II. Blank Filling: Introduction: The full name of the United Kingdom is ___ and _____. The island of Great Britain is made up of _____, ____ and ____. The United Kingdom has been a member of ____ since 1973. Britain is now a _____ society which produces a population of which 1 in 20 are of ____ ethnicity. London plays a significant role in ____ economic and cultural life. It’s not only the financial ____ of the nation, but also one of ____ major international financial centers in ____. Chapter 1 Britain consists of ________ nations, including England, ________, _________ and _________. Britain is a country with a history of invasions. In 43 AD Britain was invaded by ________, in the late 18th century they experienced _______ raids from Scandinavia and in the 11the century they suffered invasions from ______. The Anglo-Saxons began to settle in Britain in ___ century. The capital of Britain is ______, which has great influence on the UK in all fields including ____, ____ and ___. Charles the First, king of Britain, was executed, because he attempted to ________ in the English Revolution. Name two Scottish cities which have ancient and internationally respected universities: _____ and _____. The battle of Bannockburn led by Robert the Bruce succeeded in winning the full independence of _______. Both the Scottish and Welsh people elect their members of parliaments to the London Parliament and each holds ___ and ___ seats respectively. The capital of Scotland is ____, which is well-known for its natural ____. Although Wales is the smallest of the three nations on the ___ mainland, it’s good at getting ___ from abroad, particularly Japan and ____. Chapter 2 The Home Rule Bill was finally passed in ____, but the process was overtaken by ___ and was suspended for the duration of the war. To pursue Irish independence, the most spectacular event in the Irish history was ___ of 1916, in which the rebels occupied Dublin’s ___ and forced the British to take it back by ____. As Protestants were the majority of the province, they controlled the local ___, and used that power to support their economic and social ____ in the area. Therefore Catholics in Northern Ireland began ___ movement in the 1960s, campaigning for ___. The ___ IRA believed that they had made enough progress so that they could concentrate on ____, and run candidates for ____. The ___ IRA separated from the officials, because they felt that ___ was the only way to get the British out. Threatened by the IRA in the early 1970s, the Protestants formed their own illegal ___ groups and took revenge on ___. In 1971 the Northern Irish government took the action to imprison terrorist suspects from both sides without ___, a policy known as ___. In the 1980s convicted IRA prisoners started a campaign for the status of being ___ by starving themselves. The British government didn’t __ to this demand for political status and ___ prisoners starved to death. 1972 was the worst year of the troubles which included 13 Catholics who had been taking part in a peaceful ___. They were shot dead by ___. This day has now been mythologised as ___. A series of big bombs in London in the late 1980s and early 1990 increased ___ on the British government to come up with ___. Sinn Fein, the legal ___ Party, supports the IRA’s right to fight. Its leaders spoke of a twin campaign for union with ___, both political and military, which is known as the policy of __. In August 1994, the IRA declared ____ with the efforts made by John Hume, the leader of ____, and Gerry Adams, the leader of ___. It’s hard to make talks successful between the British and Irish governments without the participation of ___ and ____. R.U.C. stands for _________________. Chapter 3 _______, the ancestor of the present Queen, Elizabeth II, united England under his rule in 829. The doctrine of the “divine right of kings” held that _____, ____. During the civil war in the 17 century, those who represented the interests of Parliament are called ___, and those who supported the King were called ____. In 1215, some feudal barons and the Church forced King ____ to sign the ___ to place some limits on the King’s power. In medieval times, kings would summon a group of wealthy barons and representatives of counties, towns and cities --- called ___ to raise money. in 1689, Parliament passed _______ to ensure that the King would never be able to ignore Parliament. In the 18th century, King George I left the job of chairing cabinet meetings to one of his ministers who later came to be called _______. In Britain, the official head of state is ____ while the real center of political life is in ____. The British Constitution consists of ___ and ___. The most important function of the Parliament is to _______. Strictly speaking, the Parliament today consists of _____, _____ and __________. The fund the Queen received to repair the fire damage to ___ caused a lot criticism from the public about the monarchy, and the Queen later decided to open ____ to summer tourists to raise money. Life peers should be nominated by ____, and appointed by _____. According to tradition, most peerages can only be passed through the ____ lines. Chapter 4 The UK is divided into ____ constituencies with each of them represented by a member in ____. The party which wins the majority seats in parliament forms ___ and its party leader becomes ______. Normally, a government can be in power for ____ years, and then it has to resign a hold a general election. If a government loses a ____ in the House of Commons, it has to resign. The electoral register refers to ____________________. The amount of time given to each party in the “party electoral broadcasts” is proportional to the ______ which the party received at the previous election. In order to be fair, the amount of money a