What is the difference between British Isles(不列颠群岛), Britain, United Kingdom and England? These terms are so often confused by us.
The British Isles is made up of two large islands: One is Britain and the other Ireland. Britain, or Great Britain, is the larger of the two islands, and is divided into three parts: England, Scotland and Wales.
The United Kingdom is that part of Britain Isles ruled over by the Queen. It is made up of Scotland, Wales and England, that is , the whole of Britain, and also about one-sixth of Ireland, the northern part. The rest of Ireland is self-governing. The full name of the United Kingdom is therefore “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.
England is larger and richer than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and has the most population of the United Kingdom, so people often use the words . “England” and “English” when they mean “Britain” and “British”. This sometimes makes the Scots and the Welsh a little angry. The Scots in particular are very proud of their nationality; they have their own legal system, and some of their internal(内部的)affairs are managed by special Scottish department. The Welsh, too, do not regard themselves as English, and have a culture and even a language of their own.

不列颠群岛、不列颠、联合王国和英格兰，这些名词之间有什么区别呢？我们经常会把这些专有名词搞混。不列颠群岛是由两大岛屿组成，
一个是不列颠，另一个是爱尔兰。不列颠或称大不列颠是这两个岛屿
中较大的那一个，该岛分成三部分，英格兰、苏格兰以及威尔士。联
合王国是指不列颠群岛中由女王所管辖的那部分区域。这个区域包括
英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士，也就是整个不列颠；再加上1/6的爱尔兰，
即爱尔兰北部那部分。爱尔兰其它部分为自治区域。联合王国的全名
为“大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国”。
英格兰的面积比苏格兰和北爱尔兰都大，资源也丰富，并拥有联合
王国的大多数人口。因此人们经常用“英格兰”、“英语”来指“
不列颠”和“英国英语”。这种提法有时使得苏格兰人和威尔士人
颇感不快。苏格兰人特别为他们自己这个民族感到骄傲，他们有自
己的法律体系，某些自己的内部事物由他们自己的苏格兰部门来处
理。威尔士人同样也不认为他们是英国人，他们有自己的文化，甚
至还有他们自己的语言。