Unit1 IN SEARCH OF THE AMBER ROOM
Frederick William I, the King of Prussia, could never have imagined that his greatest gift to the Russian people would have such an amazing history. This gift was the Amber Room, which was given this name because several tons of amber were used to make it. The amber which was selected had a beautiful yellow-brown colour like honey. The design of the room was in the fancy style popular in those days. It was also a treasure decorated with gold and jewels, which took the country's best artists about ten years to make.
In fact, the room was not made to be a gift. It was designed for the palace of Frederick I. However, the next King of Prussia, Frederick William I, to whom the amber room belonged, decided not to keep it. In 1716 he gave it to Peter the Great. In return, the Czar sent him a troop of his best soldiers. So the Amber Room became part of the Czar's winter palace in St Petersburg. About four metres long, the room served as a small reception hall for important visitors.
Later, Catherine II had the Amber Room moved to a palace outside St Petersburg where she spent her summers. She told her artists to add more details to it. In 1770 the room was completed the way she wanted. Almost six hundred candles lit the room, and its mirrors and pictures shone like gold. Sadly, although the Amber Room was considered one of the wonders of the world, it is now missing.
In September 1941, the Nazi army was near St Petersburg. This was a time when the two countries were at war. Before the Nazis could get to the summer palace, the Russians were able to remove some furniture and small art objects from the Amber Room. However, some of the Nazis secretly stole the room itself. In less than two days 100,000 pieces were put inside twenty-seven wooden boxes. There is no doubt that the boxes were then put on a train for Konigsberg, which was at that time a German city on the Baltic Sea. After that, what happened to the Amber Room remains a mystery.
Recently, the Russians and Germans have built a new Amber Room at the summer palace. By studying old photos of the former Amber Room, they have made the new one look like the old one. In 2003 it was ready for the people of St Petersburg when they celebrated the 300th birthday of their city.
Unit3 WHO AM I?
Over time I have been changed quite a lot. I began as a calculating machine in France in 1642. Although I was young I could simplify difficult sums. I developed very slowly and it took nearly two hundred years before I was built as an analytical machine by Charles Babbage. After I was programmed by an operator who used cards with holes, I could "think" logically and produce an answer quicker than any person. At that time it was considered a technological revolution and the start of my "artificial intelligence". In 1936 my real father, Alan Turing, wrote a book about how I could be made to work as a "universal machine" to solve any difficult mathematical problem. From then on, I grew rapidly both in size and in brainpower. By the 1940s I had grown as large as a room, and I wondered if I would grow any larger. However, this reality also worried my designers. As time went by, I was made smaller. First as a PC (personal computer) and then as a laptop, I have been used in offices and homes since the 1970s.
These changes only became possible as my memory improved. First it was stored in tubes, then on transistors and later on very small chips. As a result I totally changed my shape. As I have grown older I have also grown smaller. Over time my memory has developed so much that, like an elephant, I never forget anything I have been told! And my memory became so large that even I couldn't believe it! But I was always so lonely standing there by myself, until in the early 1960s they gave me a family connected by a network. I was able to share my knowledge with others through the World Wide Web.
Since the 1970s many new applications have been found for me. I have become very important in communication, finance and trade. I have also been put into robots and used to make mobile phones as well as help with medical operations. I have even been put into space rockets and sent to explore the Moon and Mars. Anyhow, my goal is to provide humans with a life of high quality. I am now truly filled with happiness that I am a devoted friend and helper of the human race!
Unit4 HOW DAISY LEARNED TO HELP WLDLIFE
Daisy had always longed to help endangered species of wildlife. One day she woke up and found a flying carpet by her bed. "Where do you want to go?" it asked. Daisy responded immediately. "I'd like to see some endangered wildlife," she said. "Please take me to a distant land where I can find the animal that gave fur to make this sweater." At once the carpet flew away and took her to Tibet. There Daisy saw an antelope looking sad. It said, "We're being killed for the wool beneath our stomachs. Our fur is being used to make sweaters for people like you. As a result, we are now an endangered species." At that Daisy cried, "I'm sorry I didn't know that. I wonder what is being done to help you. Flying carpet, please show me a place where there's some wildlife protection."
The flying carpet travelled so fast that next minute they were in Zimbabwe. Daisy turned around and found that she was being watched by an elephant. "Have you come to take my photo?" it relief Daisy burst into laughter. "Don't laugh,"said the elephant, "We used to be an endangered species. Farmers hunted us without mercy. They said we destroyed their farms, and money from tourists only went to the large tour the government decided to help. They allowed tourists to hunt only a certain number of animals if they paid the farmers. Now the farmers are happy and our numbers are increasing. So good things are being done here to save local wildlife."
