【正文】 part 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 her most was the l ongi tude li ne. It i s an imagi nary l i ne divi di ng the eastern and western hal ves of the world and is very useful for navigati on. It passes through Greenwich, so Pingyu had a photo taken standi ng on either si de of the l ine. The l ast day she vi sited karl Marx’s statue i n H ighgate Cemetery. It seemed strange that the m an who had developed muni sm should have l ived and di ed i n London. N ot only that, but he had worked i n the fam ous readi ng room of the Library of the British Museum . Sadl y the li brary had moved from its ori gi nal pl ace i nto another buil di ng and the ol d readi ng room was gone. But she was thril led by so m any wonderful treasures from di ferent cul tures di splayed i n the m useum. When she saw many vi si tors enjoying l oki ng at the beauti ful ol d Chinese pots and other objects on show, she fel t very proud of her country. The next day Pi ngyu was leavi ng London for Windsor Castle. “Perhaps I wi l se the Queen?” she wondered as she fel asl eep. Uni t 3 FIRST IMPRESSIONS Spacem ail: li qi ang299AGreatAdventureSpaceStati on. 15/1/3008(Earthtim e) Dear Mum and Dad, I stil l cannot bel ieve that I am taki ng up thi s pri ze that I won l ast year. I have to rem ind mysel f constantly that I am real y i n AD 3008 . Wori ed about the journey, I was unsetled for the first few days. As a resul t, I sufered from “time l ag”. This i s sim il ar to the “jet l ag” you get from flying, but it seem s you keep geting flashbacks from your previ ous time peri od. So I was very nervous and uncertai n at fi rst. However, my fri end and gui de, Wang Ping, was very understanding and gave m e some green tabl ets which hel ped a l ot. Wel known for their experti se, his parents’ pany, cal ed “Future Tours”, transported m e safel y into the future i n a tim e capsul e. I can stil l remem ber the m oment when the space stewardes cal ed us al to the capsul e and we cl imbed in through a smal opening. The seats were fortable and after a calmi ng dri nk, we felt sl epy and closed our eyes. The capsul e began swi ngi ng gentl y si deways as we l ay relaxed and dream i ng. A few mi nutes later, the journey was pleted and we had