外研版英语必修三Reading culturalCorner原文 翻译

BOOK 3

Module1 Reading

Great European Cities

PARIS

Paris is the capital and largest city of France, situated on the River Seine. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is visited by more than eight million tourists every year. The most popular place for tourists is the Eiffel Tower, the famous symbol of Paris. One of the world’s largest art galleries, the Louvre, is also located in Paris. The city is also famous for its restaurants, cafes and theatres. About two third of France’s artists and writers live in Paris. BARCELONA

Barcelona is the second largest city of Spain and is situated on the northeast coast, about five hundred kilometres east of the Spanish capital, Madrid. One of Barcelona’s most famous landmarks is the Church of the Sagrada Familia, which was designed by an architect called Antonio Gaudi. Gaudi worked on the project from 1882 until his death in 1926. The church hasn’t been finished yet.

FLORENCE

Florence is an Italian city which became famous because of the Renaissance, a great artistic movement which began in the 1300s and lasted for three hundred years. During the Renaissance, some of the greatest painters of all time lived and worked in Florence. Many of Florence’s most beautiful paintings and sculptures were produced by great artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Florence is visited each year by about a million tourists who come to see the art galleries, churches and museums. The Uffizi Palace is the most famous art galleries in the city. ATHENS

Athens, the capital of Greece, is known as the birthplace of western civilisation. Two thousand four hundred years ago, it was the world’s most powerful city. Buildings such as the Parthenon on the Acropolis Hill were built during this period. Greece’s best writers lived in ancient Athens. Their work has influenced other writers ever since.

译:

欧洲的大城市巴黎

巴黎是法国的首都，也是法国最大的城市，坐落在塞纳河畔。它是世界上最美丽的城市之一，每年有八百多万游客前来参观。最受游客欢迎的旅游景点是埃菲尔铁塔，它是巴黎著名的象征。世界上最大的艺术博物馆之一——卢浮宫——也位于巴黎。这个城市也以餐馆、咖啡馆和剧院而闻名。法国约三分之二的艺术家和作家住在巴黎。巴塞罗那

巴塞罗那是西班牙第二大城市，位于（西班牙的）东北海岸线上，距离首都马德里东部五百公里处。巴塞罗那最有名的标志性建筑之一是圣家大教堂，由建筑家安东尼奥·高迪设计。高迪从1882年起从事这项工程直至1926年逝世。至今教堂还没完工。佛罗伦萨佛罗伦萨是一座因文艺复兴而闻名的意大利城市，这场艺术运动始于14世纪并且延续了300年。在文艺复兴时期，历史上一些最伟大的画家在佛罗伦萨生活和工作。佛罗伦萨许

多最美的画作和雕像都出自于莱奥纳多·达·芬奇和米开朗琪罗这样的艺术大师。佛罗伦萨每年大约有一百万旅游者来访，他们都是来参观艺术馆，教堂和博物馆的。其中乌飞齐美术馆最为著名。雅典

希腊是希腊的首都，作为西方文明的发祥地而闻名于世。2400年前，它是世界上最强大的城市。一些诸如雅典卫城山上的巴特农神庙那样的建筑都是在这段时期建造的。希腊最为著名的作家就居住在古雅典。他们的作品影响了后世的作家。

Cultural Corner

The European Union

What Is the European Union?

The European Union is an organisation of European

countries. The countries are independent and are governed in different ways. In the United Kingdom, for example, the head of state is a king or queen. In France, on the other hand, the head of state i s a president. But each of them sends representatives to the Europea n Parliament, which has some control over what happens in each of t he member countries.

How Did It Start?

The idea of the European Union began in the 1950s. The first member s were France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy . Little by little, the number increased during the second half of the twentieth century. By the year 2000, there were 15 member countr ies. The new countries were Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland , Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

How Many Countries Belong to It Now?

In 2004, the European Union increased to 25 members. The Czech Repub lic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, plus the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Malta all became members. The expanded European Union has a population of mor e than half a billion people, twice as big as the population of th e United States.

