1、British Culture Education Literature Scenic sports & historical sitesBritish Education Elementary Education Secondary Education Higher Education1. Elementary Education All children in the U.K. must receive a full-time education from the age of 5 to 16. Compulsory educationState Primary School An inf
2、ant section (5-7); A junior section (7-11); Kindergarten or Nursery Schools (3-5);State Primary School The academic year begins in September, and is divided into three terms, with holidays at Christmas, Easter and in the summer. Most primary schools are wholly maintained by the local authorities. On
3、e third belongs to churches, either Anglican or Roman Catholic.Prep Schools The preparatory schools are independent schools for children from 7 or 8 up to 13. The prep school curriculum differs from Its main target is the “common entrance” examination at the age of 13, for admission to a public scho
4、ol.2. Secondary Education Two complete educational systems: The state schools; The independent schools; For all children in state schools, secondary education begins at the age of 11. There are at this time two systems for secondary education, the selective and the comprehensive.Schools at this stag
5、e Grammar School; Comprehensive Secondary School; Secondary Modern School; Public School;Grammar School Oldest schools in U.K.; William Shakespeare; 3% of the state school students; These schools are reserved for2002年高中入学率 London 5； Mexico City 62%; Los Angels 90%; Shanghai 94%; Tokyo 97%; General N
6、ational Vocational Qualifications 国家专业资格证书 这一证书是专为职业技术学校毕业的学生设置的，共分个级别，这就便于人们按阶梯逐级攀登，根据自己条件通过实际工作和专业培训由低级向高级发展获四级国家专业资格证书相当于学士学位；获五级相当于研究生水平 90% students attend Comprehensive Secondary School; 5% attend Secondary Modern School;Public School The four most famous: Eton College; Harrow School; Winchest
7、er College; Rugby School; They emphasize two factors in education. One is the study of classics and science (needs of the bourgeoisie), the other is the development of character. The public school spirit is team spirit and leadership.3. Higher Education British universities are public bodies which r
8、eceive funds from central government. So far, the UK has only one privately funded university, the University of Buckingham.Oxford & Cambridge Nearly all Cabinet Ministers who went to university Oxbridge; 46% of Conservative Party Members of Parliament of the Government executives Most senior civil
9、servants are著名的牛津人（知名牛津校友）著名的牛津人（知名牛津校友） 牛津产生了牛津产生了4位英国国王，位英国国王，46位诺贝尔奖获得者，位诺贝尔奖获得者，25位英国首相，位英国首相，3位圣人，位圣人，86位大主教以及位大主教以及18位位红衣主教。红衣主教。 国王国王爱德华七世 爱德华八世 总统和首相总统和首相克雷芒艾德礼 安东尼艾登 哈罗德麦克米兰 哈罗德威尔逊 爱德华希斯 玛格利特撒切尔 托尼布莱尔 比尔克林顿 Two features of Oxford and Cambridge: The college system; Tutorial system; Scottish
10、Universities; The Middle-Aged Universities; Post-War Universities; The Open University;British LiteratureFictionPoetryDrama Fiction Fables: which are about animals or supernatural persons or incidents and whose purpose is teaching a moral are probably the earliest form of story-telling.Legends come
11、later;The best-loved story is about Robin Hood who was a popular hero living under the greenwood with his men, taking from the rich and giving to the poor and waging war against bishops and archbishops.Thomas More (1478-1535) In Utopia More exposes the poverty of the laboring classes and the greed o
12、f the rich; he points out the principle of Utopia- “From everyone according to his capacities, to everyone according to his needs”- which is the practical basis for a communist society.The Puritan Period John Bunyan, a prose writer; John Milton, an outstanding poet;John Bunyan Three great allegories
13、 in the world literature: Spensers Faery Queen; Dantes Divina Commedia; Bunyans Pilgrims Progress;Pilgrims Progress It is a religious allegory which depicts the spiritual pilgrimage of a Christian, who flies from the City of Destruction, meets with perils and temptations at the Slough of Despond, Va
14、nity Fair and finally reaches the Delectable Mountains.Daniel Defoe Modern novel began to appear in the 18th century; Defoe: forerunners of the English realist novel; The modern European novel began after the Renaissance, with Cervantess Don Quixote;塞万提斯 堂吉诃德堂吉诃德，是西班牙作家塞万提斯塞万提斯于1605年和1615年分两部分岀版的反骑士
15、小说。故事背景是个早没有骑士的年代，主角堂吉诃德幻想自己是个骑士，因而作出种种匪夷所思的行径，最终从梦幻中苏醒过来。 评论家多称唐吉诃德是西方西方文学史上的第一部现代小说小说，也是世界文学文学的瑰宝之一。这部书原本是打算对当时流行的骑士传奇小说进行反讽。然而吊诡的是，由于后来骑士骑士小说小说渐渐销声匿迹，自文坛消失，于是当初塞万提斯塞万提斯讽刺骑士骑士小说小说的此一初衷渐渐被后世读者所淡忘； 后来由于美国百老汇歌舞剧歌舞剧梦幻骑士的成功改编，原本“唐吉诃德”由嘲讽那些不自量力、脱离现实、自以为是一代大侠的这一类型人物，如今已多被用来指那些勇敢坚持自己的理想，敢于挑战社会不合理现象、不顾众人嘲笑
16、仍坚持一己信念之人物。Robinson Crusoe Robin Crusoe tells of the only survivor of a shipwreck who lives alone on a deserted island for many years, solving the problems of food, clothing and shelter as best as he can. Creating the image of English Bourgeoisie: FridayCharles Dickens Outstanding representative of
17、critical realism; Writing about the working class; Greatest creative writers;Some of his novels: Oliver Twist; David Copperfield; The Old Curiosity Shop; Hard Times; Great Expectations; A Tale of Two Cities; Dombey and Son;William Makepeace Thackeray Writing about middle-class; Masterpiece: Vanity F
18、air; The title was taken from Bunyans Pilgrims Progress; The subtitle of the novel: A Novel Without a Hero;Women Novelists Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice; Narrow range of the society: The constant quest of the middle-class mother for rich husbands for her daughters;The Bronte Sisters Emily (1818-1
19、848) Wuthering Heights; Charlotte (1816-1855) Jane Eyre; Ann (1820-1849); Al literary, all talented and all dying young, is one of the saddest pages in the history of English literature.Twentieth Century Novelist Thomas Hardy; D.H. Lawrence; James Joyce;Poetry Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English
20、 poetry, the first to write in the London dialect; The Cantebury Tales;John Milton Greatest revolutionary poet of the 17th century; Paradise Lost;Pre-Romanticism Poets Robert Burns; William Blake; William Wordsworth was a famous nature-poet at the turn of the century; Lyrical Ballads; Byron (1788-18
21、24); Shelly (1792-1822); Keats (1795-1821); If winter comes, can Spring be far behind? Beauty is truth, truth beauty; For ever wilt thou love,and she be fair!The Twentieth Century Poets William Butler Yeats; Thomas Sterns Eliot; The Waste Land; Both won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923 and 194
22、8 respectively;Drama William Shakespeare; Osca Wilde; George Bernard Shaw;Scenic Spots & Historical Sites Westminster Westminster Abbey:national shrine; Westminster Palace:the seat of the British Parliament; Clock Tower; Big Ben;2. The British Museum3. Hyde Park4. The Tower of London5. St. Pauls Cathedral6. Whitehall7. Buckingham Palace8. Greenwich Royal Observatory
