Many foreigners who have not visited Britain call all the inhabitants English, for they are used to thinking of the British Isles as England.【C1】_____, the British Isles contain a variety of peoples, and only the people of England call themselves English. The others【C2】__to themselves as Welsh, Scottish, or Irish, 【C3】__the case may be; they are often slightly annoyed【C4】_____being classified as “English”.

Even in England there are many【C5】_____in regional character and speech. The chief【C6】__is between southern England and northern England. South of a【C7】__going from Bristol to London, people speak the type of English usually learnt by foreign students,【C8】_____there are local variations.

Further north regional speech is usually “【C9】_____” than that of southern Britain. Northerners are【C10】__to claim that they work harder than Southerners, and are more【C11】__. They are open-hearted and hospitable; foreigners often find that they make friends with them【C12】__. Northerners generally have hearty【C13】__: the visitor to Lancashire or Yorkshire, for instance, may look forward to receiving generous【C14】_____at meal times.

In accent and character the people of the Midlands【C15】________a gradual change from the southern to the northern type of Englishman.

In Scotland the sound【C16】_____by the letter “R” is generally a strong sound, and “R” is often pronounced in words in which it would be【C17】__in southern English. The Scots are said to be a serious, cautious, thrifty people,【C18】__inventive and somewhat mystical. All the Celtic peoples of Britain (the Welsh, the Irish, the Scots) are frequently【C19】__as being more “fiery” than the English. They are【C20】_____a race that is quite distinct from the English.

【C7】