译:

欧盟

什么是欧盟呢？

欧盟是欧洲国家的一个组织。各个国家都是独立的而且管理方式也不同。例如，在联合王国（英国），国家的首脑是国王或女王。另一方面，在法国，国家的首脑却是总统。但是每个国家都向欧洲议会驻派代表，来控制在每个成员国所发生的事情。

欧盟是怎样创建的呢？

创建欧盟的想法是在20世纪50年代开始的。最初的成员国为法国、德国、比利时、卢森堡、荷兰和意大利。在20世纪的下半叶，成员国逐渐增加。到2000年为止，已经有15个成员国。这些新的国家是奥地利、丹麦、芬兰、希腊、爱尔兰、葡萄牙、西班牙、瑞典和联合王国。

现在有多少国家属于欧盟呢？

在2004年，欧盟的成员国增加到了25个。捷克共和国、爱沙尼亚、匈牙利、拉脱维亚、立陶宛、波兰、斯洛伐克共和国和斯洛文尼亚，还有地中海的岛国塞浦路斯和马耳他都成为成员国。扩大的欧盟人口达到5亿多，是美国人口的2倍。

Module 2 Reading

The Human Development Report

In the year 2000, 147 world leaders agreed to work

together to reduce poverty by 2015 or earlier. From this agreement c ame the Human Development Report.

One of the most important sections of this report is The Human Deve lopment Index. This examines the achievements of 175 countries. The i ndex measures a country's achievements in three ways: life expectancy (how long people usually live), education and income. The index has some surprises. Norway is at the top of the list, while the US i s at number 7. The other top five countries are: Iceland (2), Swede n (3), Australia (4), the Netherlands (5). The UK is in the thirtee nth position, while China is in the middle of the list. The bottom ten countries are all African countries, with Sierra Leone (in West Africa) at the bottom of the list.

The report describes eight development goals. The most important goals are to:

reduce poverty and hunger;

make sure that all children have education up to the age of 11; fight AIDS and other diseases;

improve the environment of poor people, e.g. make sure they have saf e drinking water;

ncourage developed countries to give more help to other countries. The 2003 Human Development Report gives examples of

Successful development.For example, in nine years (1953–1962), China increased life expectancy by 13 years. In the last ten years in China, 150 million people moved out of poverty. However, the challenges are still great. Every day 799 million people in deve loping countries are hungry. Over half of these are in South Asia o r Africa. Although more than 80% of children in developing countries go to primary school, about 115 million children are not being edu cated. More than 1 billion people in developing countries do not dri nk safe water. However, in other regions of the world, e.g. Eastern Europe, water is now mostly safe to drink.

The report shows that we are making some progress but that we need to make greater efforts. Although developed

countries give some financial help, they need to give much more. Int erestingly, the countries that give the most money are the Netherland

s, Norway and Sweden. These are among the five richest countries in the world, so it is right that they should do so.

译:

人类发展报告在2000年，来自世界各国的147位领导人一致同意共同努力到2015年或在更早的时间减少贫困。由此产生了人类发展报告。

这份报告一个最重要的部分是人类发展指标。它审阅了175个国家的发展成就。指标从三个方面衡量一个国家的成就：寿命、教育和收入。这项指标显示了一些令人意外的情况。挪威高居榜首，而美国则排在第七。位于前五位的其他国家是：冰岛（2），瑞典（3）澳大利亚（4）荷兰（5）。英国位居第十三位，而中国处于中等地位。处于末端的十个国家均是非洲国家，塞拉利昂（西非）排在最后。

报告描述了八个发展目标。其中最重要的是：减少贫穷和饥饿；

确保所有儿童11岁之前都能接受教育；对抗艾滋病和其他疾病；

改善穷苦人民的环境，例如，确保他们有安全饮用水；鼓励发达国家给予其他国家更多的帮助。

2003年人类发展报告列举了一些成功发展的例子。譬如，在九年（1953-1962）的时间里，中国的人均寿命增加了13岁。过去的十年之内，中国有1.5亿人脱贫。然而，挑战仍很严峻。在发展中国家，每天有7.99亿人在挨饿。其中一半以上的人来自南亚或非洲。虽然发展中国家80%以上的儿童能上小学，但仍有1.15亿的孩子得不到教育。发展中国家里十多亿的人喝不上安全的饮用水。当然在世界的其它地方，例如东欧，现在的饮用水大多是安全的。

报告显示我们正在进步，但是我们必须做出更大的努力。虽然发达国家提供了一些经济援助，但是提供援助的数量应该大大增加。有趣的是，捐钱最多的国家是荷兰、挪威和瑞典。它们都属于世界上五个最富的国家，所以他们这样做是合情合理的。

Module3 Reading

What is a Tornado?

