翻译“The Flag of the United Kingdom” （不要谷歌、雅虎上面的在线翻译！）

Sailors used to speak of a “jack” when they meant a flag which was set near the bow1 of a sailing ship. The flag showed the country to which the ship belonged. The Union Jack became the flag of Great Britain. Australia’s flag has the Union Jack in the top left hand corner together with the stars of the Southern Cross.2 They have kept this small part of Britain on their flag because their country was first settled by people from Britain. Australia’s flag is the same colour as the Union Jack—red, white and blue. The act of joining together is called a “union”. The Union Jack was the name of the flag made when England, Scotland and Ireland joined together to make one country.

It all began in 1707 when England and Scotland joined together to become one nation. A flag was made using two crosses—one for the patron saint2of each country. The word “patron” means protector. Many centuries before, the English had taken St George as their patron saint. His emblem3 was a red cross on a white background. The Scotland patron saint was St Andrew. In memory of him, they used a white cross on a blue background. This cross was shaped like the letter “X”. The new flag was a mixture of both flags with two sets of crosses.

When Ireland joined England and Scotland in 1800, another cross was added. St. Patrick’s cross of Ireland was red and also shaped like an “X”. All three flags now made up the Union Jack.

英国国旗(的由来)

当说到帆船近船头部分的旗帜时，水手们通常会用“jack”来表示。旗帜表明该船舶所属的国别。联邦国旗就是英国国旗。澳大利亚的国旗是在左上角的联邦旗帜符号连同2个南十字座。他们一直把英国一小部分国旗符号悬挂于本国国旗上，是因为他们国家的人民最初来自英国。澳大利亚的国旗和英国国旗颜色相同--红，白，蓝相间。因结盟而一起行动被称为“联盟”。联邦旗帜是以英格兰，苏格兰和爱尔兰联合起来，作为一个国家名义作出的国旗。 这一切都开始于1707年英格兰和苏格兰联合成为一个国家的时候。国旗用了两个十字架，一是寓意为守护神，二是表示两个每个国家。“守护神”这个词是指保护者。几个世纪之前，英国把乔治奉为他们的守护神圣。第三个标志是以白色为背景，印有红色十字架。苏格兰的守护神是圣安德鲁。在他的记忆，他们用了一个蓝色背景，上有白色十字架。这种交叉形状像字母“X”。新国旗是一个具有两套旗帜中两套十字架相混合的旗帜。 在1800年，当爱尔兰加入英格兰和苏格兰时，添加了另一条。爱尔兰的圣帕特里克十字架是红色的，形状也像一个“X”。所有这三部分旗帜组成了现在的英国国旗。