英美概况之爱尔兰1

1、Chapter 11:Land, People and HistoryGeography, Land and EnvironmentuIreland is a small island off the northwest coast of Great Britain, divided from Scotland by a narrow strait of water. uWhen people use the word “Ireland” they may mean the whole island, which is actually divided into two quite disti

2、nct Jurisdictions, that of Northern Ireland, which is a province of Great Britain, and the present Republic of Ireland. Or they may mean simply the Republic of Ireland, which is an independent nation in its own right.Geography, Land and EnvironmentuStrictly speaking, the name of Ireland today belong

3、s only to that part of the island which is the Republic. uBut often this ambiguity （模糊称呼）（模糊称呼）in the use of the word “Ireland” is useful, particularly for politicians and diplomats, depending on whether they wish to represent their country as bigger or smaller. Or the name used may indicate distinc

4、t political convictions.uPeople who identify with the Republic as a separate entity will use the word to refer exclusively to this part of the island, referring to the rest of the island as “Northern Ireland” or even “The Six Counties”.Geography, Land and EnvironmentuIn size, the island of Ireland i

5、s in total 84,421 square kilometers. Of this, Northern Ireland comprises a mere 14,139 square kilometers, whereas the Republic covers about five times its area at 70,282.uPeople in the north are mostly Protestant （新（新教徒）教徒）while those in the south are mostly Catholics（天主教徒）（天主教徒）.Geography, Land and

6、 EnvironmentuClimate: Ireland actually has a quite temperate climateone that does not vary substantially from one season to the next.uTemperate climates together with frequent rain ensure that the grasslands flourish in all seasons and that snow and ice are rare.Geography, Land and EnvironmentuIn te

7、rms of geographical elevations（海拔）（海拔）, the island of Ireland resembles a tea saucer（海盘）（海盘）, with a large central lowland comprised of limestone（石灰岩）（石灰岩） with an occasional relief of hills which rises at the coastline in a discontinuous border of mountains which often slope precipitously （陡峭地）（陡峭地

8、）into the sea.Geography, Land and EnvironmentuIn terms of native flora（植物群）（植物群） and fauna（动物群）（动物群）, Ireland has a smaller range than is found elsewhere in Europe.uWithin the last generation that Irish people have become conscious of the value of the unique features of their environment. Despite th

9、e actions of the EU and the establishment of governmental protection agencies, the quality of the Irish environment is today still very much under threat.Geography, Land and EnvironmentuAgriculture has contributed to the same paradoxical （相悖的）（相悖的）situation, as the new methods of intensive farming h

10、ave led to pollution of springs and lakes, and even to the water schemes subscribed（赞成）（赞成） to by the farmers themselves.Population u250 years ago, Ireland was a highly populated island. As the result of starvation and consequent mass emigration from the mid-1840s onwards, that part of the island th

11、at is now the Republic of Ireland lost about half of its people.uEmigration to the New World did take place before the Great Famine, mostly from the northern part of Ireland, known as the province of Ulster.uMany of these emigrants went on to become heads of families which were to become prominent i

12、n the political and economic life of the United States.Population uLater migrations（移去外国的移民）（移去外国的移民） to the United States and Canada were entirely different in character. These migrants left Ireland as the result of the Great Famine. According to the 1841 census（人口普查）（人口普查）, the population was clos

13、e to 6.5 million. By 1851, it had been reduced by at least 2 million and was still falling.Population uThe event that triggered （引发）（引发）the Great Famine（饥荒）（饥荒） was a blight （枯萎病）（枯萎病）on the potato crop. The devastating （毁灭性的）（毁灭性的）blight occurred during a time when the British attitude towards the

14、poor was essentially that the poor were poor because they deserved to be poor. This hard capitalist attitude was compounded （混合）（混合）by the fact that the British essentially despised （瞧不起）（瞧不起）the Irish, and particularly the poor Irish. The stereotype（老套（老套看法）看法） of the Irish in the British popular p

15、ress of this period is of a people who were, at best, lazy, impractical, and dreamy; at worse, dirty, untrustworthy, and close to animals.Population uThe Great Famine became a watershed （分水岭）（分水岭）in Irish history. Not merely because there was mass starvation and mass emigration（移居国（移居国外）外）, but beca