A tornado（龙卷风） is a rotating column of air from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent have winds of more than 400 kilometres per hour. Almost all of them occur in the US, in the area from Texas in the southeast to South Dakota in the north. Tornadoes can pick up cars, trains and even houses and put them down in the next street --- or even in the next town. They can take the fur off the back of a cat and the feathers off a chicken. They can destroy houses, but leave the furniture inside exactly where it was.

On average, there are 800 tornadoes in the US each year, causing about 80 deaths and 1500 injuries. The worst tornado of all time occurred in 1925, affecting three US states : Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. By the time it ended, more than 700 people had been killed and 2700 had been injured.

What is a Hurricane?

Hurricanes（飓风） are strong tropical storms, and they usually occur in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. There are violent winds of 120 kilometres per hour or more, which cause huge waves, heavy rain and floods.

There are on average six Atlantic hurricanes each year and they usually affect the east coast of the US from Texas to Maine.

The worst hurricane disaster of all time occurred on the 8th September 1900 in Galveston, Texas. Winds of 200 kilometres per hour and five-metre-high waves hit the city. The disaster killed 6000 people in a population of 37000 and destroyed 3600 buildings.

An Extraordinary Event

This is a story about the 1900 Galveston hurricane.

Charles Coghlan was a nineteenth-century Irish actor who went to live in Canada. He then moved to New York, where he became famous. By the late 1890s, he had moved to Galveston, where he died in 1899, a year before the hurricane struck. The cemetery （墓地） where Coghlan was buried was destroyed by the hurricane and Coghlan’s coffin （棺材） ended up in the sea.

Eight years later, the coffin was found by fishermen in the sea near his home on Prince Edward Island in the east of Canada. The Gulf Stream had carried it 3000 kilometres up the eastern US coast to Prince Edward Island. Coghlan travelled back to Canada --- after he had been buried in Texas!

译:

什么是龙卷风？

龙卷风是指一个从空中的雷暴延伸到地面而生成的旋转气柱。最厉害的一次风速达到每小时400公里。几乎所有的龙卷风都发生在美国，从东南部的德克萨斯州直到北部的南达科他州。龙卷风能卷起汽车、火车甚至房子，把它们卷到旁边的街道——甚至能卷到邻近的城镇。龙卷风可以卷走猫背上的皮毛、鸡身上的羽毛。它们能毁掉房子，却把房内的家具留在原处。平均来说，美国每年发生800次龙卷风，造成大约80人死亡、1,500人受伤。最恶劣的一场龙卷风发生在1925年，波及到了美国的三个州：密苏里州、伊利诺斯州和印第安纳州。等到风停时，已有700多人死亡，2,700多人受伤。什么是飓风？

飓风是强劲的热带风暴，通常发生在南大西洋、加勒比海和墨西哥海湾。飓风发生时，风暴速度达到每小时120公里或者更快，引发巨浪、暴雨和洪灾。每年平均有六次大西洋飓风，通常会影响到从得克萨斯州到缅因州的美国东部海岸。

最恶劣的一次飓风于1900年9月8日发生在德克萨斯州加尔维斯顿。时速高达200公里的狂风和五米高的巨浪袭击了加尔维斯顿城。37,000人口中有6,000人遇难，3,600幢大楼被摧毁。一个离奇的事件

这是关于1900年加尔维斯顿飓风的故事。

查尔斯·科格伦是十九世纪一位定居加拿大的爱尔兰演员。后来他移居纽约，并在那里获得了成功。19世纪90年代后期，他迁居加尔维斯顿，直到1899年在那里去世，也就是飓风袭击的前一年。掩埋科格伦的公墓被飓风所摧毁，他的棺材最后被卷入了大海。

八年后，渔民们在位于加拿大东部爱德华王子岛他家附近发现了他的棺材。墨西哥湾流沿着美国东海岸把它（棺材）一直带到爱德华王子岛，行程3,000公里。埋葬于德克萨斯州的查尔斯·科格伦又回到了加拿大

cultural Corner

Earthquakes Around the Pacific

About 400 earthquakes occur worldwide everyday, more than a hundred thousand in a year.

