英美概况简答题

10-1.Britain is situated in western Europe ,and is separated from the European continent by the North Sea, the Strait of Dover and the English Channel ,a country of island off the northwestern coast of Europe ,with a total area of some 244,019 square kilometers .It lies between 50°and 60°north latitude ,and roughly between 2°east and 8°west longitude . 10-4. Britain has a temperate maritime climate ,which is damp and warm all year round and generally does not run to extremes .three features: there are more fogs or smog in winter .there are more rainy days but less sunny days .its instability or changeability .

35-1. firstly ,the country suffered a great loss in the two world wars .secondly, the era of the Britain Empire was over .thirdly ,it had to spend a high proportion of its national wealth on the military .fourthly ,the failure to invest sufficiently industry also reflects long-standing and continuing problem in Britain economy.

35-2. Britain is not poorer ,or producing less than it was in 1945,in fact ,it is a lot wealthier and more productive than it was then .the problem is that through it has improved ,other countries have improved more rapidly ,hence the slide from being the 2nd largest economy (after the united states ) to being the sixth ,as it is at present. So Britain has experienced economic decline ,but this decline is relative to some other economies rather than absolute .

35-3. the Britain economy went through a particularly bad period in the 1970s when rates of inflation reached up to 25% with the rises of oil price .workers went on strikes for more pay .

35-4 . under Margaret Thatcher , government expenditure was reduced ,taxation reformed ,foreign exchange controls lifted ,rules governing banks loosened and worker strikes restricted .Result :the 1980s saw the recovery of the Britain economy .however ,the negative aspect of it was a rapid increase in unemployment .

268-6. the north had many advantages over the south ,such as more states ,a larger population and almost all the industry of the united states .the network of railroads in the north contributed to federal military prospects. Most of the navy was in the union?s hands ,which was used to blockade the southern coast .more important ,Lincoln was supported by the great majority of the people .

268-7. that mainly because the north lacked the determination and will to fight the war .for nearly 18 months lincoln hesitated on the question of slavery ,because he was not a firm abolitionist .to make matters even worse ,pro-slavery capitalists sabotaged the war effort in the rear .the british and French governments supplied the confederates with food and munitions .for a time things looked gloomy indeed to the northerners .

268-8. (1) in may 1862 ,congress passed the homestead act ,under which the land problem was solved in the interests of the small farmers (2) on the September 22, 1862 lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation ,which liberated some four million negro slaves in the south .(3) negroes were allowed to serve in the union army from august 1862 .

268-9. It preserved the Union .it solved the agrarian problem .it destroyed the federal slavery –plantation system ,which had been an obstacle on the path of the development of capitalism ,so that American capitalism developed at a higher speed after the war .in this sense of it is ,therefore ,also called the second American bourgeois revolution .since the war was not fought for the emancipation of the negroes ,they were not emancipated after the end of the war .

283-5.the united states flourished with great prosperity in the 1920. the expression “roaring 20?s”is often describe the period of American life .in 1929 ,a deep worldwide economic crisis broke out .the first outward sign of the depression was the collapse of the stock market in October 1929, followed by the closing of thousands of plants and banks .

283-6.the New deal measures had two principal purposes .internally ,through a huge increase in government expenditure large-scale public works were lunched to create employment ,and crops were destroyed and agricultural production reduced in order to raise the sagging farm prices .externally ,the …good neighbor policy? towards latin America was adopted .the united stated even established diplomatic relations with the soviet union .efforts were made the old markets abroad and to conquer new ones .

The new deal program had some initial remedial effect ,but it failed to produce recovery ,and solve the problem of unemployment .

283-7.since it entered the war ,the united states played an important role in defeating the fascist powers . it had supplied the antifascist countries with great amounts of food and military materials. It had sent its own troops to open the second front the in Europe and had done a lot in promoting the formation of the antifascist united front .however ,the nature of US imperialism had made itself felt during the whole period of the war .the US monopolists had no scruples about selling arms and ammunition to the aggressors .

283-8.