世界著名城市英文介绍

·Nairobi (Kenya)

内罗毕（肯尼亚）

Like most cities, Nairobi has its crowded market, trading and transport areas, its middle class/office workers' suburbs and its spacious mansions and flower-decked gardens for the rich and powerful. The first is an area full of energy, aspirations and opportunism where manual workers, exhausted minibus drivers, the unemployed, the devious, the down and out（落魄，潦倒）and the disoriented mingle with budget travellers, whores, shopkeepers, high-school students, food vendors, drowsy security guards and those with life's little illicit goodies for sale. Centrally located, it's called River Road, and even if you're not staying in the area it's worth a look.

The best times to visit are during January and February and between June and October, when the weather is drier in and around Nairobi. Because Nairobi is located at the edge of the highlands, temperatures are cooler here compared with much of the rest of the country.

Nairobi is a completely modern, colonial creation and almost everthing here has been built in the last 100 years. Until the advent of locomotive（机车，火车）transport in the late 19th century, Nairobi was just a boggy waterhole for the Maasai people and of little interest to the European colonialists. When the Maasai were devastated by civil wars and a litany of diseases, including rinderpest（牛瘟）, cholera（霍乱）and smallpox, the laibon, chief or spiritual leader of the Maasai was forced to negotiate a treaty with the British alloing them to march the Mombasa-Uganda railway line right through the heart of the Maasai grazing lands（牧场）. As the rails of the East Africa railway fell into place across the nation, a depot was established on the edge of a small stream known to the Maasai as uaso nairobi (cold water). On one level, the Maasai were just accepting the inevitable - their end-of-the-world myth spoke of an 'iron snake' that would one day crawl across their land.

Nairobi quickly became a tent city and a supply depot, and soon enough developed into the administrative nerve-centre of the Uganda Railway. The place became a convenient and relatively cool place for the Indian railway labourers and their British overlords to pause midway, before tackling the arduous climb into the highlands.

With the completion of the railway, the headquarters of the colonial administration was moved from Mombasa to the cooler, small settlement of Nairobi. Now, as the capital of the British Protectorate, the future of the city on the swamp was assured. Once the railway was up and running, wealth began to flow into the city. Immediately, the colonialists began to show an interest in touring the country, and a stay in the relatively cool capital became a standard part of the trip to Kenya. The colonial government built some grand hotels to accommodate the first tourists to Kenya - big game hunters, lured by the attraction of shooting the country's almost naively tame wildlife. There was even a special chair on the front of the train to enable visiting dignitaries（权贵，显要人物）to bag（猎获）lions and elephants on the trip from Mombasa to the capital. Almost all of the colonial-era buildings, though, were replaced by bland modern office buildings during the burst of new construction that followed independence in 1963.

White settlers soon began to move into the fertile highlands north and then south of Nairobi. This led to friction with the local Maasai and, later, the Kikuyu（肯尼亚基库尤人）. Mixed agricultural farms were set up, with coffee plantations established at about the same time by new arrivals that included Karen Blixen and her husband, Brer. The number of white settlers rose to 9000 by 1920 and, by the 1950s, it was 80,000. Alienated from their land, many Kikuyu people migrated to Nairobi during the same period, became part of the colonial economy, and formed associations whose principal aim was the return of land to the Kikuyu. One such person was Johnstone Kamau, who later changed his name to Jomo Kenyatta.

Up until after WWII, Kenya's white rulers were in no mood for accommodating the demands of the Africans. However, African troops returning from the war were equally in no mood to accept the status quo（现状）and the bloody Mau Mau Rebellion, which mainly involved the Kikuyu, raged until 1956. Soon afterwards, Kenyatta was jailed and later placed under house arrest until 1961, although there was no evidence to link him with the rebellion. Pressure continued to build on the British and, on 12 December 1963, Kenya gained independence, with Kenyatta as its first president. Throughout the 20th century, Nairobi continued to grow and is now the largest city between Cairo and Johannesburg.

Today it's a bustling city in the grip of a seemingly endless crime wave, and heavy-handed policing and political disputes often result in violent demonstrations, particularly when the government embarks on one of its slum-clearing sprees. Religious violence is also on the increase. In 1998 the US embassy on Moi Ave was blown up by militants linked to Osama Bin Laden, killing more than 200 Kenyans. More recently, there have been riots between Muslim and Christian youths, linked to the demolition of hawker stalls adjacent to mosques.

·Mykonos(Greece)

迈克诺斯岛（希腊）

Mykonos(Greece)

Mykonos, the most famous of the islands in Greece and one of the world's most popular holiday resorts has been welcoming visitors for over half a century.

Mykonos is a grand example of unique cycladic（基克拉迪群岛的）architecture set around a picturesque（独特的）fishing-village bay. Totally whitewashed（涂成白色的）organic cube-like buildings fit closely together to form a kind of haphazard maze（曲径，迷宫）of narrow alley ways and streets. The earthen colors of the bare hills which surround the town's gleaming whiteness is set between the aura（光环，气氛）of an incredibly blue sky and even deeper blue sparkling（闪闪发光的）sea. Its many well preserved windmills（风车，风车房）and hundreds of tiny red-roofed churches adds a flavor of culture and custom to the scene, enhanced even further by many museums and the historical ancient site of nearby Delos（得洛斯岛）. Together with being friendly and open people, the locals have a healthy understanding of what it means to have a good time. Put this together with all the island's other qualities and it is no wonder Mykonos has been often named "the jewel" of the Aegean Sea（爱琴海）.

As with any famous location, sensationalism（追求轰动效应） by the press often distorts the facts. Some of the recent publicity Mykonos received for being very expensive, full of gays and even a drug capital is in fact far from accurate. Efforts made by the local police force to curb drug abuse have kept this common tourist-resort problem under control through the introduction of a well-organized undercover network. The modern gay society exists in every corner of the world but only gravitates to locations that are uniquely beautiful and socially tolerant. As the island does have a long established gay scene this clearly suggests Mykonos is both. The fact of the matter is, the majority of visitors to the island are non-gay.

Expense as we know is a relative thing, different to each individual. In relation to the rest of Greece, Mykonos can be one of the more expensive places to visit. In actual fact to supply the needs of the rich as well as the budget holidayer（度假者）, a complete range of accommodation and eating facilities are available to make it possible for just about anyone to enjoy the island. In relation to other holiday resorts in Europe and North America, Mykonos is not only on a par（同等）but often cheaper in comparison.

As well as catering to the demands of its summer guests with an infrastructure that has been well developed over the years, an off-season tourist industry has also emerged making it possible to visit in comfort during the non-summer months. Frequent air and sea connections together with heated rooms and good tavernas（希腊酒馆） in and around the main town, allow the adventurous traveler to properly experience the island's natural beauty. When the crowds have departed, it is then that Mykonos can best be enjoyed as the tiny cycladic fishing village it has always been.

·Beirut (Lebanon)

贝鲁特（黎巴嫩）

Beirut (Lebanon)

Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, is a city of visual contrasts where the glitterati（上层人士）rub shoulders with（与……接触、并肩）the ghetto（犹太人区）. Aptly described by the Ministry of Tourism as "The City that would Not Die", bombed out Beirut is on the rebuild. Liberally sprinkled with cyber cafes, jazz clubs and opulent（富裕、繁华的）shopping districts, it also struggles to fit in the endless stream of refugees befuddled by 17 years of civil war. Perhaps this is why Beirut has grown to be the most liberated and hedonistic（快乐主义的）city in the Arab world.

Before you begin your sightseeing trip in this city, it may be important to remember Beirut is retrieving its treasures from the rubbles left behind by 17 years of civil war. Much of the ancient historical monuments have been destroyed by bombardment and fire. The Lebanese（黎巴嫩人）hold the belief close to their hearts that the city will be as beautiful as she was after the rebuilding is complete.

The National Museum in Beirut houses an impressive collection of archaeological（考古学的） artifacts, statuettes（小雕像） and sarcophagi（石棺）from pre historic times in Lebanon to present. The American University Museum has a fine collection of Phoenician（腓尼基人）glass and Arab coins. The Sursock Museum, which is housed in a beautiful old house, holds regular exhibitions of modern paintings, sculptures and old manuscripts. Besides, it's worthwhile stopping to visit the Pigeons grottoes（岩穴）and the archaeological sites of ancient ruins in the central district of the city. For the nature loving and the aesthetic tourist, the Bcharre and the Kadisha Gorge are amongst the most picturesque（独特的） spots of Lebanon. Bcharre is the birthplace of the famous poet, Kahlil Gibran.

There are some beautiful mountain resorts that you could visit to get away from the heat and rush of Beirut. Reaching these places from Beirut is easy and you could make a pleasant day trip to these resorts by car or service taxi.

Beirut is a convenient place from where you can visit most of the interesting sights of Lebanon. As the country is small, no distances are great and you can reach almost any place from Beirut by road within a few hours. Spring and autumn are the best times to visit Lebanon when the weather is warm but not unpleasant. Winters in the mountains are cold and it snows above 1300m. If you're interested in winter sports, especially skiing, you must go between November and March.



·Bern (Swiss)

伯尔尼（瑞士）

Bern (Swiss)

As the Swiss capital, Bern is an important city of diplomats and the site of many international organizations and meetings. It's one of the oldest and loveliest cities in Europe, with origins going back to the 12th century. Since much of its medieval architecture remains today, Bern evokes（引起，唤起） the feeling of a large provincial town rather than a city. In 1983, the United Nations declared it a World Cultural Landmark.

Over the years the city landscape has been praised by many famous visitors, including Horace Walpole, who called it "the most Faire city." Dorothy, sister of William Wordsworth, gushed（热情赞叹）"There is a beautiful order, a solidity, a gravity in this city, which strikes one at first sight and then never loses its effect."

The modern mingles（混合）harmoniously with the old in this charming city, and in recent years residents have discreetly added contemporary-style homes and structures to the historic environment. Such coexistence between the old and new is also evident in Bern's university, known equally for traditional studies and pioneering scientific research.

Bern joined the Swiss Confederation in 1353. In 1848, it replaced Zurich as the seat of the federal government. The city stands on a thumb of land that's bordered on three sides by the Aare River, hence the several bridges connecting various sections of the city.

Market days in Bern -- ideal times to visit -- are Tuesday and Saturday. People from the outlying areas come to town to sell their produce（农产品）and wares. If you're fortunate enough to be in town on the fourth Monday of November, you'll witness the centuries-old Zwiebelmarkt or Onion Market. This is the city's last big event before the onset of winter, and residents traditionally stock up on onions in anticipation of the first snows. In the historic core of Bern, vendors（卖主）arrive before dawn to set up stalls featuring plaited strings of onions. It is customary to sell some 100 tons of onions in one day during the festival. It's not all salesmanship either -- buffoons（小丑）disguised as onions run about, barrels of confetti are thrown, and a good time is had by all. Naturally, local restaurants feature all their special dishes made with onions at the time.

Bern is also a popular starting point for many excursions（远足，游览）, especially to the lakes and peaks of the Bernese Oberland, a vast recreational area only minutes from the capital.

·Stockholm (Sweden)

斯德哥尔摩（瑞典）

Stockholm (Sweden)

Stockholm is, without doubt, one of the most beautiful national capitals in the world. The Old Town in summer is particularly spectacular（引人入胜的）and walking around the city's waterways and parks is a glorious way to spend a week-long stretch of European summer.

Almost two million people live in greater Stockholm, and over 15% of them are immigrants. Just stroll（漫步、闲逛） through the quaint（精巧的、离奇有趣的）streets, and you'll hear everything from Polish to Japanese. The city's royal residences include the largest palace in the world still in use.

This lovely, lively city, with its maritime bent and international flavour, is a magnet （磁铁）for tourists. It is ideally situated for trade connections, with the 24,000 islands protecting the urban islands from the open seas. In fact, the city is best seen from the water.

Stockholm is built on islands, except for the modern centre (Norrmalm), focused on the ugly Sergels Torg. This business and shopping hub is linked by a network of subways to Centralstationen (central train station). The subways link with the metro stations.

Most of Sweden has a cool temperate climate, with precipitation（降雨） in all seasons, but the southern quarter of the country has a warm temperate climate. Sweden is shielded from rainy Atlantic weather systems and can be influenced by high pressure over Russia, giving fine weather instead. Stockholm has an average of about nine hours of sunshine daily from May to July.

The Summer Music Festival, held from late May through August at the Drottningholms Court Theatre, celebrates opera, classical music and ballets by featuring productions that use historical, original instruments.

Each November, the Stockholm International Film Festival offers new filmmakers a competitive forum in which to strut their stuff. A relative newcomer to the scene and one of the few 24-hour film festivals in existence, this event has become one of Europe's most important film competitions. The Stockholm Jazz Festival blows through town in mid-July.

