阅读理解

　　In ancient Greece, there were four major athletic meetings and the Olympian meeting played the most important part in the lives of the people．As time passed, the Olympian meeting gradually lost its local character and became first a national event and then international．No one knows exactly how far back the Olympian Games go but some official records date from 776 BC．

　　The Games took place every four years on the plain by Mount Olympus．Thousands of people came from all parts of the Greek world to watch the games．The winner of the foot race had the great honour of giving his name to the year of his history．

　　After a long history of almost 1200 years, the Games were stopped for religious(宗教的)reasons．It was then decided in 1896 to start the Olympic Games again．The meeting was held in Athens and 311 athletes from 13 countries took part in it but the idea of such an international meeting attracted the world’s attention．After the 1908 London Olympics, many nations sent their best athletes．Although the Games have been time and again threatened by some unfavourable political events the Games have taken place every four years．

　　Nowadays, the Games are held in different countries in turn．As the biggest international gathering of any kind in the world, athletes from different countries play games together and this provides them with good chances to learn to live together．The friendly feelings in the Olympic Village make people think of the world as one big family．The Olympic Games will be hosted in Beijing in 2008．It is believed that the Games will be a wonder of the world．

阅读理解

　　Baron Pierre De Coubertin was a Frenchman．At his time sports were not taught in French schools．De Coubertin believed that sports should go hand in hand with studies．He had an idea．His idea was to begin the Olympics all over again．

　　Sports teachers of other countries liked De Coubertin’s ideas．So in 1896, the modern Olympic Games were held in Athens(雅典), Greece．Since then the Olympics have been held once every four years,　except three times, when there were wars．

　　The modern games have many foot races and field sports programmes．The longest race in the games is called marathon．

　　Before the start of the Olympic Games, runners carry lighted torch(火炬)through many nations towards the stadium(运动场)where the games will be held．These sportsmen are from different countries．Yet they work together to carry the Olympic torch．It is passed from runner to runner．When the last runner enters the stadium, he or she places the torch in a special(专门的)basin filled with oil．It catches fire．It is then, only then, that the Olympic Games can begin．

　　The Olympic flame(火焰)burns throughout the games．It is the flame of peace．

阅读理解

Perhaps the most wonderful building put up in the 19th century was the Crystal Palace(水晶宫)which was built in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851．The Crystal Palace was different from all the other buildings in the world, for it was one of the biggest buildings of all the time and a lot of people from many countries came to see it．Plenty of goods were sent to the exhibition from all parts of the world．There was also a great deal of machinery on show．Though in those days, traveling was not as easy as it is today, steamboats carried thousands of visitors across the Channel from Europe．On arriving in England, they were taken to the Crystal Palace by train．There were six million visitors in all, and the money from the exhibition was used to build museums and colleges．Later, the Crystal Palace was moved to the South London．It remained one of the most famous buildings in the world until it was burnt down in 1936．

阅读理解

　　Britain is a popular tourist place．But tours of the country have pros and cons．

　　Good news

　　Free museum．No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities(古董)．Pop music．Britain is the only country to rival(与……比敌)the U．S．on this score．Black cabs．London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never enough of them at weekends or night．

　　Choice of food．Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian(埃塞俄比亚的)to Swedish restaurants．

　　Fashion．Fashion junkies love deeply and respect highly brand names such as Vivienne Westood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too．

　　Bad news

　　Poor service．“It’s part of the image of the place．People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced, ”says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University’s International Tourism Research Center．

　　Poor public transport．Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest tourists, although the overcrowded London tube is inexplicably(无以言表地)?popular．?

