Advance With English M9U2 Reading
The Acropolis now
No one has had a greater influence on Western civilization than the ancient Greeks. They made many advances in philosophy, science, mathematics, art, architecture, theatre, politics and sport. The Roman alphabet is a Greek invention, as is the marathon, a long distance race created in honour of a Greek soldier who ran from Marathon to Athens to report the victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. For a period of about 300 years (from 650 to 323 BC), the Greek civilization made advances in various fields that have influenced the world for more than 2,500 years and will continue to do so.
In particular, we associate ancient Greek civilization with the capital city of Athens, the greatest symbol of which is the Acropolis. The Acropolis is a large, fiat rock in the centre of Athens, rising up high above the city. In the 5th century BC, the greatest architects and artists of the time began building temples and monuments on this Sacred Rock. On top of the Acropolis, there are three main temples to Athena, the goddess of the city: the Parthenon, the Erechtheum and the Temple of Athena Nike. The Temple of Athena Nike is the smallest among the three. It used to house a 13-metre-high gold-covered statue of Athena as the Goddess of Victory. The Parthenon, the largest of all three, was built between 447 and 432 BC and contained a gold statue of Athena. The Erechtheum is famous for the six female statues which support part of its roof.
The buildings of the Acropolis were made of marble, a very smooth, strong stone. However, throughout history, few ancient monuments have avoided damage altogether. The Acropolis is no different. It has been damaged partly by natural forces like earthquakes, but the greatest damage of all has been caused by man. In 1458, the Turks defeated the Greeks and seized control of Athens. Later, they used the Parthenon as a warehouse and packed it with gunpowder. In 1687, an attack from Italy caused the gunpowder to explode and a large part of the building was destroyed. For centuries, people also stole from the ruins and used the stones for other buildings. The last major damage of this kind occurred with the theft of many of the best sculptures in 1801, when an Englishman, Lord Elgin, cut them off the face of the Parthenon, and took them to London. He later sold them to the British government. In 1816, these sculptures were turned over to the British Museum. They are still shown there under the title of 'Elgin Marbles'. This has caused some friction between Greece and Britain, as the Greek government has never given asking for the return of these marble statues.
In 1830, Greece was recognized as an autonomous country and five years later, in 1835, the new government began a serious effort to repair the monuments and buildings on the Acropolis. Unfortunately, some of the construction that was carried out over the following 100 years was not very successful. In fact, repairs were so clumsy that they made some of the buildings less secure than they had been before. The buildings have also been damaged by the millions of travellers who visit them each year. Some damage has been caused by the traffic of so many people simply walking around the buildings, and some has been caused deliberately. There is also the problem of smog. Athens has some of the most polluted air of any city in the world, and acid rain is causing gradual damage to the marble on the Acropolis.
In a gesture to help preserve history, the Greek government appointed a committee in 1975 to undertake a complete repair of the Acropolis. In 1987, it was listed as a World Heritage site by
UNESCO. After that, much progress was made in repairing the Acropolis, with a large amount of work done in preparation for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
The committee is continuing its work and hopes to bring the Acropolis back to its former glory. Poor repair work has to be mended, especially on some sections which are lying around loose, or which might fall down. A steady cleaning programme must follow in order to protect the marble from smog and acid rain, as well as from natural things such as plant roots. As a part of this process, statues have been removed from the open air and stored in a protected museum.
The committee is also undertaking important work to educate the public, based on the assessment that the best way to protect the Acropolis is to prevent damage. Therefore, the committee is teaching people how to avoid damaging important historic buildings like those on the Acropolis. By learning how not to damage the monuments, people will be able to enjoy this historic site for generations to come.
