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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
Bulgaria: a discovery to share
    2018-08-16  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

James Baquet

The Republic of Bulgaria is a southeastern European nation bordered by Turkey and Greece to the south, Macedonia and Serbia to the west, and Romania to the north. The Black Sea lies on its eastern border.

Civilization in the area dates back to the Neolithic period. Located in a crossroads region, it was subject to clashes between Persians, Celts and Macedonians until, in year 45, it came under the sway of the Roman Empire. The first Bulgarian state formed in 681, under a Turkic horde known as the Bulgars, a name which may reference their unsettling effect on the peoples they invaded. Their Slavic culture dominated the Balkans through the Medieval period, until their empire fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1396. Russia took over in 1878, and Bulgaria became part of the Soviet Union in 1946 after World War II. As the U.S.S.R. broke up, Bulgaria became an independent democracy with a market-based economy in 1990.

The national language, Bulgarian, is a Slavic tongue most closely related to the Macedonian language. Together, the two form the eastern group of South Slavic. It is one of the official languages of the European Union. Virtually all Bulgarians speak it, although most of the 15 percent or so ethnic minorities (including Turks and Romani) do so as a second language.

Paganism was abolished and the Bulgarian church, an Eastern Orthodox form of Christianity, was formed as the state church in 864. The Cyrillic alphabet, which is used to this day in Russia, eastern Europe, and even Mongolia, was developed around 885 by the saintly brothers Methodius and Cyril (hence, “Cyrillic”) in order to write down the Bible and other religious books. There is even a form of Chinese written in Cyrillic: The Dungan language, a dialect of Mandarin, is spoken in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan by the Dungan people, a group related to the Hui ethnic minority.

Bulgaria today has the lowest average monthly salary of any European Union country. This was precipitated in part by an economic collapse in 1997. Still, it has a solid service sector, leading the industrial and agricultural sectors.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. phonetic writing system

2. caused, triggered

3. group of invading Asian nomads

4. nomadic culture better known (pejoratively) as “Gypsies”

5. eliminated, ended

6. dependent on supply and demand

7. holy

8. breakdown, failure

9. disturbing, upsetting

10. pre-Christian religions of nature worship

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