英语博客(A cup of English):Croatia

Beginners.

 We are continuing our study of different countries, with Croatia. It is a realtively small country in Central and Southeastern Europe, that is sandwiched between Slovenia and Hungary to the North, Serbia to the Northeast, Bosnia and Hertzegovina to the East, and Montenegro to the Southeast. Just opposite, to the West, across the Adriatic Sea, is Italy. It is shaped like a crescent moon. The geography of this country is quite varied¹. It has a very long rocky coastline, plains, lakes and rolling hills to the North and East, and very dense² forests and mountains in the Dinaric Alps. Certainly there is a lot of variety in an area of 56 and a half thousand square kilometres. There are over 1000 islands in the Croatian territory, many inhabited, and enjoyed by tourists. Croatia is famous for its national parks and for having 49 caves, three of which are deeper than 1000 metres. It is also home to seven Unesco World Heritage sites. It has certainly become a hot spot for tourist in recent years. If you are looking for natural beauty and history at a reasonable price, apparently³ you need look no further.

Grammar notes.

Useful vocabulary: to be sandwiched (in) between, rolling hills, a hot spot.

Exs:

Our house is sandwiched between a butcher's and a baker's.

The rolling hills look smooth because they are not very high, nor do they have jagged rocks.

That night club is the city's main hot spot.

Advanced.

The earliest inhabitants of Croatia have been found to be Neanderthals. Several tribes of different regions lived in various areas of what now forms Croatia. In  9 AD, it became part of the Roman empire. However, in the 7th century AD, European Avars invaded and destroyed nearly all of the roman towns. The Croats organized themselves into 2 areas, and missionaries⁴ set about christianizing the people. Pope John V111 recognised Branimir as the Croats first leader in 872, but it did not become a kingdom until a century later. The Hungarian and Croatian royalties⁵ were related, and Hungary took over for 400 years, though Croatian independence was recognized. A Sabor, or kind of parliament ruled for the next 400 years. Croatia joined the Hapsburg empire in 1527 but then became independent in 1918. At this point Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes united to become Yugoslavia, much to the outrage⁶ of the majority of Croats; they wanted state independence.

Yugoslavia was quickly overtaken by Nazi⁷ Germany and a puppet Croatian ruling party, the Ustache, was set up. It was a brutal⁸ regime. After the war, Yugoslavia became socialist⁹, and later a major war between the Croats and the Serbs took place between 1991 and 1995. Croatia was finally recognized in 1992 as an independent country.

 

1 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 missionaries   

n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

6 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

7 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

8 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

9 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。