【正文】 and, and the fourth, the Normans, left 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 enjoyabl e and worthwhi l e. SIGH TSEEING IN LONDON Worri ed about the tim e avai l abl e, Zhang Pingyu had m ade a l ist of the si tes she wanted to see i n London. H er first deli ght was goi ng to the Tower. It was buil t l ong ago by the N orm an i nvaders of AD 1066. Fancy! Thi s soli d stone, square tower had remai ned standi ng for one thousand years. Although 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 sol di ers who, on speci al occasi ons, stil l wore the fourhundredyearol d uni form of the tim e of Queen Eli zabeth I. There fol lowed St Paul ’s Cathedral bui l t after the terri bl e fi re of London in 1666. It l ooked spl endi d when first buil t! Westm i nster Abbey, too, was very interesti ng. It contai ned statues i n m em 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, Big Ben, ri ngi ng out the hour. She fi ni shed the day by l ooki ng at the outsi de of Bucki ngham Pal ace, the Queen’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 fam ous cl ock that sets the worl d ti me. What i nterested her m ost was the l ongi tude li ne. It i s an im agi nary li ne di vi di ng the eastern and western halves of the worl d and i s very useful for navi gati on. It passes through Greenwi ch, so Pi ngyu had a photo taken standing on ei ther si de of the li ne. The l ast day she visi ted karl Marx’s statue i n Hi ghgate Cem etery. It seem ed strange that the m an who had devel oped m unism shoul d 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 Li brary of the Bri ti sh Museum. Sadl y the l i brary had m oved from i ts ori gi nal place i nto another buil di ng and the ol d readi ng room was gone. But she was thri l ed by so many wonderful treasures from di ferent cul tures di splayed i n the m useum. When she saw m any vi si tors enjoyi ng l ooki 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 Pi ngyu was l eavi ng London for Wi ndsor Castl e. “Perhaps I wi l see the Queen?” she wondered as she fel l asl eep. Uni t 3 FIRST IMPRESSIONS Spacem ail : li qi ang299AGreatAdventureSpaceStati on. 15/11/3008(Earthti m e) Dear Mum and Dad, I stil l cannot bel ieve 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 unsettled for the fi rst few days. As a result, I suffered from “ti m e lag”. Thi s i s simi l ar to the “jet l ag” you get from fl yi ng, but it seem s you keep getti ng flashbacks from your previ ous ti m e 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 helped 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 ti m e capsul e. I can sti l l rem em ber the m om ent when the space stewardess cal l 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 showed thi s was obvi ousl y wrong. N ow peopl e can see that there i s a direct li nk between hi s theory and the work of Isaac N ewton, Al bert Ei nstei n and Stephen H awki ng. Uni t 2 PUZZLES IN GEOGRAPH Y Peopl e many wonder why different words are used to descri be these four countri es: Engl and, Wal es, Scotl and and N orthern Irel and. You can clari 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 i t in the thi rteenth century. N ow when peopl e refer to Engl and you fi nd Wal es i ncl uded as wel . N ext Engl and and Wal es were joi ned to Scotl and i n the sevententh century and the nam e was changed to “Great Bri tai n”. Happil y thi s was ac pl i shed without confl i ct when Ki ng Jam es of Scotl and becam e Ki ng of Engl and and Wal es as wel. Fi nal y the Engli sh governm ent tri ed i n the earl y twenti eth century to form the Uni ted Ki ngdom by getti ng Irel and connected in the sam e peaceful way. However, the southern part of Ireland was unwi l i ng and broke away to form i ts own governm ent. So onl y N orthern Ireland joi ned with Engl and, Wal es and Scotl and to be e the United Ki ngdom and thi s was shown to the worl d i n a new fl ag cal l ed the Uni on Jack. To thei r credi t the four countri es do work together i n som e areas(eg, the currency and i nternati onal rel ati ons), but they stil l have very different i nsti tuti ons. For exam pl e, Northern Irel and, Engl and and Scotl and have di fferent educati onal and l egal systems as wel as di fferent footbal l team s for peti tions l ike the Worl d Cup! Engl and i s the l argest of the four countri es, and for conveni ence i t i s divi ded roughl y i nto three zones. The zone nearest France i s cal ed the South