As you are students of English, it’s very possible that you’ll be interested in England. That’s where the language was first spoken. But England is often called by other names. This often confuses people and I wonder if you know what these names mean. So, now I would like to tell you about this matter of names. I believe that you have heard people use the names—England, Britain or Great Britain. Let’s see what each of these names means.
If you look at a map of Europe, you’ll see a group of islands--one larger island off the northwest coast, one smaller and many tiny ones. These make up what is called the British Isles. The largest island of the British Isles is Britain. It is also called Great Britain. The smaller island is Ireland.
Britain is divided into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England. But sometimes the word “England” is used instead of “Britain”. Why so?
In ancient times, what is Britain now used to be three different countries. People in these different countries spoke different languages. Over many years the three countries became one. England is the largest and richest of the three and it has the most people. So the English people take it for granted that their own name stands for the whole island.
There’s another thing that confuses people: sometimes you may hear people say “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. That is the official name of the country. Northern Ireland is only one sixth of the island of Ireland. The rest of the island is an independent state, called the Republic of Ireland. So we have the names of “England”, “Britain”, “Great Britain”, and “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. Now do you know what each of them means?
小题1:English was first spoken in ____.
A．Britain
B．England
C．Great Britain
D．Ireland小题2:According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A．Wales is the richest of the three.
B．Scotland is the largest of the three.
C．Sometimes England is used instead of Britain.
D．Britain is the only name of the largest island of British Isles.小题3:The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is _____.
A．part of Britain
B．part of British Isles
C．the official name of the whole country
D．the largest country of all mentioned in the passage小题4:Which of the following is the best title?
A．Students of English
B．Different Names of England
C．Different Languages Spoken in England
D．The Republic of Ireland
小题1:B
小题2:C
小题3:C
小题4:B
题目分析：本文介绍了英国多个名称的由来的话题，并介绍了英国的很多的具体的信息。
小题1:B 细节题。根据第一段1,2行As you are students of English, it’s very possible that you’ll be interested in England. That’s where the language was first spoken.说明B正确。
小题2:C 细节题。根据第三段1,2行Britain is divided into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England. But sometimes the word “England” is used instead of “Britain”.说明C项正确。
小题3:C 细节题。根据最后一段前3行There’s another thing that confuses people: sometimes you may hear people say “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. That is the official name of the country.说明C项正确。
小题4:B 主旨大意题。根据文章主题段第一段最后3行So, now I would like to tell you about this matter of names. I believe that you have heard people use the names—England, Britain or Great Britain. Let’s see what each of these names means.说明本文是关于英国多个名称的由来的话题，故B项正确。
点评：本文介绍了英国多个名称的由来，文章基本上是考查细节题，对此类题型考生可以首先从问题中找到关键词，然后以此为线索，运用略读及查阅的技巧在文中迅速寻找这一细节，找到后再把这一部分内容仔细阅读一遍，仔细比较所给选项与文中细节的细微区别，在准确理解细节的前提下，最后确定最佳答案。