The words “England” and “English” are perhaps the two most misused words in the English language. The British themselves often say England and English when they really mean Britain and British.

What’s the difference, you may ask. To understand the question we have to know something about the history of the country and its people.

We all know that Britain is an island country separated from the European continent by the English Channel. Actually there are two main islands. The larger one is called Britain, or Great Britain, and the smaller one is called Ireland, and these two, together with many small islands make up what is called the British Isles.

The British Isles is a geographical term. It is not the name of any country. At present it is made up of two countries, the larger of which is the one we very often inaccurately call England. The full official name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but people call it Britain or Great Britain for that. It consists of England, Scotland, Wales and a small part of Ireland－the northeastern part.

People still tend to call Britain England not only because England is the largest in area and the most populous but mostly because England is the strongest and also the most influential country in every respect before it absorbed the other three countries(The whole of Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom at one time). Call it national chauvinism（沙文主义） if you like, but people in England call Britain England out of habit rather than conscious sense of superiority, though it annoys the Welsh and especially the Scots who are proud of their separate national tradition.

The Taj Mahal (泰姬陵) is considered to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and the finest example of the late style of Indian architecture. It is in northern India.

The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jehan,who ruled India in the seventeenth century. It was in memory of his favourite wife, Arjumand Banu Bagam, known as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631. The building was designed by a local architect (建筑师), Ustad Ahmad Lahori. The Taj Mahal stands at one end of the garden tomb with marble (大理石) paths. The room is softly lighted by the light that passes through double screens of carved marble set high in the walls. The building now is kept in good condition.

The Taj Mahal took about 20 years to build. Shah Jehan planned a similar building,but in black instead of white, to lie on the other side of the river. But before it could be built, Shah Jehan was imprisoned (监禁) by his son and buried next to his wife in the Taj Mahal.

To us it seems so natural to put up an umbrella to keep the water off when it rains, but actually the umbrella was not invented as protection against the rain. Its first use was as a shade against the sun! Nobody knows who first invented it, but the umbrella was used in very ancient times. Probably the first to use it were the Chinese.

We know that the umbrella was used in ancient Egypt and Babylon as a sunshade. And there was a strange thing connected with its use: it became a symbol of honour. In the Far East in ancient times, the umbrella was allowed to be used only by those in high office.

In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. And the umbrella was commonly used in ancient Greece. But it is believed that the first persons in Europe to use the umbrella as protection against the rain were the ancient Romans.

During the Middle Ages, the use of the umbrella practically disappeared. Then it appeared again in Italy in the late sixteenth century. And again it was considered as a symbol of power. By 1680, the umbrella appeared in France and later in England.

By the eighteenth century, the umbrella was used against rain throughout most of Europe. Umbrellas did not change much in style during all this time, though they became much lighter in weight. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that women’s umbrellas began to be made in a whole variety of colours.