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　　The British Isles

　　To the west and off the European Continent, there are thousands of islands on the continental shelf(大陆架)．They are generally called the British Isles．Of all these isles, the largest one is called Great Britain．For convenience’s sake, it is often shortened to Britain．Still further the west of Great Britain is the second largest island known as Ireland．The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland(U．K．)is made up of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and a number of smaller islands around them．The total area of the country is some 240 000 square kilometers with a population of about 57 million．

　　Great Britain runs nearly 1000 kilometers from south to north and extends, at the widest part, about 500 kilometers from west to east．Its area is some 230 000 square kilometers．Great Britain is traditionally divided into three parts, or countries：England in the south, Scotland in the north, and Wales in the southwest．There are discernible(可辨别的)differences between them even now．

　　England is the largest and most developed of all the three．Its area, about 130 000 square kilometers, takes up nearly 60％ of the whole island．Its population is more than 46 million which makes up 85％ of the country’s whole population．The importance of England is so great in Britain that some foreigners just say “England” when they mean Britain．The same is true of the custom of speaking of the British people as the English who are the majority in the United Kingdom．

　　Scotland is the second largest both in area and population．It has an area of about 78 760 square kilometers, less than 30％ of the whole island and with a population of 5 million, less than one tenth of the whole population．

　　Wales is the smallest of the three both in area and population．In area,20 700 square kilometers, it makes up less than 9％ of the total area while its population, 2.7 million, does not exceed 5％ of the whole．