanic peoples who settled down in England from the 5th century. They were regarded as the ancestors of the English and the founders of England.

King Arthur（亚瑟王）

It is said that he was the king of England in the 5th century and united the British and drove the Saxons back with his magical sword, Excalibur. His real existence is in doubt. He is the central figure of many legends.

King Harold

He was the Saxon King whose army was defeated in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, when William the Conqueror invaded England from France.

Elizabethan drama（伊丽莎白时期戏剧）

During the Renaissance, one of the most successful and long-lasting expressions of British culture is drama. That was the period of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Theatres perform the plays of many notable playwrights, including Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare.

The Canterbury tales（坎特伯雷故事集）

The Canterbury tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer is the most important work in Middle English literature. It is made up of a series of stories told by 31 pilgrims to entertain each other on their way to the Christian Church at Canterbury in southeast England.

The King James Bible（圣经）

King James I ordered the translation of the Holy Scriptures, which came to be known as the King James Bible. It appeared in 1611. Although it was not the first English translation and there have been many translations since, King James Version will probably never be matched for majesty of language. For many generations it has had a greater influence on style and standards of taste than any other single work in English literature.

Romanticism

Roughly 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.” The spirit of romanticism also occurred in the novel.