China is situated in one of the most active earthquake regions in the world and there have been many terrible earthquakes. The most serious of these occurred in Hua County in Shaanxi Province in 1556. The earthquake affected eight provinces in Central China. It covered an area of 800 square kilometres. In some communities, 60 percent of the population were killed. In all, 830,000 people lost their lives.

The California Earthquake of the 18th of April 1906 is the worst earthquake that has ever happened in the United States. It took place at 5:15 a.m., and lasted for only a minute. However, it caused the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history. Fires caused by the California Earthquake did the most damage. The fires burned for three days, destroying a total of 25,000 buildings. About 500 people were killed in the city of San Francisco and 250,000 were made homeless. In the whole of California, the earthquake and fires caused about 3000 deaths.

The 1906 earthquake was caused by a movement on the San Andreas Fault（圣安德烈亚斯断层）. One hundred years later, movements on the San Andreas Fault continue to cause problems for the whole of California

译:

太平洋周围的地震

全世界每天大约发生400次地震，一年大约十多万次地震。

中国位于世界上最活跃的一个地震带上并且那里已经发生了多次严重的地震。最严重的一次地震发生在1556年陕西省的华县。这次地震影响了中国中部的八个省，涉及了800平方千米的地区。在一些地区，60%的人口死亡。总计，有83万人丧生。

1906年4月18日发生在加利福尼亚的地震是美国历史上最严重的一次地震。它在凌晨5点15分开始，仅持续了1分钟。然而，它却引发了这个国家历史上最严重的自然灾害。

加利福尼亚地震所引起的火灾造成了最大的破坏。这场火燃烧了3天，总共毁掉了二万五千座大楼。旧金山有大约500人死亡，25万人无家可归。在这个加利福尼亚，地震和火灾导致3,000人死亡。

1906年的地震由圣安德烈亚斯断层的运动引起的。一百年后，圣安德烈亚斯断层的运动持续给整个加利福尼亚带来问题。

Module4 Reading

Sandstorms in Asia

Sandstorms have been a major disaster for many Asian countries. Scientists have tried many years to solve this problem and in China, a mass campaign has been started to help solve it.

Sandstorms are strong,dry winds that carry sand. They are often so thick that you cannot see the sun, and the wind is sometimes strong enough to move and dunes. The four main places in the world where there are sandstroms are Central Asia, North America, Central Africa and Australia. Ren Jianbo, from Inner Mongolia described a terrible sandstrom he experienced as a child in the desert. “ To have been caught in a sandstorm was a terrible experience,” he said. “ There was nothing to be done. It was the most frightening and the most dangerous situation I’ve been in. You just

had to hope you’d survive. I thought I was going to disappear under the sand.”Northwest China is part of the sandstorm centre in Central Asia. Sandstorms begin in desert areas. Sandstorms in China appear to have increased in recent years as a result of “ desertification”. This is a process that happens when land becomes desert because of climate changes and because people cut down trees and dig up grass. Sandstorms sometimes affect Beijing. Citizens wake up to an orange sky and strong winds that cover the city in a thick, brown-yellow dust. The storms sometimes continue all day and traffic moves very slowly because the thick dust makes it difficult to see.

The Chinese Central Weather Station can forecast a sandstorm some weeks before it arrives in Beijing, but the strength of the storm sometimes surprises people. When a sandstorm arrives in the city, weather experts advise people not to go out. Huang Xiaomei, who lives in Beijing says, “ To be cycling in a sandstorm is frightening. The winds are very strong. It’s difficult to breathe and the dust makes us ill. So if you want to go out, you’d better wear a mask.”

The desert is only 250 kilometres away to the west of Beijing. To prevent it coming nearer, the government is planting trees. Already the government has planted more than 30 billion trees and plans to continue planting for the next five years.

