【正文】 arri ved. I was stil on the earth but one thousand years i n the future. What woul d I fi nd? At first m y new surroundi ngs were difficul t to tolerate. The air seem ed thi n, as though its bi nati on of gases had li tle oxygen left. Hi t by a l ack of fresh ai r, my head ached. Just as I tri ed to m ake the necessary adjustm ent to thi s new si tuati on, Wang Pi ng appeared. “Put on this m ask, ” he advised. “It ’l make you feel much better.” H e handed it to me and immediatel y hurri ed m e through to a sm al room nearby for a rest. I fel t beter i n no tim e. Soon I was back on m y feet again and fl owi ng him to col ect a hoveri ng cariage dri ven by puter. These carri ages fl oat above the ground and by bending or presing down i n your seat, you can m ove swi ftl y. Wang Pi ng fastened m y safety belt and showed m e how to use i t. Soon I coul d fl y as fast as him. H owever, I l ost si ght of Wang Ping when we reached what l oked l ike a l arge m arket because of too many carri ages fl yi ng by i n al l di recti ons. H e was swept up i nto the centre of them . Just at that m om ent I had a “time l ag” fl ashback and saw the area agai n as i t had been in the year AD 20xx. I reali zed that I had been transported i nto the future of what was sti l m y hom etown! Then I caught sight of Wang Ping agai n and flew after hi m. Arri vi ng at a strangel ooking house, he showed me i nto a l arge, bri ght clean rom . It had a green wal l, a brown floor and soft li ghti ng. Suddenl y the wal l m oved –i t was made of trees! I found l ater that their l eaves provi ded the room with muchneeded oxygen. Then Wang Ping fl ashed a swi tch on a puter screen, and a table and som e chairs rose from under the floor as i f by m agic. “Why not sit down and eat a little?” he sai d. “You may find this difficul t as i t is your first ti me travel tri p. Just relax, since there is nothing planned on the ti metabl e today. Tomorrow you’l be ready for some visits. ” Having sai d thi s, he spread some food on the table, and produced a bed from the floor. After he left, I had a bri ef meal and a hot bath. Exhausted, I slid into bed and fel fast asleep. More news later from your lovi ng son, Lipart of Irel and was unwil li ng and broke away to form i ts own governm ent. So onl y Northern Irel and joi ned wi th England, Wal es and Scotland to be e the United Ki ngdom and thi s was shown to the world i n a new fl ag cal ed the Uni on Jack. To thei r credit the four countries do work together i n som e areas(eg, the currency and i nternati onal rel ati ons), but they stil l have very di fferent i nsti tutions. For exam pl e, Northern Irel and, Engl and and Scotl and have di fferent educati onal and l egal system s as wel as di fferent footbal l team s for peti ti ons li ke the Worl d Cup! England is the l argest of the four countries, and for conveni ence it i s di vi ded roughl y i nto thre zones. The zone nearest France i s cal ed the South of Engl and, the mi ddl e zone is cal l ed the Mi dl ands and the one nearest to Scotl and is known as the N orth. You fi nd m ost of the popul ation setled i n the south, but most of the i ndustri al ci ti es i n the Midlands and the N orth of Engl and. Although, nati onwi de, these ci ti es are not as large as those in China, they have worl dfamous footbal team s and som e of them even have two! It i s a pi ty that the i ndustri al ci ti es buil t i n the ni enth century do not atract vi si tors. For hi stori cal architecture you have to go to older but sm al ler towns bui lt by the Romans. There you wi l fi nd out more about British history and culture. The greatest historical treasure of al l is London with its m useum s, art col ecti ons, theatres, parks and buil di ngs. It i s the centre of nati onal governm ent and its admi ni stration. It has the oldest port buil t by the Rom ans in the fi rst century AD, the ol dest buil ding begun by the Angl oSaxons i n the 106os and the oldest castle constructed by l ater N orm an rul ers in 1066. There have been four sets of i nvaders of Engl and. The first i nvaders, the Romans, l eft thei r towns and roads. The second, the Angl oSaxon, l eft thei r language and thei r governm ent. The third, the Vi kings, infl uenced the vocabul ary and pl acenam es of the North of Engl and, and the fourth, the N orm ans, l eft castl es and i ntroduced new words for food. If you l ook around the British countrysi de you wil l fi nd evi dence of al these invaders. You m ust keep your eyes open if you are goi ng to m ake your tri p to the United Ki ngdom enjoyabl e and worthwhi le. SIGH TSEEING IN LONDON Worri ed about the time avail abl e, Zhang Pi ngyu had m ade a li st of the si tes she wanted to see in London. Her first deli ght was goi ng to the Tower. It was buil t long ago by the N orm an invaders of AD 1066. Fancy! Thi s soli d stone, square tower had remai ned standing for one thousand years. Although the buil di ngs had expanded around it, i t remai ned part of a royal palace and pri son bined. To her great surpri se, Zhang Pingyu found the Queen’s jewel s guarded by speci al royal sol di ers who, on speci al occasions, stil l wore the fourhundredyearol d uni form of the tim e of Queen El izabeth I. There fol owed St Paul’s Cathedral buil t after the terri bl e fi re of London i n 1666. It l oked splendi d when fi rst buil t! Westm inster Abbey, too, was very interesti ng. It contai ned statues i n mem ory of dead poets and wri ters, such as Shakespeare. Then just as she cam e out of the abbey, Pi ngyu heard the fam ous sound of the clock, Bi g Ben, ri nging out the hour. She finished the day by l ooking at the outsi de of Buckingham Palace, the Quen’s house in London. O h, she had so m ush to tel her fri ends! The second day the gi rl vi si ted Greenwi ch and saw i ts ol d shi ps and famous cl ock that sets the world tim e. What interested h