The Eiffel Tower is very famous in France. It is visited by 7 million visitors a year. The Eiffel Tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel in the late 19th century. On Monday, March 31st, 2019, it turned 130.

The look of the Eiffel Tower is greatly loved by people today, but things were different when the design was first shown to the public. Many French artists thought that the design was ugly. However, Eiffel did not change a thing. He believed that once it was completed, people in Paris and visitors around the world would love the tower. He was certainly right.

The tower became popular with the public as soon as it opened on March 31st, 1889, two years after the construction began. Over 3,000 people came to look at this new tower and even made the effort to climb the 1,710 stairs to the top. The 984-foot-tall Chrysler Building in New York City beat it.

Today, the tower houses a number of restaurants on its first and second levels. The third level has been turned into a vast platform (平台). From there visitors can see the entire city of Paris. While visitors are allowed to take the stairs to the first two levels, the platform can only be got to by taking the elevators.

To ensure that the “Iron Lady” always looks good, the tower is cleaned and repainted every eight years. It’s an effort that takes a team of 25 workers, an entire year. If you travel to Paris one day, don’t miss it, the excellent achievement.

Hidden in the mountains of Jordan is the beautiful ancient city of Petra. It lay in ruins for more than a thousand years.

Petra was built in 312 BC by the Nabataeans who were an ancient southern Arab people. They were very skilled at carving(刻). It is no wonder that this ancient city has so much to offer!

In 363 AD, the city suffered from terrible earthquakes that left most of the city damaged. The buildings and the city’s water system were affected. A Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, discovered this city of wonders in 1812. Until he discovered Petra, it had been unheard of in the Western world for about 5 centuries!

Petra is the Greek word for stone and this name makes perfect sense because of where the city is located and how some of it is carved into the rock. The ancient city of Petra is also known as the “Rose City”. This is because the rock in which the city is built is a rose­red colour. Many of the buildings of Petra have beautiful facades(正面). Some of the facades have columns(柱) carved into the rock, but they are for decoration and they don’t actually hold anything up.

Petra was built in the middle of the desert, where it hardly ever rained. Luckily, the Nabataeans were very skilled engineers and knew how to live in a hot and dry place. First, they carved channels(渠) to bring water from a nearby spring into the city. Rainwater was also collected in underground channels. The water was then stored. So, even in the long dry months there was enough water for people to use.

Today, Petra is one of the world’s most famous ancient sites and people come from all over the world to visit it.

Do you know Australia? Australia is the largest island in the world. It is smaller than China. It is in the south of the earth. 【小题1】 The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai. 【小题2】 The cities in Australia have got little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish swimming in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flowers’ exhibition. 【小题3】 We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. In spring every year Perth has the wild flowers’ exhibition.

【小题4】 We sat down, and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves. Suddenly we heard bells ringing at the top of the hill. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us down the path. 【小题5】 .

Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos. After a short drive to any town, you will find yourself in the middle of white sheep. Sheep, sheep everywhere are sheep.