Have you ever (hear) of the Stonehenge? Every year it (receive) more than 750, 000 visitors. People like to go to this place especially June as they want to see the sun (rise) on the longest day of the year.

    For many years, historians believed Stonehenge was a temple where ancient leaders (try) to communicate with the gods.

    , historian Paul Stoker thinks this can't (be) true because Stonehenge was built so (much) centuries ago. Other people believe the stones have a medical purpose. They think the stones can prevent illness and keep people (health).

    No one is sure what Stonehenge was used for. Some think it might be a burial place or a place to honour ancestors. Others think was built to celebrate a victory over an enemy.

    Some people believe that your nationality can influence your personality. This is why you might h someone saying "She is a typical(典型的) Australian" or "He is so French". It seems that people from a certain country share certain similar characteristics.

    French  French people are often seen as romantic and outgoing people with a great love for life, food and wine. They are good at s and dancing.

    Chinese  Chinese are friendly people who are hard-working. They are polite b  they are careful about "saving face" when dealing with other people.

    Australians  Australians are merry people who sa lot of time outdoors. They enjoy a slower life. They laugh a lot hut sometimes people tthey are loud and rude.

    Germans  Germans are often described as being serious and c . They are hard workers and pay a lot of attention to details.  However, sometimes people say Germans have no sense of humour.

    All these national types can be true for some people, but very wrong for others.

    For example, you might meet a German who is a confident singer with a great sense of humour, or an Australian who is shy and q !

    There is a zoo in my home town. There are a lot of animals in the zoo. The panda is from Sichuan. It is very cute. And it is black and white. Its favourite food is bamboo. The tiger comes from the Changbai Mountains(长白山)，It has a very big house. The elephant is from Africa and it is very big. Many people like to see it. The big lion is from Africa too. And its house is near the tiger's. Many black bears from

North China(华北) are very lazy. They often sit on the ground and relax(休息) for a long time. There are also a lot of monkeys. The monkeys are very cute, and children like them very much.

    Yueyang is a land rich(富有) in fish and rice. If you come here, you will have a good time.

    In Yueyang, people can do many different things in different seasons(季节). You can choose(选择) to come whenever(无论何时) you like. In spring, it's warm and windy. Children like flying kites in Baling Square. It's next to the famous Yueyang Tower. You can also ride bikes along Dongting lake. When summer comes, it gets hot. Climbing Mountain Jin'e is a good choice(选择). You can also visit Junshan Island(岛) to learn about many interesting stories. Autumn follows summer. Cool weather makes us feel comfortable. People love going boating near Nanhu lake. You can help farmers pick fruits on some farms, too. Winter in Yueyang is cold and snowy. So come here with your friends. You can make snowmen and fight with snowballs. If you feel cold, drink some hot green tea. Yueyang is famous for Junshan Silver Needle(银针) Tea. 

    Yueyang is a beautiful and lively(有生机的) city, isn't it?

Old people around the world all have their own special hobbies. In China, I often see grannies  . (dance) together in public squares. Old men like to get together and play mahjong .Light exercise is also popular. (one) saw an elderly person walking backwards  clapping her hands as a way of exercising.

In America, elderly people dislike playing mahjong. Instead, they prefer   (play) cards. Like mahjong, playing cards is   great way to socialize(社交) and have  ( (funny). Elderly people are often  (alone), but hobbies like playing cards can bring friends together. They also enjoy gardening and  (bake). Grandmothers especially like baking sweet treats, such as cookies or muffins(松饼)for their grandchildren. Gardening (give) them a chance to get a little bit of exercise and fresh air, as well as grow vegetables and fruit  (cook) with. And of course, gossiping(聊八卦) with their elderly friends is popular as well.

My hometown is Zunyi. It is really a beautiful city. There are four seasons here.

Early spring can be a little cold. It is a very good time for us to go out to see flowers. In summer, the weather is usually sunny, hot and wet, so people often swim in the pools. In autumn, the weather is cool. It is a very beautiful season. The leaves (叶子) on the trees become colorful, such as orange, red, and yellow. It is very cool and it's a good season to go for a trip. Winter is from December to February. It is not very cold in winter. Sometimes it snows. And if you come here, you can see snow on the high mountains.

When you come to Zunyi, you will see that some people usually take umbrellas (雨伞) or raincoats with them even on sunny or cloudy days, because half of the days in a year are rainy.

Do you like visiting parks? The following three might be the ones that you are interested in.

Hyde Park, the biggest royal park of the UK, lies in the center of London, next to Green Park. It was built to be a royal park in 1536. About one hundred years later, the park was open to the public. Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park is famous all over the world. Anyone can make a speech there on Sunday afternoon.

Central Park is a man-made park in the center of Manhattan, New York. It took about 15 years to build the park and in 1873 it was open to the public. With 21 playgrounds and 2 zoos, Central Park is a wonderful place for children to have fun.

