【正文】 t Petersburg where she spent her sum mers. She tol d her artists to add more detai ls to it. In 1770 the room was pleted the way she wanted. Alm ost six hundred candles li t the room, and i ts mi rrors and pictures shone li ke gold. Sadl y, al though the Amber Rom was si dered one of the wonders of the worl d, i t is now m issi ng. In Septem ber 1941, the N azi arm y was near St Petersburg. Thi s was atim e when the two countries were at war. Before the N azis coul d get to the summ er pal ace, the Rusians were abl e to remove some furnitures and smal art objects from the Am ber Room. However, som e of the Nazi s secretl y stol e the room i tsel f. In l ess than two days 10000 pieces were put i nside twentyseven wooden boxes. There i s no doubt that the boxes were then put on a trai n for Koni gsberg, whi ch was at a time a Germ an ci ty on the Bal ti c Sea. After that, what happened to the Amber Rom rem ai ns a m ystery. Recently, the Rusi ans and Germ ans have buil t a new Am ber Room at the summ er pal ace. By studyi ng ol d photos of the form er Am ber rom , they have made the new one looke l ike the ol d one. In 20xx i t was ready for the people of St Petersburg when they cel ebrated the 300th bithday of thei r ci ty. A fact of an opinion What i s a fact? Is i t som ethi ng that peopl e bel ieve? No. A fact i s anythi ng that can be proved. For exampl e, i t can be proved that Chi na has more peopl e than any other country i n the world. Thi s is a fact. Then what i s an opi ni on? An opi nion is what someone beli eves is true but has not ben proved. So an opinoion is not good evidence in a trail . For exampl e, it is an opinion if you say ―Cats are better pets than dogs‖. It may be true, but it is diffi cul t to prove. Some peopl e m ay not agree wi th thi s opi ni on but they also cannot prove that they are ri ght. In a trai l, a judge must decide whi ch eyewitnesses to beli eve and whi ch not to beli eve. The judge does not consider what each eyewi tness l ooks li ke or where that person li ves or works. H e/She onl y cares about whether the eyewi tness has given true inform ati on, whi ch m ust be facts rather than opinions. This kind of inform ati on i s cal ed evi dence. Bi g Feng to the rescue H is friends and famil y cal l him ―Big Feng‖ because he is bery tal and pl ayed basketbal as a young man. But he is al so big in a diferent way — he fights hard to protect China’s past. His real name is Feng Jicai and he has written many novel s about life in China. Several years ago, however, he put down hi s pen for a whil e and began to protect the cltural reli cs i n Tianji n, where he li ves. O nce som eon asked him why he no l onger wrote. H e repli ed that at the m om ent he fel t protecti ng cul tural rel ics was m ore im portant. Feng loves hi s hom etown. H e beli eves that old things m ust be gi ven a pl ave next to new thi ns, or peopl e wil soon fet ther great past. He does not make speeches to get others to hel p him in his projects. Instead he goes out and does what he can him esel f. If others fol low him, so much the beter. One of hi s biggest projects was to protect the ol dest street i n Tianji n. Along that street som e shops had done busi nes for seven hundred years. Althought the city government rebui lt thi s street, they did save i ts ol dest bui lding. Another project was m ore sucesful: he persuaded the ci ty governm ent to buy som e land in the centre of the ci ty so i t coul d not be sold for busi nesses. This area i s very improtant for the hi story of Tianji n. It was here that the ci ty was fi rst bui lt duri ng the Song Dynasty. Later m any treasures were found here. To Feng, diggi ng down i n to the earth is l ike reading page after page of a book. Each dynasty found i n the earth i s li ke an i nteresti ng story. N ot l ong ago he and other wri ters and arti sts took photos of the old parts of Tianji n. The photos were put i nto a book whi ch was very popular. The money from the book hel ps hi s prjects. O nce, and ol d m an asked Feng to si gn a book for him, sayi ng he would give i t to hi s grandson who was not yet born. Feng was gl ad to do it he knows that he past i s not onl y for us to enjoy but also for the chi l dren of the future. Unit 2 An i nterview Pausanias, who was a Greek wri ter about 20xx year ago, has e on a m agi cal journey on March 18th , 207 to fi nd out about the presentday O lym pi c Gam es. H e is now i nterviewing Li Yan, a volunter for the 20xx Ol ym pi cs Games. P: My name i s Pausani as. I l ived in what you cal ― Anci ent Grece‖ and I used to wri te about the Ol ympic Games a long tim e ago. I’ ve e to your ti me to fi nd out about the presentday O lym pi c Gam es because I know that i n 20xx they were held i n m y hom el and. May I ask you som e questi ons about them odern Ol ym pi cs? L: God heavens! H ave real ye from so l ong ago? But of course you can ask any questions you li ke. What woul d you l ike to know? P: How often do you hol d your Gam es? L: Every four years. There are two m ai n sets of Gam es—the Wi nter and the Summ er Ol ympi cs, and both are hel d every four years on a regul ar basi s. The Wi nter Ol ympics are usual y hel d two years before the Summ er Gam es. Only athl etes who have reached the agreed standard for thei r event wil l be admi ted as petitors. They may e from anywhere i n the worl d. P: Wi nter Gam es? How can the runers enjoy peti ng in wi nter? And what about the horses? L: O h no! There are no runni ng races or horse ri ding events. Instead there are petiti ons li ke ski ng and i ce skating which need snow and i ce. That’s why they’re cal ed the Winter Ol ym pi cs. It’s i n the Sum mer O lym pics that you have the runi ng races, together wi th swimmi ng, sai li ng and al l the team sports. P: I see. Earli er you sai d that athl etes are i nvi ted from al over the worl d. Do you m ean the Grek worl d? O ur Greek ci ti