Kungliga Slottet is the largest royal castle in the world still used for its original purpose. It was constructed on the site of the 'old' royal castle, Tre Kronor, which burned down in 1697. The walls of the north wing of the castle survived and were incorporated in the new palace, but the medieval（中世纪的）designs are now concealed by a baroque exterior.

The new palace, which has 608 rooms, was designed by the court architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, and wasn't completed until 57 years after the fire.

·Santorini (Greece)

桑托林岛（希腊）

Santorini（Greece）

Santorini（桑托林岛）is one of the most ruggedly beautiful and dramatic places on earth. Santorini, also known as Thira, is the southern most of the Cyclades islands（基克拉迪群岛） and one of the most popular destinations in all of Greece, for good reason.

Anyone who travels to Santorini may choose to arrive by boat before sunset and stay on the caldera（火山喷口）side of the island for one of the most magnificent and awe-inspiring views on the planet.

The magical island of Santorini is truly one of Greece's "must-sees", right along with the Acropolis（雅典的卫城）. Santorini's wild majesty created out of the apocalyptic event（预示灾难的事件） associated with mythical Atlantis（亚特兰蒂斯，传说中沉没大西洋的岛屿）, is unforgettable.

The sunsets, seen while sipping（啜饮）local wine high atop the sheer cliffs（陡峭的绝壁）is very romantic.

Santorini is a crescent shape（新月型） surrounding the black volcanic islands lying in the bay. What was once the island of Thira sank to the bottom of the caldera in the apocalyptic explosion in 1450 BC. The lagoon-like（环礁湖般的）caldera measures 32 square miles and is 300 to 400 metres deep.

On the western side where the volcano is located, the sheer cliffs, 300 metres high, are multi-coloured strata（地层、土层）of black, red, grey, and brown. Perched high atop are the scenes most often adorning a poster for Greece, startling white sugar cube houses and churches with brilliant blue domes（圆屋顶）set against the deeper blues of the sky and the Aegean Sea（爱琴海）.



·Osaka (Japan)

大阪（日本）

Osaka (Japan)

Famous for its down-to-earth（现实的，务实的）citizens and hearty（丰盛的）cuisine, Osaka combines historical and cultural attractions with all the delights of a Japanese urban phenomenon. At night Osaka is live-wired with flashing neon, beckoning with promises of good times and a lot of beer.

Often maligned（诽谤，侮蔑）by visitors as 'ugly' and still best viewed under the neon light of night, Osaka is currently undergoing a facelift to woo（争取……的支持，拉拢）daytime visitors. Improvements to its historic port and much-needed attention to its waterways and canals is slowly restoring Osaka's maritime heritage and remaining natural assets.

Leading the makeover is a rediscovery of the city's commercial, cultural and culinary（烹饪的）importance. Along with their peculiar and unique Osaka-ben dialect, Osakans have a down-to-earth philosophy and a rare flare for food, fashion and frivolity.

The city was flattened during US bombing in WWII and the rebuilding process saw Osaka plastered over in concrete, a legacy that remains. Osaka is now on the move again, but it must also deal with a huge homeless problem, resulting from Japan's ongoing economic slump.

Summers in Osaka are hot and sticky, which can make travelling quite uncomfortable. In winter, although snow is rare, it does get cold and you will need to pack plenty of warm clothes. The best time to visit Osaka, if you want to catch some cherry blossom action, is April through to May or, if you would like to see the leaves change colour and fall, October and November.

Osaka has been a major port and mercantile centre（商业中心）from the beginning of Japan's recorded history. It was also briefly the first capital of Japan (before the establishment of a permanent capital at Nara). During its early days, Osaka was Japan's centre for trade with Korea and China.

In the late 16th century, Osaka rose to prominence when Toyotomi Hideyoshi（丰臣秀吉）, having unified all of Japan, chose Osaka as the site for his castle. Merchants set up around the castle and the city quickly grew into a busy economic centre. This development was further encouraged by the Tokugawa（德川家族）, which adopted a hands-off approach to the city, allowing merchants to prosper unhindered by government interference.

Tokyo has usurped Osaka's position as economic centre of Japan, and most of the companies formerly headquartered in Osaka have moved east. Nonetheless, Osaka remains an economic powerhouse and the prefecture（辖区）has recorded a GDP bigger than the individual GDPs of all but eight countries in the world in the past several years. However, the city has been hard hit by Japan's ongoing recession and many businesses have closed, particularly those that used to cater to businessmen out entertaining clients.

·Atlanta (US)

亚特兰大（美国）

Atlanta (US)

For many, Atlanta is just the bonfire background to one of cinema's most famous clinches, but the city's profile is rising. Long known as the 'Capital of the New South', Atlanta has benefited in recent years from a booming economy, the 1996 Olympics and a baseball dynasty.

The city has suffered from the relentless development that has razed much of what it hasn't converted to shopping malls. But there are offbeat neighborhoods to explore and old-fashioned towns nearby where you can still savour（欣赏）something of bygone days.

Since being rebuilt after the Civil War, downtown Atlanta has been transformed by waves of development and is now a thoroughly modern metropolis. For a glimpse of the past head to Fairlie-Poplar, which was the city's commercial centre 100 years ago. Its 20-odd blocks are lined with buildings constructed between the 1880s and WWI.

Atlanta's weather is mild for much of the year, though July and August tend to be steamy and hot and the area does get snow in December and January. Spring and fall are the best times to visit the city. Bear in mind that thousands of students arrive in late August and early September to attend the area's many colleges - which is good if you're looking to party but bad if you need a hotel room.

Atlanta started as railroad junction（铁路枢纽）in the 1830s and quickly became the transport hub（中心）of the South. Its strategic importance was a large part of the reason it made such an inviting target for General Sherman's Union Army, which razed it during the Civil War. Ever ready to convert fact into myth, Hollywood made the burning of Atlanta the set piece（具有众所周知的固定风格的艺术作品）of Gone with the Wind. With rebuilding came the rigid segregation of the post-Reconstruction era, shutting African Americans out of white Atlanta for decades.

The efforts of the city's boosters eventually paid off, and Atlanta became known as 'Capital of the New South.' Anchoring its economic renaissance has been the king of fizz, Coca Cola. Atlanta was also the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr and the nerve centre（控制中心）of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Since then, Atlanta has elected the first black representative to Congress since Reconstruction, Andrew Young (later ambassador to the UN under Jimmy Carter), and the country's first black mayor, Maynard Jackson.

The city has in recent years undergone a stunning metamorphosis（变形）. Although the tourists still flock through the antebellum（南北战争前的）plantation homes, in reality Atlanta remains the south's capital. The city became internationally known as the host of the 1996 Olympics and as the home of such multinational corporations (it's the base of global broadcasting giant CNN as well as those soda pop sellers).

·Sao Paulo (Brazil)

圣保罗（巴西）

Sao Paulo (Brazil)

Sao Paulo overwhelms the senses with its sheer size. With seventeen million inhabitants, it is the world's third largest city and the largest in South America. Sao Paulo and its rival Brazilian city, Rio de Janeiro（里约热内卢）, have often been compared to New York and Los Angeles respectively. If Rio has gained fame for its striking natural setting, Sao Paulo's attraction lies in its people and its vibrant cultures. The Avenida Paulista's（圣保罗大街）canyon of upthrusting skyscrapers only hints at the city's sources of energy. A more cosmopolitan city than its counterpart, Sao Paulo possesses significant ethnic minority communities, including substantial Japanese, Italian, and Arab and Lebanese Christian neighbourhoods.

The array of nationalities living in Sao Paulo have made it a legendary city among gourmands（美食者）: Japanese, Italian, Brazilian, Chinese, Jewish, and Arab restaurants are all familiar parts of the city's landscape. In fact, people often visit Sao Paulo just to dine out. The Jardins district is the center of the dining scene, and thus the center of the Sao Paulo social scene. Paulistanos eat late--restaurants often don't begin serving until 9pm or 10pm, and it is common for them to stay open until 3am.

Brazil's most modern, cosmopolitan city has much to offer in addition to its outstanding cuisines（烹饪）. Its museums are among the finest in South America, its surrounding coastline is graced with many lovely beaches, and its entertainment and nightlife have for years attracted some of the best performers in the world. In recent years, the city has evolved into a center for Brazil's own martial art, capoeira（卡泼卫勒舞）, whose dance-like motions are performed to music. The art has its own traditional instruments: drums and the berimbau（拨铃波琴）, a stringed rod used to keep time. Originally developed as the martial art of the slaves of the Bahia, capoeira was banned by the ruling classes. To keep their art alive, the slaves turned capoeira into a dance, and the berimbau, which had warned of an approaching master, began to accompany the dance itself. As late as the 1920s capoeira was still outlawed and practiced only underground; today, it is a well-known and much-loved spectacle.

·Naples (Italy)

那不勒斯（意大利）

Naples (Italy)

Naples is raucous（乱哄哄的）, polluted, anarchic, deafening, crumbling and grubby（肮脏的）. It's also a lot of fun. Superbly positioned on a bay, Naples has a little - and often a lot - of everything. It pulsates（有规律地跳动）with noisy street markets and swarms of people buzzing around on Vespas（小型摩托车）with no regard for traffic rules.

The old centre bristles with ancient churches, a medieval university and countless eateries and cafes. It also has a reputation for organised crime. But the city forges on, powered by the sheer zest and vitality of its inhabitants. Despite its faults, Naples might be 'the loveliest spot in Europe'.

The best time to visit is from April to June, when prices are lower. Late July and August is the time to avoid Italy altogether - the weather boils, prices are inflated and the whole country swarms with holidaymakers. Most Italians go on holiday in August, abandoning the cities and leaving many shops, hotels and restaurants closed.

Soon after founding Cumae in 1000 BC, colonists from Rhodes established a settlement on the western side of Mt Vesuvius（维苏威火山）. Many centuries later, Phoenician traders（腓尼基商人）from present day Lebanon and Greeks from Athens were attracted by the splendour of the coast and so expanded the settlement, christening it Neapolis (New City). It thrived as a centre of Greek culture and later, under Roman rule, became a favourite of emperors Pompey, Caesar and Tiberius.

After successive waves of invasion by the wild Goths（哥特人）and a couple of spells under Byzantium（拜占庭）, Naples remained an independent dukedom（公爵领地）for about 400 years until captured by the Normans in 1139. They in turn were replaced by the German Hohenstaufens (who ruled until 1266), then Charles I of Anjou, who took control of the Kingdom of Sicily and turned Naples into its de facto capital. The Angevins were succeeded by the Spanish house of Aragón, under whom the city came to prosper.

In 1503 Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily were absorbed by Spain, which sent viceroys（总督）to reign as virtual dictators. Despite their heavy-handed rule, Naples flourished artistically and acquired much of its splendour during this period. Indeed it continued to flower when the Spanish Bourbons（波旁皇族）reestablished Naples as capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1734. Aside from a Napoleonic interlude (1806 to 1815), the Bourbons remained until 1860, when they were unseated by Garibaldi and the Kingdom of Italy.

The city was heavily damaged during more than 100 bombing raids in WWII - marks can still be seen on many monuments. The Allies subsequently presided over a disastrous period of transition from war to peace - many observers have since attributed the initial boom in the city's organised crime, at least in part, to members of the occupying forces. A severe earthquake in 1980 and the dormant, but not extinct Vesuvius looming to the east, remind Neapolitans of their city's vulnerability.

·Caracas (Venezuela)

加拉加斯（委内瑞拉）

Caracas (Venezuela)

The capital of Venezuela is a huge, vibrant and energetic city built on tremendous wealth and desperate poverty. Gravity is equally defied by the city's thrusting towers of steel and glass and the teetering（摇摇欲坠的）shantytowns（简陋的棚屋）that cover the city's surrounding hills.

As cosmopolitan and captivating as it can be depressing, Caracas has all the assets of a big city - great restaurants, plush hotels（豪华饭店）, theatre, museums, nightlife, shopping - and many of the problems - petty crime, grinding poverty, pollution and the loss of heritage.

It's an oil-money place of traffic jams and progressive culture, the unquestioned centre of the country's political, scientific, cultural, intellectual and educational life. It's a showcase of modern architecture, flaunting public sculptures, mosaics and murals at every turn. It enjoys a perfect position on the Caribbean coast, and is the gateway to the Andes（安第斯山脉）and the Amazon（亚马逊河）.

Any time is a fine time to visit Caracas. The city enjoys a dry climate and temperatures are mild and steady. Venezuelans go on a whirlwind visitation of friends and family at Christmas, Carnaval and Easter, so avoiding the resulting transport and accommodation mayhem could be a factor in deciding when to visit.

