谁能提供一篇有关瑞士的文章，不要太长，赞美的，英文的？

谁能提供一篇有关瑞士的文章，不要太长，赞美的，英文的？

Switzerland Country, central Europe. Area: 15,940 sq mi (41,284 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 7,519,000. Capitals: Bern (administrative), Lausanne (judicial). The population is German, French, and Italian. Languages: German, French, Italian, Romansh (all official, with Romansh used locally). Religions: Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant); also Islam. Currency: Swiss franc. Switzerland is divided into three regions: the meadow-covered Jura Mountains; the central Mittelland, a rich agricultural and urbanized area; and the lofty crags of the Alps. It is one of the world's major financial centres; its economy is based largely on international trade and banking, as well as light and heavy industries. Manufactures include watches, precision instruments, machinery, and chemicals. Tourism and agriculture are also important; products include grains, sugar beets, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, chocolate, and wine. Despite diverse ethnic groups, religions, and languages, Switzerland has maintained the world's oldest democracy for some 700 years. It is a federal state with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president of the federal council. The original inhabitants were the Helvetians, who were conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC. Germanic tribes penetrated the region from the 3rd to the 6th century AD, and Muslim and Magyar raiders ventured in during the 10th century. It came under the rule of the Franks in the 9th century and the medieval empire (later the Holy Roman Empire) in the 11th century. In 1291 three cantons formed an anti-Habsburg league that became the nucleus of the Swiss Confederation. It was a centre of the Reformation, which divided the confederation and led to a period of political and religious conflict. The French organized Switzerland as the Helvetic Republic in 1798. In 1815 the Congress of Vienna recognized Swiss independence and guaranteed its neutrality. A new federal state was formed in 1848 with Bern as the capital. Switzerland remained neutral in both World War I and World War II and has continued to defend this neutrality. It joined the European Free Trade Association in 1960, but it has opted against joining the European Union. It joined the United Nations in 2002. Land and People Between the Jura and the Central Alps, which occupy the southern section (more than half) of the country, there is a long, relatively narrow plateau, crossed by the Aare River and containing the lakes of Neuchtel and Zürich. Alpine communications are assured by numerous passes and by railroad tunnels, notably the Ltschberg, St. Gotthard, and Simplon. Switzerland consists of 26 federated states, of which 20 are called cantons and 6 are called half cantons. The cantons are Zürich, Bern, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Glarus, Zug, Fribourg, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, Saint Gall, the Grisons (Graubünden), Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neuchtel, Geneva, and Jura. Of the half cantons, Obwalden and Nidwalden together form Unterwalden, Basel-Land and Basel-Stadt form Basel, and Ausser-Rhoden and Inner-Rhoden form Appenzell. German, French, and Italian are Switzerland's major and official languages; Romansh (a Rhaeto-Roman dialect spoken in parts of the Grisons) was designated a “semiofficial” language in 1996, entitled to federal funds to help promote its continued use. German dialects (Schwyzerdütsch) are spoken by about 65% of the inhabitants. French, spoken by about 20% of the population, predominates in the southwest; Italian, spoken by about 8%, is the language of Ticino, in the south. The few Romansh-speakers are in the southeast. About 45% of the population is Roman Catholic and 40% is Protestant; close to 10% professes no religion. Although the country absorbed many foreign industrial workers after World War II, especially from Italy, social tensions in the late 20th cent. led the government to restrict immigration. There are universities at Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, Basel, Zürich, St. Gall, Neuchtel, and Fribourg. Economy Switzerland has a highly successful market economy based on international trade and banking. Its standards of living, worker productivity, quality of education, and health care are higher than any other European country. Inflation is low, and unemployment is negligible. The economy is heavily dependent on foreign guest workers, who represent approximately 20% of the labor force. Agriculture employs less than 5% of the population, and since only 10% of the land is arable, the primary agricultural products are cattle and dairy goods. Mineral resources are scarce, and most raw materials and many food products must be imported. Tourism, which adds significantly to the economy, helps to balance Switzerland's trade deficit. Electricity