In return, she has laid the whole world under obligation to her for more ethereal but not less real benefits. She has been the cradle of those free political institutions which have developed the self-control and the independence of man as a member of society. Her literature is the richest and most varied in the world. In Europe the Christian religion has been most widely diffused, and it has been the centre from which the message of peace has been sent to the farthest corners of the world.
作为回报，她让整个世界都对她负有义务，以此获取更多而非更少的无形的实际利益。她一直是那些发展了作为社会一员的人的自我控制和独立性的自由政治机构的摇篮。她的文学作品也是世界上最丰富多样的。同时基督教也在欧洲得到了最为广泛的传播，那里已经成为向世界最远的角落传播和平信息的中心。
What is true of Europe as a whole is preeminently true of Great Britain. There the circle of European—nay, of universal—civilization and industry has its centre. By her colonies she has diffused the influence of her spirit and the energy of her sons throughout the world, so that her greatest rivals in material and social progress are her own children.
欧洲整体的真实情况也同样适应于大不列颠，那里是欧洲，不，是世界文明和工业的中心。她通过殖民地将自己的精神以及子女的能量传播到世界各地，所以她在物质和社会进步方面的竞争中最大的对手就是自己的子女。
This is a proud position for so small a land to hold. But insignificant as the British Isles appear on the map of the world, Britain is in no small degree indebted to climate, physical configuration, and geographical position for the greatness which she has achieved.
对于这么小小的一块土地来说这是一个值得骄傲的位置，但当不列颠群岛出现在世界地图上，这个位置又变得不那么重要了，英国所取得的伟大成就在很大程度上都要归功于不列颠群岛的气候、自然条件和地理位置。
"The territory," says Emerson, "has a singular perfection. The climate is warmer by many degrees than it is entitled to be by latitude. Neither hot nor cold, there is no hour in the whole year when one cannot work. The temperature makes no exhaustive demands on human strength, but allows the attainment of the largest stature. In variety of surface it is a miniature of Europe, having plain, forest, marsh, river, seashore. From first to last it is a museum of anomalies. This foggy and rainy country furnishes the world with astronomical observations. Its short rivers do not afford water-power, but the land shakes under the thunder of its mills. There is no goldmine of any importance, but there is more gold in England than in all other countries. It is too far north for the culture of the vine, but the wines of all countries are in its docks; and oranges and pine-apples are as cheap in London as on the Mediterranean."
爱默生曾说，“这片土地的完美是独有的。这里的气候比其纬度的正常气候要温和些，冷热均匀，一年四季都适合工作。这里的温度对人体力量的发挥没有过分的限制，人们的身高可以长到最大值。从它表面多样性的特点来看，它是欧洲的缩影，有平原、森林、沼泽、河流、海岸，它一直是一座异象频生的博物馆，它那多雾多雨的特点甚至为世界提供了天文观测。那里的河流因短小而无法提供充足的水力，但是那里磨坊的轰鸣声却能令大地颤摇。那里没有大型金矿，却有比其他国家都要多的金子。葡萄的栽培地虽在最北方，但是所有国家的葡萄都会停留在那里的码头上，而且伦敦的橘子和菠萝跟地中海的一样便宜。”