The city of Caracas dates back to 1560, when intrepid Francisco Fajardo headed south from the Spanish colony on Isla de Margarita（马格丽塔岛）, 40km (25mi) offshore, and discovered the verdant valley that is today entirely taken up by the massive metropolis. Fajardo founded a settlement called San Francisco, but the Toromaima Indians who lived in the valley objected to the Spaniards' incursions. For six years the Indians launched a series of attacks against the settlement, and the governor of the province responded by ordering the complete conquest of the valley. On July 25, 1567, the governor's expeditionary troop（远征队）decisively overcame Indian resistance and reestablished the settlement, naming it Santiago de León de Caracas: 'Santiago' after the patron saint（守护神）of Spain, 'León' after the provincial governor, and 'Caracas' after the coastal region's least troublesome Indian group.

Caracas was elected as the administrative seat of the colony in 1577, becoming the third and final capital of Venezuela. Twenty years after its establishment, Caracas consisted of 60 families and ranged for 25 blocks surrounding the Plaza Mayor. Development was hindered by constant setbacks: pirate attacks left the city sacked and razed, and subsequent reconstruction was destroyed by earthquake.

Caracas consolidated its position over the next two centuries, and the city gave birth to two of Venezuela's most famous sons: Francisco Miranda, who paved the way for independence, was born in 1750; and Simón 'El Libertador' Bolívar, who realized Miranda's dream, was born in 1783. Miranda was involved in the 1810 denouncing of the Spanish governor, and the formation of a replacement Supreme Junta. Following a year-long political struggle, Venezuela's independence was declared on July 5, 1811, but Spain didn't recognize Venezuela's sovereignty until 1845.

Since the 1950s, Caracas' population has soared from around 400,000 to almost five million. The city suffered a severe economic decline in the 1980s and 90s, and the thousands of rural dwellers who rushed to find wealth in the big metropolis now lead a precarious（不稳定的）hand-to-mouth existence in the ramshackle huts that cover the steep hills surrounding the city center. Theft and armed robbery are increasingly a fact of life. Worse was to come on December 15, 1999, when disastrous mudslides（泥石流）devastated a 100km (62mi) swathe of the Litoral Central, the coastal area just north of Caracas. The exceptionally high rainfall that caused the disaster is estimated to occur only once in a thousand years in this region. Believed to be South America's worst natural disaster in recent memory, the mudslides killed between 30 and 50 thousand people, and made 150,000 homeless. Entire beaches and shantytowns vanished, the colonial town of La Guaira - once the region's major cultural sight - was destroyed, and the resorts are now ruined ghost towns.



·Glasgow (UK)

格拉斯哥（英国）

Glasgow (UK)

Glasgow's history stretches back almost two thousand years and has been rich and varied. Originally a small salmon-fishing village at a crossing point on the River Clyde, Glasgow has been shaped by Battles, World Wide Trade and Heavy Industry to become a truly International City.

Founded by a Christian missionary (St Mungo), Glasgow became a major religious centre. Mungo's original church was destroyed by the wars which swept the country in the years after his death. Today's Cathedral dates from the 12th Century and has been added to in the years which followed.

Provand's Lordship, the oldest house in Glasgow was built over 500 years ago for the Lord of Provan, an official of the Cathedral. The house still welcomes visitors today to view its proud history.

In 1451 Glasgow became a University City. Glasgow University was originally built in the High Street area of the city, but was moved to its present site in Glasgow's West end in 1870.

Glasgow has also been the site of many battles. Bishop's Castle once stood on the site now occupied by Glasgow's Royal Infirmary. Here, in 1300, William Wallace (of "Braveheart" fame) with 300 men defeated an army of 1000 English Knights who had taken possession of the castle under the English Bishop of Durham.

Two centuries later the castle was again the scene of battle when two opposing forces fought for control of the Crown of Scotland then in the possession of the baby, Mary Queen of Scots.

Due to its location on the west of the country, Glasgow was well positioned to send shipping to the West Indies and America. By the 18th century many merchants had acquired great wealth by importing sugar, rum and tobacco. Thus were born the Tobacco Lords who built fabulous mansions （大厦）in the city.

However, life was very different for the city's poor. By the 19th century the influx （流入）of people looking for employment spawned the emergence of tenement （房屋）accommodation. The poorest families were forced to live in "single ends", one roomed homes where the entire family, often including grandparents, would live together. An example is displayed at The People's Palace. Many families had to share common lavatories and wash facilities.

However, the struggle for survival generated a common bond between the tenement dwellers and a great sense of community spirit, kindness and sharing dominated everyday life.

The existence of vast deposits of coal and iron ore （矿石）in the Glasgow area shaped the next two centuries of Glasgow's history.

With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, aided by technological advances designed by Clydeside inventors such as James Watt, Heavy Industry in the shape of Railway Locomotives and Shipbuilding flourished.

Locomotives were exported throughout the world. "Clyde-Built" became synonymous （同义的）with quality and reliability. The launch of the three "Queens" - luxury passenger liners - was the pinnacle （顶点）of Glasgow's shipbuilding achievement. (Many of the original shipping models are on display in the beautiful "Clyde Room" at the Transport Museum)

Sadly, the changing pattern of industry means that the Clyde no longer employs the vast throngs of workers in the shipbuilding trades, although there are notable exceptions. The proud "Clyde-Built" traditions are still in evidence among the workforces of Kvaerner Govan and Yarrows, to name but two of Clydeside's remaining shipbuilding yards.

Today the city beckons tourists from all over the world. Glasgow's art treasures are world renowned and most of the city's museums and art galleries offer free entrance to view their treasures. The city boasts a fine Concert Hall, International Conference Centre, Science Centre, Sports Arena and shops rivalling the best in the land.

All this combined with Glasgow's unique friendliness and hospitality makes the city a favourite destination for visitors from all nations.

·Belgrade (Serbia)

贝尔格莱德（塞尔维亚）

Belgrade (Serbia)

Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, having about 1,6 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of Europe, in the Balkan Peninsula. The area around two great rivers, the Sava （萨瓦河）and the Danube （多瑙河）has been inhabited as early as palaeolithic period （旧石器时代）. Belgrade, a city of very tumultuous history, is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Its history lasts full 7,000 years. Since ancient times it has been an important traffic focal point, an intersection of the roads of Eastern and Western Europe.

Belgrade is the capital of Serbian culture, education, science and economy. As a result of its tumultuous （喧嚣的）history, many nations live in Belgrade for centuries, and the majority of the population make Serbs (86%) of Orthodox persuasion. The official language is Serbian, while foreigners are recommended to use English in communication.

The City of Belgrade is the founder, financer and organizer of many regular annual cultural events. Most of the authors from all fields of culture and art live and work in Belgrade, the center of culture and art of Serbia and Yugoslavia （南斯拉夫）. Belgrade has also hosted the famous world authors and performers in the fields of music, theatre, film... The only Serbian Nobel laureate, Ivo Andri?, has created some of his greatest literary works right here, in Belgrade.

The most important works of architecture, monuments and other immovable cultural properties of the Serbian people are in most part located in Belgrade. It is also the seat of the highest state and national institutions of culture and art: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, National Library of Serbia, National Museum, National Theatre and the University of Art.

In the Belgrade area, there are many archaeological （考古的）sites with material remains, witnessing of the culture of the late Stone Age and other prehistoric cultures, until the Middle Ages.

Belgrade is a fast-paced modern European capital, successfully banishing the shadows of war. A visit here is all about enjoying the modern architecture, dynamic atmosphere and excellent nightlife, Belgrade is best seen from the water - the city has a beautiful setting at the confluence （汇合）of the Sava and Danube rivers.

The sky above Belgrade is wide and high, unstable but always beautiful; even during winter serenities （平静）with their icy splendour; even during summer storms when the whole of it turns into a single gloomy cloud which, driven by the mad wind, carries the rain mixed with the dust of panonian plain; even in spring when it seems that it also blooms, along with the ground; even in autumn when it grows heavy with the autumn stars in swarms. Always beautiful and rich, as a compensation to this strange town for everything that isn't there, and a consolation because of everything that shouldn't be there.

But the greatest splendour of that sky above Belgrade, that are the sunsets. In autumn and in summer, they are broad and bright like desert mirages （海市蜃楼）, and in winter they are smothered （窒息）by murky clouds and dark red hazes （薄雾）. And in every time of year frequently come the days when the flame of that sun setting in the plain, between the rivers beneath Belgrade, gets reflected way up in the high celestial （天上的）dome, and it breaks there and pours down over the scattered town. Then, for a moment, the reddish tint of the sun paints even the remotest corners of Belgrade and reflects into the windows, even of those houses it otherwise poorly illuminates （照亮）.

·Melbourne (Australia)

墨尔本（澳大利亚）

Melbourne (Australia)

Melbourne is a smorgasbord（瑞典式自助餐）of a city that invites you to take a bite. A leafy bayside community on the 'upside-down', brown Yarra River（亚拉河）, it is cosmopolitan, suburban, cultivated, conservative and a haven for the avant-garde（先锋派）. Visitors come for its shopping, restaurants, nightlife and sporting calendar, and most agree that it's one of the world's most liveable cities.

In the last 10 years the city has undergone a renaissance. Innumerable（无数的）hip boutiques, restaurants and bars crowd the alleys and Victorian-era arcades（拱郎）off the main streets. Its riverbanks and docklands（港区）have been tranformed into spruced-up sites for swanky waterside socialising.

Although mystery surrounds many aspects of Australian prehistory, it seems certain that the first humans came here across the sea from Southeast Asia around 50,000 to 70,000 years ago. There were about 38 tribal groups living around Victoria when white people arrived. Aborigines were traditionally tribal people living in extended family groups and using the environment sustainably. It is believed that Aboriginal people were the first to make polished, stone tools, to cremate（火葬）their dead and to engrave and paint representations（画像）of themselves and animals. Although their society was technologically simple, it was culturally sophisticated, using complex ceremonies which integrated religion, history, law, art and codes of behaviour.

Aboriginal people around Victoria resisted white settlement (which began in 1803), and although some settlements had to be abandoned, the original inhabitants were really just postponing the inevitable. Soon after settlement, the Aboriginal people had been dispossessed of their lands and massacred in their thousands.

Melbourne was established in 1835 by a group of Tasmanian（塔斯马尼亚的）entrepreneurs, and is the youngest city of its size in the world. Although the settlement was not named until 1837, its characteristic grid layout was imposed by military surveyor Robert Hoddle the same year, and by 1840 over 10,000 people had been attracted to the area. The colony of Victoria was formed in 1851, with Melbourne as its capital, neatly coinciding with the discovery of gold which swiftly and inexorably（无情地）transformed them both.

Gold brought a huge influx of immigrants from around the world, and the wealth it generated created a city of extravagant proportions. In 30 years the designs of the city's architects, the skills of its many European tradespeople（商人们）and the designation of large areas of the city for public parkland had established what was known as 'Marvellous Melbourne - the Paris of the Antipodes（澳大利亚和新西兰）'. This progress was, however, temporarily halted in 1890 by the first of many devastating financial crashes which have afflicted the economically vulnerable city.

The ethnic mix of Melbourne's population has always been an important influence on the city's character: the Chinese and Irish diggers attracted by gold in the 19th century and the postwar arrival of refugees and migrants from all over Europe (particularly Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Turkey and Poland) and more recently from Vietnam and Cambodia（柬埔寨）, have all contributed elements of their cultures to what could otherwise have been a conservative, passionless English society. These migrants have boosted Melbourne's population to 4 million and their influences are witnessed in Melbourne's robust and varied architecture, restaurants, festivals and entertainment.

After WWII, Melbourne went into a long period of stable, occasionally complacent, conservative government. Although the city's political establishment liked to think it was the centre of national gravity, in fact Sydney gradually took precedence on the national scale until it became clear, by the 1960s, that Melbourne's star had been eclipsed. Nevertheless, a strong rivalry between the two occasionally still surfaces（浮出水面）.

Conservative dominance continued until the '80s, when the Labor party took office and the city hit boom times（繁荣时期）. Land prices just kept going up, and so did buildings, until 1990 when the whole thing fell in a heap. In 1992 radical conservative autocrat Jeff Kennett took the reins, provoking ire and admiration in seemingly equal doses. Under Kennett, Melbourne waved goodbye to social services and healthcare, and gave a hearty hello to the Grand Prix（国际汽车大奖赛）and the Crown Casino（皇冠赌场）.

