(基础练习人教新课标book1unit2.docVIP

教师寄语： Do not, for one repulse, give up the purpose that you resolved to effect. (不要只因一次失败，就放弃你原来决心想达到的目的。) I. 佳作欣赏 How a Terrible Battle helped to change Europe Ninety years ago on a sunny morning in Northern France, something happened that changed Britain and Europe for ever. At half past seven on the morning of July 1, 1916, whistles blew and thousands of British soldiers left their positions to attack their German enemies. By the end of the day, 20,000 of them were dead, and another 30,000 wounded or missing. The Battle of the Somme, as it is called, lasted for six months1. When it ended, 125,000 British soldiers were dead. They had gained five kilometers of ground. This was one of a series of great battles during the WWI. The attack on the Somme was staged to relieve pressure on the French, who were engaged in a great battle of their own at a place called Verdun. By the time the battle ended, over a million French and German troops had been killed. About 17 million people were killed in WWI. There have been wars with greater numbers of dead. But there has never been one where most of the dead were concentrated in such a small area. On the Somme battlefield, two men died for every meter of space.Local farmers working in the land still find the bodies of those who died in that battle. The dead of all nations were buried in a series of giant graveyards along the line of the border between France and Belgium. Relatives and descendants of those who died still visit these graveyards today. What the French call the tourism of death makes an important contribution to the local economy. It took a second great conflict before Europe was to turn against war itself.Twenty-eight years after the Somme battle, a liberating army of British. American and canadian troops took back France from another German invasion. More than 500,000 people were killed. New graveyards were built. Two great conflicts across two generations helped to change the European mind abo