Daisy smiled. "That's good news. It shows the importance of wildlife protection, but I'd like to help as the WWF suggests." The carpet rose again and almost at once they were in a thick rainforest. A monkey watched them as it rubbed itself. "What are you doing?" asked Daisy. ” I’m protecting myself from mosquitoes," it replied. "When I find a millipede insect, I rub it over my body. It contains a powerful drug which affects mosquitoes. You should pay more attention to the rainforest where I live and appreciate how the animals live together. No rainforest, no animals, no drugs."
Daisy was amazed. "Flying carpet, please take me home so I can tell WWF and we can begin producing this new drug. Monkey, please come and help." The monkey agreed. The carpet flew home. As they landed, things began to disappear. Two minutes later everything had gone - the monkey, too. So Daisy was not able to make her new drug. But what an experience! She had learned so much! And there was always WWF ...
THE BAND THAT WASN'T
Have you ever wanted to be part of a band as a famous singer or musician? Have you ever dreamed of playing in front of thousands of people at a concert, at which everyone is clapping and appreciating your music? Do you sing karaoke and pretend you are a famous singer like Song Zuying or Liu Huan? To be honest, a lot of people attach great importance to becoming rich and famous. But just how do people form a band?
Many musicians meet and form a band because they like to write and play their own music. They may start as a group of high-school students, for whom practicing their music in someone's house is the first step to fame. Sometimes they may play to passers-by in the street or subway so that they can earn some extra money for themselves or to pay for their instruments. Later they may give performances in pubs or clubs, for which they are paid in cash. Of course they hope to make records in a studio and sell millions of copies to become millionaires!
However, there was one band that started in a different way. It was called the Monkees and began as a TV show. The musicians were to play jokes on each other as well as play music, most of which was based loosely on the Beatles. The TV organizers had planned to find four musicians who could act as well as sing. They put an advertisement in a newspaper looking for rock musicians, but they could only find one who was good enough. They had to use actors for the other three members of the band.
