1 . Most buildings are built to stand up straight, but these look as if they might fall over!
The church tower of Suurhusen
Built in 1450, the 27-metre-high church tower lies in Suurhusen, Germany. It was built in wet land on foundations of oak tree trunks (树干). When the land was drained (排水) later, the wood broke down, causing one side of the tower to be a little lower than the other. In 1975, the tower became a real hazard and people were not allowed to enter until the foundations were made strong again. The lean of the tower is now about five degrees.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The work of building the tower began in 1173, and was finally completed in 1372. In fact, it began to lean after just a couple of floors were built. And this condition continued in the centuries after its completion. The tower was finally closed to the public in 1990 after people failed to stabilize (使稳固) its foundations. In 2001, it was reopened after engineers removed soil from underneath its raised side. Now it leans just an angle of 3.97 degrees.
Capital Gate of Abu Dhabi
Completed in 2011, the Capital Gate tower in Abu Dhabi was designed to lean eighteen degrees. The building stands next to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and contains, among other things, a fine hotel with wonderful views of the harbour. Also known as the leaning tower of Abu Dhabi, the tower is one of the tallest buildings in the city.
Big Ben of London
The building leans 0.26 degrees to the northwest. This was mainly caused by the engineering projects that have been carried out in the ground below it since the late 1800s. The tower, which has been continuously open since it was completed in 1858, has nowhere near the lean of the Tower of Pisa and is still completely safe to enter.
1. The underlined word “hazard” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_____”.| A．danger | B．church |
| C．castle | D．treasure |
| A．It didn't lean until ten years after its completion. |
| B．It took almost two hundred years to complete. |
| C．It was built on foundations of oak tree trunks. |
| D．It has been open since it was completed. |
| A．The church tower of Suurhusen. |
| B．The Leaning Tower of Pisa. |
| C．Capital Gate of Abu Dhabi. |
| D．Big Ben of London. |
| A．The history of towers |
| B．The art of building a tower |
| C．The leaning towers of the world |
| D．Top four tallest towers in Europe |
2 . The Canadian red and white maple leaf (枫叶) flag is officially called the National Flag of Canada. The Canadian flag shows a stylized red maple leaf with 11 points on a white background, with red borders down each side. The Canadian flag is twice as long as it is wide. The white square containing the red maple leaf is the same width as the flag.
The red and the white used in the National Flag of Canada were proclaimed the official colors of Canada in 1921 by King George Ⅴ. Although the maple leaf did not have its official status as a symbol of Canada until the announcement (宣告) of the national flag in 1965, it had historically been used as a Canadian symbol, and was used in 1860 in decorations for the visit of the Prince of Wales to Canada. The 11 points on the maple leaf have no special significance.
In the early days, the Royal Union Flag, or the Union Jack, was still flown in British North America. In 1925 and again in 1946, the Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King tried to get a national flag of Canada adopted, but failed. In 1964, Prime Minister Lester Pearson appointed a 15-member, all-party committee to come up with a design for a new flag. The committee was given six weeks to complete its task.
The committee studied 2,000 submitted (提交的) designs as well as 3,900 that had been gathered as a result of the 1946 committee’s study. Those designs with a chance of being accepted were given to the full committee for further study.
The suggestion of a red and white single maple leaf design for the Canadian flag came from George Stanley, a professor at the Royal Military College. After a heated discussion, they finally decided on his suggestion.
1. How many colors are there in the National Flag of Canada?| A．One. | B．Two. |
| C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．In 1921. | B．In 1860. |
| C．In 1964. | D．In 1965. |
| A．The officials of the government. |
| B．The professors from the Royal Military College. |
| C．The members of the 1946 committee. |
| D．The members of the 1964 committee. |
| A．the designer of the National Flag of Canada |
| B．the history of the National Flag of Canada |
| C．the meaning of the National Flag of Canada |
| D．why the red and white single maple leaf was chosen as the design for the National Flag of Canada |
