第十九期 7-1 (7/7)-英语听力

[00:01.40]Situated in Northwestern Europe, the United Kingdom of Great Britain [00:07.43]and Northern Ireland lies to the north of France and the west of the Netherlands and Denmark. [00:14.09]It consists of England, Scotland, and Wales, numerous smaller coastal islands, [00:20.34]and Northern Ireland. England occupies the southern portion of Britain. [00:25.97]It is the most important part of the Kingdom in wealth, size, and population. [00:31.76]Wales was effectively united with England in the 14th century. [00:36.63]Scotland lies in the northern portion of Britain. [00:40.31]It retained its own parliament until 1707. [00:44.43]In matters of local government, Scotland has much in common with England, [00:49.50]but Scottish legal procedure remains different in many ways. [00:53.87]Northern Ireland is composed of the six Irish counties that elected to remain in the union with Britain [01:02.11]when the remaining 26 counties of Ireland obtained autonomy in 1921. [01:08.59]Britain is one of the world's most advanced manufacturing and trading nations.