國中組朗誦-1
The Ice Hotel
Are you into skiing? Is winter your
favorite time of year? If you like snow and ice, maybe you should stay at the
Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada. But, you can only check in at this hotel during
the winter. Why? Because this hotel is only made of ice and snow! This amazing
hotel is built every December. It has 32 rooms and 80 people can stay there
each night. The hotel even has a movie theater, art gallery, and church. Of
course, all of these parts of the hotel are made of ice. In fact, all the
furniture, art, lights, and even plates and drinking glasses are made out of
ice.
Because this hotel is so unusual, it is
becoming very popular. People from all over the world come to the Ice Hotel to
look at the fantastic ice art, drink and eat from designer ice dishes and
experience the unique atmosphere. Some couples have even gotten married in the
hotel’s ice church. But all these guests keep their winter coats on! Because of
all the ice, the temperature inside the hotel is always between -2 and -5ºC.
Surprisingly, sleeping is not a problem in the freezing cold hotel rooms. Every
guest gets a special cold-weather sleeping bag and some fur blankets. These
keep them cozy and warm until morning.
國中組朗誦-2
Food Firsts
Where do our favorite foods come from? The
truth may surprise you. Did you know curry isn’t Indian? Did you know Americans
weren’t the first to eat hamburgers? Or did you know pizza wasn’t created in
Italy?
First, let’s talk about curry. Many people
think the English found out about curry from people in India in the 1600s. But
in reality, wealthy English people were cooking with curry spices hundreds of
years before British ships traveled to India. In fact, the word “curry” can be
found in the English language as far back as 1377. Cooks of wealthy English
families created curry dishes, and later these dishes caught on in other parts
of England.
As for pizza, this dish was probably first
made in Persia (what is now Iran). The Persians were eating round, flat bread
with cheese in the 500s-nearly one thousand years before pizza caught on in
Naples, Italy!
Finally, let’s look at the truth behind
hamburgers. Many people think hamburgers are an American food. However,
according to some stories, hamburgers came from Hamburg, Germany. A German
named Otto Kuasw made the first hamburger in 1891. Four years later, German
sailors introduced hamburgers to Americans.
Where foods come from isn’t nearly as
important as how they taste- delicious! So, go get some of your favorite food
and dig in.
國中組朗誦-3
Typhoon who?
Tropical cyclones are called typhoons in
Asia, and hurricanes in North and South America. These storms go around like a
wheel turning to the left. They have wind speeds of 60 kph or more. They can be
extremely destructive. In the United States, the Tropical Prediction Center in
Miami, Florida looks out for hurricanes. When meteorologists detect a true
hurricane, they give it a name. They can use either a man’s or woman’s name.
Why should tropical cyclones have names? The name makes it easier for people to
keep up with information about a hurricane and its possible dangers.
The World Meteorological
Organization (WMO), an international weather group, decides what names will be
used. The WMO makes six lists of names, using the English alphabet. Each list
is used for one year. When a hurricane occurs, it gets the next name on the
list for that year. For example, the first hurricane of the year might have the
name Abel, while the second one could be Betty. The name lists do not include
names beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z, since there are few names
that begin with these letters. Asian countries use a different list, made up by
the WMO’s Typhoon Committee. This list has a few personal names, but most of
the names are of flowers, animals, trees, and similar things.
