England、Britain和the U.K.有何不同？-新东方前途出国

Understanding complex geopolitical dynamics may be hard, but that’s no excuse not to refer to countries by their proper names. Here’s a quick primer to help you sort out who’s who when it comes to the U.K.:

理解复杂的地缘政治动态可能很难，但这并不是不使用国家的专有名称的借口。这里有一个快速入门，可以帮助你在谈到英国时区分谁是谁:

Part of the confusion could come from the fact that much of the United Kingdom is located on a single island that is itself a part of a larger set of islands. In strict geographic terms, Great Britain (also known as “Britain”) is an island tucked between the North Sea and the English Channel, which at its narrowest point is about 20 miles away from the European continent. Great Britain is part of the British Isles, a collection of more than 6,000 islands including Ireland in the west and smaller islands like Anglesey and Skye.

造成这种混乱的部分原因可能是，英国的大部分地区都位于一个岛屿上，而这个岛屿本身是一组更大岛屿的一部分。严格地说，大不列颠(也被称为“不列颠”)是一个夹在北海和英吉利海峡之间的岛屿，它窄的地方距离欧洲大陆约20英里。大不列颠是不列颠群岛的一部分，不列颠群岛由6000多个岛屿组成，包括西部的爱尔兰岛和较小的岛屿，如安格尔西岛和斯凯岛。

To start with, there's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The U.K., as it is called, is a sovereign state that consists of four individual countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the U.K., Parliament is sovereign, but each country has autonomy to some extent. For the most part, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish parliaments defer to the U.K. Parliament in “reserved matters” that deal with things like foreign policy and EU membership, but retain authority over “devolved matters” that deal with things like education and housing.

首先是大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国。英国是一个主权国家，由四个独立的国家组成:英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰。在英国，议会是主权国家，但每个国家都有一定程度的自治权。在大多数情况下，苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰议会在处理外交政策和欧盟成员国身份等“保留事务”上服从英国议会，但在处理教育和住房等“移交事务”上保留。

Though bound to the Crown and tied together in unity, the individual countries within the U.K. retain their own local identities and even their own regional languages. (Welsh, for example, is the official language in Wales even though the official language in the U.K., as a whole, is English.)

虽然英国的各个国家都与国王紧密相连，团结一致，但英国内部的各个国家都保留着各自的地方特征，甚至保留着各自的地区语言。(例如，威尔士语是威尔士的官方语言，尽管整个英国的官方语言是英语。)

Since becoming a republic in the 1940s, the Republic of Ireland (which shares a border with Northern Ireland) has operated as a sovereign state of its own. Though it is physically close to the U.K., the Republic of Ireland has its own relationships and memberships with the United Nations, the European Union and other international organizations.

自上世纪40年代成为共和国以来，爱尔兰共和国(与北爱尔兰接壤)一直是一个独立自主的国家。尽管爱尔兰离英国很近，但它与联合国、欧盟和其他国际组织有自己的关系和成员关系。

The word “British” is confusing in and of itself—it can refer to things that relate to the United Kingdom, Great Britain or the former British Empire. Though it used to be the world’s most powerful colonial force, the reach of that Empire has waned. However, the present-day U.K. does have a few remaining colonies worldwide, which are referred to as British Overseas Territories. These territories remain subject to British rule, though some are self-governing:

“British这个词本身就令人困惑——它可以指与英国、大不列颠或前大英帝国有关的事物。虽然它曾经是世界的殖民力量，但那个帝国的影响已经减弱。然而，今天的英国在世界范围内确实有一些剩余的殖民地，被称为英国海外领土。这些领土仍然受英国统治，尽管有些是自治的：

Three islands within the British Isles retain special status as “Crown Dependencies.” Though the U.K. is technically responsible for them, they are independently administered and self-governing. Instead of having a relationship with the U.K., they have a relationship with “The Crown”—the British monarchy:

不列颠群岛中的三个岛屿保留着“皇家属地”的特殊地位。虽然技术上由英国负责，但它们是独立管理和自治的。他们与英国没有关系，而是与英国的君主政体——有关系:

Then there’s the Commonwealth Realm—countries that accept the Crown, aka Queen Elizabeth, as their constitutional monarch. As members of the Commonwealth of Nations, each Commonwealth Realm governs itself, makes its own decisions and foreign policy decisions, but retains ties to the U.K. and to one another. This streamlines diplomatic relations and fosters ongoing community between nations that used to be part of Britain’s formidable empire:

然后是英联邦王国——接受皇冠的国家，也就是伊丽莎白女王，作为他们的君主立宪。作为英联邦国家的成员，每个英联邦国家都进行自我管理，做出自己的决定和外交政策决定，但仍与英国和彼此保持联系。这简化了外交关系，并促进了曾经是英国帝国一部分的国家之间的持续社区：

1. Antigua and Barbuda

2. Australia

3. The Bahamas

4. Barbados

5. Belize

6. Canada

7. Grenada

8. Jamaica

9. New Zealand

10. Papua New Guinea

11. Saint Kitts and Nevis

12. Saint Lucia

13. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

14. Solomon Islands

15. Tuvalu