　　Lack of languages．Speaking slowly and clearly may not get many foreign visitors very far, even in the tourist traps(圈套)．

　　Rain．Still in the number one complaint(抱怨)．

　　No air conditioning．Hot summers become as unbearable as the downpours．

　　Overpriced hotels．The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark．

　　Licensing(许可)hours．Alcohol(酒)is in short after 11 p. m. even in “24 hour cities”．

阅读理解

　　An ancient Egyptian mummy returned home 150 years after being stolen by a Canadian doctor．

　　The mummy is believed to be Ramses Ⅰ, the founder of the 19th Dynasty of ancient Egypt．It was stolen in the 19th century, at the time when many explorers from Europe and America wanted to find the mummified bodies of Pharaohs(法老)．They had heard stories of the Pharaohs being buried with treasures of great artistic, scientific and financial value．

　　But when King Tut was discovered in 1922 in Egypt they realized the Pharaohs might have been buried with something else as well－curses(咒语)．

　　As soon as Englishman Howard Carter found King Tut’s tomb, strange things started to happen．On the night of the discovery, Carter’s canary(金丝雀)was killed by a snake．It was the same kind of snake found on a symbol worn by the Pharaohs on their foreheads．A few months later, Lord Carnarvon, the man who paid for Carter’s trip, died suddenly in Cairo of unknown causes．By 1935, no fewer than 21 people connected with the discovery of the tomb had died．

　　After much argument over whether the curse of King Tut really existed, four years ago German scientist Gotthard Kramer tried to find it out for certain．He discovered that bacteria(细菌)on the mummy could have been responsible for the deaths．“When this bacteria enters the body through the nose, mouth or eyes, ”Kramer said, “it can result in illness or even death, ?particularly? to those with bad health．”

　　But perhaps the power of the curse is in the minds of those who believe it．Carter, the man who actually opened the tomb, lived to 66 dying of natural causes．“All sensible people should dismiss(不予理会)these curse ideas as rubbish, ”he said．

阅读理解

　　Peter the Great(1672-1725)wanted his city to be unique(独特的)in Russia．So he filled it with canals like those of Venice, baroque(巴洛克式的)palaces and British townhouses．Now the city has celebrated its 300th anniversary(周年纪念)．

　　Naming the city was a difficult matter．At first, Peter the Great called his huge ambitions new Russian city Sankt Pieter Burkh．But, he soon changed this to St Petersburg．When World War Ⅰ broke out in 1914, it was renamed Petrograd．On the death of Lenin in 1924, it became Leningrad．After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it returned to St Petersburg．Many people call it Plain Peter today．There was a time when all of Russia’s available(可用的)stones were sent there to build Peter’s magnificent(雄伟的)“Window on the West”．

　　From the start, St Petersburg was a very modern, international city．It first became the Russian capital in 1712 and, with this in mind, Peter hired a great deal of international talent to build and develop it．

　　The most obvious effect of the arrival of foreigners was in the layout(设计)of the city’s streets, parks, palaces and government buildings．Although bombed to near destruction by Adolf Hitler’s forces in the 1940s, the city was rebuilt, stone by stone．What you see around you is in the end of Catherine the Great’s reign(统治)in 1796 when, after nearly a century, Peter’s city was one of the finest in the world．

　　Peter the Great remains a meeting point for the cultures of Russia and Europe．Maybe you are one of the 49 percent of its population who, in 1991, voted to remain its revolutionary name, Leningrad, or the 51 percent who opted for St Petersburg．To everyone, it remains Peter, an architectural stone of race and fancinating beauty．

阅读理解

　　The Tang Dynasty was probably the period when the Silk Road was at its busiest．One important center on the road was the city of Chang’an, where present?day Xi’an now stands．Chang’an was the capital city of this dynasty and by about 750 AD, it had become a strong and successful capital of around two million people．?Because? of the chances for trade, a number of foreigners from countries bordering China lived in the city．

　　The markets at this time in Chang’an were perhaps the most exciting markets anywhere in the world．They sold goods from India, Africa, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Iran and other Arab countries and many items in the markets would have been completely new to some of the buyers．Interesting animals were sold together with exotic(奇异的)plants and strange medicines．Dried animals, dried foods and dried plants were laid out for sale next to rare seeds and spices(物种)．But besides the hope to trade, which drew people together, China was still largely a mysterious(神秘的)country to the outside world and certainly the secret of the silk making was still unknown．