M9U2 Reading
今日卫城
作者：瓦利亚·克特西斯
没有人对西方文明的影响比古希腊人更大。古希腊人在哲学、科学、数学、艺术、建筑、戏剧、政治学和体育方面取得了很多成就。罗马字母表是希腊人的发明，马拉松赛跑也是。这项长跑比赛是为了纪念一名希腊战士而创设的。公元前490年，这名战士从马拉松一直跑到雅典，报告马拉松战役大捷的消息。在约7300年里(从公元前650年至公元前323年)，希腊文明在众多领域都取得了长足的发展，已经影响了世界2500多年，并将继续影响世界。 我们特别要将古希腊文明与其首都雅典城相联系，雅典最伟大的标志就是雅典卫城。雅典卫城是一块位于雅典市中心的平坦巨石，其海拔高于雅典城。公元前五世纪，当时最杰出的建筑师和艺术家开始在这块圣石之上兴建庙宇和纪念碑。在雅典卫城的顶部，有三座主要庙宇祭祀雅典的守护神雅典娜：帕台农神庙、厄瑞克修姆神庙以及雅典娜胜利女神庙。雅典娜胜利女神庙是三座神庙中最小的，曾经供奉着一尊13米高的镀金雅典娜胜利女神像。在这三座神庙中最大的帕台农神庙建于公元前447年至公元前432年间，神庙中曾有一座黄金雅典娜神像。厄瑞克修姆神庙则以其入口处的六座女神雕像而闻名，这六座雕像支撑着一部分庙顶。
卫城的建筑是用非常光滑坚硬的大理石建成的。但纵观历史，几乎没有哪座古代纪念建筑能完全避免受损。卫城也是如此。它部分受损干像地震这样的自然力量，但最大的破坏则是由人造成。1458年土耳其人打败了希腊人并占领了雅典。后来，他们将帕台农神庙作为仓库，在里面堆满火药。1687年，意大利人的一次袭击引起火药爆炸，神庙建筑的很大一部分被毁。几个世纪以来，人们还从废墟中偷窃石料，用来修建其他建筑。最后一次此类重大破坏发生于1801年，许多最精美的雕塑遭窃。当时，英国人埃尔金勋爵把这些雕塑从帕台农神庙的建筑表层切割下来，运往伦敦。后来他把这些雕塑卖给了英国政府。1816年，这些雕塑又被移交给大英博物馆。如今它们仍然在那里展出，冠名为“埃尔金大理石雕塑”。这引起了希腊和英国之间的一些摩擦，因为希腊政府从未放弃要求英国归还这些大理石雕像。
1830年，希腊被承认为自治国家。五年后，即1835年，新的希腊政府开始花大力气修复卫城的历史遗迹和建筑。遗憾的是，此后一百多年间进行的一些修建工作并不是很成功。事实上，修复工作非常粗陋，它们使得一些建筑比修复前更不安全。建筑物也遭到每年数以百万计来此参观的游客的破坏。有些破坏只是由于如此多的人流在遗址中行走造成的，而有
些则是因故意破坏造成的。另外还有烟雾的问题。雅典是世界上空气污染最严重的城市之，酸雨正逐渐毁坏着卫城上的大理石。
为表示其帮助保存历史的意愿，希腊政府干1975年任命了一个委员会来负责卫城的全面修复工作。1987年，卫城被联合国教科文组织列入世界遗产名录。此后，卫城修复工作取得了很大进展，有大量修复工作是为准备2004年雅典奥运会而做的。 该委员会正继续它的工作，希望让卫城重现昔日辉煌。不合格的修复工作必须重新修缮，特别是一些松动的部分，或者是一些可能掉落的部分。接下来必须进行持续的的清洁工作，以保护大理石不受烟雾、酸雨以及自然物(如植物的根系)的破坏。作为这项进程的一部分，雕像已经从露天转移并保存在一座受保护的博物馆里。 保护卫城的最好方式就是防止破坏。基于这一认识，该委员会还在教育公众方面做了重要的工作。因此，委员会正教导人们如何避免破坏像卫城上的这样的重要历史建筑。通过学习如何不去破坏这些遗迹，人们将能够世世代代欣赏到这一历史遗址。
M9U2 Project
Imperial Tombs
The Ming and Qing Imperial Tombs are among the most extraordinary cultural remains to be found anywhere. These world-famous sites are equal to the pyramids in Egypt. Any visitor to China should try to include the Ming and Qing Tombs as part of his or her tour. The Ming Imperial Tombs
Most of the Ming Tombs can be found 50 kilometres north-west of Beijing in a place called Shisanling, which means 'thirteen tombs' in Chinese. Thirteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644) are buried here, along with their wives and other members of the royal family. Of the thirteen tombs, only Changling, Dingling and Zhaoling are open to the public.
Along the Sacred Way, which leads to the tombs, you can see huge stone statues of twenty-four animals and twelve officials. Some of the pine trees which line the Sacred Way were planted during the Ming Dynasty.
At the upper end of the Sacred Way is Changling, the largest Of the Mtng Tombs. Changling is considered by many as the best preserved of the thirteen tombs. It is at the heart of Shisanling, with the other tombs placed on either side of it. It was built to resemble a palace, containing a complex of buildings and courtyards.
Adding to the extraordinary beauty of Changling is the Ling'en Palace, known for its simple design and painted ceiling. Many of the decorations are made from a fragrant type of wood native to China, and the floor is covered with 'gold' bricks.
Apart from Shisanling, the most famous Ming Tomb is Xiaoling, in Nanjing. It contains the tomb of the first Ming emperor. Approximately 100,000 soldiers and civilians worked from 1381 to 1405 on this tomb, which covers several dozen acres of land. The beautiful architecture of this tomb had a great influence on the design of emperors' tombs in the five centuries that followed. The Qing Imperial Tombs
The Qing Dynasty (AD 1616-1911) had twelve emperors, nine of whom are buried in the two groups of tombs in Hebei Province, not far from Beijing. It is apparent that the Qing Tombs are influenced by the Ming Tombs, especially in terms of architecture and the way they are placed among the surrounding mountains and valleys.
One group of the Qing Tombs is called Dongling, in Zunhua, 125 kilometres east of Beijing. The tombs, which were built over a period of 247 years, take up 78 square kilometres. Buried