As some of these actors could not sing well enough, they had to rely on other musicians to help them. So during the broadcasts they just pretended to sing. Anyhow their performances were humorous enough to be copied by other groups. They were so popular that their fans formed clubs in order to get more familiar with them. Each week on TV, the Monkees would play and sing songs written by other musicians. However, after a year or so in which they became more serious about their work, the Monkees started to play and sing their own songs like a real band. Then they produced their own records and started touring and playing their own music. In the USA they became even more popular than the Beatles and sold even more records. The band broke up about 1970, but happily they reunited in the mid-1980s. They produced a new record in 1996, with which they celebrated their former time as a real band.
寻找琥珀厅
弗雷德里克·威廉·我,普鲁士国王,从未想像过这恩赐与俄罗斯人会令人惊喜的历史。这个礼物,琥珀屋的,赐给这个名字,因为好几吨的琥珀被用来制造它。琥珀被选有一个美丽的黄棕色的颜色就像蜂蜜。房间的设计是别致的流行的日子。这也是一种珍惜用金子来装饰和珠宝,将国家的最好的艺术家们大约10年了。
事实上,这个房间没有是作为礼物送人的。它是设计出用于弗雷德里克的宫殿。然而,普鲁士的下一任国王弗雷德里克威廉·我、就是琥珀属于,决定不去保持它。在1716他给了彼得最重要的东西。作为回报,沙皇送给他一群他最好的士兵。所以琥珀房成了沙皇的一部分在圣彼得堡冬宫。大约四米长,房间作为一个小接待大厅为重要的游客。
后来,凯瑟琳二世琥珀屋的搬到一座宫殿外面圣彼得堡她在她的夏天。她告诉她的艺术家添加更多的细节。在1770年房间是完成了她想要的。几乎六百蜡烛照亮了房间,它的镜子,图片闪闪发光。遗憾的是,尽管琥珀厅被认为是世界奇迹之一,现在不见了。
在1941年9月期间,纳粹军队近了圣彼得堡。这是一段时间,两国处于交战状态。在纳粹寒得赴颐和园,俄国人能够取消一些家具和小艺术品从琥珀厅。然而,一些的纳粹暗中偷了房间本身。在不到两天的时间内摆放了10万件27木箱里。毫无疑问,这些箱子然后穿上了Konigsberg的火车在那时波罗的海边的一个德国城市。在那之后,琥珀屋的发生了什么仍然是个谜。
我是谁
长期以来,我已经改变很多。我刚开始的时候只是一个机器在法国1642年的计算。虽然我年轻的时候,我能够简化困难的总结。我养成了非常缓慢,它花了近两百年以前,我建造机器,作为一种分析查尔斯·巴贝奇。我由操作员可使用卡片上,我可以“思考”的答案,并且产生一个合乎逻辑的速度比任何人。那时,人们认为技术革命,开始准备我的“人工智能”。1936年我真正的父亲,艾伦·图灵,写了一本关于我怎么能够正常运做“通用机器”来解决任何困难的数学问题。从那以后,我保持快速增长无论大小和智力。在1940年代我成长一样大的房间,我怀疑是否能有更大的增长。然而,这个实相也担心我的设计师。随着时间的推移,我叫小。首先作为一个PC(个人电脑),然后又成为了一名笔记本电脑,我被使用在20世纪70年代以来,办公室和家庭。
这些变化是有可能的,因为我的记忆中提高。首先是储存在管,然后在晶体管和后来非常小的芯片。结果完全改变了我的形状。随着我的年龄增长我也变得渺小。随着时间的推移,我的记忆中进展得如此之多,就像大象,我永远都不会忘记告诉我该做的事情!和我的记忆变得如此大,即使我真不敢相信!不过我还是太孤独了站在那里我自己,直到20世纪60年代初他们给了我一个家庭网络连接。我能分享我的知识与另一些是通过万维网上。
20世纪70年代以来,许多新的应用了我。我成了非常重要的通信、金融和贸易。我也被推到机器人和用于制造手机以及帮助与医疗操作。我也被向太空发射火箭和派去探索月球和火星。总之,我的目标是给人类提供了高质量的生活。我现在真正充满幸福的,我是一个忠实的朋友和帮手人类!
安迪-机器人
……
我的第一个足球比赛是在日本名古屋几年以前的事了。去年,我们的团队去西雅图,华盛顿在美国。我们获得第二名。我个人认为,球队赢得了第一名骗了。他们已经开发了一种新型的节目就在竞赛。所以我们需要鼓励我们的程序员来提高我们的智力也一样。我们决心要创造更好的系统。在某种程度上我们的程序员是喜欢我们的教练。她计划我们的所有可能的移动,看她已经看过了人类的游戏。然后她准备可靠的移动到使用如果出现新情况。我用这种方式可以使新动作使用“我的人工智能”。我真希望能够与其他人类的队伍,为我有程序来行动和他们一样。毕竟,在同学的帮助下,我电子脑过目不忘的,用我的智慧就是我的一切。
戴西学会了如何帮助野生动植物
