Look at the photos of London skyline and answer Exercise1 on Page 86.  

Conversation 1 

Cultural notes:

Somerset House：Somerset House is a large Neoclassical building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. During the summer months, 55 fountains dance in the courtyard, and in winter you can skate on the magnificent ice rink. Somerset House also hosts open-air concertsand films, contemporary art and design exhibitions, family workshops and freeguided tours of spaces usually hidden to visitors.

Conversation 2

Cultural notes:

The South Bank is on a sharp 90° bend of the Thames in central London and one the city's cultural centres. It is a small area but it contains many artistic and creative sites, as well as an eclectic range of other attractions, boutique shopping and trendy food and drink places.

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is an Anglican cathedral, at the highest point of the City of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. In 962 and 1087 the cathedral burnt down and was built again. Before today's version of the cathedral there were four others. The earlier ones burnt down. The present cathedral, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its construction, completed in Wren's lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding programme in the City after the Great Fire of London. 

Sir Christopher Wren was an English anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist, as well as one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including what is regarded as his masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710.  

The City of London is a district of Greater London. The City's boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages. Although it is now only a small part of the metropolis, it is a notable part of central London. 伦敦金融城

The Blitz, (September 1940–May 1941), night time bombing raids against London and other British cities by Nazi Germany during World War II. The raids followed the failure of the German Luftwaffe to defeat Britain’s Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain (July–September 1940). The Blitz ended on May 11, 1941 when Hitler called off the raids in order to move his bombers east in preparationfor Germany's invasion of Russia. 

30 St Mary Axe, informally known as The Gherkin, is a commercial skyscraper in London's primary financial district, the City of London. With 41 floors, it is 180metres tall. It has an innovative spiral design that resembles a pickled cucumber, and  is now one of the most recognizable structures in London’s skyline due to its curious appearance and importance to the economy. It was completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004. 

Shard of Glass is a 95-storey supertall skyscraper in Southwark, London, that forms part of the Shard Quarter development.  The Italian architect Renzo Piano described his design as "a shard of glass" to emphasize its slender, spire-like (尖顶的) form. Standing 309.6 metres high, the Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom and  in the European Union. 

Match the photos with the three largest cities in the U.S.

Cultural notes

Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the third most populous city in the United States. The culture of Chicago, Illinois is known for the invention or significant advancement of several performing arts, including improvisational comedy, house music, blues, hip hop, gospel, and jazz. The city is known for its Chicago School and Prairie School architecture.

The Chicago Water Tower is a contributing property and landmark Chicago, Illinois, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Together with the adjacent Chicago Avenue Pumping Station, it drew clean water from water cribs in Lake Michigan. The tower gained prominence after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

 The Loop, the 32nd of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and the main part of its downtown. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in North America after Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

Pablo Picasso, (1881— 1973) was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most-influential artists of the 20th century and the creator.

Lake Michigan’s name is derived from the Ojibwa(美国印第安人部落之一) word Michi Gami, meaning “large lake.” It is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. It spans the entire west coast of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, and it is the only one of the five Great Lakes that is located entirely within the United States.

Muddy Waters was an American blues singer--songwriter and musician who is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues", and an important figure on the post-war blues scene.

 The Rolling Stones are the legendary British rock band known for many popular hits, such as Paint it Black, Lady Jane, Ruby Tuesday, and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. Mick Jagger is the heart of "The Stones" and Keith Richards - the soul. The Rolling Stones have released 55 albums of original work and compilations, and sold over 200 million records worldwide during their career spanning over 45 years.

The Chicago Bulls are a part of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Bulls compete as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 16, 1966. They were named the Bulls in reference to the Chicago Union Stockyards, which was once a major business in Chicago. 

The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the National League Central division. The team plays its home games at Wrigley Field, located on the city's North Side. The Cubs are one of two major league teams in Chicago. The Cubs, first known as the White Stockings, were a founding member of the NL in 1876, becoming the Chicago Cubs in 1903.

Talk

Cultural notes:

Santiago Calatrava, Spanish architect widely known for his sculptural bridges and buildings. Calatrava gained a reputation for his ability to blend advanced engineering solutions with dramatic visual statements, in both bridges and buildings. He stated that nature served as his guide, inspiring him to create buildings that reflected natural shapes and rhythms. He was intensely interested in the architectural use of zoomorphic forms. You can visit the following website to learn more about Santiago Calatrava and his works.  https://www.famous-architects.org/santiago-calatrava/

World Trade Center Transportation Hub is a terminal station, located in the World Trade Center complex, within the Financial District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. 12 subways & PATH trains are accessible directly from the buildings. The World Trade Center offers direct, weather-protected access to most of the City’s subway, bus and ferry lines.

Lyon is the third-largest city and second-largest urban area of France. It is located in the country's east-central part at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, about 470 km south of Paris. 

Lyon-Saint Exupery Airport Railway Station provides a TGV (high-speed train) station for the airport, but also a connection point for both TGV and airplanes into the regional road and rail system. The building's most striking profile, based on two converging steel arches 120 meters long and 40 meters high. The building is most obviously expressive of a bird, symbolizing flight.

Passage 1

Beijing Airport Terminal 3, also named Dragon Terminal, handles both international and domestic flights. Since its opening in 2008, it is the second-largest passenger terminal building in the world.

Dragon Terminal is a Y-shaped building connected by the Airport Express, which joints the two buildings of the terminal within four minutes. The 7-level building has 2 underground and 5 above-ground levels, houses 66 jetways, 120 gates, has natural lighting, and is divided into three concourses: T3-C, T3-D & T3-E. Each concourse is divided into different levels and equipped with its own boarding gates (there are 120 gates). 

Norman Foster is a prominent British architect known for his sleek, modern buildings made of steel and glass. His noteworthy buildings of the 21st century include the courtyard enclosure for the Smithsonian Institution’s Patent Office Building (2004–07) in Washington, D.C., Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport (2003–08), and London’s City Hall (1999–2002). Foster was knighted in 1990 and granted a life peerage in 1999.

Paul Andreu was a French architect, known for his designs of multiple airports such as Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. In the late 1990s, he expanded his reach to China, becoming responsible for the design of several of the world's best cultural attractions, including the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in the Pudong district and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. In his work, he attempts to combine the latest in technology with an understanding of the spirit of the building.

the National Centre for the Performing Arts: Watch the following video.

Passage 2

★ Before listening, please complete Exercise 7 on Page 94.

Cultural notes:

Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) was a Spanish architect. He designed many buildings in Barcelona as well as a beautiful park, Park Güell(see the photos), which is highly decorated with mosaics (镶嵌图案), ceramics (瓷砖), and fairytale buildings. His architectural style was inspired by organic forms from nature, using shapes such as spirals, leaves, branches, and the geometric forms of crystals.

Visit the website to learn more about the architect:

https://www.technocrazed.com/the-8-most-sumptuous-works-of-legendary-architect-antoni-gaudi