1. Hyde Park（海德公園）

Hyde Park， the biggest royal one in Britain and also the best- known one in London， is situated① in the Westminster Abbey district in central London. Covering an area of over 360 acres， it belonged to the Westminster Abbey. It served the King as a hunting field prior to the 18th century and Henry Ⅷ turned it into a royal park in the 16th century. During the reign② of Charles Ⅰ， Hyde Park was opened to the public. In 1851， Queen Victoria hosted an international fair for the first time there; now this park， the location③ of the famous “Speakers’ Corner”， has become a site where political gatherings and other mass④ rallies⑤ take place.

海德公園是英國最大的皇家公園，也是倫敦最知名的公園，位于倫敦市中心的威斯敏斯特教堂地區(qū)，占地360多英畝，原屬威斯敏斯特教堂產(chǎn)業(yè)。十八世紀(jì)前這里是英王的狩鹿場。16世紀(jì)，英王亨利八世將之用作王室的公園。查理一世執(zhí)政期間，海德公園曾向公眾開放。1851年，維多利亞女王首次在這里舉辦倫敦國際博覽會(huì)。這里現(xiàn)在也是人們舉行各種政治集會(huì)和其他群眾活動(dòng)的場所，有著名的“演講者之角”。

生詞解析： 1. situated adj. 位于……的2. reign n. 統(tǒng)治（支配）時(shí)期3. locationn. 位置，場所

4. mass adj. 大規(guī)模的 5. rally n. 聚會(huì)

2. Big Ben（大本鐘）

Big Ben， a nickname① for the huge hour bell high up in a tower affiliated② to the parliament building and dating from the year 1858， is also known as the Clock Tower of Palace of Westminster③. Sir Benjamin Hall， then in charge of engineering， supervised④ its construction⑤， hence⑥ the name of the clock. It weighs 14 tons， 95 meters in height and 7 meters in diameter⑦ of the clock plate， with a 2.75-meter-long hour hand and 4.27-meter-long minute hand， and the clock pendulum⑧ is as heavy as 305 kilograms. On each stroke， it produces a deep and sonorous⑨ sound. Radio sends the sound of the big clock to the rest of the world. The BBC began to broadcast the rings in 1924. Ever since，Big Ben has been a radio star.

大本鐘，是英國國會(huì)會(huì)議廳附屬的鐘樓的大報(bào)時(shí)鐘的昵稱，建于1858年，也叫作威斯敏斯特宮鐘塔。該鐘由當(dāng)年負(fù)責(zé)工務(wù)的本杰明爵士監(jiān)制，故名“大本”。鐘重14噸，高95米，鐘盤直徑7米，時(shí)針和分針長度分別為2.75米和4.27米，鐘擺重305公斤，每走一小時(shí)，發(fā)出深沉而又鏗鏘的報(bào)時(shí)聲。通過無線電，鐘聲遠(yuǎn)及世界各地。英國廣播公司于1924年開始播放她的報(bào)時(shí)聲，自此，大本鐘已成為一個(gè)廣播明星。

生詞解析： 1. nickname n. 昵稱；別稱2. affiliated adj. 附屬于……之上的3. westminster n. 威斯敏斯特 4. supervise v. 監(jiān)督5. construction n. 建造；建筑物 6. hence adv. 因此；由此7. diameter n. 直徑8. pendulum n. 鐘擺 9. sonorous adj. 鏗鏘的；雄渾的

3. Stonehenge（巨石陣）

This is an ancient monument① of huge stone standing on the vast Salisbury plains in England has captured② our imaginations③ for centuries. It’s the most enigmatic④ pre-historic⑤ monument on earth. What makes the structure at Stonehenge unique is the fact that for the first time they’re shaping stones on a massive⑥ scale. Dating back as far as 2950 B.C.， theories about who built Stonehenge have included the druids and the Greeks. Speculation⑦ as to its purpose， range from astronomy⑧ to a UFO landing site. Now a ruin⑨ with many of the original stones fallen or removed， this site Sun attracts nearly five thousand tourists everyday.

古老的巨石陣屹立在英格蘭索爾茲伯里平原上，數(shù)世紀(jì)以來，她的豐姿賦予了我們豐富的想象力。她是地球上最神秘的史前遺跡。巨石陣是獨(dú)一無二的，因?yàn)樗鞘状纬霈F(xiàn)的最大規(guī)模的成形巨石。究竟是誰建造了巨石陣?這要追溯到公元前2950年，有兩種說法：一種認(rèn)為是特魯伊特教的教徒，另一種說法則認(rèn)為是希臘人。有關(guān)巨石陣作用的推測也是眾說紛紜，上至天文學(xué)意義，下至不明飛行體的降落點(diǎn)，尚無定論。現(xiàn)在，盡管很多巨石已經(jīng)倒塌，或被搬走，但是這古跡仍然吸引著每天近五千名觀光游客。

生詞解析：1. monument n. 遺跡；遺址2. capture v. 吸引，喚起3. imagination n. 想象力，想象4. enigmatic adj. 神秘的，費(fèi)解的5. pre-historic adj. 史前的6. massive adj. 大規(guī)模的7. speculation n. 推測，猜測

8. astronomy n. 天文學(xué)9. ruin n. 毀壞，毀滅