沪教牛津版九年级下册课文与翻译

Unit1 Great explorations

The voyages of Zheng He

Zheng He was a famous Chinese explorer. In 1405, he set off from China on the first of seven great voyages. This was nearly a century before Christopher Columbus first set sail on his journey of discovery to America. His travels were so important that they are still studied today.

Zheng He was born in Yunnan in 1371. He rose to become a trusted official of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The emperor ordered Zheng He to visit and explore the lands outside China. His task was to develop relations and set up trade routes with foreign countries. In a few years, he built a great fleet of ships, the biggest in the world at that time. The ships were known as treasure ships. They were big enough to carry 25,000 people as well as very large quantities of goods.

From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He went on seven trips and visited South-East Asia, the Middle East and even the east coast of Africa. It seemed that nowhere was too far for him to visit. These voyages allowed China to trade valuable goods like gold, silver and silk. At the end of each voyage, Zheng He returned with many things that were seen in China for the first time, such as a giraffe from Africa. Besides developing trade, the voyages also encouraged the exchange of cultures and technologies. They helped the development of those countries and regions.

Zheng He died in 1433 during his last voyage. However, his voyages were such a huge achievement that people still remember him as a pioneer in opening up cultural contacts between different peoples around the world.

郑和是一位着名的中国探险家。1405年，他从中国出发，开始了七次伟大航行中的第一次。这是在克里斯托弗.哥伦布第一次起航发现美洲之旅的近一个世纪以前。他的旅行如此重要以至于今天仍被人们研究。

郑和1371年出生在云南。他升为明朝永乐皇帝一名值得信赖的官员。皇帝命令郑和访问并探索中国以外的土地。他的任务是加强与外国的关系，并与之建立贸易路线。在几年的时间里，他建立了一支巨大的船队---当时世界上最大的（船队）。那些船被称作宝船。它们足够大，能承载25000人以及大量的货物。

从1405年到1433年，郑和七次旅行，访问了东南亚、中东地区，甚至非洲东海岸。似乎对他来说没有什么地方是遥不可及的。这些旅行允许中国交换一些贵重物品，如金、银和丝绸。每次航线结束，郑和带回了许多在中国第一次见到的东西，比如一只非洲长颈鹿。除了增强贸易之外，航行也促成了文化与科技的交流。它们帮助了那些国家和地区的发展。

1433年，郑和在他最后一次航行中去世。然而，他的航行是一项如此巨大的成就，以至于人们仍将他作为开辟世界各地不同民族间文化联系的先驱而铭记。

Unit2 Culture shock

Living in another country

My name is Brad Li. I’m here today to tell you about my experience an exchange student in the United States last year.

I must admit that at first America was a big culture shock for me. Many things were strange to me: the language, the food and even the school.

I stayed with a host family in a small town. My host parents, Mr and Mrs Hurst, were very kind. They organized a lot of activities for me in my spare time so that I wouldn’t mis s home or feel lonely.

However, to a certain degree, life in the US was hard to get used to. My main problem was with the language. I failed to understand much in the first few weeks because everyone spoke so fast. Though I soon managed to get used to it, I still had problems because they used a lot of idioms. For example, they often say they are “under the weather” when they are ill. Their everyday English is very different from what we learn in China. Another difference was the food: My host family always had bread, potatoes and salad for meals. I really missed the dumplings, rice and delicious dishes from home.

School was a big shock too. They do not require students to wear uniforms, so students can wear almost whatever they like. Some students have strange hairstyles as well. Some students even have pink or purple hair!

Anyway, I have many great memories of that year, especially playing in the snow in winter, and playing baseball. At Halloween, I went to a party dressed as Harry Potter. At Thanksgiving, we had a big dinner with a huge turkey.