最新外研版高中英语必修三 课文

外研版高中英语必修三 课文3.1 Great European Cities

Paris

Paris 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, cafés and theatres. About two-thirds of

France's artists and writers live in Paris.

Barcelona

Barcelona 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!

Florence

Florence 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 gallery

in the city.

Athens

Athens, 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 works has influenced other writers ever since.

3.2 The Human Development Report

In the year 2000, 147 world leaders agreed to work together to reduce poverty

by 2015 or earlier. From this agreement came the Human Development Report.

One of the most important sections of this report is The Human Development

Index. This examines the achievements of 175 countries. The index 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 is at number 7. The other top five countries are: Iceland

(2), Sweden (3), Australia (4), the Netherlands (5). The UK is in the thirteenth

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 safe drinking water;

• encourage developed countries to give more help to other countries.

The 2003 Human Development Report gives examples of successful

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 developing countries are hungry. Over half of these are in

South Asia or Africa. Although more than 80% of children in developing

countries go to primary school, about 115 million children are not being

educated. More than 1 billion people in developing countries do not drink 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 developed countries give some financial help, they

need to give much more. Interestingly, 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.

3.3 The Violence of Nature

What Is a Tornado?

A tornado is a rotating column of air from a thunderstorm to the ground. The

most violent have winds of more than 400 kilometres per hour. Almost all of them

occur in the US, in the area from Texas in the southeast to South Dakota in the

north.

Tornadoes can pick up cars, trains and even houses and put them down in the

next street—or even in the next town. They can take the fur off the back of a cat

and the feathers off a chicken. They can destroy houses, but leave the furniture

inside exactly where it was.

On average, there are 800 tornadoes in the US each year, causing about 80

deaths and 1,500 injuries. The worst tornado of all time occurred in 1925,