外研版必修三Reading and Cultural Corner

Module 1 Reading

Great European Cities

PARIS

Paris is the capital and largest city of France, situated on the River Seine. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is visited by more than eight million tourists every year. The most popular place for tourists is the Eiffel Tower, the famous symbol of Paris. One of the world's largest art galleries, the Louvre, is also located in Paris. The city is also famous for its

restaurants, cafés and theatres. About two-thirds of France's artists and writers live in Paris.

BARCELONA

Barcelona is the second largest city of Spain and is situated on the northeast coast, about five hundred kilometres east of the Spanish capital, Madrid. One of Barcelona's most famous landmarks is the Church of the

Sagrada Familia, which was designed by an architect called Antonio Gaudi. Gaudi worked on the project from 1882 until his death in 1926. The church hasn't been finished yet! FLORENCE

Florence is an Italian city which became famous because of the Renaissance, a great artistic movement which began in the 1300s and lasted for three hundred years. During the Renaissance, some of the greatest painters of all time lived and worked in Florence. Many of Florence's most beautiful paintings and sculptures were produced by great artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Florence is visited each year by about a million tourists who come to see the art galleries, churches and museums. The Uffizi Palace is the most famous art gallery in the city.

ATHENS

Athens, the capital of Greece, is known as the birthplace of western civilisation. Two thousand four hundred years ago, it was the world's most powerful city. Buildings such as the Parthenon on the Acropolis Hill were built during this period. Greece's best writers lived in ancient Athens. Their works has influenced other writers ever since.

Cultural Corner

The European Union

What Is the European Union?

The European Union is an organisation of European

countries. The countries are independent and are governed in different ways. In the United Kingdom, for example, the head of state is a king or queen. In France, on the other hand, the head of state is a president. But each of them sends representatives to the European Parliament, which

has some control over what happens in each of the member countries.

How Did It Start?

The idea of the European Union began in the 1950s. The first members were France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy. Little by little, the number increased during the second half of the twentieth century. By the year 2000, there were 15 member countries. The new countries were Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

How Many Countries Belong to It Now?

In 2004, the European Union increased to 25 members. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, plus the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Malta all became

members. The expanded European Union has a population of more than half a billion people, twice as big as the population of the United States.

Module 2

Reading

The Human Development Report

In the year 2000, 147 world leaders agreed to work together to reduce poverty by 2015 or earlier. From this agreement came the Human Development Report.

One of the most important sections of this report is The Human Development Index. This examines the achievements of 175 countries. The index measures a country's achievements

in three ways: life expectancy (how long people usually live), education and income. The index has some surprises. Norway is at the top of the list, while the US is at number 7. The other top five countries are: Iceland (2), Sweden (3), Australia (4), the Netherlands (5). The UK is in the thirteenth position, while China is in the middle of the list. The bottom ten countries are all African countries, with Sierra Leone (in West Africa) at the bottom of the list.

The report describes eight development goals. The most important goals are to:

reduce and ;

that all children have education the age of 11;

fight AIDS and other diseases; improve the of poor people, e.g. make sure they have safe drinking water;

encourage developed countries to give more help to other countries.

The 2003 Human Development Report gives examples of

successful development. For example, in nine years (1953–1962), China increased life expectancy by 13 years. In the last ten years in China, 150 million people moved out of poverty. However, the challenges are still great. Every day 799 million people in developing countries are hungry. Over half of these are in South Asia or Africa. Although more than 80% of children in developing countries go to primary school, about 115 million children are not being

educated. More than 1 billion people in developing countries do not drink safe water. However, in other regions of the world, e.g. Eastern Europe, water is now mostly safe to drink.

The report shows that we are making some progress but that we need to make greater efforts. Although developed

countries give some financial help, they need to give much more. Interestingly, the countries that give the most money are the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. These are among the five richest countries in the world, so it is right that they should do so.

Cultural Corner

Town Twinning

How are Oxford in the UK and Grenoble in France similar? Well, they're both medium-sized towns of between 100,000 and 200,000 inhabitants. They both have universities and industries. Tourism is important to both of them, and they are both close to some of the most beautiful countryside in the region. But they …… 此处隐藏：16833字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……