1、Unit 1 Our worldLife in a dayWhat do you love? What do you fear? Whats in your pocket? These are the questions from the film Life in aDay. Director Kevin Macdonald asked people around the world to answer the questions and send in a video clipfrom a typical day. He was interested in creating a pictur
2、e of the world, a digital time capsule for the future. On 24July 2010, people from Africa, Europe, America, Antarctica and Asia recorded events on their mobile phones anddigital cameras and uploaded them onto the Internet. In all there were 81,000 video clips. It took Macdonald and ateam of research
3、ers seven weeks to make them into a film.The film starts at midnight. The moon is high in the sky, elephants are washing themselves in a river inAfrica and a baby is sleeping. At the same time, in other parts of the world, people are getting up, brushing theirteeth and making breakfast. In the next
4、minutes of the one-and-a-half-hour-long film, we watch everyday routinesfrom more than 140 different countries and see the connections between them. In one short scene an American girlis playing with her hula hoop. In another, a child is working at a shoeshine stand in Peru. One looks well off, theo
5、ther is poor, but then the shoeshine boy shows us his favorite thinghis notebook computer. Hes very proud ofit because he earned the money to pay for it.“We all care about the same things,” says the director and in some ways hes right. Family and friends are thethings most people love and many of th
6、em are keen on sports, like football. But then one man says he loves his catand another loves his fridge because it doesnt talk back.Monsters, dogs and death are the things most people fear. One young girl is worried about growing up and aman in Antarctica says, “Im afraid of losing this place.” But
7、 when asked, “Whats in your pocket?”, the answersare surprising. We dont see an ID card, a shopping list, or a bus ticket. Instead, one person has a paper towel, andanother shows us a button. A poor man says he has nothing. Hes not ashamed of his povertyhes simply happyto be alive.The film ends just
8、 before midnight, with a young woman in her car. Its raining outside and shes recording ashort clip on her phone. “I just want people to know that Im here,” she says. In other words, she wants to showthat her life matters.Even though their lives are very different, the people in Life in a Day have o
9、ne thing in common: each ofthem is able to find meaning and happiness, no matter what his or her life is like.My work at UNICEF ChinaLi Zhen from UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Fund) China was interviewed by our reporter last week.Here is what he shared with us.Reporter: What does UNICEF do?Li Zhe
10、n: UNICEF is an international organization. Its goal is to protect the rights of children and to make surethat every child receives health care and education.A lot of important work is being done by UNICEF and its partners. We are always doing our best to improve thelives of children around the worl
11、d. The organization has offices in most countries. Im mainly working in theUNICEF China office in Beijing, but I do travel a lot.A large number of activities are being organized by different UNICEF offices and partner organizations. Becauseof this, Im always in touch with other offices to find out a
12、bout new projects.Reporter: What kind of programme is currently being implemented?Li Zhen:UNICEF has an Early Childhood Development programme to help children between the ages of threeand six. Kids that age are too young to start school, but theyre not too young to start learning. Through ourcommuni
13、ty programmes, children are playing and learning at the same time. Parents love these programmes.Reporter: What are your plans for today at the office?Li Zhen: Well, these are several things on my schedule. A big conference will be held in Beijing next week. Myteam is preparing to talk about our pro
14、jects. Im also writing a report for the UNICEF office in New York. Severalplans are being developed to improve school quality in small town far from any big cities. My report explainssome of our goals and what were doing to achieve them.And later this afternoon, Ill take part in a meeting about UNIC
15、EFs e-learning project for parents. Thatprogramme supports Chinese parents who are living and working far away from their children.18XX Renmin RoadShanghai 200040Peoples Republic of China12 September 20XXDear Teens,Ive been at senior high for about two weeks and I love it.Many things here are differ
16、ent from those in my junior high school.The school is larger.It has so many buildingsthat I still love my way sometimes.We have more classes and the subjects are much more difficult thanbefore.Unlike the teachers in junior high,teachers here dont set a lot of rules,so we have more freedom.There arem
17、ore school clubs and activities.I have joined the basketball club and the guitar club.The biggest difference is thatmy senior high school is a boarding school.I live in the school dorm during the week.I miss my familysometimes,but I get on well with my roommates,and Im learning how to live away from
