英语专业英文化名词解释

1.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.

2.The East Rising

In 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 leaders of the rebellion were executed by the British authorities.

3.Home Rule

Ireland 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.

4.The function of Parliament

The function of Parliament are : to pass laws,to vote for taxation,to scrutinise government policy,administration and expenditure and to debate the major issues of the day.

5.The House of Commons

The 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.

6.The importance of general elections

General elections are very important in western democracy.According to the author,they provide opportunities for people to influence future government policies and to replace those incompetent political leaders.

7.The formation of the government

651 members of parliament are elected in the general election representing 651 constituencies in the UK.The party which holds a majority of those “seats”in parliament forms the government,with its party leader as the Prime Minister.

8.Privatisation in the 1980s

The British economy went through a particularly bad period in the 1970s,with high rates of inflation and devaluation of the Pound.Therefore,in the 1980s,when the Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher was in power,an extensive programme of

privatisation was carried out.Many state-owned businesses (such as steel,telecom,gas,aerospace) were turned into private companies.Privatisation was successful in controlling inflation but at the same time unemployment rate increased rapidly.

9.”The City”

”The City”refers to the historic area at the center of London.It is one of the biggest financial centers in the world with the greatest concentration of banks,insurance companies and businesses dealing in commodities.At the heartof the city is the London Stock Exchange.

10.Elizabethan Drama

The general flowering of cultural and intellectual life in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries in known as the Renaissance.In British culture,one of the most successful and long-lasting expression of this development lay in Drama.That was the period of the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603).The first professional theatre in London opened in 1576,and others followed,performing the plays of many notable playwrights,including Christopher Marlowe,Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare. 11.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”.Keats,Byron and Shelley,the three great poets,brought the the Romantic Movement to its height.The spirit of Romanticism also occurred in the novel.

prehensive schools

Comprehensive schools are the most popular secondary schools in Britain today.Such schools admit children without reference to their academic abilities and provide a general education.Pupils can study everything from academic subjects like literature to more practical subjects like cooking.

13.The foundations of British foreign policy

The contemporary foreign policy of the UK is greatly influenced by its imperial history and also by its geopolitical traits.As Britain lost its empire so recently,British policy-makers frequently forget that Britain is not as influential as it used to be in world affairs.Another decisive influence upon the way Britain handles its external affairs is geopolitical attitude to Europe.