Last summer I went to one of the world's 1 historical places, the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It was the home of the emperors of the last two dynasties in China, the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The Forbidden City was built in 1420. The palace has over 9, 000 rooms. It was 2 the emperors dealt with the official business with their ministers.
In Mandarin, the Forbidden City is called the Purple Forbidden City.3 , the colour of the palace 4 is not purple. The colour purple stands for power of the great emperors of China. It was so sacred（神圣的）that the commoners（平民）could not even dream of going in.
The emperor 5 had some of the largest festival celebrations at the Forbidden City. During Chinese New Year, the emperor.6 all the members of his family and his officials to a banquet（宴会）. The banquet had a hundred and eight Chinese dishes. It was such 7 expensive banquet that it could feed a commoner's family for three generations（代）.
Right now the Forbidden City is known.8 a historical site for tourists from all over the world. Everyone can go there. It is a museum with priceless Chinese antiques （古董）and treasures in it.
I really learned a lot about the Chinese culture and its history from this trip to the Forbidden City.It was like a dream which 9 . And I was excited 10 the trip and see the things that I had always wanted to see.
There are many man-made wonders and natural wonders all over the world. Let's know about some information about some of the manmade wonders of the world. I am sure you will be interested in them.
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The Pyramids of Egypt There are about eighty pyramids known today. The most well-known was for Pharaoh (法老) Khufu. It is known as the "Great Pyramid". It's also the largest one. Workers used about 2.3 million stones to build it. It took twenty years to build it. |
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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon The garden sat on a hill. It was a large and wonderful structure (建筑物). Many parts of the garden were high up on large columns (支柱). There were many big and green trees with lovely flowers. Although there are many different ideas about the garden, we are not sure whether this wonder ever existed (存在)! |
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The Lighthouse of Alexandria The Lighthouse of Alexandria was designed about 2, 000 years ago. It was in Egypt, too. It was one of the ancient wonders of the world, about 135 metres high. It was once the highest building in the world. Although it doesn't exist now, many people come to see its relic every year. |
The Horsetail Fall is one of Yosemite National Park's most amazing views. Around the second week of February, the setting sun hits the Horsetail Fall at just the right angle（角度）to light the upper parts of the waterfall. And when conditions are right, the Horsetail Fall becomes orange and red at sunset. It is like red-hot lava（熔岩）pouring down from the top of the EI Capitan. So, it got the name "firefall".
The firefall is a perfect match of the weather, the fall, the time and the watching place. It usually appears on dry, warm and cloudless days. There must be enough flowing water to make a firefall too. So there must be enough snow on the mountain top, and it turns into water on warm afternoons.
The sun goes to the best place before the fall in late February. And the best time to watch the fall is 5 to 15 minutes before the sunset. Only at this time can visitors see the firefall. The EI Capitan Picnic Area is the best place to watch, because it is close to the fall and is perfect to set up cameras and tents.
Every year in February, thousands of photographers come to watch the firefall. Although the view may appear just minutes before sunset, many of them have to come hours earlier to get a right place to set their cameras in time. "I'm just saying that the Yosemite Firefall is something you don't want to miss during the winter," says Kate Moore, a traveller and the lead content creator for ParkedInParadise. com.
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A. Mr. Purja was born in Nepal, in the Himalayas. B. In 2018, he left there to follow his dream of mountain climbing. C. He began on April 23, by climbing Annapurna in Nepal. D. His goal was to climb all of them in less than seven months. E. They had to deal with winds as fast as 75 kilometres per hour. |
Nirmal Purja has set several world records after climbing the world's 14 highest mountains in less than seven months.
Though he was born l,600 meters above sea level, he didn't climb any serious mountains until he was 29.
But Mr. Purja was trained to be strong. He used to be a soldier in the British army, where he had special training for fighting in very cold weather.
There are only l4 mountains in the world that are higher than 8,000 metres. Mr. Purja had already climbed several of them. The old record for climbing the 14 mountains was seven years, ten months and six days. It was set by South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho in 2013.
Mr. Purja named his challenge "Project Possible". On October 29, just a little more than six months after he started, Nirmal Purja had finished climbing the l4th mountain.
Though Mr. Purja completed his challenge unbelievably quickly, it wasn't easy. For example, during one day of climbing Shishapangma, Mr. Purja and his team climbed for 15 hours nonstop.
