【導(dǎo)讀】tohisfriends.Thechangeshemadetotheoldtheorywererevolutionary.Heplacedafixedsunatthecentreofthesolarsystemwiththeplasgoingrounditandonlythemoonstilgoingroundtheearth.Healsosuggestedthattheearthwasspinningasitwentroundthesunandthisexplainedchangesinthemovementoftheplasandinthebrightnessofthestars.Hisfriendswereenthusiasticandencouragedhimtopublishhisideas,butCopernicuswascautious.Hedidnotwanttobeatt

　　

【正文】 ang299A@GreatAdventureSpaceStati 15/1/3008(Earthtim e) Dear Mum and Dad, I stil l cannot bel i eve that I am taking up thi s pri ze that I won l ast year. I have to remi nd m ysel f constantl y that I am real y i n AD 3008 . Worri ed about the journey, I was unsettl ed for the fi rst few days. As a resul t, I suffered from “ti me l ag”. Thi s i s si mi l ar to the “jet l ag” you get from flyi ng, but i t seem s you kep getti ng fl ashbacks from your previ ous tim e peri od. So I was very nervous and uncertai n at fi rst. H owever, m y fri end and gui de, Wang Ping, was very understanding and gave m e som e green tabl ets whi ch hel ped a l ot. Wel known for thei r experti se, hi s parents’ pany, cal ed “Future Tours”, transported m e safel y i nto the future i n a tim e capsul e. I can stil l rem em ber the m om ent when the space stewardes cal ed us al l to the capsul e and we cl i m bed i n through a sm al l openi ng. The seats were fortabl e and after a cal m i ng dri nk, we fel t sl eepy and cl osed our eyes. The capsul e began swi ngi ng gentl y si deways as we l ay rel axed and dream i ng. A few m i nutes l ater, the journey was pl eted and we had arri ved. I was sti l l on the earth but one thousand years i n the future. What woul d I fi nd? At fi rst m y new surroundi ngs were di ffi cul t to tol erate. The ai r seem ed thi n, as though to his fri ends. The changes he m ade to the ol d theory were revol uti onary. H e placed a fi xed sun at the centre of the sol ar system with the pl as goi ng round i t and only the m oon sti l goi ng round the earth. H e also suggested that the earth was spi nni ng as i t went round the sun and thi s expl ai ned changes i n the m ovem ent of the pl as and i n the bri ghtness of the stars. Hi s fri ends were enthusi asti c and encouraged him to publ ish hi s i deas, but Coperni cus was cauti ous. H e di d not want to be attacked by the Chri sti an Church, so he onl y publ ished i t as he l ay dyi ng i n 1543. Certainl y he was ri ght to be careful . The Chri sti an Church rejected hi s theory, sayi ng i t was against God’s i dea and peopl e who supported it woul d be attacked. Yet Coperni cus’ theory i s now the basi s on whi ch al our i deas of the uni verse are bui lt. H i s theory repl aced the Chri stian i dea of gravi ty, which sai d thi ngs tel to earth because God created the earth as the centre of the uni verse. Coperni cus showed thi s was obvi ousl y wrong. N ow peopl e can se that there i s a di rect l i nk between hi s theory and the work of Isac N ewton, Al bert Ei nstein and Stephen H awki ng. Uni t 2 PUZZLES IN GEOGRAPH Y Peopl e m any wonder why di fferent words are used to descri be these four countri es: Engl and, Wales, Scotl and and N orthern Irel and. You can cl ari fy thi s questi on i f you study Bri tish hi story. Fi rst there was Engl and. Wal es was li nked to it i n the thi rtenth century. N ow when people refer to Engl and you find Wal es incl uded as wel . N ext Engl and and Wal es were joi ned to Scotl and in the seventeenth century and the nam e was changed to “Great Bri tai n”. H appi ly thi s was ac pli shed wi thout confli ct when Ki ng Jam es of Scotl and becam e Ki ng of England and Wal es as wel . Final y the Engli sh governm ent tri ed i n the earl y twenti eth century to form the United Ki ngdom by getti ng Irel and connected i n the sam e peaceful way. H owever, the southern part of Irel and was unwil i ng and broke away to form i ts own governm ent. So onl y N orthern Irel and joi ned with Engl and, Wal es and Scotl and to be e the Uni ted Ki ngdom and thi s was shown to the worl d i n a new fl ag cal ed the Uni on Jack. To their credi t the four countries do work together i n som e areas(eg, the currency and i nternati onal rel ations), but they stil l have very di fferent i nsti tuti ons. For exam pl e, N orthern Irel and, Engl and and Scotl and have di fferent educati onal and l egal system s as wel l as different footbal team s for peti ti ons li ke the Worl d Cup! England i s the l argest of the four countri es, and for conveni ence i t i s di vi ded roughl y i nto three zones. The zone nearest France i s cal ed the South of Engl and, the m i ddl e zone i s cal l ed the Mi dlands and the one nearest to Scotl and i s known as the North. You fi nd m ost of the popul ati on settl ed i n the south, but m ost of the i ndustri al ci ti es i n the Mi dl ands and the N orth of Engl and. Al though, nati onwi de, these ci ti es are not as l arge as those i n Chi na, they have worl dfam ous footbal l team s and som e of them even have two! It i s a pi ty that the i ndustri al ci ti es bui lt i n the ni eenth century do not attract vi si tors. For hi stori cal archi tecture you have to go to ol der but sm al er towns bui l t by the Rom ans. There you wi l fi nd out more about Bri ti sh hi story and cul ture. The greatest hi stori cal treasure of al l i s London with i ts m useum s, art col l ecti ons, theatres, parks and bui l di ngs. It i s the centre of national government and i ts adm i ni strati on. It has the ol dest port bui l t by the Rom ans i n the fi rst century AD, the ol dest buil di ng begun by the Angl oSaxons i n the 106os and the ol dest castle constructed by l ater N orm an rul ers in 1066. There have been four sets of invaders of England. The fi rst i nvaders, the Romans, left thei r towns and roads. The second, the Angl oSaxon, l eft their l anguage and thei r governm ent. The thi rd, the Viki ngs, i nfl 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 Briti sh countrysi de you wi l fi nd evi dence of al l these i nvaders. You m ust keep your eyes open i f you are goi ng to m ake your tri p to the Uni ted Ki ngdom enjoyable and worthwhi l e. SIGH TSEEING IN L