Angličtina - Lingvorálie - zkouškové okruhy

01. BRITAIN - THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

Geography

It the north-west of Europe there are two large islands called Great Britain and Ireland and hundreds of smaller ones (Isle of Man and Channel Islands are crown dependencies, not officially part of the UK). In this area there are two states: The Republic of Ireland (Eire in Irish language, capital city Dublin) and The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (shortened as the UK). The UK consists of four nations: Germanic England (London) and Celtic Scotland (Edinburgh), Wales (Cardiff) and Ireland (Belfast). Their unification was a gradual process that was completed in 1800, however in 1922 most of Ireland became separate.
In history GB got different names such as Albion in Celtic, Britannia in Latin Roman or Briton when talking about citizen of the GB during Roman occupation. Likewise, Ireland was called Hibernia, Scotland Caledonia and Wales Cambria. The Emerald Isle is a poetic name for Ireland evoking greenery of its countryside. British flag is called Union Jack (a combination of English, Scottish and Irish crosses) and anthem is named God Save the Queen. The reputation of GB as wet country with constant rain is not true and originated maybe from British tendency to talk about the weather a lot, although it rain more in the west.