译:

亚洲的沙尘暴

几百年以来，沙尘暴一直是许多亚洲国家面临的主要灾难。科学家尝试过多种方法解决这个问题，在中国，也发动了群众运动来对付沙尘暴。

沙尘暴是夹带沙尘的强烈而干躁的风。沙尘暴夹带的沙尘含量常常很大以致于可以遮天蔽日。风力强大时可以搬动沙丘。世界上沙尘暴发生的四个主要地区是中亚、北美、中非和澳大利亚。来自内蒙的任建波是这样来描述他小时候遭遇的一次沙尘暴的：“遇上沙尘暴是一个可怕的经历，”他说，“你一点办法也没有。那是我所遭遇过的最可怕、最危险的境况。你只能祈求会活下来。那时候我觉得我会消失在沙尘下。”

中国的西北地区是中亚沙尘暴中心的一部分。沙尘暴发端于沙漠地区。因“荒漠化”越发严重，中国近年来发生沙尘暴的次数明显增加了。这是由于气候变化和人们伐树挖草，使土地变成荒漠后产生的一种作用。

沙尘暴有时候会影响北京。居民醒来时，看到昏黄的天空，狂风夹着黄沙在城里肆虐。暴风有时持续一整天，车辆开得很慢，因为浓浓的尘埃降低了能见度。

中国中央气象站能在沙尘暴到达北京前几周预报沙尘暴，但沙尘暴的力量有时很惊人。沙尘暴到来时，气象专家建议人们不要外出。家住北京的黄小梅说：“在沙尘暴中骑车真可怕。风力很强，呼吸困难，沙尘使人难受。所以要出门，最好带上口罩。”

沙漠离北京西境只有250公里。为阻止沙漠的逼近，政府已经开始植树。政府已经种了300亿棵树，并准备在未来的五年里继续种植。

cultural Corner

The Green Movement

Some countries are better than others at looking after the environment. In Europe, Germany and the northern European countries work very hard to improve the environment.

People in countries such as Germany put their garbage into different bags --- paper in one bag, plastic in another bag,etc. The garbage is then taken away and, if possible, recycled. CFCs ( chlorofluro-carbons 氯氟烃), chemicals which are found in refrigerators and aerosol cans（喷雾罐）, are not allowed. There are laws that do not allow people to burn too much coal.

In the 1970s, as people learnt more about environment problems, the “ Green”movement began and soon spread all over Europe. The “ Green”movement tries to get governments to think seriously about the environment and how to look after it. It collects information about how industry is damaging the environment and gives this information to newspapers.

译:

绿色行动

一些国家对环境的保护要好于其他国家。在欧洲，德国和北欧国家非常努力地改善环境。在一些国家，例如德国，人们把垃圾放在不同的袋子里——纸放在一个袋子中，塑料放在另一个袋子中，等等。然后垃圾被运走，如果可能的话，被循环利用。在冰箱和气榕胶罐里发现的氟氯碳化学元素都被禁止了。也有法律禁止人们燃烧太多的煤。

在20世纪70年代，当人们对于环境问题了解得更多的时候，“绿色”行动就开始了，不久便遍布整个欧洲。“绿色”行动试图使各国政府认真考虑环境问题以及如何去保护环境。它搜集关于工业破坏环境的信息，并把这些信息提供给社会

Module5 Reading

Philosophers of Ancient China

Ancient China was a palce where states were often at war with each other. But it was also a time when there were many great philosophers. Confucius（孔子） ( 551BC --- 479BC ) is the philosopher whose influence has been the greatest. He stressed the importance of kindness, duty and order in society. Chinese society was influenced by these ideas for more than 2000 years.

Mencius（孟子） was a thinker whose teachings were very similar to those of Confucius. Mencius was born in 372BC. His father died when he was young, and he was brought up by his mother. He became a student of Confucius’s ideas, and was then given an important position in the government of a state. However, when he saw that the ruler was not following his advice, he resigned. For many years he travelled from state to state, teaching the principles of Confucius. He then became an adviser to another ruler. He spent his last years preparing a book of his teachings called The Book of Mencius. Mencius believed that the reason why man is different from animals is that man is good. He taught that if the government was kind, then people would be good. He believed that people were more important than rulers, and hated the state when it treated people badly.