Kennett's Liberal government was comprehensively ousted in 1999's state election, and a refurbished Labor party is now busily reinventing Victoria in the Blairite mould of moderately progressive, strongly pro-business centre-left government. Large construction projects have continued unabated, fuelling another one of those regular property booms that have created and decimated fortunes ever since the city was established. Many of the holes in the inner city business district are being redeveloped, one of the newest developments is Federation Square, an architecturally innovative if controversial use of public cultural space. The fringes of the city are also growing apace, prompting the government to set limits for development that will hopefully slow, and in the long term halt, the city's unseemly sprawl. The city also continues to support a healthy cultural scene, especially in the fields of cinema and contemporary music.

·Houston (U.S.)

休斯顿（美国）

Houston (U.S.)

The fourth-largest city in the US is a sprawling metropolis of highrises（高楼大厦）, malls and parking lots（停车场）. Hot, humid and flat, Houston may not be Texas' premier destination, but it has much to offer, including great museums, beautiful parks, a hip young population and a variety of excellent excursions.

The days when cows and oilmen（石油商）roamed the streets of Houston are long gone. Houston dominates southeastern Texas, thanks to a historic commitment to growth typical of the Lone Star state（得克萨斯州的别名）, characterized by a lack of zoning and other planning restrictions, resulting in a sprawling, confusing city.

Downtown Houston, the original business center, is a thicket of highrises interspersed（散布）with parking lots, ringed by elevated freeways. The streets can seem surprisingly empty during the day, with nary a pedestrian（一个行人也没有）to be found braving the hot and shimmering sidewalks. But the people are there. In a variation of a post-apocalyptic（后世界末日）nightmare, most downtown buildings are linked by air-conditioned underground pedestrian tunnels lined with shops and restaurants. After dark, the area is sparsely populated above and below ground, though some life can be found around the new baseball stadium and in the north end's nightclub district. Major neighborhoods include Houston Heights, an affluent, quiet residential area north of downtown, overlooking the Buffalo Bayou（布法罗湾）; Montrose, the center of Houston's gay scene, with a funky mix of shops, restaurants, galleries and tattoo parlors a few blocks southwest of downtown.

Houston got its start in 1836, when brothers Augustus and John Allen set up a trading post on the Buffalo Bayou, a river that now meanders（蜿蜒）through the heart of the city. The Allens named their new holding Houston in honor of General Sam Houston, who had just defeated the Mexican Army at San Jacinto. The coming of the railroad boosted the economy in the 1860s and 1870s, but the real prosperity was still around the corner.

It was the 1901 discovery of oil at nearby Spindletop that put Houston on the road to riches. The city's only obstacle to growth was its sweltering（闷热的）summer heat, but beginning in the 1930s, the widespread availability of air conditioning made massive downtown development a reality.

Beginning in the 1950s, downtown underwent wave after wave of skyscraper construction. Hand in hand with the building boom was a craze to raze: dozens of older commercial and residential buildings were leveled and turned into parking lots for the growing army of office workers. NASA's Mission Control Center opened a few miles from Houston in 1963, and six years later the city's name became the first word ever spoken by a human being on the surface of the moon.

Throughout the 1970s, Houston's fortunes continued skyward（向上的）. When oil reached $40 a barrel in 1981, Houston was awash in money as scores of happy Texans got rich quick; four years later, the price of oil plummeted（直线下降）to single digits and Houstonians got poor even faster. Glitzy（耀眼的，炫目的）but empty highrises stood next to giant construction holes that had to be filled back in when the financing ran out.

In the 1990s, Houston's economy diversified as the city rode the general economic boom that swept the US. In 1997, Houston elected its first black mayor, Lee Brown. The following year, Houston was drenched by a torrential downpour and menaced by tornadoes. The floodwaters were strong enough to sweep houses off their foundations. Several people were killed and large areas of the city remained under water for days.

·Hamburg (Germany)

汉堡（德国）

Hamburg (Germany)

It's easy to see why the youthful Beatles fell in love with Hamburg. Germany's second largest city boasts a magnificent harbour right in its city centre and has more in common with canal cities like Amsterdam or Venice; locals will proudly point out that their city has more bridges than Venice.

But, unlike its maritime counterparts, Hamburg remains a hard-working port that is among Europe's busiest. Add to this the independence of a place that has been invaded only once in its history, by Napoleon no less - and you too will be inspired to serenade the city.

There isn't really a single time of year that is better than any other to visit Hamburg, because it can be chilly year round. While Germany can have pleasant summer weather, northern areas are known for their year-round healthy, bracing（令人心神爽快的）climate.

Hamburg's social schedule is packed all year with concerts, fairs, festivals, parties, conventions and exhibitions, but there are a few standout（杰出的）occasions. Established in 1329, Hamburger Dom is one of Europe's largest and oldest funfairs（游艺集市）; it takes place in late March, late July and late November.

In the 9th century, a moated fortress called Hammaburg was built which grew to be a missionary stronghold（要塞、据点）. It wasn't until the 12th century that the city began its rise as a trading power - Count Adolf III scored a royal charter from Emperor Friedrich I (aka Barbarossa) which gave the city free trade rights and exempted them from pesky customs tariffs. Armed with this increased trading power, Hamburg became a leader in the newly founded Hanseatic League（汉萨同盟）, a collection of northern European merchants, which included 60 cities at the height of its influence.

Politically neutral Hamburg concentrated on developing trade, founding the Borse, Hamburg's stock exchange（证券交易所）, in 1558 and establishing, in the 17th century, a merchant navy（商船队）to guard its trading vessels. As the Hanseatic League weakened, Hamburg thrived, thanks to an influx of Dutch merchants who were fleeing religious persecution. While other cities and nations were caught up in wars or empire building, Hamburg pragmatically set about building trade with the world, irregardless of politics.

Hamburg's trading ambitions were interrupted briefly by the annexation（合并）of Germany into the Napoleonic Empire, but once the French tyrant was toppled it was business as usual. Hamburg joined the German Confederation and became known as the 'Free and Hanseatic City', with the city retaining a degree of independence within the new nation.

The city suffered a major blow with the Great Fire of 1842, which levelled（夷平）a third of the city, but it soon dusted itself off and set about（开始）rebuilding. By 1913, the city was among Europe's top ports, trading with Africa, South America and Asia, and with a population of well over a million.

WWI reparations（赔款）deprived Hamburg of most of its 1500-ship merchant navy, and WWII was even more brutal, destroying four-fifths of the port and two-fifths of the city's industrial area. The firestorm（大爆发）created by Allied bombing on 28 July 1943 killed more than 50,000 civilians and burnt out entire streets and neighbourhoods. Caught between two enemies, neutral Hamburg was also harassed by the Nazis, with 8000 local Jews perishing in nearby concentration camps.

Out of the ashes rose modern Hamburg, devoting more than 20 years to reconstruction and resilience. Always with an eye for a good deal, after the war Hamburg attracted the country's media giants, with 15 of Germany's 20 largest print publications being produced in the city, and more than 6200 publishing, film, radio, television and music companies calling the city home.

Today, Hamburg is Germany's second-biggest city after Berlin. Some 68,000 students study at nine institutions - the largest is the University of Hamburg, with 42,000 students. With 15 per cent of its population immigrants, the city has a cosmopolitan flair that has returned to Hamburg its title of Germany's Gateway to the World.



·Tehran (Iran)

德黑兰（伊朗）

Tehran (Iran)

Iran is not blessed with one of the world's loveliest capitals. Pollution, traffic snarls, chronic overcrowding（长期过度拥挤）and a lack of responsible planning have all helped to make Tehran a metropolis that even the most effusive travel agent would have difficulty praising.

If you're expecting an exotic（异国请调的）crossroads steeped in oriental splendour, you'll be sadly disappointed. The main sights are spread out, but the hotels are good, the variety of restaurants is impressive, the facilities are far ahead of those anywhere in the provinces, and the Tehranis are friendly.

There is no real central area, though many budget travellers base themselves near Emam Khomeini Square in the less appealing south of the city, where there's cheap accommodation, fine kebab（烤肉串）and good access to bus and train transport. Getting lost in Tehran is easy. If you need landmarks, the Alborz mountains, known as the 'North Star' of Tehran, are to the north; and the huge telephone office at Emam Khomeini Square dominates inner southern Tehran. Fortunately, most streets that travellers are likely to take are signposted（给……加路标）in English. Other than that, many streets, such as those around the Tehran Bazaar（德黑兰集市）, have no signposts at all.

The best times to visit are during late spring (mid-April to early June) and autumn (late September to early November). Avoid coming in winter and the Iranian New Year (about 21 March) and two weeks after it. Many restaurants close between dawn and dusk during the month of Ramazan（斋月）.

Human settlement of the region dates from Neolithic times（新石器时代）, but the development of Tehran was very slow and its rise to prominence largely accidental. In AD 1197, after Mongols（蒙古人）sacked and destroyed nearby Rey - the major urban centre in Persia（波斯）at the time - Tehran began to develop in its place. From the mid-16th century, Tehran's attractive natural setting and good hunting brought it into the favour of the Safavid king, Tahmasb I. It developed from a moderately prosperous trading village into an elegant, if dusty, city, and European visitors wrote of its many enchanting vineyards（葡萄园）and gardens. In 1789, Agha Muhammed Khan declared Tehran his capital, and six years later had himself crowned as shah of all Persia. The town continued to grow slowly under later Qajar rulers.

From the early 1920s, the city was extensively modernised on a grid system, and this period marked the start of phenomenal population growth and uncontrolled urban development. An educated and cosmpolitan middle class elite, with an open attitude towards Western influence, flourished under the Shah, but the growth of the city began a trickle of poor, rural migrants that soon turned into a flood.

The depopulation（居民减少）of the surrounding regions continues to this day as the rural poor continue to stream into Tehran in ever greater numbers. This migration has put the city's infrastructure under enormous pressures. In 1930 the population was 300,000; in 2001 it was estimated to be 12 million. These pressures often translate into popular revolt, hence Tehran's central role in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and in more recent protests against the clerical monopolisation of political power.

·Perth (Australia)

珀斯（澳大利亚）

Perth (Australia)

Perth is a vibrant and modern city sitting between the cerulean（蔚蓝的）Indian Ocean and the ancient Darling Ranges（达岭山脉）. It claims to be the sunniest state capital in Australia, though more striking is its isolation from the rest of the country - Perth is over 4400kms (2750mi) from Sydney by road.

The city centre's sterile concrete-and-glass skyscrapers unfortunately dominate a picturesque riverside location. Still, behind the domineering edifices hide a handful of 19th-century buildings and facades and some saving-grace patches of greenery.

Perth is situated on Australia's western coast, close to the south-western tip of the country. The city centre is fairly compact, situated on a sweep of the Swan River（天鹅河）. The river, which borders the city centre to the south and east, links Perth to its port, Fremantle（弗里曼特尔）. The western end of Perth rises to the pleasant Kings Park（英皇公园）, which overlooks the city, then extends to cosmopolitan Subiaco（苏比雅克）. Further west, suburbs extend as far as Scarborough and Cottesloe beaches on the Indian Ocean.

Spring (September to November) and autumn (March to May) are the best times to visit, as Perth experiences hot, dry summers and mild, but rainy, winters. One peculiarity of the local weather is the breeze that blows in from the sea in the late afternoon - call it the 'Fremantle Doctor', and you might as well wear a T-shirt saying 'I'm not from around here'.

Every year around February/March the Festival of Perth offers entertainment in the form of music, drama, dance, visual art and films. The Northbridge Festival is hosted at the same time. The Perth Royal Show takes place every September while the Artrage Festival is in October.

The site that is now Perth had been occupied by groups of the Nyoongar tribe for thousands of years. They, and their ancestors, can be traced back some 40,000 years.

In December 1696, three ships in the fleet commanded by de Valmingh - Nijptangh, Geelvinck and Het Weseltje - anchored off Rottnest Island（洛特尼斯岛）. On 5 January 1697, a well-armed party landed near present-day Cottesloe Beach（科特索海滩）then marched eastwards to the Swan River near Freshwater Bay. They tried to contact some of the Nyoongar to enquire about the fate of survivors of the Ridderschap van Hollant, lost in 1694, but were unsuccessful. They sailed north, but not before de Vlamingh had bestowed the name Swan on the river.

Perth was founded in 1829 as the Swan River Settlement, but it grew very slowly until 1850, when convicts were brought in to alleviate the labour shortage. Many of Perth's fine buildings, such as Government House and Perth Town Hall, were built using convict labour. Even then, Perth's development lagged behind that of the eastern cities, until the discovery of gold in 1890s increased the population four-fold in a decade and initiated a building boom.

