奇速英语

英属直布罗陀——西班牙的痛

Britain says it will send ten war ships to Gibraltar(直布罗陀) on Monday. The ships will make a stop there on their way to the Middle East. Many people think the stop is a bad time because relations between Britain and Spain have become bad recently. Spain got angry after Gibraltar’s government put concrete blocks (水泥石块) on the seabed. It said this was to let sea life grow and to stop Spanish boats fishing nearby. Spain then said it might start charging 50 euros (about $67) for people to travel across the border between Gibraltar and Spain. Tensions increased again when Spain started searching people entering Spain in case of terrorism. People had to wait for up to six hours at the border.

Spain gave Gibraltar to Britain in 1713. It became an important base for Britain’s Royal Navy (英国皇家海军). Gibraltar is a small area of land which covers just 6.8 square kilometers, south of Cadiz(加迪斯-西班牙城市). The 430-meter-tall Rock of Gibraltar stands in the center. The population is around 30,000 and most of them are very happy for being a part of British. Many parts of Gibraltar look like a piece of mainland Britain. Spain has argued for many years that Gibraltar should be returned to Spain. Britain's government said that could only happen if the people of Gibraltar vote for it. The British prime minister told his Spanish partner: “This problem should not break our relations. However there was a real risk of this happening.”