　　The route(路线)to the west followed different paths but the traders would have traveled from places to places, always looking for routes both water and protection．However, the Ming Dynasty had its policy of ?isolation?(闭关), together with the growth of Islam(伊斯兰), reduced the traffic along this ancient land route．?Instead, sea routes became more popular and in the early 15th century there were many Chinese ships trading silk and other goods along the coasts of India, Arabia and Africa．

阅读理解

　　The most famous statue－the Sphinx in Egypt has been damaged．The experts are trying tofind out the cause to protect it．As we all know, the Sphinx has the body of a lion and the face of a man．It was out from limestone(石灰石)near Egypt’s pyramids about 4500 years ago．Not long ago a large piece of stone fell from the Sphinx’s right shoulder．

　　In order to protect the statue from more harms, a computer was placed on it to measure rainfall, wind speed and air temperature．The computer also measured the amount of water and air pollution, the direction of wind and the temperature of the statue itself．The effects of age, wind, water and pollution have greatly weakened the Sphinx．Sunlight, wind, water and pollution have been eroding the outside of the statue for centuries．The experts hope that the information from the computer will help protect it from more damage．They say the more they know about what is destroying the Sphinx, the more they can do to protect it．

阅读理解

　　Britain is a popular tourist place．But tours of the country have pros and cons．

　　Good news

　　Free museum．No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities(古董)．

　　Pop music．Britain is the only country to rival(与……比敌)the U．S．on this score．

　　Black cabs．London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never enough of them at weekends or night．

　　Choice of food．Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian(埃塞俄比亚的)to Swedish restaurants．

　　Fashion．Not only do fashion junkies love deeply and respect highly brand names such as Vivienne Westood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too．

　　Bad news

　　Poor service．“It’s part of the image of the place．People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced, ”says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University’s International Tourism Research Center．

　　Poor public transport．Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest tourists, although the overcrowded London tube is inexplicably(无以言表地)popular．

　　Lack of languages．Speaking slowly and clearly may not get many foreign visitors very far, even in the tourist traps(圈套)．

　　Rain．Still in the number one complaint(抱怨)．

　　No air conditioning．So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the downpours．

　　Overpriced hotels．The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark．

　　Licensing(许可)hours．Alcohol(酒)is in short after 11 p. m. even in “24hour cities”．

阅读理解

　　An ancient Egyptian mummy returned home 150 years after being stolen by a Canadian doctor．

　　The mummy is believed to be Ramses Ⅰ, the founder of the 19th Dynasty of ancient Egypt．It was ?stolen? in the 19th century, at the time when many ?explorersfrom Europe and America wanted to find the mummified bodies of Pharaohs(法老)．They had heard stories of the Pharaohs being buried with treasures of great artistic, ?scientific and financial value．

　　But when King Tut was discovered in 1922 in Egypt they realized the Pharaohs might have been buried with something else as well－curses(咒语)．

　　As soon as Englishman Howard Carter found King Tut’s tomb, strange things started to happen．On the night of the discovery, Carter’s canary(金丝雀)was killed by a snake．It was the same kind of snake found on a symbol worn by the Pharaohs on their foreheads．A few months later, Lord Carnarvon, the man who paid for Carter’s trip, died suddenly in Cairo of unknown causes．By 1935, no fewer than 21 people connected with the discovery of the tomb had died．

　　After much argument over whether the curse of King Tut really existed, four years ago German scientist Gotthard Kramer tried to find it out for certain．He discovered that bacteria(细菌)on the mummy could have been responsible for the deaths．“When this bacteria enters the body through the nose, mouth or eyes, ”Kramer said, “it can result in illness or even death, particularly to those with bad health．”

　　But perhaps the power of the curse is in the minds of those who believe it．Carter, the man who actually opened the tomb, lived to 66 before dying of natural causes．“Allsensible people should dismiss(不予理会)these curse ideas as rubbish, ”he said．