Mozi（墨子） was another teacher who was very influential. Born in 476BC, he came from a family which was very poor. He became famous for his unusual clothes and behaviour. Mozi founded the philosophy called Mohism. In some ways, his beliefs were similar to those of Confucius. For example, he considered that government was most

important. As a result, he spent many years trying to find a state where people would follow his teachings. Mozi believed that all men were equal. His idea of love was different from the Confucian idea of kindness. Mozi taught that we should love all human beings and look after those who are weaker than ourselves. He hated the idea of war. Mozi died in 390BC.

译:

中国古代的哲学家

古代中国各诸侯国之间经常发生战争。但那也是一个产生了许多哲学家的时期。孔子（公元前551—公元前479）是影响最大的哲学家。他强调了仁爱、责任和社会秩序的重要性。中国社会受这些思想的影响达2000多年之久。

孟子是一位思想家，他的理论和孔子的理论很相似。孟子生于公元前372年。父亲在他年幼时去世，母亲把他抚养成人。他学习了孔子的学说，后来在一个诸侯国的政府内居要职。但是，当他看到统治者不采纳他的意见时，就辞去了官职。许多年来，他周游列国，传授孔子的思想，后来成为另一位统治者的谋士。他晚年写了一本介绍他思想的书，名为《孟子》。孟子认为，人之所以不同于动物，是因为人性本善。他告诫人们，假若政府仁慈，人民就会有善行。他认为人民比政府更重要，憎恨对人民残暴的政权。

墨子是又一位极具影响力的先哲。他生于公元前476年，出身贫寒。他因不修边幅行为怪异而闻名。墨子创立了墨家学说。他的学说在某些方面和孔子学说很相似。例如，他认为政府很重要。因此，他花了许多年的时间，寻找一个人们愿意遵从他思想的国家。墨子认为，人生来平等。他的仁爱思想与孔子不同。墨子告诫人们要博爱，要帮助弱者。他憎恨战争。墨子死于公元前390年。

cultural Corner

The Industrial Revolution

In Europe, in the second half of the eighteenth century, there was an important change in society. This change was called the “ Industrial Revolution”. Until then Europe had been a farming society. With the Industrial Revolution, factories appeared and mass production became possible for the first time. The factories were built in towns and as a result, the population of towns and cities greatly increased.

These changes became possible because of inventions such as the steam engine. This was invented in 1769 by James Watt and was the main energy source during the Industrial Revolution. At first the steam engine was used in mines, but it was soon used in factories and on the railways.

During the Industrial Revolution, factory owners became more powerful than land owners. Thousands of people left the countryside to work in the city. Often, factory workers lived in poor and crowded conditions. From 1830 to the early 20th century, the Industrial Revolution spread through Europe and the US and then to other countries such as Japan.

译:

工业革命

18世纪后期的欧洲社会发生了一次重大变革。这个变革被称为“工业革命”。截至到那时，

欧洲一直都是以农业社会为主。随着工业革命的到来，工厂出现了，并且批量生产第一次成为可能。工厂都建在城镇，结果城镇的人口大量增加了。

这些变化由于有了像蒸汽机这样的发明而成为可能。蒸汽机是1769年由詹姆斯·瓦特发明的，并且成为工业革命期间最主要的能量来源。最初，蒸汽机是在采矿时使用的，但是很快就被用在工厂和铁路上了。在工业革命期间，工厂主比农场主力量更强大。成千上万的人离开乡村去城市工作。工厂的工人们经常生活在艰苦拥挤的环境中，从1830年到20世纪早期，工业革命遍及了整个欧洲和美国，然后又蔓延到日本等其他一些国家

Module6 Reading

The Three Gorges Dam

Mao Zedong wrote a poem in which he dreamed of “ walls of stone to hold back clouds and rain till a smooth lake rises in the narrow gorges”（毛泽东诗词：更立西江石壁，截断巫山云雨，高峡出平湖）. Now his dream has come true. The power of the Yangtze River, which is the world’s third longest river, has been harnessed（利用，变成动力） by the Three Gorges Dam.

