Question

　　Did anyone find the names of “Great Britain”, “the United Kingdom”, “England” and “the British commonwealth” which have the same meaning? Strictly speaking, these names all refer to something different①. None of them are exactly the same as any of the others.

　　The British isles refer to the main islands and several thousand small ones as well, which you can see on the map②. Great Britain, or Britain, refers to the larger of the two main islands. But the word “Britain” is often used as a short form for the United Kingdom or you call it the UK .

　　Now as for England, it refers simply to the largest of the three countries on the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom is the name of the state and the official name of the country, which many people popularly refer to England.

　　Finally, the Britain commonwealth is the usual name for what is left of the British Empire (帝國). This change shows the weakening of British Empire and the rising of the national liberation movements throughout the world today.

 

　　1. According to the passage, we know that ____ .

　　A. Great Britain has the same meaning as Britain

　　B. the United Kingdom has the same meaning as Britain or England

　　C. all the names in the first paragraph have the same meaning

　　D. all the names refer to England

　　2. It is clear that the British isles refer to ____ .

　　A. Britain, England and the UK.

　　B. the two main islands and thousands of small ones

　　C. three countries and several islands

　　D. Great Britain or the United Kingdom

　　3. Which of the following shows the right relationship (關系) between the British isles (BI), Britain (B) and England (E)?

　　A. B>BI>EB. BI>E>BC. E>B>BID. BI>B>E

　　4. If you want to write to someone in Edinburgh that lies in Scotland, you should write the address as ____ .

　　A. Edinburgh, England

　　B. Edinburgh, Great Britain

　　C. Scotland, Edinburgh, England

　　D. Great Britain, Scotland, Edinburgh

Answer 1

　　本文主要向讀者介紹有關英國的幾個英語名稱所包括的范圍，讓讀者清楚它們之間的不同之處。

　　1.A本題為推理判斷題。由第一段可知，the Untied Kingdom, Great Britain, England 的含義是不同的，可排除B、C和D。也可根據第二段第二句“Great Britain, or Britain, refers to the larger of the two main islands.”得出答案A。

　　2.B本題為細節考查題。由第二段第一句“The British isles refer to the main islands and several thousand small ones as well, which you can see on the map.”可得出正確答案。

　　3.D本題為排序題。由全文可知，the British isles包括英國地圖上所有的島嶼，Britain是指其中的一個島嶼，而England是指Britain島嶼上的一個國家。

　　4.B本題為常識題。眾所周知，Scotland是英國的一部分，再根據本文有關英國的知識和寫地址按照由小到大的順序，可得出答案B。