The British isles is made up of two large islands: One is called Ireland and the other 16 , or Great Britain, is the larger of these two islands, and it is ___17___ into three parts: Scotland , Wales and England.
The United Kingdom is that __18____of the British isles ruled over by the Queen. It is made up of Scotland, Wales and England, that is, the ___19___of Britain, and also about one sixth of Ireland, the Northern part. The ____20__of Ireland is self-governing. The __21____name of the United Kingdom is ____22__“The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.
___23__ is larger and richer than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and has the most __24___of the United Kingdom, so people often use the __25___ “England” and “English” when they __26__ “Britain” and “British”. This sometimes makes the Scots and the Welsh a little __27__. The Scots in particular are very __28___ of their separate nationality. The Welsh too do not regard ___29___as English, and have a culture and even a ___30___of their own.
Ireland became part of the United Kingdom in 1801, but for forty years the “Irish___31___ ” was the greatest headache of the United Kingdom. ___32___, Ireland is divided into two: Northern Ireland still ____33__to the United Kingdom, and in 1922 the rest of Ireland ___34___to found an Irish Free State, later called Eire and now the Republic of Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland does not regard itself as part of Britain, and is not now even a supporter of the Commonwealth of Nations (英联邦). Unlike the major Commonwealth countries it did not want to ___35___British in the Second World War and now wants the whole of Ireland to be a republic.
16. A. Wales B. Britain C. England D. Scotland
17. A. divided B. cut C. broken D. separated
18. A. piece B. island C. country D. part
19. A. south B. north C. part D. whole
20. A. smaller B. larger C. rest D. island
21. A. correct B. true C. full D. complete
22. A. also B. therefore C. likely D. perhaps
23. A. The UK B. The British isles C. Great Britain D. England
24. A. colleges B. officials C. cities D. population
25. A. words B. names C. spellings D. pronunciations
26. A. call B. forget C. speak D. write
27. A. angry B. difficult C. tired D. lonely
28. A. proud B. fond C. full D. kind
29. A. it B. Wales C. them D. themselves
30. A. capital B. language C. history D. programmers
31. A. Country B. Question C. Disease D. Republic
32. A. At last B. So C. Meanwhile D. Also
33. A. returns B. belongs C. gets D. speaks
34. A. hoped B. refused C. broke away D. used
35. A. feel B. touch C. fight D. help
16-20.BADDC 21-25.CBDDA 26-30.AAADB 31-35.BABCD