第4章 人 口
4.1 复习笔记
I. Population
II. Language and nation
III. Distribution
I. Population（人口）
In 2005, the UK was home to 60.2 million people, of which 50.4 million lived in England.
2005年，英国有人口60200000，其中，83%是英格兰人，其他是苏格兰人、威尔士人和爱尔兰人。
II. Language and nation（语言和民族）
1. Language（语言）
English is the official language but many people don’t speak English. Welsh speak Celtic and around 80 thousand people in Highlands speak Gaelic.
英语是官方语言，但许多人不讲英语，在威尔士讲凯尔特语，在苏格兰高原有8万人左右讲盖尔语。
2. Nation（民族）
(1) The early people who came to England include Iberians, Roman, Saxon, Viking and Norman. And the real ancestors are Anglo-Saxons.
(2) In normal times British people take the national division very much for granted. They think of themselves as Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen and Irishmen, not as “Britons”.
(1) 英国民族包括最早的伊比利亚人、凯尔特人、罗马人、盎格鲁-撒克逊人、丹麦人和诺曼人，只有盎格鲁-撒克逊两个民族才是英格兰人的真正始祖。
(2) 英国人传统上喜欢让人称为英格兰人、苏格兰人、威尔士人或爱尔兰人，不愿意通称做英国人或不列颠人。
III. Distribution（分布）
About eighty percent of the population lives in cities or towns, whereas twenty percent live in the vast country.
英国人口居住比较集中，百分之八十住在城市，百分之二十住在乡村。
4.2 课后习题详解
Exercise 1. Answer the following questions:
1. What is the population of the U. K.?
Key: Britain has a growing population. In mid-2005, British population increased to 60.2 million.
2. What language is the official language? What other languages are spoken in the U.K.? And in which part of the country are they spoken mainly?
Key: The official language is English. In Wales one in four people speak Welsh, and in Scotland about 80000 people in the Highlands speak Gaelic language.
3. Which race invaded England in the earliest times?
Key: In the earliest times the dark-haired Mediterranean race called the Iberians sailed up to the west coast of England.
4. What are the three Germanic tribes who form the basis of the modern British people?
Key: The Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes which invaded Britain form the modern British people.
5. What does British dense population imply? How much percentage of the population live in cities or towns?
Key: A dense population such as Britain’s implies a high degree of urbanization. About 80% of the population lives in cities or towns.
6. What has become an increasingly important factor in population changed since the late 1990s?
Key: Since the late 1990s, although there has still been natural increase, net international migration into the UK from abroad has been an increasingly important factor in population change.
7. Why do the British people think of themselves as Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen and Irishmen, not as Britons?
Key: In normal times, they take the national division very much for granted. They have their own traditions. For example, Scotland has its own national church and its own system of law. Wales speaks its own language and has a culture of its own.
Exercise 2. Explain the following terms:
1. Briton
Key: It is one of a Celtic people inhabiting ancient Britain at the time of the Roman invasion.
2. urbanization
Key: It means the changing from a rural into a town or city character.
3. Anglo-Saxon
Key: It refers a member of one of the Germanic peoples, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, who settled in Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries.
4. the Norman
Key: It is a member of a Scandinavian people who settled in northern France in the 10th century and they conquered England in the 11th century.
5. Celtic
Key: A subfamily of the Indo-European language family comprising the Insular and the Continental branches. Now in Britain it is the language of many Welsh.
6. Iberians
Key: They were one of the ancient peoples that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula, who were dark-haired Mediterranean race. They invaded Britain in about 3000 BC.