Perth's penchant for rampant speculation has meant that many of the city's 19th-century buildings have since disappeared amid a deluge of concrete edifices of dubious architectural value. This growth has undoubtedly been fuelled by Western Australia's vast mineral wealth. In the 1980s, it was said that Perth had more millionaires per capita than any other city in Australia. Huge business empires emanated at a rate completely disproportionate to a city of that size, and soon enough, with the high-profile fall from grace of beer, yachting, media and Vincent van Gogh mogul Alan Bond in particular, Perth came to epitomize（成为……的缩影）the decade's obsession with making a fast buck. Alan Bond came to national prominence with the unlikely win of the boat he paid for - Australia II - at the America's Cup in 1983. Fremantle yacht club hosted the tournament four years later, bringing the previously sleepy 19th-century port to life. Perth became known as the kind of place where anybody could become a millionaire, except, unfortunately, for the local Nyungar population, which remains comparatively disadvantaged.

The political and corporate scandals which have rocked the city in recent years have added to its frontier, get-rich-quick image. In fact, they were a throwback to the bad old days of the 1980s, when the line between government collusion and government regulation was dangerously blurred, and by a Labor government of all things. Richard Court's Liberal government presided over the greater part of the 1990s and oversaw a property boom in Perth similar to that which overtook most of Australia's major urban centres.

·Philadelphia (U.S.)

费城（美国）

Philadelphia (U.S.)

Although it's dear to the hearts of America's flag-wavers, there's a lot more to Philly（费城）than the Liberty Bell（自由钟）and Independence Hall（独立大厅）. Yet, despite the support of patriots and the cappuccino（卡普齐诺咖啡）set, the 'City of Brotherly Love'（博爱之城）has long been the butt of jokes by WC Fields and other laugh-a-minute types.

When the insults finally soaked in - just in time for America's bicentennial（两百周年纪念）in 1976 - the city began renovating（重修）. Philadelphia now enjoys recognition as a major cultural center with world-class museums, performing arts centers and some stunning（极好的）architecture.

In March 1681, England's King Charles II granted William Penn a charter to a parcel of land west of the Delaware River（特拉华河）. Charles dubbed the area 'Penn' in honor of William's father, with Penn the Younger adding '-sylvania,' meaning 'woodlands.' Brimming with pacifist Quaker idealism, Penn regarded his colony as a 'holy experiment' and ensured as its governor and proprietor that its laws respected religious freedom and liberal government. Penn chose Philadelphia as the capital of Pennsylvania in 1682, optimistically naming it after the Greek for 'brotherly love.' A survivor of London's Great Fire of 1666, he made sure the city's design included a grid system with wide streets, not the narrow, winding maze that caused so much havoc in England's capital. This format was to become the inspiration for most American cities.

Philadelphia quickly grew to become the second largest city (after London) in the British empire, before ceding （让于）that title to New York City. Opposition to British policy in the colonies became seated in the city, where colonial leaders would meet to plan their course of action. The result was the Declaration of Independence, and in 1790 Philadelphia became the temporary capital of the new United States before Washington DC got the job in 1800. The US Constitution was drawn up and first read here in 1786. Often led by the multitalented Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia became a center for developments in the world of arts and science.

Between 1793 and 1820, Philadelphia suffered five yellow-fever epidemics（黄热病）, which killed thousands but led to the construction of the US's first city water system. Philadelphia's fortunes declined in the 19th century, as New York took over as the nation's cultural, commercial and industrial center. Philly never regained the stature of its early years, despite continued cultural and educational innovation, commerce and shipbuilding, and a brief boomlet（略微繁荣）following WWII.

During the mid-20th century, like many American cities, Philadelphia watched much of its middle class forsake the city for the suburbs. The 1970s saw Philly grapple with innercity tensions, typified by the firefights between the police and the paramilitary MOVE group. However, by 1976, lavish plans for the nation's bicentennial had inspired a citywide cleanup and renovation campaign - a restoration that continues today - and the city is now consistently rated among the nation's 'best' in national polls of lifestyle and character.

·Milan (Italy)

米兰（意大利）

Milan (Italy)

The hard-working Milanese（米兰人）run their busy metropolis with efficiency and aplomb（沉着、冷静）. It is the country's economic engine room, home to Italy's stock market and business centres. This stylish city is also the world's design capital and rivals Paris as a leading fashion centre.

Milan is all about worldly pleasures. Shopping is of almost religious significance. Theatre and cinema flourish in this fashionable milieu（环境）, as does a hopping club scene and a slew of tempting restaurants. Apart from a few gems, the city is not renowned for its looks; it's the lifestyle that counts.

Milan is a sprawling metropolis, but most of its attractions are concentrated in the city centre, between the duomo（大教堂）(cathedral) and the Castello Sforzesco（斯弗克斯可城堡）. The duomo is best place to begin exploring the city and is within strolling distance of dozens of historic sites.

Apart from the city center, another area deserving your attention is the Brera, immediately north of the duomo, with its posh galleries and fashionable shopping streets.

Milan is said to have been founded by Celtic tribes（凯尔特部落）, who settled along the Po river in the 7th century BC. In 222 BC, Roman legions marched into the territory, defeated the locals and occupied the town, which they called Mediolanum (middle of the plain). The city's key position on the trade routes linking Rome with northwestern Europe ensured its continued prosperity, and it was here in 313 AD that Constantine I（君士坦丁一世，拜占庭帝国皇帝）made his momentous edict granting Christians freedom of worship.

The city endured centuries of chaos caused by waves of barbarian invasions. It formed a commune (town council) in the 11th century, leading the city into a period of rapid growth. Perhaps because of this success, the city did not get along well with its neighbors.

From the mid-13th century, the city was governed by a succession of important families: the Torrianis, the Viscontis and the Sforzas. Under the latter dynasties, Milan enjoyed considerable wealth and power. The city came under Spanish rule in 1535 and was given to Austria in 1713 as part of the Treaty of Utrecht（乌特勒克条约）. Austrian power-broker Maria Theresa left her mark on the city; the facades of La Scala and the Palazzo Real remain her favorite shade of yellow. Napoleon made Milan the capital of his Cisalpine Republic in 1797 and his Italian Republic five years later. It hosted his coronation as King of Italy in 1805.Austria regained control of the city from 1814-1859. It wasn't long before troops under Victor Emmanuel II and Napoleon III wiped up the Austrian forces at the Battle of Magenta. Milan was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy in 1860.

During WWII central Milan was heavily bombed, and the opera house in particular was blown to smithereens（碎屑）. Fittingly, Mussolini's career also ended in Milan - his corpse was hung upside down from the roof of a petrol station on Piazzale Loreto after he was shot trying to flee the country.

The post-war industrial boom - led by car manufacturing - and greater access to northern Europe via the new Alpine tunnels led to a spurt of growth accompanied by industrial unrest. The Red Brigades terrorised Milan and other centres of industry throughout the 1970s. In the 1990s, local political elites were torn apart by kickback scandals that went to the top of the region's political, administrative and commercial elites. Extremist parties such as the nationalist Lega Nord benefitted from the resultant political vacuum.

Organised crime continues to be the perpetual scourge of Milanese civic life. In January 1999, nine people were murdered in nine consecutive days, prompting the Milanese mayor to adopt a New York-style 'zero tolerance' policy. It did little to discourage the criminals - in December 2000, a bomb was discovered on the roof of Milan's Duomo.

In 2002, a small plane crashed into the 25th floor of the city's 30-storey Pirelli skyscraper building, killing two lawyers inside.

·Boston (U.S.)

波士顿（美国）

Boston (U.S.)

Calling this quaint and charming city the 'Athens of America' might seem a bit braggadocio（自夸）, but the city's 19th-century glory radiates through its grand architecture, its population of literati（文人）, artists and educators and its world-renowned academic and cultural institutions.

Disastrous 'urban renewal'（城市重建）in the 1950s provoked such a furious backlash that Boston now has some of the best preserved historic buildings and neighbourhoods in the country. Compact, walkable, historic and clean, the city blends old-world beauty and modern convenience.

Boston is on a small peninsula in the middle of Massachusetts' Atlantic Coast, a little over 320km northeast of New York City. Most of the city's sights are contained in less than 8 sq km. Cambridge (home of Harvard and MIT) is a short drive or subway ride north across the Charles River.

Called Trimountain (from its three hills) in its earliest days, Boston took its permanent name from the English town. The vanguard（先驱）of English settlers, led by Reverend William Blaxton, arrived in 1624 - less than four years after the Pilgrims arrived in nearby Plymouth（普利茅斯）.

The colony of Massachusetts Bay was established six years later in 1630 when the elder John Winthrop, official representative of the Massachusetts Bay Company, took up residence. From the beginning this was the centre of Puritan culture and life in the New World.

Puritanism was intellectual and theocratic, and so the leading men and women of early Boston society were those who understood and followed Biblical law - and could explain in powerful rhetoric why they did. Thus it comes as no surprise that the Boston Public Latin School was established in 1635 (and continues as an elite public high school today). A year later, Harvard College (now Harvard University) was founded in neighbouring Cambridge. By 1653 Boston had a public library as well, and by 1704 the Thirteen Colonies' first newspaper, the News-Letter.

Though the New England coast had many excellent natural ports. Boston was blessed by geography with the best of all. By the early 1700s it was well on its way to being what it remains today: New England's largest and most important city.

As the chief city in the region, it drew London's attention. When King George III and Parliament chose to burden the colonies with taxation without representation, the taxes were first levied（征收）in Boston. When resistance surfaced, it was in Boston. The Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party were signal events in the development of revolutionary sentiments, and the Battle of Bunker Hill solidified colonial resolve to declare independence from the British crown.

Following the Revolutionary War, Boston suffered economically as the British government cut off American ships' access to other ports in the British Empire. But as new trading relationships developed, Boston entered a commercial and industrial boom which lasted from the late 1700s until the mid-1800s. Fortunes were made in shipbuilding, maritime trade and manufacturing textiles and shoes. Chartered as a city in 1822, Boston's Beacon Hill was soon crowned with fine mansions built by the leading families, and Back Bay was filled in to make room for more.

These same prominent families also patronised arts and culture heavily. Though conservative and traditionalist in their general outlook, Bostonians were firm believers in American ideals of freedom and firm supporters of the abolition of slavery and the activities of the Underground Railroad.

As the 19th century drew to a close Boston's prominence was challenged by the growth of other port cities and the westward expansion of the national borders, and New England's economic boom turned into a bust when the textile and shoe factories moved to cheaper labour markets in the South.

In the 20th century the city became more culturally diverse than ever before. The city's ethnic and economic profile had already been significantly altered by the 19th-century arrival of thousands of Irish immigrants, driven from home by devastating potato famines. The cultural mix grew more diverse with 20th century arrivals from Italy, the Ottoman Empire and Portugal.

Economically, Boston became more of a satellite than a hub, although it remained a prominent centre for medical education, treatment and research, and USA's premiere university centre. Many graduates choose to remain in the Boston area, which has helped fuel a local booming commerce in computer research, development and manufacturing.

For all its ties to the past, Boston has always looked forward. The new millennium saw Boston entering a renaissance, thanks to the near-completion of the 'Big Dig' - an ambitious public works project to place the Central Expressway underground. Wealthy young professionals are moving back to the city in droves and, since the demise of rent control in the mid-1990s, they are the only ones who can reasonably afford to live there! Affluent and comfortable, Boston remains at the centre of US intellectual life.



·Canberra (Australia)

堪培拉（澳大利亚）

Canberra (Australia)

Canberra is a picturesque（风景如画的）20th-century concoction on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin（贝里哥里芬湖）that has struggled to establish itself as the focus of Australia's national identity. It has often been perceived as a 'fat cat'（有权有势的）town of politicians and bureaucrats living off the rest of the country.

However, you'll only have to step outside the Parliamentary Triangle to realise that there's more to Canberra than machinations（密谋）and money. One of only two artificially-conceived cities in the world, Canberra is eerily symmetrical, surprisingly workable and endlessly intriguing.

Autumn in Canberra is quite simply gorgeous. The days are sunny and crisp, the trees are changing and everything looks lovely. Winter is really cold. Spring is much wetter and windier, though the very popular Floriade festival（花卉节）brightens things up.

Canberra was first settled by Europeans in 1824, when Joshua Moore bought the first land grant（政府赠予地）in the area, at the foot of Black Mountain. By 1845 a town had grown up in the shadow of the mountain, with the newly built St John's Church and the nearby school at its centre.

The establishing of a national capital and surrounding Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was one of the tenets（原则）of the constitution created when the colonies were federated into Australian states in 1901. The site was selected in 1908 - diplomatically situated between arch rivals（主要竞争对手）Sydney and Melbourne. Canberra was named in 1913, from an Aboriginal term believed to mean 'meeting place', and an international competition to design the city was won by the American architect Walter Burley Griffin. Development of the site was slow and although parliament was first convened in the capital in 1927, it was not until after the World War Two that the dream of a national capital began to reach fruition（实现）.