戴西一直渴望帮助种濒临绝种的野生动物。有一天,她醒来时,发现一飞行的地毯上被她的床上,“你想去哪里?”这问。戴西回答。“我想立刻喜欢看一些濒危野生动物。”她说。“请载我到遥远的地方我在哪里可以找到动物让皮毛上,让这件毛衣。“在一旦地毯飞走,并带她到西藏去。戴西有看到羚羊面带愁容。它说,“我们被杀死在我们独羊毛胃。我们的毛皮是被用于制造件毛衣像你这样的人。因此,我们现在正在濒临灭绝的物种。”黛西喊道,“对不起,我不知道。我不知道是什么也没有采取什么措施来帮助你。飞行地毯,请给我一个地方,有一些野生动物保护。”
飞行地毯旅行了如此之快,下一分钟,他们在津巴布韦。戴西转身看见她是在注视着大象。“你来接受我的照片吗?”它问道。救助戴西哄堂大笑。“不要笑,”大象骄傲地说,:“我们曾经是濒临灭绝的物种。农民在我们不施怜悯。他们说我们摧毁了他们的农场,和金钱的游客潮只去了大型旅游公司。所以政府决定的帮助。他们允许游客去打猎只有一定数量的动物如果他们付这个农民。现在农民们快乐,我们的人数正在增加。如此美好的事物是正在做的来拯救当地野生动物。”
戴西微笑着说:“那是好消息。它显示的重要性,野生动物保护,但我想帮你同世界自然基金会建议。“地毯复活了,立刻在浓密雨林。一只猴子看到他们,因为它擦本身。“你在干什么? "问黛丝。“我保护自己免受蚊子,“这回答道,“当我找到了一个蜈蚣昆虫,我碰一下我的身体。它包含了一种影响的药物的蚊子。你应该多注意雨林在我住的地方和欣赏这些动物是如何生活在一起。没有雨林、任何动物和任何药物。”
黛西是惊讶。“会飞的地毯,请带我回家所以我能告诉世界自然基金会,然后我们就开始制造这个新的药物。猴子,请过来帮助。"猴子同意了。地毯飞回家。当他们着陆后,事情开始消失。两分钟后一切都gone-the猴子了。所以黛西是不能使她的新药物。但是体验!她已经学了那么多!世界自然基金会,总有…
动物灭绝
许多动物都有自己的历史长河中消失了地球。最著名的这些动物的恐龙。他们居住在地球上成千上万的年前,早在人类会笑之前形成、他们的未来却似乎安全。有许多不同种类的恐龙和许多随后被用于生活在中国。25物种的卵子中发现了西夏县、南阳、河南省。不久前,一罕见的新种类的问题似乎永远被发现在北京朝阳县,辽宁省。当科学家们检查了的骨头,他们吃惊地发现这些恐龙不但能跑得他人,而且爬树。他们意识到这一点的离开骨头就在一起了。
关于恐龙突然灭绝了65million年前。一些科学家认为这是出乎意料的事件当一块巨大的岩石上撞到了地球,从太空里放了太多的尘土变成了空中。其他人认为,地球没有太热为恐龙推向了住在了。没人确切知道为何及如何从地球上灭绝了恐龙在这么短的时间。
我们知道有很多其它的野生植物、动物、昆虫和鸟类已经灭绝了最近。根据一份联合国报告称,一些844动物和植物已经消失在过去的500年里。渡渡鸟就是其中之一。在岛上,它一直毛里求斯和是一个非常友善的动物。请听短篇小说渡渡鸟的以及它是如何从地球上灭绝了。
乐队那不是
你曾经想要的一部分作为一名著名的乐队歌手或者音乐家吗?你是否曾想过的前面玩耍的成千上万的人在音乐会上,每个人都鼓掌和欣赏你的音乐吗?你唱ktv,假装你是一个著名的歌手喜欢宋祖英或刘桓吗?老实说,很多人非常重视变得富有而著名的人交往。不过人们是如何形成一个乐队是?
许多音乐家见面,组成乐队,因为他们喜欢写,并且打他们自己的音乐。他们可能从一群高中生,就是练习他们的音乐在某个人家是第一步名声。有时他们可能起为过路的人在街上或地铁,以便他们能额外挣些钱为自己还是来支付他们的乐器。后来他们可以在酒吧和俱乐部节目,因为他们是支取现金。当然,他们希望使记录在演播室里和销售的百万出版量相比,成为百万富翁!
但是,有一个乐队的,开始以不同的方式去做。这就是所谓的Monkees,开始作为一个电视节目。玩笑的音乐家们都在互相以及播放音乐,其中大多数是是以“披头士”。电视组织者曾计划找到四的音乐家可以采取行动以及唱歌。他们把广告刊登在报纸上寻找的摇滚乐,但他们只能找到一个足够的好。必须使用演员另外三个乐队的成员。
这些演员的不能唱得够好了,他们不得不依靠其他音乐家帮助他们。所以在广播节目他们只是假装唱歌。总之演出,受到幽默够大了,可以复制其他组。他们是如此受欢迎,他们的球迷形成了俱乐部以赚取更多的熟悉他们的。一个星期电视、Monkees会唱歌,其他音乐家写的。然而,在一年左右的时间里,他们对自己的工作变得更严重,Monkees开始玩,吟唱自己的歌像个真正的乐队。然后他们产生了他们自己的纪录,并开始巡回演出和他们自己的音乐。在美国,他们就更甚于“披头士”乐队和甚至销售多个记录。乐队解散了的对1970年,但是幸而这些在mid-1980s团聚。他们上演了一个新记录,和他们在1996年庆祝他们的前任,时间是一种真正的乐队。
福瑞迪青蛙
不久之后福瑞迪和乐队成名了,他们参观了英国在简要之旅。显示他们的热情的球迷买到票等待了几个小时为他们的音乐会。福瑞迪现在很自信当他走进音乐厅。他喜欢唱歌和所有的祝贺你后来弄的!他最令人兴奋的邀请是履行在电视节目称为“上面的持久性有机污染物。他不得不去伦敦,穿一件昂贵的西服和出一个节目电视摄像机。感觉非常奇怪的。但是当节目就被电话,身处同一房间开始唱起歌来。每个人都问一问什么时候他们也能看到佛瑞迪和他的乐队一起了。他们是真正的明星。
那东西了。福瑞迪和他的乐队就可以不出去在任何地方没有被跟踪。甚至当他们戴著太阳眼镜或胡子的人认识他们的。球迷们发现他们,甚至当他们去厕所。他们试图藏在阅览室公共图书馆的兴起,但就是什么也想不起来。有人会在那儿。他们的个人生命还经常讨论的人都不知道他们,但交谈着,就好像他们是非常亲密的朋友。最后,感觉很沮丧和敏感,佛瑞迪和他的乐队一起意识到他们必须离开这个国家变得过于痛苦之前。于是离开英国,他们一去不复返,后,就回到了湖。
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