【正文】 these ci ti es are not as large as those in Chi na, they have worl dfamous fotbal teams and some of them even have two! It i s a pity that the i ndustrial ci ti es buil t in the ni eenth century do not attract visitors. For hi stori cal archi tecture you have to go to ol der but sm al er towns buil t by the Rom ans. There you wil l fi nd out more about British history and culture. The greatest historical treasure of al is London with its museum s, art col ections, theatres, parks and buil di ngs. It i s the centre of nati onal governm ent and its admi ni strati on. It has the ol dest port buil t by the Rom ans i n the fi rst century AD, the oldest buil di ng begun by the Angl oSaxons in the 106os and the ol dest castle constructed by later 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 l anguage and thei r governm ent. The third, the Vi kings, infl uenced the vocabul ary and pl acenam es of the N orth of England, and the fourth, the N ormans, left castl es and introduced new words for food. If you l ok around the Bri ti sh countrysi de you wi l find evi dence of al these i nvaders. You m ust keep your eyes open if you are goi ng to m ake your tri p to the United Ki ngdom enjoyable and worthwhil e. SIGH TSEING IN LONDON Worri ed about the tim e avail abl e, Zhang Pingyu had made a li st of the sites she wanted to se i n London. H er fi rst del ight was goi ng to the Tower. It was bui lt l ong ago by the N orman i nvaders of AD 1066. Fancy! Thi s soli d stone, square tower had rem ai ned standi ng for one thousand years. Although the buil di ngs had expanded around i t, i t remained 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 occasi ons, 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 fire of London i n 166. It l oked spl endi d when fi rst bui lt! Westm inster Abbey, to, was very i nteresti ng. It contained statues in m emory of dead poets and wri ters, such as Shakespeare. Then just as she cam e out of the abey, Pingyu heard the fam ous sound of the cl ock, Big Ben, ringi ng out the hour. She fi nished the day by l ooking at the outside of Buckingham Palace, the Quen’s house in London. O h, she had so m ush to tel l her fri ends! The second day the gi rl visited Greenwi ch and saw its ol d shi ps and fam ous cl ock that sets the worl d tim e. What i nterested her m ost was the l ongi tude li ne. It is an imaginary li ne di vi ding the eastern and western halves of the worl d and i s very useful for navi gation. It pases through Greenwi ch, 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 H ighgate Cem etery. It seem ed strange that the m an who had devel oped muni sm should have l ived and di ed i n London. N ot onl y that, but he had worked in the famous readi ng rom of the Li brary of the Bri ti sh Museum. Sadl y the l ibrary had m oved from i ts ori ginal place into another bui lding and the old readi ng room was gone. But she was thril ed by so many wonderful treasures from di ferent cultures displ ayed i n the museum . When she saw m any visitors enjoying looki ng at the beauti ful ol d Chi nese pots and other objects on show, she fel t very proud of her country. The next day Pingyu was leavi ng London for Windsor Castl e. “Perhaps I wi l see the Queen?” she wondered as she fel asleep. Uni t 3 FIRST IMPRESSIONS Spac l iqiang29AGreatAdventureSpaceStation. 15/1/3008(Earthtim e) Dear Mum and Dad, I sti l cannot beli eve that I am taki ng up this pri ze that I won last 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 result, I suffered from “tim e lag”. Thi s is simi lar to the “jet lag” you get from fl ying, but it seems you kep geting fl ashbacks from your previ ous ti me peri od. So I was very nervous and uncertai n at first. H owever, my fri end and gui de, Wang Pi ng, 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 time capsul e. I can sti l remem ber the mom ent when the space stewardess cal ed us al to the capsule and we cl imbed in through a smal openi ng. The seats were fortabl e and after a calm ing 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 ing. A few mi nutes l ater, the journey was pleted and we had arri ved. I was stil on the earth but one thousand years i n the future. What woul d I find? At fi rst my new surroundi ngs were di ffi cult to tol erate. The ai r sem ed thi n, as though i ts binati on of gases had l ittl e oxygen left. H it by a l ack of fresh ai r, my head ached. Just as I tri ed to m ake the necessary adjustment to thi s new si tuati on, Wang Pi ng apeared. “Put on thi s m ask,” he advi sed. “It’l l m ake you fel m uch beter. ” H e handed i t to m e and imm edi ately huri ed me through to a smal 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 lect a hoveri ng cariage dri ven by puter. These carri ages fl oat above the ground and by bendi ng or pressi ng down in your seat, you can m ove swiftl y. Wang Ping fastened m y safety belt and showed m e how to use it. Son I coul d fl y as fast as him. However, I l ost sight of Wang Ping when we reached what l ooked l i ke a l arge m arket because of too many carri ages fl yi ng by i n al l di recti ons. H