4.The Irish had two special causes of complaint：the Established Church was the Protestant Church of England，while most of the Irish people are Roman Catholics：the laws for the letting of farms were unjust to the farmers.In 1869the Irish Church was disestablished；in 1870the Land law was amended so as to give better terms to tenants.For a time，Ireland was quiet.
5.By-and-by，however，the demand for Repeal was raised again.The Irish Members of Parliament asked for “Home Rule.”Bad harvests in 1878and 1879caused much suffering and discontent among the small farmers in the west and the south.Home Rulers put themselves at the head of the discontent，anda O’Connell.-He was sentenced to two years‘imprisonment；but the House of Lords prevented the sentence from being carried out.From this time O’Connell‘s power over his countrymen declined.He died at Genoa in 1847.
b Fenian.-From the name of an old Celtic hero，Fion，or Finn.
demanded a complete change in the land laws.They formed a Land League，which advised the farmers not to pay rents.Landlords and their agents were shot；the cattle and goods of those who obeyed the law were destroyed.The law was openly defied，and the country was on the brink of civil war.
6.Early in January 1881，Parliament was called together to consider the state of Ireland.An Act for the Protection of Person and Property was passed in March.
7.Notes of Progress.-The Penny Postage was adopted，chiefly through the efforts of Rowland Hill，in 1840.A Bill for the admission of Jews into Parliament was passed in 1858，when Baron Rothschild took his seat as Member for London.In 1866，the first Telegraph Cable between Europe and America was successfully laid under the sea.In 1870，the Education Act，establishingSchool Boards，was passed for England and Wales.In 1872，the Ballot Act，allowing secret voting at parliamentary elections，became law.
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1.在这一统治时期，爱尔兰需要外界的高度关注。1845年，马铃薯病造成了巨大灾难。部分是由于大量人员死亡，部分是由于向美洲移民，爱尔兰人口减少了近200万。
2.爱尔兰一直以来总是抱怨受到英国的糟糕统治。迎合爱尔兰人民的拯救措施，是1801年爱尔兰“脱离”联邦。以丹尼尔·奥康内尔a为首的人对这次脱离（即成立一个独立的爱尔兰国会）表示强烈抗议，但他由于反叛罪而受到审讯，使这种抗议声一度停息。
3.若干年之后，这种抗议死灰复燃，当时，旨在将爱尔兰从英国统治下独立出来的芬尼亚b秘密组织成立。“人身保护法”暂时失效（也就是说，法律允许不经审讯便可以让人坐牢），许多为首的芬尼亚运动成员被流放。
4.爱尔兰人的不满有两个具体理由：英国国教是英国的新教，而多数爱尔兰人是罗马天主教徒；农田出租相关法律对农民不公平。1869年，爱尔兰教会实行政教分离；1870年，土地法进行了修订，增加了对佃户更好的条款。这样，爱尔兰一度风平浪静。
5.不过，脱离联邦的要求终于再次提出。爱尔兰的国会议员要求实行“地方自治”。1878年和1879年的土地歉收，给西部和南部的小农带来了很大损失，造成民怨a 奥康内尔：被判刑2年，但国会上院阻止该判决的执行。从这时起，奥康内尔对他的同胞的影响力便日益下降。于1847年死于热那亚。
b 芬尼亚：因很久以前的一个凯尔特英雄芬尼（或芬恩）而得名。
沸腾。地方自治者将自己放在引领这种不满情绪的潮头上，强烈要求彻底改变土地法规。他们成立了一个“土地联盟”，建议农民不要交租。地主和他们的代理人被枪杀，守法者的牛羊和财物被毁坏。法律遭到公然践踏，国家处在内战的边缘。
6.1881年1月初，政府将国会议员召集起来，共同商议爱尔兰的局势。3月，“人身和财产保护法”得以通过。
7.发展标志--1840年，主要在罗兰·希尔的努力下，批准通过了“便士邮费法”。1858年，一项允许犹太人进入国会的法案得以通过，拜伦·罗特希尔当上了伦敦议员。1866年，欧洲和美洲之间的第一条电报电缆在海底成功铺设。1870年，要求英国和威尔士建立地方教育董事会的“教育法”通过。1872年，允许针对国会选举进行不公开表决的“投票法”成为法律。
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PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
19世纪的进步
achievement，feat；exploit.correspondence，interchange of letters.delusion，false notion.
expanded，spread.independent，not connected.intervening，coming in.intrepid，brave.
marvellous，wonderful.momentous，important.penetrate，pierce.propelled，driven forward.recovery，getting back.rivalry，competition.submarine，under the sea.
1.The application of steam to the purposes of locomotion has wrought a marvellous change on the life of the civilized world since the present century began.In 1811，Henry Bell，an innkeeper of Helensburgh，launched upon the Clyde the Comet，a vessel of twenty-five tons burden，propelled by steam.Four years later，George Stephenson achieved the construction of a locomotive engine capableof drawing wa g gons on a railway.In 1830the same mechanical genius，aided by his son Robert，placed the “Rocket”on the rails of the ne wl y made line between Liverpool and Manchester；and thenceforward the railway“THE COMET.”
system grew and expanded over the world.The great ocean triumphs，achieved by steam-boats，were the voyage of the Savannah from New York to London （1819），and that of the Enterprise to India （1825）.
2.The efforts of Rowland Hill，the son of a Birmingham schoolmaster，resulted in 1840in the establishment of a general penny postage，which has had the effect of immensely increasing correspondence.But this was comparatively a slight matter，when viewed beside the achievement of Wheatstone and Cooke，who，in 1837，united in the construction of the electric telegraph.
Their first successful trial took place on wires laid between Euston Square and Camden Town.
3.A necessary sequel was the invention of the submarine cable，of which the first idea occurred in 1842to an American electrician named Morse.Jacob Brett reduced this idea to a practical form in 1851by laying a wire wrapped in gutta-percha from Dover to Calais.This was followed in 1858by the gigantic enterprise of placing a cable across the Atlantic between Valentia，an islandon the west coast of Ireland，and Trinity Bay in Newfoundland.This cable conveyed messages for three weeks，but then ceased to carry the currents：there was a leak in the rope.
4.The eight years intervening between this failure and the grand success of 1866were marked by the placing of lines in the Red and Mediterranean Seas and the Persian Gulf.In 1865the Atlantic cable snapped during the process of laying it；but in the following year （1866）skill and science triumphed not only in the successful laying of a new and stronger ocean cable，but in the recovery，by grappling，of the lost rope from the depths of the mil-ocean.There are nowfour or five cables at work between Europe and America.