18、 home.Other things are the same.Students here are as friendly,as those in the junior high school.Ive made some friendshere and we play basketball after school togetherjust like before.Next week,were going to have the school Art Festival.Im playing the guitar for my class and Im excited boutthat!I li
19、ke life here.So much is new,challenging and fun.I know Ill enjoy the next three years here.Yours,Li MingUnit 2 PlacesWhere history comes aliveXian, ChinaXian is no doubt one of the most popular tourist destinations in China. Every year, millions of travelers visitthe Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin S
20、hihuang about 42 kilometres from the city centre, which is one of the mostamazing historic sites in the world.As one of Chinas great former capitals, Xian grew to be the largest city in the world during the TangDynasty, a golden age of art and poetry. Changan, as it was known at the time, was the st
21、arting point of the SilkRoad, which connected China to the world. It was here that Xuan Zang set out on his famous travels, whichbecame the basis of Journey to the West. Historic sites from that time include the two Wide Goose Pagodas andthe remains of the Daming Palace, which was the centre of the
22、Tang court.Today, Xian is a modern city, at the heart of Chinas Belt and Road initiative, but its long history can be seeneverywhere: it is one of the few cities in the world that still have city walls. The wall, almost 14 kilometres inlength, was originally built for the purpose of defence, but now
23、adays, its a great way to experience Xian: fromhere,you can get an amazing view of the city.Florence, ItalyFlorence, one of the famous historic cities in Italy, is the birthplace of many amazing ideas and discoveries!Florences history is alive with the memory of a time when art, culture and science
24、were being “reborn”. In thelate 13th century, the Renaissance began here before spreading to the rest of Europe. At that time, Michelangelo,Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo were some of the people living, working and studying in Florence. During thisperiod, they, along with other great minds, contribut
25、ed valuable artworks and made important scientificdiscoveries.Florence is filled with art, science and history museums and ancient buildings, as well as historic universities.You can visit many of these places to experience and admire the amazing work and discoveries that happenedduring the Renaissa
26、nce period. An example is Michelangelos famous statue David, which he completed between1501 and 1504. Another must-see is the University of Florence. It was started in 1321 and many famous peoplestudied there in the Renaissance period, including Leonardo da Vinci.In Florence today you can experience
27、 the old and the new. Historic sites are neighbours with fancyrestaurants and high-end shops. While you are trying the delicious local food, you can decide which interestingplaces to visit next.The kindness of strangersIt was Saturday, and Gina was excited. She usually met her friends at the weekend
28、. However, today shewould visit her aunt in Toronto. She was about to go to the bus station. This wasnt her first bus trip on her own,but she still felt a bit nervous. The bus ride wouldnt be short: it was going to take almost five hours. Gina putsome fruit and a sandwich in her bag, in case she got
29、 hungry.It was nine oclock when she arrived and the station was crowded. Long lines of people were waiting there. Ittook 45 minutes to buy a ticket. When she got own her bus, there was one seat left, next to a boy in a basketballshirt. He was talking on his mobile phone. The boy looked up when she s
30、at down beside him. Gina smiled and shewanted to talk to him. However, the boy didnt smile back. She was still watching him when he turned away andlooked out of the dirty window. He didnt want to talk. “What did I do? Was I impolite?” she wondered. Ginaclosed her eyes. She thought about her trip. Sh
31、e was going to spend a week at her aunts place. She couldnt waitto arrive in Toronto! The bus started moving, and Gina quickly fell asleep.Whats in a name?Last year, as I was travelling through Australia,I often stopped at places with strange names:nameslike Murwillumbah and Waterloo.I often asked m
32、yself, “Where do all these names come from,and what canwe learn from them?” Local people sometimes knew the answer and sometimes they didnt,so I decided tolook at these place names more closely and found out some interesting facts.“Where are we?”Thats the question we all ask when we arrive in a new
33、place.Think about it.How can we tellanother person where we are?Many place names give us an idea because they describe physical features,like “bighill”, “dry desert”,or “tall tree”.Thousands of years ago,this is how the first Australiansthe Aboriginesnamedplaces.Today,in Australia,there are thousand
