1 . In 1590, the GLOBE was built using wood from an earlier theatre, which had been built by Richard Burbage's father, James Burbage, in Shoreditch in 1576. The first performance for which a firm record remains was Jonson's Every Man out of His Humour—with its fist scene welcoming the "gracious and kind spectator""- at the end of the ear.

On 29h June 1613, the GLOBE Theatre went up in flames during a performance of Henry VII. A theatrical gun, set off during the performance, misfired, burning the wooden beams and straws. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man whose burning breeches (炮后膛) were put out with a bottle of beer. It was rebuilt in the following year.

Like all he other theatres in London, the GLOBE was closed down by the Puritns in 1642. It was pulled down in 1644, or slightly later — the commonly cited document dating the act to 15 April 1644 has been identified as false-to make room for other buildings. A modern reconstruction of the theatre, named "Shakespeare's GLOBE", opened in 1997, with a production of Henry V. It is an academic approximation of the original design, based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings, and is located about 750 feet (230m)from the site of the original theatre.

5 . With attractiveness in its structure (结构) and in its presence, the Eiffel Tower has become a great site of France and Gustave Eiffel's architectural wonder. Also known as La Tour Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is climbed by millions of visitors every year. Do you know how tall the Eiffel Tower is? Standing at 1, 063 feet tall, this is the second tallest building in France after the Millau Viaduct, a road bridge across the river Tarn. Nicknamed La Dame de Fer, or the iron lady, this tower is a symbol of France even today.

The tower was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance for the World Fair. This event was to mark the 100th celebration of the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution. Ironically, at first, the tower was considered unpleasant by a lot of art enthusiasts. Several members from the arts community said it only ruined the empty skyline of the Paris city. French novelist Guy de Maupassant expressed his dislike for the tower                    by eating lunch every day at the tower's restaurant — his explanation was that it was the only place in Paris where one could not see the structure! Whatever may have been the opinion about the structure at the time, the fact remains that                    it became an object that attracted many people around the world.

The tower, weighing 10, 000 tons, includes several non-metallic (非金属的) parts as well. The metallic parts used in the structure weigh 7,300 tons, which, if melted (熔化), will fill up a 125-meter square with a depth of 6cm. At the time when the tower was built, the great structure amazed lots of engineers and common people. The Eiffel Tower needs 50~60 tons of paint every seven years to keep the rust (铁锈) away.

The structure decorates the Parisian skyline. Being one of the most visited sites in the world, the Eiffel Tower still remains an architectural wonder!

Jingdezhen porcelain(瓷器)is Chinese porcelain produced in or near Jingdezhen in southern China. Jingdezhen has produced porcelain     1     (century)ago. And the town     2    was named Jingdezhen by Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty became a major kiln(窑)site around 1004.During the period, the     3    (produce)of porcelain in this area first became     4    (know).By the 14th century it had become the largest centre of producing Chinese porcelain, which remained in the following times. In the Ming Dynasty, official kilns in Jingdezhen     5    (control)by the emperor, making quality porcelain in large quantities for the emperor to give abroad as gifts. As a result, the town was     6    (close)linked to the world.

Although being a remote town in a hilly area, Jingdezhen is near the quality porcelain stone and forests which can provide plenty of wood for the kilns. It also has     7    river flowing from north to south,     8    (benefit)the transport of the fragile objects.

Jingdezhen has produced a great variety of     9     (value) porcelain. As a result, the town is famous     10     the “Porcelain Capital”. One type of its well-known high quality porcelain object is the blue and white porcelain from the 1330s.

The Mayan civilization was from a group of people     1     lived in Central America. The Maya people used a(n)     2     (write) language before Columbus came to the Americas in 1492 AD. They were good     3     art, building, and math. They knew about stars and planets, which helped them make calendars.

The Mayan civilization was the most important between the years of 250 AD and 900 AD.     4     (gradual), the Mayan civilization spread all the way from Central Mexico to Honduras, Guatemala, and northern El Salvador.

The Maya people traded with other people in the Americas. They made changes to their buildings to make them much     5     (good). The style in which they made     6     ( they) buildings was often similar to styles of buildings in countries that the Maya people traded with.