In 1957 the Menzies（孟席斯，罗伯特·戈登，1894-1978澳大利亚政治家，曾两度任职总理）Government created the National Capital Development Commission, to establish Canberra as the seat of government and generally spruce（打扮、装饰）the place up a bit. Over the next 20 years it was full steam ahead - bridges were built over a hypothetical lake, then a year later the lake followed; the Mint, the National Library, the Botanic Gardens and the Carillon sprang up; the civic centre was packed full of offices, shops and theatres. Throughout the 60s the public service became Canberra's major industry, with departments shifting to the capital from all over the country, bringing with them hordes of happy families in search of a quarter-acre block to call their own. In line with its reputation as a planned city, Canberra's growth was less than organic - rather than filling in the city centre and letting suburbs sprawl around it, the NCDC oversaw the setting up of 'satellite towns' to the north and south. Woden, to the south, was set up first, then Belconnen to the north. In the 70s they were followed by Tuggeranong, and in the 80s Gunghalin.

Since Federation the ACT had been under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, with no local government of its own. In a 1978 referendum（公民投票）Canberrans had voted no to self-government, but despite this in 1988 the Federal Government passed four bills to make the Territory self-governing and in 1989 the first Legislative Assembly was elected.

·Prague (Czech)

布拉格（捷克）

Prague (Czech)

Prague, capital of the Czech Republic and one of Europe's most beautiful cities, has finally come into full bloom. Its compact（紧凑的）medieval center remains an evocative maze of cobbled lanes, ancient courtyards, dark passages and churches beyond number（数不清的）, all watched over by an 1100-year-old castle with liveried（穿规定制服的）guards.

In counterpoint to the city's venerable past, Prague's social life is incredibly youthful, mixing young Czechs in search of urban adventure with hordes of 20-something expats in search of the romanticism of Golden Prague. Though veteran travelers complain that their secret treasure has been discovered by the world, the evening sun still shimmers across the city's domes（圆顶）and spires（尖顶）, the clatter（嘈杂的谈笑声）and chatter（喋喋不休的讲话）of Czechs enjoying an after-work drink spills from the open doors of back street pubs, and from the window of the public recreation center, Dvorak's（德沃

夏克，十九世纪下半叶捷克著名的音乐家）folksy（有民间风味的）symphonies are recounted with an out-of-tune（走调的）piano. In some ways, Prague carries on as it always has.

Prague sits amid the gentle landscapes of the Bohemian plateau（波西米亚高地）, straddling（横跨）the Vltava River （伏尔塔瓦河）, the Czech Republic's longest river. Central Prague consists of five historical towns: Hradcany, the castle district, on a hill above the west bank; Mala Strana, the 13th-century 'Little Quarter', between the river and castle; Stare Mesto, the gothic（哥特式的）'Old Town' on the Vltava's east bank; adjacent Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto（犹太人区）; and Nove Mesto or 'New Town', to the south and east of Stare Mesto.

Within these historical districts - linked by the landmark Charles Bridge（查理大桥） - are most of the city's attractions. The whole compact maze is best appreciated on foot, aided by Prague's fine public transportation system.

·Greenland (Where Santa Claus comes)

格陵兰岛（圣诞老人的故乡）

Greenland

(Where Santa Claus comes)

Santa is from Greenland, according to an edict from the 40th annual Father Christmas World Congress.

Ice and snow

Greenland offers adventures of ice and snow like nowhere else on this planet. The ice cap（冰帽）- up to three kilometers thick - covers an area 14 times the size of England, and icebergs（冰山）snap off the glaciers（冰河）at the edges of the ice cap.

You'll experience icebergs almost everywhere in Greenland. In the Disko Bay（迪斯科湾）, icebergs often rise up to 100 meters above the waterline - keep in mind that 90 percent of an iceberg is hidden below the surface of the sea. The world's most active glacier moves 25-30 meters a day and calves across a front 10 kilometers in width.

Visiting the ice cap is possible from most towns in Greenland, although it usually takes a helicopter flight or a boat trip to reach the edge of the inland ice. In Kangerlussuaq（康克鲁斯瓦格）the ice cap is only 20 kilometers away and you can hike, drive, fly or mountain bike to there - and stay overnight if you bring a tent.

Springtime is the best season for dog-sledge（狗拉雪橇）tours and skiing although Greenland also offers first class summer skiing on glaciers, and dog-sledge tours in the summer.

As a neighbour to the North Pole, Greenland has an Arctic climate, although there are great differences from north to south, and from coast to inland. Generally speaking, the climate is very dry, and as a result, temperatures feel quite different from most other places in the world. 10-15 degrees Celsius (50-60 degrees Fahrenheit) feels very warm, while minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) is equivalent to a comfortable temperature.

Outdoor life

Greenland has a potential for outdoor adventures that very few places on this planet can match. The breathtaking（惊险的）Arctic scenery is almost endless on the world's largest island, and with a total population of only 55,000 you are truly on your own as soon as you leave one of the small towns and settlements. Human civilisation is the exception in this country. The mountains, valleys, rivers and gigantic ice cap are practically virgin land（处女地）.

Hikers will experience unspoiled scenery no matter where and how. You can walk from hut to hut or - in South Greenland - from sheep croft（小农场）to sheep croft. Experienced mountain hikers will find challenges with unique awards of beauty in every part of Greenland.

Several travel agencies offer hiking tours to Greenland. Alternatively you can plan your own trip. Check out the detailed hiking maps!

In the early spring it's possible to angle the Greenlandic shark through a hole in the ice. The shark may be up to 6.5 meters long. It is also possible to join a Greenlandic fisherman to the Ilulissat（伊路利萨特）ice fjord（海湾）for two days to fish with long lines through holes in the ice.

The kayak（爱斯基摩人用的皮艇）was originally developed by hunters in Greenland, and today kayaking is experiencing a renaissance（复兴）. The fjords, straits and archipelagos（群岛）are ideal waters, and several local tourist offices have sea kayaks for rental - from just a few hours to several weeks. Your experience will most likely include icebergs, seals and whales.

Animal life

In Greenland whale watching can be enjoyed from the streets or even from your hotel room. During the late summer and early autumn whales swim close to the coast and are sometimes seen in the harbours. But of course the best way to spot these huge mammals is at sea. Whale-watching tours are offered in several towns in Greenland. When you sail along the coast on a passenger ship, the captain will often notify you when whales are close.

There are many different species of whales in Greenlandic waters including the two largest, the blue whale（蓝鲸）and the fin whale（长须鲸）. At sea you'll also see seals. An estimated two million seals live in Greenlandic waters. Walruses（海象）are primarily seen in north and east Greenland.

Your first encounter with large animals in Greenland usually takes place very soon after arrival. More than 3,000 musk oxen（麝香牛）live in the area around Kangerlussuaq Airport and some of them can be seen in the immediate surroundings. A one-hour guided tour of the area will most likely include an encounter with these large, sedate animals.

Reindeer live all over the ice-free（不冻的）parts of Greenland, and you may be lucky to see a herd. Reindeer hide is very insulating, and if you decide to go on a dog-sledge tour you will have the chance to dress in clothes made from reindeer hide.

Polar bears live predominantly in north and east Greenland but also come to south Greenland, drifting on the field ice. Encounters with polar bears are extremely rare except in north and east Greenland and no precautions are necessary outside these regions.

The northeastern part of Greenland is a protected national park. With a size larger than England and France put together, it's the largest national park in the world. Polar bears, walruses, reindeer, musk oxen and a growing stock of wolves live here along with smaller animals and many bird species.

Dog-sledge

Dog sledge driving is a total experience of speed, teamwork and grandiose（壮丽的）scenery.

The sledge feels alive under the reindeer skin, moving up and down in time with the terrain. Steam comes from the 12 baying sledge dogs. Apart from that, the silence is overwhelming, broken only when the driver gives the team a low-key order to take a left or a right. 12 perfectly swung dog's tails attest to the fact that our engine is pulling evenly on all cylinders.

Dog sledges and sledge dogs are not found throughout Greenland, only from Sisimiut and north on the West Coast and along the entire East Coast. As a tourist, dog sledge riding is best in March and April.

Dog sledge tours are offered by the local tourist offices and last from just a few hours to several weeks. The dog sledge driver is a fisherman or hunter who normally uses the sledge in this context - to transport himself to a fishing or hunting area in the winter or to carry the fish or the seals back home.

Midnight sun and northern light

Midnight sun is a state of mind. Time makes no sense in this world. You can leave your watch in your suitcase. The day has no end.

The children will rollerskate down the streets in the middle of the night - with sun in their faces. Small motorboats chug out of the harbour. Groups of people sit on the rocks here and there, enjoying the never-ending sunlight.

The midnight sun can be encountered north of the Polar Circle. In Ilulissat, for example, the sun never sets from May 25th to July 25th, and during that period "normal" calender time is virtually non-operative.

It is light around the clock. At what used to be nighttime the soft, warm light and the long shadows from the low-hanging sun bring the scenic backdrops into dreamlike and almost supernaturally beautiful relief.

The northern lights are no less impressive. White, yellow, green and red they sweep across the dark sky in a state of eternal, rapid flux. Accummulate in intensity and culminate in scenery beyond imagination.

Northern lights appear all year round in Greenland, but they can only be observed against a clear, dark night sky. They appear at a height of about 100 kilometers (65 miles) and have the shape of a flapping curtain or points radiating from a single dot.

The phenomeon is due to electrically charged particles from the sun entering the earth's athomphere and being conveyed from there by the magnetic field lines. When the particles meet the molecules in the atmosphere, the northern lights arise, their colour being determined by the nature of the molecules.

The winter darkness is the companion to the midnight sun, and equal fascinating. For weeks the sun doesn't rise above the horizon. The landscape is all white from the snow and the frozen sea. The stars, the moon and the northern lights provide the few candela neccesary to light up the snow. The world turns real and unreal like a dream.

·Miami (U.S.)

迈阿密（美国）

Miami (U.S.)

It used to be called 'God's Waiting Room'. And even today, if you mention Miami to someone who hasn't been here or read about it lately, they might conjure up（回忆）a blurry memory of octogenarians（八十多岁）mingling poolside（游泳池边）while Aunt Sadie implored them to wait half an hour after eating before going into the water. Today the old folks mingle with fashion designers, bikini（比基尼泳装）models, and a city that once had the highest murder rate in the US attracts more than 11 million tourists a year.

The Greater Miami Area, which includes Miami and Miami Beach as well as distinctive neighborhoods like Little Havana and Little Haiti, is a melting pot that America's founding fathers would be proud of. Half of Miami's population is Hispanic（美籍西班牙人）, and its immigrant communities focus on what's happening in Havana or Caracas（加拉加斯，委内瑞拉首都）as much as they follow events in Washington DC, giving the city an international outlook. For the casual visitor this means a city peppered with the flavors of Latin American food, language, music, politics and spirit.

Miami is the most populated city in Florida. It sits at the southeastern tip of the Florida, the most southeastern state of the United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the west and the neighboring states of Alabama and Georgia to the north.

Most visitors aren't here for Miami itself, but rather to visit Miami Beach, an entirely separate municipality. Miami is on the mainland, while the city of Miami Beach is on a thin barrier island about 4 miles east, across Biscayne Bay（比斯坎湾） - locals call it the Billion Dollar Sandbar（十亿美元的沙坝）. Many of the beach's locals are imports from New York, people tired of sitting through five hours of snarled traffic on their way to the Hamptons, who decided that Miami Beach made a lot more sense. They brought with them a fledgling art and culture crowd whose numbers included many younger artists.

The boundaries of 'season' in Miami - which used to be limited to winter - have been blurred by the huge number of people moving to the area and the stampede（蜂拥）of fashion and film shoots. But the most popular time to come here is still between December and May, when temperatures average between 16-30°C, and average rainfall is a scant couple of inches.

·Brasilia (Brazil)

巴西利亚（巴西）

Brasilia (Brazil)

Fifty years ago, the spot where Brasilia now stands was nothing but cerrado（塞雷多，巴西Mina 州的一个行政区）--short scrubby forest, stretching thousands of miles in every direction. That the entire city, this modernist architectural feat, was completed in the space of just 4 years is thanks to the will of one man, former president Juscelino Kubitschek. JK was elected president in 1956 on the promise that he'd move the capital inland from Rio de Janeiro（里约热内卢）. Other politicians had made similar promises to no avail（完全无用）; the capital had even been mandated in Article 3 of the constitution of the first Brazilian republic. But few expected JK to successfully see it through.