candidate can spend in his _____ is strictly limited. The media conducts ____ to try to predict the result of the election. There are three major parties in the UK: ______, _______ and _________. ________ was established by the Labour government in 1948, providing health care for all the people. From 1979 to 1997, ________ won 4 consecutive elections and was in power for quite a long time. ________ is the leader of the Conservative party while ___is the leader of the Labour party. Chapter 5 “The Jewel in the Crown” of the British Empire---_____, which provided ____ and a big market for British goods, gained independence in 1947. A low rate of _____ coupled with a very high rate of ____ is a characteristic of the UK economy. Since 1945, the UK economy has experienced _____ decline rather than _____ decline. In the 1970s, the devaluation of the UK currency forced the Labour government to borrow money from ______. In 1979, the Conservative party under _____ came into power and carried out a programme of ___. In recent years, Britain is second only to the U.S. as a destination for ________. The UK economy can be divided into three main sectors: _____ industries, secondary industries and _____ industries. The beef industry was hit badly by ____ which caused a ban on beef exports in 1996. Since the discovery of oil and gas under the ____, Britain has gained a strong position in the offshore oil industry. Glaxo-wellcome is the biggest _______ company in the world while ___ is the second largest paint manufacturer in the world. ___________ is one of the busiest share-dealing centers in the world. Englishman Frank Whittle developed the world’s first practical _______ in 1937. Chapter 6 One of the oldest of the early “old English” literary works is called ________. _________ is generally regarded as Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece. Shakespeare’s plays fall into three categories. They are ______, ___________ and _________. Name two of the tragedies written by Shakespeare: _________ and ___________. Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte are noted for their novels ___ and _________ which are largely the love stories of a woman for a man. Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell are regarded not only as ___ but also as social ______ in the 19th century. The author of Ivanhoe was _____; Doctor Jekyll and Mr.Hyde was done by ________; Charles Dickens wrote _ and ___ among many other works. Twentieth-century literature can be broadly divided into two stylistic periods: ___ and _____. Virginia Woolf was one of the most famous writers of the ____ century. Her work was concerned with the individual consciousness, especially the _______ consciousness. She sometimes used the technique called _______ in her writing. The Heart of Darkness was written by __; The French Lieutenant’s Woman was done by _____and the author of 1984 was _________. The most famous novel by John Fowles was called _________. Smiley’s People was written by __________. Chapter 7 ____ is a rough, fast game which was invented in Britain while _______ is a more gentle sport which owes its origins to the Church. The FA Cup stands for ______________________. Each year, the best tennis players in the world gather at _________ to compete for the championship. Phrases like “ on a sticky wicket” and “playing with a straight bat” are associated with the sport of ________. The game of golf was invented by the ___ and there is one ancient and famous golf course at __________-. There are two kinds of horse racing: _____ and ________. People usually dress up and show off their fashionable clothes and elaborate hats for the social event called _______________. __________ is a sport involves riding skills as well as speed. _______ are people of extremist animal rights groups who will try every possible means to prevent the hunt from proceeding. Many British people like to participate in the popular sport of fishing, which is sometimes called ________. Chapter 8 Most of the world’s religions are practiced in present-day Britain. There are quite large communities of Hindu, _______, _________, and Sikh and numerous smaller groups. Christmas commemorates ________, while _______ commemorates the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. ________ is a comical musical play enjoyed by adults and children during Christmas time. It has two main characters: _____ and _____. Traditionally, people gave Christmas gifts or money to their staff or servants on ________, which is the day after Christmas. Many Muslims in Britain observe a traditional Islamic festival called ________, during which nothing can be eaten or drunk between dawn and nightfall. Overseas Chinese community in Britain often celebrates Chinese New Year with _____, fireworks, parades and family celebrations. On the second Saturday in June, the Queen’s birthday is officially celebrated by ________ around _______ in London. The Bonfire Night, which is celebrated in November, sometimes is also called ________. _______ affectionately known as King Billy, defeated the Catholic King at the Battle of ___ in 1690. On ___ each year, Protestant “Orangemen” march through the streets, celebrating their victory over the Catholics. On March 17 each year, northern Irish Catholics celebrate the birthday of _____, St Patrick, who is said to use shamrock to explain the Christian ____ to the Pagan Irish. One widely practiced custom on Scottish Hogmanay is __________. Scottish people celebrate the birthday of their national poet by holding a ______; and the Welsh festival of music-making and poetry writing is called_______. Communion with the dead, mischief, fortune-telling and masquerades are common practices on _____. Chapter 9 The two oldest universities in Britain are ____ and _______. Two famous