BOOK 3Module1 ReadingGreat European CitiesPARISParis 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, cafes and theatres. About two third of France’s artists and writers live in Paris. BARCELONABarcelona 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.FLORENCEFlorence 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 galleries in the city. ATHENSAthens, 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 work has influenced other writers ever since.译:欧洲的大城市巴黎巴黎是法国的首都，也是法国最大的城市，坐落在塞纳河畔。
它是世界上最美丽的城市之一，每年有八百多万游客前来参观。
最受游客欢迎的旅游景点是埃菲尔铁塔，它是巴黎著名的象征。
世界上最大的艺术博物馆之一——卢浮宫——也位于巴黎。
这个城市也以餐馆、咖啡馆和剧院而闻名。
法国约三分之二的艺术家和作家住在巴黎。
巴塞罗那巴塞罗那是西班牙第二大城市，位于（西班牙的）东北海岸线上，距离首都马德里东部五百公里处。
巴塞罗那最有名的标志性建筑之一是圣家大教堂，由建筑家安东尼奥·高迪设计。
高迪从1882年起从事这项工程直至1926年逝世。
至今教堂还没完工。
佛罗伦萨佛罗伦萨是一座因文艺复兴而闻名的意大利城市，这场艺术运动始于14世纪并且延续了300年。
在文艺复兴时期，历史上一些最伟大的画家在佛罗伦萨生活和工作。
佛罗伦萨许多最美的画作和雕像都出自于莱奥纳多·达·芬奇和米开朗琪罗这样的艺术大师。
佛罗伦萨每年大约有一百万旅游者来访，他们都是来参观艺术馆，教堂和博物馆的。
其中乌飞齐美术馆最为著名。
雅典希腊是希腊的首都，作为西方文明的发祥地而闻名于世。
2400年前，它是世界上最强大的城市。
一些诸如雅典卫城山上的巴特农神庙那样的建筑都是在这段时期建造的。
希腊最为著名的作家就居住在古雅典。
他们的作品影响了后世的作家。
Cultural CornerThe European UnionWhat Is the European Union?The European Union is an organisation of Europeancountries. 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 i s a president. But each of them sends representatives to the Europea n Parliament, which has some control over what happens in each of t he member countries.How Did It Start?The idea of the European Union began in the 1950s. The first member s 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 countr ies. 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 Repub lic, 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 mor e than half a billion people, twice as big as the population of th e United States.译:欧盟什么是欧盟呢？欧盟是欧洲国家的一个组织。
各个国家都是独立的而且管理方式也不同。
例如，在联合王国（英国），国家的首脑是国王或女王。
另一方面，在法国，国家的首脑却是总统。
但是每个国家都向欧洲议会驻派代表，来控制在每个成员国所发生的事情。
欧盟是怎样创建的呢？创建欧盟的想法是在20世纪50年代开始的。
最初的成员国为法国、德国、比利时、卢森堡、荷兰和意大利。
在20世纪的下半叶，成员国逐渐增加。
到2000年为止，已经有15个成员国。
这些新的国家是奥地利、丹麦、芬兰、希腊、爱尔兰、葡萄牙、西班牙、瑞典和联合王国。
现在有多少国家属于欧盟呢？在2004年，欧盟的成员国增加到了25个。
捷克共和国、爱沙尼亚、匈牙利、拉脱维亚、立陶宛、波兰、斯洛伐克共和国和斯洛文尼亚，还有地中海的岛国塞浦路斯和马耳他都成为成员国。
扩大的欧盟人口达到5亿多，是美国人口的2倍。
Module 2 ReadingThe Human Development ReportIn the year 2000, 147 world leaders agreed to worktogether to reduce poverty by 2015 or earlier. From this agreement c ame the Human Development Report.One of the most important sections of this report is The Human Deve lopment Index. This examines the achievements of 175 countries. The i ndex 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 i s at number 7. The other top five countries are: Iceland (2), Swede n (3), Australia (4), the Netherlands (5). The UK is in the thirtee nth 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 poverty and hunger;make sure that all children have education up to the age of 11; fight AIDS and other diseases;improve the environment of poor people, e.g. make sure they have saf e drinking water;ncourage developed countries to give more help to other countries. The 2003 Human Development Report gives examples ofSuccessful 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 deve loping countries are hungry. Over half of these are in South Asia o r Africa. Although more than 80% of children in developing countries go to primary school, about 115 million children are not being edu cated. More than 1 billion people in developing countries do not dri nk 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 developedcountries give some financial help, they need to give much more. Int erestingly, 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.译:人类发展报告在2000年，来自世界各国的147位领导人一致同意共同努力到2015年或在更早的时间减少贫困。