The Mayan civilization started getting smaller after 900 AD. The Spanish arrived in     7     15th century and took over Central America, even in the Mayan areas. However, the Maya people still live there today. They even keep the old Mayan traditions and     8     (believe).There are many Mayan languages still spoken today,     9     (include) one called the Achi language. A play called Rabinal Achi     10     (consider) very important to the world.

8 . China is a country of many resources. Among its resources are many great rivers, which provide useful transport routes. Water transport is an efficient way to carry heavy loads, such as grain. In ancient times, a waterway was needed between China’s rich farmlands and the capital city. This need inspired engineers to build a canal. According to writings by the ancient thinker Confucius, work on a canal linking the Yangze River with the city of Huai-in began about 486 B.C. For many centuries afterward, Chinese emperors worked on extending this ancient canal.

This canal is now known as China’s Grand Canal. One thousand years after the original canal was begun, it was in extreme need of repair. This was in the year 607, during the Sui Dynasty. By 610 the emperor had had the canal extended. The Grand Canal formed a northeast-southwest link between the Yellow River in the north and the Huai River in the south. The canal remained the main waterway in this part of China for the next five hundred years.

In the thirteenth century, the Mongols had conquered China. The Yuan Dynasty established Beijing as the capital. The city’s growing population needed food, so a new canal was built to extend shipping. Building this part of the Grand Canal required enormous effort and cost. Neither the first attempt nor the second one was successful, so the builders chose another route. Finally this link in the Grand Canal was finished.

By the time of the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Canal had six sections. These were busy with goods until the nineteenth century. Then a series of severe floods struck China. Parts of the Grand Canal were badly damaged. By 1868 it had been largely abandoned as a means of northern route.

The Grand Canal was mostly restored in the twentieth century. It was widened and deepened, and a new section was constructed. Today the canal, which is about 1,200 miles in length, has new locks(运河的水闸). It is busy with ships and barges(驳船) carrying goods to and from cities along its banks.

9 . Before the 1830s, most newspapers were sold through annual subscriptions in America, usually $8 to $10 a year. Today $8 or $10 seems a small amount of money, but at that time these amounts were forbidding to most citizens. Accordingly, newspapers were read almost only by rich people in politics or the trades. In addition, most newspapers had little in them that would appeal to a mass audience. They were dull and visually forbidding. But the revolution that was taking place in the 1830s would change all that.

The trend, then, was toward the “penny paper”—a term referring to papers made widely available to the public. It meant any inexpensive newspaper; perhaps more importantly it meant newspapers that could be bought in single copies on the street.

This development did not take place overnight. It had been possible(but not easy) to buy single copies of newspapers before 1830, but this usually meant the reader had to go down to the printer’s office to purchase a copy. Street sales were almost unknown. However, within a few years, street sales of newspapers would be commonplace in eastern cities. At first the price of single copies was seldom a penny—usually two or three cents was charged—and some of the older well-known papers charged five or six cents. But the phrase “penny paper” caught the public’s fancy, and soon there would be papers that did indeed sell for only a penny.

This new trend of newspapers for “the man on the street” did not begin well. Some of the early ventures(企业) were immediate failures. Publishers already in business, people who were owners of successful papers, had little desire to change the tradition. It took a few youthful and daring businessmen to get the ball rolling.

Longjing tea,     1     has topped the list of the ten most famous teas in China with its color, taste and shape,     2    (name) after its production region --- Longjing Village of West Lake. The good environment and water resources have contributed much to the     3    (grow) of the tea, confirming the saying that "Longjing tea is the     4     (good) among all of the teas in the world".

Thanks     5     Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, the tea has earned a high reputation. The story went that Emperor Qianlong visited the mountain during his Hangzhou travels, and he saw some ladies picking the tea at     6     foot of the mountain. He was so interested in their movements that he decided to have a go himself. While     7    (pick) the tea, he received the news of his mother's illness, so he carelessly put the leaves in his right sleeve and    8    (leave) Hangzhou for Beijing. He visited his mother    9    (immediate) upon his arrival in Beijing, and his mother smelt the fragrance of the tea leaves from his sleeves and wanted to have a taste. After drinking a cup of tea, she found herself completely    10    (refresh), and she even praised it as a cure for all ills. From then on, it was listed as the tribute tea.