The site, on Brazil's high interior plateau（高原）, was close to rivers and had a temperate climate. But it was literally in the middle of nowhere--over 360 miles from the nearest paved road, 75 miles from the nearest railroad, and some 115 miles from the nearest airport. JK pressed ahead, and held a competition for city plans. The winning design for the master plan was submitted by a Rio architect named Lucio Costa.

Costa's plan incorporated some curious ideas. In a country with no auto industry, the capital was designed almost exclusively for car use. Activities like shopping, banking, even living were segregated in discrete lumps. But viewed from high above the city grid looked bold and monumental--shaped like an airplane in flight, or an arrow shooting forward into the future.

Groundbreaking（奠基）began in 1957. Thousands of workers poured in from around the country. Living conditions were frightful. But by April 21, 1960, there was something that resembled a city enough for the grand inauguration to be held. Politicians and bureaucrats began to make the long shift inland.

In years since, Brasilia has been a source of some controversy. For the world of urban design it embodies the limitations of rational planning; the carefully designated use zones now feel stifling, ill-equipped to address the complexity of a true city. Some Brazilians have suggested that the money borrowed to build the new capital planted the seed for the debt crisis of the early 1980s. But its status as the federal capital is secure; if nothing else, Brasilia certainly succeeded in moving the country's focus from the coast to the vast interior.

For visitors, the attractions here are purely architectural. The city was meant to be a showcase for the country. Brazil's best designers, architects, and artists were commissioned to create the buildings and make them beautiful. A visit to Brasilia is a chance to see and judge on their success.

·Brussels (Belgium)

布鲁塞尔（比利时）

Brussels (Belgium)

There's much more to Brussels than beer, chocolate and chips. Brussels is a stylish city where business-suited Eurocrats（欧洲共同市场的官员）hope to build continental unity in one of Europe's only bilingual capital cities. Its millenniums-old tradition of pragmatic mercantilism and international relations is symbolized by grand halls, fabulous architecture and Pis Mannekin（尿童于连塑像）, the sculpture of a little boy urinating that has become the city's beloved symbol. This inland capital city of Belgium, bordered by The Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg（卢森堡）and France, it is a multi-cultural and multi-lingual city at the very heart of Europe. Indeed, it claims with some justification to be the 'Capital of Europe'.

Brussels was already a thriving trade centre by the Middle Ages. The Bruxellois（布鲁塞尔人） have inherited the wisdom of ancestors who lived under Roman, Spanish, Austrian, French, Dutch and German domination - their country winning independence only in 1830. Today, Brussels boasts a highly skilled and adaptable workforce. Despite the population of Belgium numbering only 10.2 million, with Brussels itself just some 970,000-strong, the Bruxellois have the ability to compensate for their small numbers with skilled diplomacy, compromise and negotiation. These striking traits are followed closely by a highly intellectual and off-beat（不寻常的）sense of humour, underpinned（加强）by a strong sense of the bizarre. This may help explain why the Surrealist art movement（超现实主义艺术运动）, pioneered by René Magritte, took off in Brussels. A playful and irreverent reaction to life is also revealed in the Belgian love affair with the comic strip（连环画）, popularised worldwide with Hergé's boy hero, Tintin.

Language is a complex and serious issue in bilingual (French and Flemish) Brussels, as well as being a focus of communal tensions. Some 85% of native Bruxellois speak French as their first language. Ironically, Brussels is also capital of Flemish-speaking Flanders. However, the fierce linguistic debate takes a lighter form, with constant puns（双关语）and word games forming a complex web. For instance, while a top-notch restaurant is called Comme Chez Soi (Just Like Home), a less prestigious establishment calls itself Comme Chez Moi (Just Like My Home), with more than a twist of irony.

Yet the image of the city suffers abroad, due to its very diversity, as well as the self-effacing nature of its quirky inhabitants, too modest to blow their own trumpet. Brussels has no symbol to rival the skyscraping Eiffel Tower, aside from the tiny but famed Manneken-Pis, a statuette of a urinating boy.

The first visit to Brussels, uncoloured by expectations, is therefore all the more rewarding. Narrow cobbled streets open suddenly into the breathtaking Grand-Place, with its ornate guild houses, impressive Town Hall and buzzing atmosphere. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful square in the whole of Europe. Bars, restaurants and museums are clustered within the compact city centre, enclosed within the petit ring, which follows the path of the 14th-century city walls. The medieval city is clearly defined by its narrow, labyrinthine streets, making it easy to distinguish the later additions, such as Léopold II's Parisian-style boulevards - Belliard and La Loi - today lined with embassies, banks and the grand apartments of the bourgeoisie（中产阶级）and close to the glitzy new EU quarter. The working class still congregate in the Marolles district, although this area is on the up-and-up.

With a pleasant temperate climate - warm summers and mild winters - and a host of sights and delights to entertain, Brussels offers far more than just beer and chocolate . The year 2003 marked the city's celebration of its cultural diversity - from its rich architecture to native hero and lyrical singer Jacques Brel - through a series of cultural events, festivals and restoration schemes.

·Warsaw (Poland)

华沙（波兰）

Warsaw (Poland)

Don't be disheartened（沮丧）when you arrive in Warsaw and you discover it is not an Eastern European paradise. The city is really a big accident. Giant glass skyscrapers dominate the center, whilst（同时）ugly communist Lego-construction style tower blocks are omnipresent（无处不在）. The city was levelled（夷平）by the Germans in World War II and has been completely rebuilt in tasteless communist grey.

Since 1989 the capitalists rebuilt the centre with barely more finesse, preferring to use glass and plastic. There are hardly any historic buildings, although the old town is an exact reconstruction of pre-war Warsaw, and the Russians built the Palace of Culture with German money intended as reparations（赔款）for war crimes. Poles（波兰人）are divided about the fate of this building, half of whom would like to knock it down, and the other half preferring to keep it as a focal point of Warsaw and a living part of Polish history.

All this architectural gloominess should not deter you from enjoying your visit. Warsaw is actually a great place for a short or medium term visit. The Poles love to party, especially the younger crowd, although the older ones will join in too if there is a genuine reason for the celebration. You'll find a plethora（过多）of bars and restaurants to indulge yourself in. There are a few local guides you can buy at the airport, big hotels and big newsagents, which will point you in the right direction. In addition to the bars and restaurants, there are a few sights you should see.

Once you have been in town for a few days and begin to recognize the buildings, visit a museum of Warsaw History in the Old Town Square - Rynek - and you'll see the same buildings but in a pre-capitalist Warsaw where advertising was illegal. The difference is startling. Until now the Poles have tried to hide the Jewish Ghetto: an area that was walled off to contain the Jews in World War II. Reminders are beginning to spring up, and a huge museum to this event will be constructed in 2003. And if you are interested in where real Poles live, you can take a trip to Ursynow and see a typical bland Warsaw landscape.

The cost-conscious visitor may have a nasty surprise after visiting other cities in Eastern Europe. Warsaw is relatively expensive, lining up with Western European cities. There does not seem to be any logic behind this anomaly（异常）. Far more tourists visit Prague every year, but it is much cheaper. It seems only to be the sheer size of the Polish population attracting foreign businesses and their money.

One interesting contrast in Warsaw is the difference between rich and poor. Being the capital city, it attracts both the elite（精英）and the desperate. You can walk across the road from the train station where alcoholics wander aimlessly to the Marriott hotel where businessmen wine and dine their coquettish girlfriends. There's no need to be afraid of visiting the train station: it looks far worse than it is, and is used frequently by the majority of the population.

Another interesting contrast is between the women and the men. The women are extremely fashion conscious, and no matter which style they dress in, it is always provocative. The men on the other hand are either mostly skin heads or dress very conservatively, preferring to spend their money on material possessions. There are of course also the nouveaux-riches（暴发户）who dress more or less as they might do in any other city in the world.

You either love Warsaw or you hate it. Most people who love it are men, mainly because they end up getting married to beautiful Polish women, but there is plenty for ladies to enjoy in this city too, so long as they are not desperately looking for a husband. Most people stay about a week, which gives ample time to take in the local atmosphere.

·Brisbane (Australia)

布里斯班（澳大利亚）

Brisbane (Australia)

Brisbane is Australia's third largest city and the state capital of Queensland（昆士兰州）. Not so long ago, the rest of Australia considered it little more than an overgrown country town, but it has shirked off this unwelcome reputation to become one of the country's most progressive centres. Since playing host to a string of major international events in the '80s, including the 1982 Commonwealth Games（英联邦运动会）and Expo '88（1988年世界博览会）, Brisbane has developed into a lively, cosmopolitan city with several interesting districts, a good street cafe scene, a great riverside park, a busy cultural calendar and decent nightlife.

Queensland's growing tourism industry has brought an influx of visitors to the capital, and with its near-perfect climate year-round, Brisbane comes as a pleasant surprise to most visitors. The city is also surrounded by some of the state's major tourist destinations, and there are plenty of options for daytrips.

Located in the southeastern corner of Queensland, Brisbane is a river city, situated 25km upstream from the mouth of the Brisbane River. The compact city centre is built along and between the looping（多圈的）meanders（曲流）of the river, making it easy to explore on foot.

Brisbane has plenty of backpackers'（背包客）hostels and there are also quite a few well-priced hotels, motels and self-contained apartments within a few blocks of the city centre. Most of the action, however, happens in the inner suburbs. Brisbane's restaurant and cafe scene has blossomed in recent years and you'll find there's no shortage of good eateries（餐馆）. Many of these places have taken advantage of the balmy climate and provide outdoor eating areas.

Brisbane was established when Sydney and the colony of New South Wales needed a better place to store its more recalcitrant 'cons'（反抗者）. The tropical country further north seemed a good place to put them and in 1824 a penal settlement was established at Redcliffe Point（红岩石岬）on Moreton Bay（摩顿海湾）. This location was soon abandoned in favour of the riverside site to the south where Brisbane's business district now stands. The penal settlement was abandoned in 1839 and the area was thrown open to free settlers in 1842. As Queensland's huge agricultural and mineral resources were developed, Brisbane grew into a prosperous city, and in 1859 the state of Queensland separated from the colony of New South Wales, and Brisbane was declared its capital.

Queensland's early white settlers indulged in one of the greatest land grabs of all time and encountered fierce Aboriginal opposition. At the time of white settlement, Queensland was the most densely populated area of Australia, supporting over 100,000 Aboriginal people in around 200 tribal groups - it is probable that Aboriginal people had been in the country for at least 50,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. For much of the 19th century, what amounted to a guerrilla war took place along the frontiers of the white advance. By the turn of the century, the Aboriginal people of Queensland had been comprehensively run off their lands, and the white authorities had set up reserves for the survivors. In the 1980s control of the reserves was handed over to the residents, subject to rights of access for prospecting（探矿）, exploration or mining.

By the 1860s Brisbane had shed（摆脱）its convict background and developed into a handsome provincial centre, although it wasn't until the 1880s that the central business district was transformed by the construction of many fine public and commercial buildings. Despite a country-wide climate of jingoism and giving it all for the motherland, WWI saw Queensland vote in an anti-conscription Labor government. Labor hung on to government until 1957, introducing a series of social and industrial reforms including compulsory voting and workers' compensation.

During WWII, large areas of the state were transformed into military camps, with thousands of Americans being garrisoned（驻守）throughout Queensland as Australia and the USA fought against Japan throughout the Pacific. The war resulted in Australia shifting its allegiance from the UK to the USA, as the north of the country, in particular, realised how vulnerable it was to invasion. In the post-war years Queensland shifted from a rural to an industrial economy and Labor was replaced by a conservative Liberal-Country Party coalition.

Brisbane's more recent history is dominated by the right-wing Joh Bjelke-Peterson regime which lasted from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, thanks to a bit of sleight-of-hand with electoral boundaries. Queensland suffered a government which was at odds with（和……不一致）the rest of the country in matters such as human rights, rainforest conservation, Aboriginal land rights and even the availability of condoms. Corruption was rife and since the defeat of the National Party in 1989, it seems everyone from the former Commissioner of Police to Joh himself has appeared in court on charges relating to some sort of shady deal.

Brisbane's rapid economic growth, its favourable climate and Joh's 1977 decision to abolish death duties have all attracted a massive wave of internal migration. Since 1980 over half a million Australians from other states have packed up and moved to Queensland.

·Detroit (U.S.)

底特律（美国）

Detroit (U.S.)

Since its 1950s heyday（全盛期）when Detroit was home to more than 2 million residents, the city has suffered some hard times. The city has been considered a national symbol of urban decay, the center of the so-called Rust Belt; its population has slipped to around a million.

But thanks to the car industry boom of the mid-1990s, Detroit is now staging a steady comeback（恢复）. It's not a Chicago or even a Cleveland, but the Motor City is culturally rich. Detroit's population is 80% black, making it a national center for African American culture. One of the most famous attractions is the city's Motown Museum（摩城博物馆）where Stevie Wonder first played, and it's worth your while to spend an evening at one of the many music clubs scattered throughout the city.