is generated chiefly from hydroelectrical and nuclear power sources. Switzerland has a worldwide reputation for the high quality of its export manufactures, which include motors, generators, turbines, and diverse high-tech products. Centered in Basel, the chemical-pharmaceutical industry exports around the globe. Due to its central location in Europe and the stability of its politics and currency, Switzerland has become one of the world's most important financial centers. The banking, insurance, shipping, and freighting industries accommodate the enormous amount of international trade going through Switzerland. Its most important trading partners are Germany, France, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Government The federal constitution, adopted in 1848 and revised in 1874, assigns specified functions, notably communications, foreign relations, and tariffs, to the confederation, leaving the cantons sovereign in other respects. There is universal male suffrage; women were granted (by a referendum in 1971) the vote in federal elections and may vote in most cantonal and local elections. In a 1981 plebiscite, measures were approved granting equal legal and economic rights for men and women. A major revision of the constitution in 1999 abolished the gold standard for the Swiss franc, established the right to strike, and guaranteed equal opportunities for those with disabilities. A council of states (two members from each canton, one from each half canton) and a 200-member national council (whose members are directly elected every four years) together form the federal assembly. The chief executive, or federal council, is composed of seven members (elected for four years by the federal assembly) and includes the president of the confederation (elected by the federal assembly annually). The four largest parties are the People's, Social Democratic, Radical, and Christian Democratic parties. Switzerland frequently employs the referendum as well as the popular initiative to achieve political change. Cantonal constitutions differ widely. In Unterwalden, Glarus, and Appenzell the entire electorate legislates directly in yearly outdoor meetings called Landsgemeinden; elsewhere a unicameral legislative council and an elected executive council are common. History Emergence of the Swiss Nation In 58 B.C. the Helvetii who inhabited the country (see Helvetia) were conquered by the Romans. Invaded (5th cent. A.D.) by the Alemanni and by the Burgundii, the area passed to the Franks in the 6th cent. Divided (9th cent.) between Swabia and Transjurane Burgundy, it was united (1033) under the Holy Roman Empire. The expanding feudal houses, notably Zhringen and Kyburg, were supplanted (13th cent.) by the houses of Hapsburg and of Savoy. Hapsburg encroachments on the privileges of the three mountainous localities of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden resulted in the conclusion (1291) of a defensive league among them. The legendary hero of this event is William Tell. The league triumphed at Morgarten (1315) and, joined by Lucerne, Zürich, Zug, Glarus, and Bern, decisively defeated the Hapsburgs at Sempach (1386) and Nfels (1388). In the 15th cent. the Swiss league rose to the first rank as a military power. The conquest of Aargau, Thurgau, and the valleys of Ticino, which were ruled as subject territories until 1798, was followed by Swiss victories over Charles the Bold of Burgundy (1476–77) and over Emperor Maximilian I, who in 1499 granted Switzerland virtual independence. By 1513, the admission to the confederation of Fribourg, Solothurn, Basel, Schaffhausen, and Appenzell had raised the number of cantons to 13, and this number was maintained until 1798. The conquest by Bern of Vaud from Savoy (1536), and close alliances with the Grisons, Geneva, St. Gall, and other towns and regions, further increased the Swiss orbit, but Switzerland's importance as a European power was broken in 1515 when the French defeated the Swiss at Marignano (see also Italian Wars). A“perpetual alliance” with France (1516) and neutrality became the basis of Swiss policy. Swiss mercenaries, however, continued to serve abroad for three centuries (see Swiss Guards). The cantons, loosely bound by a federal diet and by individual treaties and often torn by internal feuds, were seriously split by the Reformation, preached by Zwingli at Zürich and by Calvin at Geneva. The Catholics, led by the Four Forest Cantons, defeated the Protestants in battle; the Treaty of Kappel (1531) preserved Catholicism in Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Fribourg, and Solothurn. National unity almost disappeared for more than two centuries, but religious divisions did not prevent the Swiss (except the Grisons) from remaining neutral throughout the Thirty Years War. Switzerland was an island of prosperity when, in 1648, at the end of the war, its formal independence was recognized in the Peace of Westphalia.