34、s of places with Aboriginal names,towns like Murwillumbah (goodcampsite),Nambucca (entrance to the sea),Bondi Beach (from the word “Boondi”,the sound of water falling overrocks) and Uluru (big rock).The Europeans had different ideas.When they first arrived in 1606,they wanted to make this strange ne
35、w landfeel like home.How did they do it?Well,they borrowed names from the country they came fromit showed thatthese places belonged to them.French and Dutch place names like Bougainville and American Land started toappear along the Australian coast.Then,in 1770,the English explorer Captain James Coo
36、k arrived in BotanyBay.Soon,there was Melbourne,a town named after a British Prime Minister,and Waterloo,named after a famousbattle between England and France.Altogether there are over 250,000 names in Australia:names of rivers,mountains,deserts,towns,cities andmany more.These names can tell us what
37、 we can find there,they can tell us about history,then can warn us aboutdanger or they can welcome us.Next time you travel to a new place,think about its name.What is it telling you?Unit 3 ChoicesThe good, the bad and the really uglyby Jane BrownToday, in my fridge, there are a few grapes, some bana
38、nas and some fruit juicethings that are not expensiveand that are good for me. There is also a pizza, and some burgerswhich are not so good. I know what this fooddoes to my body, but what does it do to the world around me? Its time to look at my carbon footprint and thinkabout the difference between
39、 the good, the bad and the really ugly.Food milesMy first stop is the label. Labels give us lots of information: how long we can keep our food, how healthy itis and where it comes from. A few hundred years ago, most of our food came from places we could walk to, buttoday, food travels thousands of m
40、iles. We refrigerate it, and then transport it in planes and ships all over the world.This creates pollution and causes global warming. I look at the pizza and feel bad at oncenot because itsunhealthy, but because the seafood on it comes all the way from Thailand. I know seafood is also produced in
41、theUK, but the local seafood is more expensive. I take out a bananaits from Brazil, but thats not too bad. It camehere by boat, so the carbon footprint of this healthy snack is small.PackagingThe next stop is the packaging. In the UK, we dont recycle all our packaging; we throw away more than30% of
42、it. This waste goes to the rubbish dump and not to the recycling facility. Luckily, we dont need to packagefood like bananas, but food like grapes needs protection. I look at the grapes in my fridgetheyre in a plasticcontainer and theyre from Spain.ProductionSo my grapes are from Spain, but at least
43、 they grew in natural sunlight. In the UK, peoplegrow grapes inheated greenhouses, which means our grapes are less energy-efficient. But there is one other thing in my fridge,and if pizza and grapes are “bad”, then this food is “really ugly”. Its the burgers. They have the biggest carbonfootprint be
44、cause they come from cows. In the USA, cows create the same amount of greenhouse gases as 20million cars!As I close the fridge door, I make a checklist for my next trip to the supermarket:1) Read the label;2) Look at the packaging;3) Dont buy a lot of meat.Maybe I could grow my own vegetables too. I
45、ts eco-friendly. Id save some money and I wouldnt feel badabout eating burgers!A recent study shows that more and more teenagers are not eating a healthy diet. We asked a student who isin senior high school to keep a food diary. Her name is Tina Fisher. In her diary, she recorded details of her meal
46、swhich provided us with lots of information. It is an example of what a typical teenager eats and drinks. Does sheeat any fruit and vegetables? Is there a lot of fast food in her diet? Read on and find out!Day 1Breakfast: Most teenagers whose parents work long hours have to prepare breakfast themsel
47、ves. I woke uplate for school, so I didnt eat anything. My mum left me some yoghurt, but I put it aside. The yoghurt which sheleaves for me is always the healthy kind. I dont like it at all. I had some orange juice instead.Lunch: My dad gives me money every week for my lunches, but I use it to buy m
48、agazines, so theres notmuch money left for food. Today, I had some biscuits instead of lunch.Dinner: By 5:00 p.m. I was hungry, so I had a snack that I made myself. I had a little peanut butter on bread,but I didnt eat any vegetables. For dinner, I had a small egg sandwich. I dont have many big meal
49、s because Iwant to stay slim.Day 2Breakfast: I had some bread and drank a lot of water. I was still hungry, but I dont know how to cook, so Ididnt eat any more.Lunch: I drank a few glasses of orange juice.Then I had a banana and some chocolate.I sometimes eatfruit,but I dont eat many vegetables.I ha
50、te salad.Dinner:The family dinner that we had tonight was really nice.We had soup,chicken,baked potatoes andcarrots,but I didnt eat any soup or potatoes.I had some apple juice before I went to bed.Anew way of eating:online food delivery servicesFew people knew about online food delivery apps ten yea
