高中课文 高中英语必修2.docVIP

Unit1 Cultural relics 1.In Search of the Amber Room Frederick William I，the King of Prussia，could never have imagined that his greatest gift to the Russian people would have such an amazing history This gift was the Amber Room，which was giventhis name because several tons of amber were used to make it The amber which was selected had a beautiful yellow—brown colour like honey The design of the room was in the fancy style popular in those days It was also a treasure decorated with gold and jewels．which took the cogntrys best artists about ten years to make. In fact,the room was not made to be a gift.It was designed for the palace of fredeick I.However, the nexl King of Prussia．Frederick William I．to whom the amber room belonged，decided not to keep it In 1716 he gave it to Peterthe Great．In return，the Czar sent him a troop of his best soldiers So the Amber Room became part of the Czar’s winter palace in St Petersburg .About four metres long the room served as a small reception hall for important visitors Later,Catherine II had the Amber Room moved to a palace outside St Petersburg where she spent her summers.She told her artists to add more details to it In 1770 the room was completed the way she wanted. A1most six hundred candles 1it the room，and its mirrors and pictures shone like gold .Sadly，although the Amber Room was considered one of the wonders of the world,it is now missing. In Septemberl941，the Nazi army was near St Petersburg.This was a time when the two countries were at war.Before the Nazis could get to the summer palace，the Russians were able to remove some furniture and small an objects from the Amber Room However,some of the Nazis secretly stole the— room itself．In less than two days 100，000 pieces were put inside twenty—seven wooden boxes There is no doubt that the boxes were then put on a train for Konigsberg，which was at that time a German city on the Baltic Sea After that，what happened to the Amber Room remains a mystery. Recently，the Russians