The Three Gorges Dam（三峡大坝）, which is the biggest construction project in China since the building of the Great Wall and the Grand Canal, has been built to control flooding and provide hydro-electric power for the central region of China. The dam is nearly 200 metres high and 1.5 kilometres wide. It is the largest hydro-electric power station and dam（最大的水力发电站和水坝） in the world and has cost more than any other construction project in history.

Sun Yat-sen（孙中山）, who was the leader of the 1911 Revolution, first suggested the idea of a dam across the Yangtze River in 1919. Three quarters of China’s energy is produced by burning coal. In 1993, China used 1.2 billion tons of coal for heating and generating electricity. Unfortunately, burning coal causes serious air pollution and increases global warming. The dam will generate electricity equal to about 40 million tons of coal without causing so much air pollution.

The reservoir has flooded 2 cities, 11 counties, 140 towns and more than 4,000 villages. More than a million people who lived in the region have moved from their homes. Now they’re living a happy new life in different areas.

The Three Gorges area is one of the most beautiful areas of China and the project has flooded some of China’s most famous historical sites, including the Qu Yuan Temple, the Han Watchtower and the Moya Cliff carvings. About 800 historical relics （遗迹） have been submerged. Some of them are being removed and some are being put into museums.

译:

三峡大坝

毛泽东写过一首词，在词中，他想象了“更立西江石壁，截断巫山云雨，高峡出平湖”的壮丽景观。如今，他的理想变成了现实。三峡大坝制伏了世界第三大河流——长江的激流。修建三峡大坝是自修筑长城和开凿大运河以来中国最大的建筑工程，它控制了长江的洪灾并为我国中部地区提供电力。大坝高度接近200米，宽1500米。它是世界上最大的水力发电站和大坝，造价超过历史上的任何一项工程。

早在1919年，领导了辛亥革命的孙逸仙（中山）先生就首次提出了要在长江修筑大坝的设想。中国四分之三的能量是通过燃煤获得的。1993年，中国燃掉了12亿吨煤用于供热和发电。不幸的是，燃煤造成了严重的大气污染，加剧了全球变暖。大坝将要生产相当于燃烧4000万吨煤所产生的电量，但却不会造成那么严重的空气污染。

水库淹没了两个城市、11个县、140个镇和4000多座村庄。生活在这些地区的100多万人已经搬迁了。现在，他们在不同的地区幸福地生活着。

三峡是中国风光最美丽的地区之一。由于大坝工程，一些著名的历史遗迹被水淹没，包括屈原庙、汉瞭望塔和摩崖石刻。大约800多处历史遗迹已被淹没。其中有一部分被转移，还有一部分被博物馆收藏。

Cultral Corner

The Empire State Building, New York

Most of the tallest buildings in the world were built in the 1990s and in the twenty-first century, but the two tallest buildings in the US were built much earlier. In fact, the second tallest building in the US is more than 75 years old!

The Empire State Building, which was the tallest building at the time was finished in May 1931. it was the tallest building in the world until the World Trade Centre was built in New York in 1972. The world Trade Centre twin towers, which were destroyed in September 2001, were 417 and 415 metres high.

Facts about the Empire State Building :

·Ten million bricks were used in the construction of the building.

·There are 6500 windows.

·From the observatory at the top, on a clear day you can see five US states. ·Lightening strikes the Empire State Building about 500 times a year.

·In 1945, a US military plane, which was flying over Manhattan on a foggy day, crashed into the building just above the 78th floor

译:

纽约的帝国大厦

世界上大部分最高的建筑物都建于20世纪90年代和21世纪，但是美国最高的两座大楼却建得比这早很多。事实上，美国的第二高楼的历史已经超过75年了！

帝国大厦建于1931年5月，是当时世界上最高的建筑物。直到1972年纽约的世贸中心被建起之前，帝国大厦一直是世界上最高的建筑物。世贸中心的姊妹塔高达417米和415米，但是这两座建筑在2001年9月被毁掉了。

关于帝国大厦的资料：

·建造大厦用了1000万块砖。·共有6500个窗户。

·在晴朗的天气里，你可以从顶部的观察台上看见美国的五个州。·帝国大厦每年遭受约500次雷电袭击。

·1945年，一架在雾天飞跃曼哈顿上空的美国军用飞机撞进大厦的第78层。