英语社会与文化考试题.doc

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西 安 财 经 学 院 试 题（卷）纸
命题教师 张瑜 学期 2011 — 2012 学年第 1 学期

使用班级 电商08级 、计本09级、软件0901、金融08级
考核方式开卷笔试

课程名称 《英语社会文化》 阅卷教师签名

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一、Fill in the following information gaps(30%)(3point each)
1． The U.S. federal government consist of the following three branches the executive, _ _legislative___and the judicial.
2． _Washington D. C. is the capital and political center of the United States.
3． Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii.
4． The United Kingdom is a country made up of four parts: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
5．The main religion in Britain is Christianity as practiced by the Anglican Church.
6．There are two official languages in Ireland: English and Irish (or Gaelic).
7． With an area of 9,984,670 square kilometers, _Canada is a huge country, second in size only to Russia and slightly larger than China.
8． The capital of Canada is the city of _Qttawa__, which is in the province of Ontario, located above the Great Lakes.
9． Canberra , specifically built as a capital city, is located in the Australian Capital Territory (A.C.T.)
10. The first inhabitants of _New Zealand_, the Maori, are thought to have arrived over 1,000 years ago, traveling on canoes from a South Pacific homeland.
二、Choose the correct answer for each of the following (20%)(2 point each)
1. The British Queen decided to open____C____ to summer tourists to raise money, which caused a lot criticism from the public.
A. The Tower of London.
B. British Museum.
C. Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
D. Westminster Abbey
2. These ____ A _____ stand today as Wales’ great tourist attractions. Tourism is an important industry
A. castles and estates B. Hadrian’s Wall
C. Giant’s Causeway D. Royal Pavilion
3. In the United States, people go to church mainly for the following reasons except A
A. for finding a job in society.
B. for having a place in a community.
C. for identifying themselves with dominant values.
D. for getting together with friends.
4. Which of the following is not a team game? D
A. volleyball B. bowling
C. soccer D. field hockey
5. _____ B ____ was the first president of the United States (1789-1797) and one of the most important leaders in United States history.
A. Abraham Lincoln B. George Washington
C. George W. Bush D. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
6. The official currency in the UK is___ C ____.
A. the US dollar B. the Canadian dollar
C .the British Pound Sterling D. the Australian dollar.
7. The National Flag of __ B __, popularly known as the Maple Leaf.
A. the United States B. Canada
C. the United Kingdom D. Ireland
8. Irish writer_A_, is considered among the greatest poets of the 20th century.
A. William Butler Yeats B. James Joyce
C. Jane Austen D. George Bernard Shaw
9. Which of the following can NOT be found in London?
A. Teahouses. B. Galleries. C. Museums. D. Theatres.
10. ___A___was NOT written by Hemingway.
A. Light in August B. The Sun Also Rises
C. A Farewell to Arms D. For Whom the Bell Tolls
三、Give brief explanations of the following ideas (40%)(8 point each)
1. A significant role of London
London, the capital of the United Kingdom is located in England. It is the biggest city in Europe and the world's seventh biggest city. More than 7 million people live there.It’s not only the financial center of the nation, but also one of the major international financial centres in the world. It is a huge weight in Britain’s economic and culture life.
2. Three Faiths in the U.S.
(1)Protestant (Over 60% of Americans are said to be Protestant believers. )
   -- The Baptists are the largest Protestant group in America. They believe in adult baptism by immersion, symbolizing a mature and responsible conversion experience. They are concentrated particularly in the Southern Bible Belt. The Methodists are the second largest Protestant group in the U.S. The Methodist Church has a form of service based on that of the Church of England.
(2). the Catholics
   The Catholic Church is the largest single religious group in the U.S. More than 25% of all Americans are now of the Roman Catholic faith. The majority of the Catholic are descendants of immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Poland. They have the main strength in the east coast. In American history, the Catholics were discriminated against. By 1960, J.F. Kennedy’s presidential election victory put to rest the Catholic religion as an issue in national politics. Today, the Catholics are active in running their own institutions, and have risen to positions of leadership in business, politics and labor.
(3). the Jewish
More liberal Protestant and Jewish clergymen joined non-believers in maintaining that abortion is a basic right for women.
3. Barack Obama
Obama is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African-American to be nominated by a major American political party for president and is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii.
Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he became the first black person to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review, He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree.
In the2008 general election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. On October 9, 2009, he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
4. The University of Oxford
The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. It is a federation of 35 colleges, each with its own structure and activities.
5. William Shakespeare
Shakespeare, English playwright and poet, was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon in Warwickshire. He is recognized as one of literature’s greatest influences and his body of works is considered the greatest in English literature. His main and the most significant achievement is in drama. It was he who let British Drama export all over the world. Nowadays, Shakespeare becomes a symbol of national culture. His dramas are the soul of British culture more than a kind of graceful and pure art only.
四、Analyze the difference between the independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland? What is the capital of them? (10%)
The island of Ireland lies west of Great Britain across the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel. It is divided into two separate political entities: the independent Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland, a constituent of the United Kingdom.
Though geographically a single island, Ireland is divided into two separate political countries: the Republic of Ireland, which is an entirely separate nation from the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland, which is a part of the UK.
Until 1921, Ireland was one undivided country, although colonized and dominated politically by the British for many centuries before that.
In 1921-22, as Ireland demanded its own sovereignty, and under pressure from the local, mostly protestant population in the north, the British and Irish authorities forced the division of Ireland into north and south. Northern Ireland remained British as part of the United Kingdom while Southern Ireland became the Free State and entered into its own year-long bloody civil war, before the eventual formation of the Republic of Ireland.
Northern Ireland constitutes six counties of a total of 32 counties in the total island of Ireland. Confusingly, Northern Ireland is also a part of the province of Ulster, which includes three counties from the Republic of Ireland.
1.Ireland is much larger than Northern Ireland.
2.Ireland is a sovereign nation and its capital is Dublin. Ireland covers about five-sixth of the island. Northern Ireland is a part of UK and its nominal capital is Belfast.
4.When comparing the religion of the two regions, the republic of Ireland is largely made up of catholics, while Northern Ireland is majority protestant, though in 2001 the mix was roughly 60/40 and moving slowly toward 50/50. Most catholics in Northern Ireland are of Irish ancestry going back many hundreds of years. Most protestants in Northern Ireland are from English or Scottish ancestry originating in the 17th Century.
5.Northern Ireland uses the British Pound as its currency, while the Republic of Ireland has opted for the Euro.
6.Ireland is governed by itself. Northern Ireland had its own virtually sovereign government until the late 1960s when Home Rule was imposed from London after civil unrest. In the early 21st Century the province regained some of its independent government, however it remains under British Sovereign law.
7. The violence in Northern Ireland during the last part of the 20th century was largely caused by Irish Republican activists who objected to the British military presence in Northern Ireland. The army was originally brought in to protect the catholic minority after years of protestant Unionist control and discrimination. However, with the civil population in turmoil, the IRA took advantage of the political vacuum, reformed, grew quickly and began a bombing and shooting campaign. Protestant Loyalists formed their own para-military groups and both sides began a terror conflict, known as The Troubles, which lasted into the late-1990s. The capital of the independent Republic of Ireland is Dublin, the capital of of Northern Ireland is Belfast.