【正文】 these ci ti es are not as l arge as those i n Chi na, they have worl dfam ous footbal teams 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 nieenth century do not atract vi sitors. For hi stori cal archi tecture you have to go to ol der but smal er towns buil t by the Rom ans. There you wil fi nd out m ore about Bri ti sh hi story and cul ture. The greatest histori cal treasure of al i s London wi th its m useums, art col ecti ons, theatres, parks and buil di ngs. It is the centre of nati onal governm ent and i ts admi ni strati on. It has the ol dest port buil t by the Rom ans i n the fi rst century AD, the ol dest buil ding begun by the Angl oSaxons i n the 106os and the ol dest castl e constructed by l ater N orm an rul ers i n 1066. There have been four sets of invaders of Engl and. The fi rst i nvaders, the Romans, left their 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 acenames of the N orth of Engl and, and the fourth, the N orm ans, l eft castl es and introduced new words for food. If you l ok around the Bri ti sh countrysi de you wil l fi nd evi dence of al l these invaders. You m ust keep your eyes open i f you are goi ng to m ake your tri p to the Uni ted Kingdom enjoyabl e and worthwhi le. SIGH TSEEING IN LONDON Wori ed about the ti m e avail abl e, Zhang Pi ngyu had made a li st of the sites she wanted to see in London. H er fi rst del ight was goi ng to the Tower. It was bui lt l ong ago by the N orm an i nvaders of AD 1066. Fancy! Thi s sol i d stone, square tower had rem ai ned standi ng for one thousand years. Al though the bui l di ngs had expanded around it, i t rem ai ned part of a royal pal ace and pri son bi ned. To her great surpri se, Zhang Pi ngyu found the Queen’s jewel s guarded by speci al royal soldi ers who, on speci al ocasions, sti l wore the fourhundredyearol d uni form of the tim e of Queen Eli zabeth I. There fol l owed St Paul’s Cathedral buil t after the teri bl e fi re of London i n 1666. It l ooked splendi d when fi rst bui lt! Westmi nster Abbey, too, was very i nteresti ng. It contai ned statues i n m emory 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 cl ock, Bi g Ben, ri ngi ng out the hour. She fi nished the day by l ooki ng at the outsi de of Bucki ngham Pal ace, the Queen’s house i n London. O h, she had so m ush to tel l her fri ends! The second day the gi rl vi si ted Greenwich and saw its ol d shi ps and fam ous cl ock that sets the worl d ti m e. What i nterested her m ost was the l ongi tude li ne. It is an im agi nary l i ne divi di ng the eastern and western hal ves of the worl d and i s very useful for navi gati on. It passes through Greenwich, so Pi ngyu had a photo taken standi ng on either si de of the l ine. The l ast day she vi si ted karl Marx’s statue i n Hi ghgate Cem etery. It seem ed strange that the m an who had devel oped m uni sm shoul d have li ved and di ed i n London. N ot onl y that, but he had worked i n the fam ous readi ng room of the Li brary of the Bri ti sh Museum . Sadly the l i brary had m oved from i ts ori gi nal pl ace i nto another bui l di ng and the ol d readi ng room was gone. But she was thri l ed by so m any wonderful treasures from di fferent cul tures di spl ayed i n the m useum . When she saw m any vi sitors enjoyi ng l ooki ng at the beauti ful ol d Chi nese pots and other objects on show, she felt very proud of her country. The next day Pi ngyu was l eavi ng London for Wi ndsor Castl e. “Perhaps I wil l see the Queen?” she wondered as she fel asl eep. Uni t 3 FIRST IMPRESSIONS Spacem ai l: l i qi ang299AGreatAdventureSpaceStati on. 15/11/3008(Earthti me) Dear Mum and Dad, I stil cannot beli eve that I am taki ng 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 l y i n AD 3008 . Worri ed about the journey, I was unsettl ed for the fi rst few days. As a result, I suffered from “ti me l ag”. Thi s i s simi l ar to the “jet l ag” you get from fl yi ng, but i t seems you keep geti ng fl ashbacks from your previ ous ti me peri od. So I was very nervous and uncertai n at first. H owever, m y fri end and gui de, Wang Pi ng, was very understandi ng and gave m e som e green tabl ets whi ch hel ped a lot. Wel lknown for their expertise, hi s parents’ pany, cal l 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 stewardess cal ed us al l to the capsul e and we cl im bed i n through a sm al openi ng. The seats were fortable and after a cal mi ng drink, we fel t sl epy and cl osed our eyes. The capsul e began swi ngi ng gentl y si deways as we l ay rel axed and dreami ng. A few m i nutes l ater, the journey was pl eted and we had arri ved. I was stil l on the earth but one thousand years i n the future. What woul d I fi nd? At fi rst m y new surroundings were di fficult to tol erate. The ai r seem ed thi n, as though i ts bi nati on of gases had li ttl e oxygen l eft. Hi t by a l ack of fresh ai r, m y head ached. Just as I tri ed to m ake the necessary adjustment to thi s new si tuati on, Wang Ping appeared. “Put on thi s mask,” he advi sed. “It’l m ake you feel m uch better. ” H e handed it to m e and i mm edi atel y hurried m e through to a sm al l room nearby for a rest. I fel t better i n no tim e. Soon I was back on m y fet agai n and fl owi ng him to col ect a hoveri ng carri age dri ven by puter. These carri ages fl oat above the ground and by bending or pressi ng down i n your seat, you can move swi ftl y. Wang Pi ng fastened m y safety bel t and showed m e how to use it. Soon I coul d fl y as fast as hi m. H owever, I