7.
阅读理解
Ireland
has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when
English rulers tried to conquer (征服) Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the
English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence
to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two "Irelands".
Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland,
in the south is an independent country.
In
the 1840s, the main crop was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of
hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the
UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from
8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For
many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today,
many people will work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities
to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life
in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The
Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish
writer, once said that the Irish were "the greatest talkers since the Greeks".
Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different
areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments.
Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles,
etc.