2 . Machu Picchu was a city of the Inca Empire （帝国）.It is sometimes called the "lost city“ because the Spanish never discovered the city when they controlled the Inca in the 1500s.

One of the most amazing things about Machu Picchu is its location. It is 8 ,000 feet above sea level on top of a mountain in the Andes in southern Peru. Three sides of the city have cliffs that drop over 1 ,400 feet to the Urubamba River. At the fourth side of the city is a high mountain.

Researchers believe that the city was first built around the year of 1450. Building work likely continued on the site until the empire was controlled by the Spanish in the middle 1500s.

Machu Picchu was built as a place for the ninth Inca King, Pachacuti. Researchers aren't sure why he built it, however. There are a number of ideas as to the reason. One idea is that it was a vacation place for the king. It is in a Vacation place than the capital city of Cuzco. It is also in a beautiful location and would have been a nice hiding place for the king. Another idea is that it was built as a religious site. Machu Picchu was not a large city. Probably only around 1,000 people lived there.

Most of the buildings were built with stones that were fitted together tightly without the use of mortar （砂浆）.This style of building helped the buildings to stay complete during earthquakes. The Inca didn't use the wheel, so most of the hardwork was done by people. It would have taken hundreds of workers to move the large stones around the site.

The city   was rediscovered in July 1911 by an explorer Hiram Bingham. He was led there by a local boy named Pablito Alvarez. Later, Hiram wrote a book about the city called Last City of the Incas.

Sichuan has long been known as the "Province of Abundance"．     1     （history） speaking， Sichuan was the home of the ancient    2    （state） of Ba and Shu． Their conquest by Qin     3    （strength） it and paved the way for the First Emperor's unification（统一） of China under the Qin Dynasty． During the Three Kingdoms era， Liu Bei's Shu    4    （base） in Sichuan． The area became one of China's     5    （productive） areas by the 19th century． The people of Sichuan speak     6     unique form of Mandarin， which took shape during the area's repopulation     7     the rule of the Ming Dynasty． The family of dialects is now spoken by about 120 million people， which would make    8     the 10th most spoken language in the world if counted separately． The area's warm damp climate long caused local people     9    （advocate） spicy dishes． The native Sichuan pepper was supplemented by Mexican chilis during the Columbian Exchange to form modern Sichuan cuisine，    10     Dishes--including Kung Pao Chicken and Mapo Tofu--have become famous around the world．