Banff National Park, the largest park in Alberta, Canada, was open in 1885. The park is as large as 6, 641 km. Whether by car, boat, bike or on foot, you can enjoy the beautiful mountains and lakes, as well as the plants and wild animals. There're 3 famous ski areas in the park, which attracts millions of people to come every winter.

    I often dreamed about Pisa when I was a boy. I learned about the famous b called the Leaning Tower of Pisa(比萨斜塔). But when I read the word Pisa, I was thinking of pizza. I thought this tower was a p to buy pizza.

    Many years later I finally saw the Leaning Tower. I knew then that it was Pisa not pizza. But there was still s special about it for me. The tower got its name b really leans(倾斜)to one side. Some people want to try to f it. They are afraid it may f down and they don't like it lean over the city.

    I don't think it's a good i to try to fix it. The tower is 600 years old. Why should anything happen to it now? And if you ask me, I like what it looks like. N is perfect(完美的).

    There are many o older, more beautiful towers in Italy, b Pisa Tower is the most famous. People come from all over the world to see it.

    You may think there is only1in the desert of the world. However, it is not true. In the desert, as we know, there is a little2, and it is not enough for most plants. Still we can see some plants live in the desert. There is3in some places in the desert. We call these places oases (绿洲). In the oases, there are villages and towns. People grow all kinds of4in the fields there. People also live outside the oases. They have camels (骆驼), sheep and other animals.5are these animals' food and they do not need much water. The6are useful to the desert people in many ways. They eat the meat and drink the milk of the animals. They use the7for carrying water, food, tents and something else. The people of the desert have to keep moving from place to place. They must always8grass or desert plants for their animals. When there is no more9for their animals, they move to another place. The desert people are10. No man in the desert would ever refuse to help the people in trouble.

On 15th December 2009, China began to build a bridge to link Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao. People finished building it in July 2017. It is the world's longest sea-crossing bridge! The Y-shaped bridge is about 50 kilometers altogether. 36 kilometers of it is over water. Officials say the bridge we use can last in good condition for 120 years. It can handle(承受) big earthquakes as well as strong winds. And it will be all right even if it is hit by a 300, 000-ton ship. With six car lanes(车道), a car can go as fast as 100 km per hour on the bridge. It only takes 30 minutes to drive from Zhuhai or Macao to Hong Kong. Some people worry that the building of the bridge may pollute the sea and hurt sea animals. Officials say they will protect the ocean. The bridge can bring the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao closer. Building the bridge cost about ￥73 billion. Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland can share the cost.

Lighthouses are structures along the shorelines of large bodies of water. For tourists, lighthouses can be an interesting place to visit., and photograph. For historians, they are a window to the past and reminder of a different way of life. For sailors and ship captains, they are a sign of safety. They can protect a boat from running aground (搁浅)at night or other times when there is a fog or a storm.

Originally, lighthouses were built with rooms for the lighthouse keeper. It was the job of the keeper to make sure that it was always working. Although it could be lonely at times, it was an important job. Today, almost all lighthouses are automated, which means that there is no need for lighthouse keepers.

No one is certain when lighthouses first. We do know that lighthouses is probably more than 3,000 years old. An epic Greek poem titled The Iliad was written by a man named Homer around 1200 B.C. In the poem, Homer refers to a lighthouse, giving modern scholars an idea of how long lighthouses have been a part of human life.

Early lighthouses were quite different from today's lighthouses. They were usually made of iron baskets that were

Suspended from long poles. The basketsburning coal or wood. In the 1700s, these baskets were taken the place of by oil or gas lanterns. When electricity was invented, the lanterns were changed into electric beacons(灯标).

Men have always wondered about the earth they live on and about the sky above them.

When early man looked at the night sky, they asked themselves a lot of questions. They looked at the moon, and wondered what this strange bright object in the sky was. They did not understand why it changed its shape from night to night. They looked at the stars and planets. They also wondered why some of them changed their positions, while others did not.

They also thought about the shape of the earth. Most early people believed the earth was flat.

In different parts of the world, there were different ideas about the universe. The ancient Greeks were the first people to study the universe more scientifically. In the sixth century BC Pythagoras put forward the idea that the world was round. However, he could not explain why people at the bottom of the world did not fall off.

It was not until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that scientists found the answers to some important questions. With the help of Galileo's telescope, people could see the sky more clearly, and find the positions of the stars and planets. Finally in 1665, Isaac Newton explained to the world what gravity (重力) was and people at last understood why they did not fall off the earth.

Canberra is the capital of Australia. The increasing speed of popularity is the fastest in Australia.

Canberra is the eighth largest city in Australia. It is 238 kilometers from Sydney and 507 kilometers from Melbourne. Melbourne was once the capital of Australia. Sydney people also wished to make their city capital. It was difficult for the government to make the decision.

