UNESCO Announces New World Heritage Sites
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, meets each year to choose the latest additions to its World Heritage list. The World Heritage Committee chooses sites based on historical and cultural importance, as well as their beauty. Here are some recent additions:
Babylon (Iraq)
The ancient city of Babylon is closely connected with one of the seven wonders of the ancient world — the Hanging Gardens. Now, the area is gaining World Heritage Site status. The city on the Euphrates River is about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad. The 4,300-year-old Babylon is where dynasties have risen and fallen since the earliest days of settled human civilization.
Paraty and Ilha Grande (Brazil)
The historic coastal town of Paraty and the island Ilha Grande are already popular places for visitors to Brazirs Rio de Janeiro state. Now, they make up a newly named UNESCO site. Paraty was the final stop along the Gold Route, along which gold was shipped to Europe in the 1600s. The area is also home to a huge number of animals, some of which are threatened.
Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City (China)
The ruins of Liangzhu represent an early state with a collective belief system based on rice growing, dating from 3300 to 2300 BCE. The site is made up of four areas along the Yangtze River Basin. The ruins, UNESCO says, are an “outstanding example of early urban civilization”. They include an ancient water system and social divisions represented in different kinds of burials.
Writing-on-Stone (Canada)
Canada’s Writing-on-Stone monument, known also as Aisinai’pi，has a large number of protected rock paintings and rock carvings. Some of them are 2,000 years old. The markings were left by Blackfoot Native Americans, who live in parts of Western Canada and the far northern United States. The Blackfoot people consider the area to be holy.
【小题1】Why does the World Heritage Committee meet annually?| A．To assess potential sites. |
| B．To choose world wonders. |
| C．To recommend cultural cities. |
| D．To study various social systems. |
| A．It witnessed gold transport. |
| B．It lay in the south of Baghdad. |
| C．It developed based on rice growing. |
| D．It was once famous for rock paintings. |
| A．Iraq. | B．Brazil. |
| C．China. | D．Canada. |
