人教版高中英语必修2各单元课文原文.pdfVIP

必修 2 unit1 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 given this name because severaltons 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 countrys 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 Frederick Ⅰ. However, the next King of Prussia , Frederick William Ⅰ,to whom the amber room belonged, decided not to keep it. In 1716 he gave it to Peter the Great. In return , the Czar sent him a troop of his best soldiers. So the Amber Room because part of the Czars 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 . Almost six hundred candles lit 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 September 1941, 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 art 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 woooden boxs . There is no doubt that the boxs were then put on a train