The new capital was between Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest cities in Australia. It took more than 12 years to build the city. In 1927, the city was set up completely. "Canberra" means "a place for friends to get together 。

There's the Flower Festival in September each year. People can enjoy all kinds of beautiful flowers and welcome the spring to arrive. In Canberra, there are many famous universities like the Australian National University and the University of Canberra. The National Library and National Museum of Australia are also famous places that people like to visit. A man﹣made lake—Lake Burley Griffin is in the center of the city. It's about 25 kilometers long.

With the development of Canberra, even though it is the oldest city or in Australia, more and more young people are going to live, work and study in Canberra.

A. Canberra is well﹣known for its universities.

B. Became the capital and was named Canberra.

C. You can buy lots of traditional things in Canberra.

D. People like to ride bikes, walk or run around the lake.

E. Then in 1911, the government chose to build the new Capital.

F. Canberra is a beautiful city with trees and flowers everywhere.

G. It is a modern and lively city with a population of over 410, 300.

Recently, a very simple question became widely spread online: What China should beproud of? Lanlan, whose real name is Negar Kordi, is from Canada. She came to China five years ago and was a student at Ningbo University. Now she has 120,000 fans onthe Internet and the number is still growing.

Lanlan loves China and Chinese. And that's why she is so well received amongChinese net friends. The following is China in her eyes. "It is the easicst country in which tofind a job. If you are not too lazy, it is really very simple to find a job in China. I believethere're more job chances here than in any other country in the world. "

About 400 million Chinese are studying English. " If they can speak goodEnglish in the future, China will have the greatest number of English speakers of any non-English speaking country. "

"The speed of Chinese trains is fast. From Ningbo to Beijing, the train runs 1,365 kilometers for seven hours and the ticket fare is only 595 yuan. ""Its public security is great. l have travelled in many countries, and l think China is really very safe. "

"There are much more things China should be proud of. Many Chinese people oftencriticize China. At first, I believed that they didn't like China or that they loved westerncountries. "

A. The foreign language level is surprising.

B. And this country of 1.4 billion people makes me feel safe.

C. A foreign girl living in China gave a very touching answer.

D. But later, I realized that they just set a very high standard for China.

E. She believes China will be one of the strongest countries in the world in future.

Welcome to the Art Museum

    You've just stepped into one of the world's greatest collections of art, covering centuries of human creativity from around the world. With thousands of works on show, you may wonder how to start your visit, but we are here to help. On the back of this Visitor Guide, you'll see the “don't miss" list for the Art Museum. It shows some must-see works. It's a great choice to start if you are new to the museum.

The following pages include a clear floor plan of the museum and its collections. But because we have five buildings, the overlook below might be helpful. Enjoy your visit and feel free to ask for help and directions at any point

Hello, everyone! Thank you for joining Around China show.

Today, we're in Dalian. It's really a beautiful city. I like it very much. The people here are very friendly.

The weather here is sunny and warm. There are lots of people on vacation here. Now we're on the beach(海滩). Some are taking photos and some are swimming. Some young people are playing volleyball. They are having a good time.

Look! There is a girl by the sea. She's drawing there. Many people are watching her. There are also two musicians by the sea. One is playing the guitar and the other is singing. They look so cool!

Dalian is really a very interesting city. The people are really very relaxed here! Come and enjoy yourself!

I live in a quiet neighborhood. There are only two (street) in my neighborhood. One is Lincoln Street, and the other is Jefferson Street. There (be) a library and a small park between the two streets.

Many old people like (exercise) in the park. I like to do sports in the park, . It's a good place to play tennis. I usually go there my brother. Some old people often watch (we) play there.

You can see (lot) of young people in the library. They read books there. I usually go there with Mike on (weekend). We like doing our homework in it it is quiet. And we often meet Linda and Tina there. After finishing our homework, all of us can go to the park (have) fun.

Have you ever tried Shaxian Snacks(沙县小吃)? You may find Shaxian Snacks restaurants in nearly every Chinese city. But now the popular restaurant chain(连锁店) is going overseas(海外).

Two months ago, Shaxian Snacks opened its first store in the United States. The store is in NewYork City. It was so popular that all of its food was sold out within three hours on the first day when it was open.

Shaxian Snacks comes from Shaxian County in Fujan Province. Many local people left the county in past years to work in other parts of China. And of course，they brought their food with them. Shaxian Snacks sells local food from Shaxian, such as peanut butter noodles(花生酱拌面) and pork wontons(猪肉馄饨). There are many dishes to choose from. Some are traditional，while others are new. But the thing they have in common is that none of them is expensive. That might be why they are so popular. At the Shaxian Snacks store in the US，a full meal costs about the same as a meal at KFC or McDonald's.