16、use the British government appeared to be indifferent（漠不关心）（漠不关心） to the fate of the poorest people in its nearest colony. The immediate result was a decimation（减少）（减少） of the population, which continued to decline dramatically during the second half of the century. In the Irish Republic, it remaine

17、d at about 3 million until the late 1980s, when a rising birth rate and net immigration（移入人口）（移入人口） caused by increased prosperity brought the population up to its present level of approximately 4 million.Population uThe Irish economy, although it has leveled out（拉下来）（拉下来） from the boom （繁荣的）（繁荣的）ye

18、ars (1998-2002) of the “Celtic Tiger”（凯尔（凯尔特老虎）特老虎）, is still very strong.uThe population of the Republic of Ireland is also surprisingly stable and homogeneous（同民同种）（同民同种）. According to the 1996 Census（人口普查）（人口普查）, 93% of persons usually resident in the State were born there. But there is also a gr

19、owing international population.PrehistoryuThe earliest settlers arrived around 7000 BC in the Mesolithic （中石器时代）（中石器时代）or middle Stone Age period.The CeltsuThe Celts （凯尔特人）（凯尔特人）had long dominated central and western Europe. They were a warrior culture, making swift attacks in horse-drawn chariots（马

20、拉战车）（马拉战车）.uOf all the legacies （遗产）（遗产）of the Celts, it is their language that has proved the most lasting. By order of the government of the Republic of Ireland, the language of Irish must be learned by all Irish children up to the age of 16.uLegally, Irish is the first official language of the Re

21、public of Ireland.The CeltsuThe Celts brought a legal system. Under Brehon law（布里恩法）（布里恩法）, the primal （原始的）（原始的）unit was the fine（氏族）（氏族）, or the family unit comprising all relations of the male descent （血统）（血统）for five generations. It is this family grouploosely described as a “tribe” （部落）（部落）or “

22、clan”（氏族）（氏族）that was responsible for the conduct of the whole group; individuals had no rights apart from their fine.The CeltsuSociety was rigidly stratified（分等级）（分等级）. Rank depended on birth as well as wealth. Learning was one important marker of status. uThe importance of land and personal proper

23、ty is still well-established in modern bourgeois society of the Ireland of today.The Coming of ChristianityuChristianity was introduced into Ireland some time in the 5th century. Traditionally it was said to have been brought by Saint Patrick.uIt was through the monasteries（修道院）（修道院） that Irish infl

24、uence on Britain and Europe was exerted （施加）（施加）from the 6th century onwards.uIn 1541, Henry VIII declared himself king of Irelandthe first English monarch to do so.Early Modern PerioduIreland was now effectively a separate kingdom sharing a monarch with England, although the Dublin administration w

25、as still appointed by the King.The 18th CenturyuSinn FeinArthur Griffith developed a new political party in the period 1905-08 known as Sinn Feinmeaning “we ourselves” in the Irish language. The Sinn Fein policy was that Irish MPs should withdraw from Westminster and establish an independent parliam

26、ent. Traditionally, Sinn Fein had close links with the Irish Republican Brotherhood（爱尔兰共（爱尔兰共和兄弟会）和兄弟会）, a secret society struggling for national independence.Modern IrelanduThe Easter Rising（复活节起义）（复活节起义） of 1916It was a rebellion by Irish nationalists against British rule on 24 April 1916 (Easter

27、Monday). The Irish Volunteers, led by Patrick Pearse and the Irish Citizen Army（爱尔兰民军）（爱尔兰民军）, led by James Connolly, staged the uprising. The British crushed （镇压，粉碎）（镇压，粉碎）the rising within a week and executed its leaders. A wave of nationalist sentiment produced an electoral victory for Sinn Fein in 1918.Modern Ireland Once elected, the Sinn Fein representatives now constituted （成立）（成立）themselves as the first Dail（国会下议（国会下议院）院）, or independent parliament, in Dublin. A belated （迟（迟来的）来的）British attempt to smash S