public schools in England are ____ and ____. Children in Britain must receive a full-time education legally from the age of ____ to ____. Pupils from the age of ____ to ____ mainly attend state-run ____ schools. Students attend ____ schools from the age of 11 up to around the age of ____. Parents can choose between sending their children to ____ schools or ____ schools. Parents from the wealthier middle class prefer to send their children to ____ schools so as to have better ____. Comprehensive schools provide a ___ education, teaching students everything from ____ subjects like literature and science to more _____ subjects like cooking and carpentry. Name two of the four Scottish Universities dating from the 14th and 15th centuries: ____ and ______. In Britain, people can go to the _____ without having any formal educational qualifications. GCSE stands for _______. GCEA stands for __________. GNVQs stands for _____________. Chapter 10 Like the housing system in the US and the wealthy English-speaking commonwealth, the UK has a very high proportion of ______, which means that the people own the house they live in. Banks finance people to buy their own home through loans or __ paid back over a period of 25 years. In ascending order of cost and status, the four main types of British home are ______, ________, ________ and ________. The “semis” and the semi-detached houses are usually found in ____ areas; while the terraced houses are most commonly seen in _______ areas. Manual (or _________) workers would usually call themselves working-class; while office (or __________) workers would call themselves middle-class. People who do unskilled office-work and skilled well-paid manual work are likely to be described as ______ class. A university teacher would most probably read a newspaper like ____ while a manual worker would probably read _________. _______ is the name used particularly to refer to the top two universities in Britain: Cambridge and Oxford. One distinctive feature about the class system in Britain is that it still retains a ________. Most of the recent immigrants come from South Asian countries such as _______, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; and ______ countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad. Chapter 11 Britain had many colonies in its ______ prime. Name two of the colonies which still looked to Britain as the center of their political and cultural world: ____ and _____. When the Second World War was over, Britain was active in _____ the United Nations and became one of _____ permanent members of ____. The present foreign policy of Britain is greatly influenced by its ____ history and also by its ____. Britain’s special relationship with ____ is another major factor which ____ the British foreign policy. Britain’s physical isolation has long been reduced by the development of ____ and more recently by the opening of ____, which links Britain to continental _______. The general direction of Britain’s foreign policy is decided by ____ and _____. The main government department such as ____ also involves in making Britain’s foreign policy. According to the author, Britain is a _____ democracy, so the government’s foreign policy in theory represents the desires of its ____. The Commonwealth was believed to be set up as _____ for continued cooperation and as a sort of support ______. There are _____ members of the Commonwealth including ____ countries as well as ______ industrial countries. Britain spends more money on _____ than most other developed nations and it is ____ largest spender in the world and is ranked ______ in terms of its military power. Britain is a member of ____ “club”, maintaining an extensive nuclear capability which makes it a little brother to the nuclear _______. As an outpost of an American-controlled military ______, Britain hosts a large American military ____ as well as the NATO ________. Since Britain is a traditional sea power, it’s not surprising that Britain has three or four nuclear-armed ______. Chapter 12 Britain’s three most popular activities are _____, _______ and _________. Britain has one of the world’s oldest established ____ industries. The Observer, which appeared in 1791, is the world’s oldest ___ newspaper, while The Times, which began publishing in 1785, is Britain’s oldest ____ newspaper. There are ____ different daily national newspapers. Name two of them which are quite well-known in Britain as well as in the world: ____ and _______. The ____ press carry more serious and _____ articles of particular political and social importance. They are generally read by ____ audience. _____ is regarded as one of the quality papers in Britain. The other category of national newspapers is ______ which are often called ______ press. Officially speaking the British newspapers are free from government ____ and ____ and can print what they like, but many British laws ____ the freedom of newspapers. The BBC stands for _________. It’s not only Britain’s main public service ______ but also serves as ____ station. The BBC has ____ channels. BBC 1 entertains people with sports, drama, current affairs, etc. BBC2 provides _____ with documentaries and shows. The most left wing of quality newspapers is _____ whose readers show their interest in _____ and in society and ________. The News of the World, which began publishing as a ____ in 1843, is considered as one of _______. ___ about business is not only printed at home but also printed in other countries of the world. The media are also affected by ______, a legal act which demands that all government information is kept ____ unless the government agrees. The media have many ___. They provide people with _____ about political and social problems. They carry advertising and also play an important role in ______.