Detroit is situated in the flat plains of southeast Michigan, located strategically on the Detroit River immediately north of Windsor, Canada - one of very few places where a Canadian city is south of its US neighbor. Not surprisingly, Detroit serves as a major gateway（通路）to the Great White North. It also holds the distinction of being the largest metro area on any international border in the world.

Detroit's downtown is dominated by the Renaissance Center （文艺复兴中心）, seven huge circular glass towers along the Detroit River. The RenCen is surrounded by revitalized historic neighborhoods such as Greektown, all connected via an elevated train（轻轨）called the People Mover. Woodward Ave, the city's lifeline, runs north and south and was the first paved concrete highway in the country.

Lots of people know that Cadillacs（卡迪拉克，通用汽车公司生 产的一款汽车）come from Detroit. But what they probably don't know is that Detroit came from a Cadillac（卡迪拉克，北美州法国总督、底特律

市的创立人）. Enterprising French trader and explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac stumbled upon what is now Detroit in 1701, figuring it would make a good base from which to send furs to Canada. Cadillac named his new find Ville d'Etroit (City of the Strait) because the Detroit River connects Lake St Clair with Lake Erie, and from that point on the town grew steadily, using its river as an economic channel to the world.

Detroit might have remained little more than a stomping（践踏）ground for trader types had it not been for an ambitious industrialist named Henry Ford. Born on a farm in nearby Dearborn（迪尔伯恩

，美国一城市）, Ford left for Detroit to establish the Ford Motor Company in 1903. Within five years he was mass producing cars and perfecting the assembly line（装配线）. The assembly line inspired another Detroit innovation known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), who kicked off the industrial union movement from the 'Motor City.' Driven by the automobile's success, Detroit was the first city to have a paved concrete road (in 1909), the first to install a traffic light (in 1915) and the USA's first to have an urban freeway（高速公路）(in 1942).

Pre-car, Detroit was an important station along the Underground Railroad, a network of escape routes used by abolitionists and African-American slaves who traveled from America's southern states, through the US north and into Canada. Said to have been in place as early as the colonial period, the height of Underground Railroad activity was between 1830 and 1865. Detroit was a major escape route because of its proximity（接近）to the Canadian border. The new arrivals brought with them the beginnings of jazz and blues music. From the late 1800s on, African-American musicians played an important role in Detroit's entertainment scene, and the city was the first to have an integrated musicians' union. Mississippi transplant John Lee Hooker recorded his first blues hits here in the 1940s. Hooker and his peers paved the way for Motown - the biggest American music phenomenon of this century and African-American Detroit's ticket to the big leagues.

But Detroit's prominence on the world music stage didn't prevent the city from imploding（爆聚）. While everyone was dancing in the streets, businesses - following Ford's earlier lead - started fleeing for the suburbs, and middle-class whites followed in painful numbers. Detroit lost nearly a million residents between the 1950s and 1980s and, as the auto industry downturned, hyper unemployment（过度失业）set in, disproportionately affecting African-American men. Along the way（此后）, bloody race riots（种族暴乱）in 1967 and a cruel recession（不景气）during the 1970s were just a few of the nails in the coffin. Today, downtown is quiet, boarded up, desolate in some areas and economically segregated, leaving Detroit with one of the worst reputations for violence, crime and decay. Not all of Detroit is depressing, though, and currently the local economy is on an upswing（高涨）and unemployment is down. The city's rich history, riverfront locale and considerable dedication to rejuvenation will really take hold of you, if given the chance.

·Manila (Philippines)

马尼拉（菲律宾）

Manila (Philippines)

Many people dismiss Manila as nothing more than a 12 million person-strong entry point to more interesting rural destinations in the Philippines. And while the less built-up areas of the country do offer much to the adventurous traveller, those who stop to smell the incense and pollution find that the capital city has a few hidden treasures of its own. Manila is a modern-looking place, but the sprawling city boasts its fair share of colonial ruins - enough to keep those historically inclined amused for a while, anyway.

If you're looking for a good time, Manila could be just the ticket: bars and entertainment venues will keep you well fed, well greased and in the party mood for months on end（连续的）. There is a high-profile tacky downside to the flashing neon, but there are plenty of options open to you even if you don't want nude dancers on your table. If you make it back to your room at night after all the fun and frolics（嬉戏）, you're likely to perform an exhausted manila-folder flop.

Manila, like most of the world's large cities, suffers from a huge and problematic urban sprawl（蔓延）. Typically, urban sprawl also creates nightmares for travellers, although the main points of interest to visitors are centralised, making suburban navigation unnecessary. Manila sprawls east from Manila Bay along the Pasig River, and immediately south of the river is Intramuros, the old walled Spanish town where many of the city's historical sites are found. Further south again and you'll find yourself in the 'tourist belt' of the Malate and Ermita districts, where you'll find restaurants, accommodation and travel agencies.

Arriving in Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport is about as far as you'll ever get from a streamlined process. Poor signage（标志牌）, crowds and an illogical layout all contribute to the chaos, but if you're confused, you won't be alone. Once you finally make your way to the street, things begin to look up. The airport, only about 8km south of the centre of Manila, is well served by buses and taxis.

With maximum temperatures hovering above 30°C , Manila isn't the place to go to cool off. There are two seasons: the dry season lasts from December to May; the rest of the year is sodden with heavy rain. From June to November you might find yourself in a typhoon. The best time to visit Manila and surrounds is February to April.

·Las Vegas (U.S.)

拉斯维加斯（美国）

Las Vegas (U.S.)

Las Vegas is in the southern part of the state of Nevada, about 50 miles east of the California border and 30 miles west of the Arizona border. The city is divided into two main parts: a compact downtown called Glitter Gulch and the Strip, a corridor of hotels and casinos（娱乐场，赌场）.

The only natural feature to account for the location of Las Vegas is a spring north of downtown. Once used by Paiute Indians on their seasonal visits to the area, it was re-discovered by Mexican scout Rafael Rivera in 1829. The area became known to overland travelers as las vegas - 'the meadows' - a place with reliable water and feed for horses. Las Vegas became a regular stop on the southern emigrant route to California, the Spanish Trail. In the 1850s, Mormons（摩门教徒） built the town's first structures, a small mission（教堂） and fort（堡垒）; the fort became a ranch house（低矮的平房）, but there was little development until 1902, when much of the land was sold to a railroad company. The area that is now downtown was subdivided when the tracks came through, with 1200 lots sold on 15 May 1905 alone - a date now celebrated as the city's birthday.

As a railroad town, Las Vegas had machine shops, a good number of hotels, saloons and gambling houses. The railroad laid off（解雇） hundreds in the mid 1920s, but one Depression-era development gave the city a new life. The huge Hoover Dam（胡佛水坝）project commenced in 1931, providing jobs and growth in the short term and water and power for the city's long-term growth.

Also in 1931, Nevada legalized gambling and simplified its divorce laws, paving the way for the first big casino, El Rancho, which was built by Los Angeles developers and opened in 1941. The next wave of investors, also from out of town（乡下）, were mobsters like Bugsy Siegel, who built the Flamingo in 1946 and set the tone for the new casinos - big and flashy, with lavish entertainment laid on to attract high rollers（挥金如土的人）.

The glitter that brought in the high rollers also attracted smaller spenders, but in larger numbers. Southern California provided a growing market for Las Vegas entertainment, and improvements in transport made it accessible to the rest of the country. Thanks to air conditioning and reliable water supplies, Vegas became one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. In recent years, Vegas has bent over backwards（尽最大的力量） to remake itself into a family resort destination, building theme parks （主题公园）inside its hotels. Hotels have outdone each other with working volcanoes, million-gallon fishtanks and miniature Manhattans. All of which - along with dozens of artificial lakes in the suburbs - has put a huge strain on the city's water supply, but it hasn't slowed the development juggernaut（不可抗拒的力量）.

Today Las Vegas boasts 19 of the world's 20 largest hotels, attracts 33 million visitors per year, earns over US$5.25 billion in annual gaming revenue, and marries over 100,000 people each year. There are other cities witih terrific entertainment and gaming opportunities, but there is no place in the world like Las Vegas, and no city even pretending to be.

·Birmingham (UK)

伯明翰（英国）

Birmingham (UK)

Surrounded by sprawling motorways, bisected by canals and punctuated by modern shopping centres, Birmingham can seem like a concrete maze（迷宫）. Best to set your bearings on the massive Council House, one of the few 19th-century buildings spared by World War Two, which has a domed facade overlooking the pedestrian precinct（区域） in the heart of town. This precinct comprises Victoria and Chamberlain Squares, which boast the most attractive architecture in the city. West of here are Centenary Square, the International Convention Centre and Symphony Hall. Also to the west are the trendy bars and cafes. To the northwest is the colourful Jewellery Quarter. Southeast of the pedestrian area are the Pallasades and Pavilions shopping centres and the City Plaza.

Birmingham doesn't have a peak season as such. The main theatres shut for the summer, but all other attractions remain open. Large conventions and exhibitions run year-round, and accommodation can be harder to find at these times. As a rule if you go between May and September you're more likely to get blue skies than during the colder winter months, but, as any Anglophile（亲英派） knows, the heavens could open at any time.

It's hard to believe that the sprawling Birmingham we know today used to be nought but a small market town. The first rumblings（隆隆声） of its industrial future came in the 16th century when local metal workers gained a national reputation, but it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that Birmingham hit the big time. Luminaries of that age include Matthew Boulton and James Watt, who built the first steam engine in Handsworth in 1775; William Murdock, who invented gas lighting（煤气灯）; printer John Baskerville and chemist Joseph Priestley. As the local coal and iron trade boomed and jewellery became an important industry, a massive system of canals was built to cope with the traffic.

The enormous growth of the 18th and 19th centuries led to grotty（差劲的；恶劣的） housing conditions. Joseph Chamberlain (1869-1940) introduced civic improvements during his time as mayor and in 1911 the city's boundaries were enlarged to make it the second largest in England.

Unfortunately WWII bombs destroyed much of Chamberlain's good work and attractive buildings were replaced by some of the eyesores（废墟） for which contemporary Birmingham is known.

The 21st century sees a Birmingham whose industries are at the mercy of a strong British pound and faltering foreign investment. It's still a successful conference city, with the NEC (National Exhibition Centre), ICC (International Convention Centre) and NIA (National Indoor Arena) continuing to host high profile events. The city even put in a bid to host the national stadium but lost out to Wembley, only to see those plans buried under escalating costs. Like much of the rest of the country, tourism in the Midlands suffered with the crisis over spiralling petrol prices, extensive flooding, and then the foot and mouth epidemic, which allegedly cost Birmingham and the surrounding area ￡10 million a week at its height.

Birmingham refuses to be beaten. New construction work is still going ahead and multi-million-pound regeneration（重建） schemes are giving the city a much-needed makeover（翻新）. Clubbers give the nightlife a thumbs-up and the cultural scene is undeniably happening. It may still be overshadowed（失色） by cities like Manchester and of course the capital, but Birmingham is determined to compete.

·Vancouver (Canada)

温哥华（加拿大）

Vancouver (Canada)

Even after a hard night, you won't catch Vancouver needing make-up. Blessed from birth with perfect bone structure, the city has a photogenic（易上镜的） facade and effortless chic that are often compared to San Francisco's. Nestled（位于，坐落） snugly between mountains and sea, it lies on a strip of land bounded on the north by Burrard Inlet（贝立德湾） and on the south by Fraser River（费瑟河）.

But Vancouver has more to offer than just its postcard good looks. Certainly one of the most cosmopolitan cities in North America, it is still a city of new immigrants - wander the streets and you'll hear a dozen different languages. The city also attracts young professionals and artists from the eastern provinces who come here to enjoy the city's recreation and laid-back sophistication.

If there's a drawback（缺点） to this place 'where everyone would want to live', it's the rain - particularly in winter, when it rarely stops. Even in summer, a soggy（闷热的） spell can last for weeks. But when the sun shines gloriously and the mountains reappear, all seems to be forgiven.

Vancouver lies in the southwestern corner of British Columbia, the southwesternmost province in Canada. It's on the Pacific coast, backed by the Coast Mountains and fronting Vancouver Island across Georgia Strait. The city is 40km north of the US border, 73km north of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, and 189km north of Seattle. Downtown and the major neighborhoods are on a small peninsula, surrounded by English Bay on the west and the Burrard Inlet on the east. To the north of Burrard Inlet lie West and North Vancouver and the Coast Mountains. Bays, inlets and river branches, as well as the Pacific coastline, are major features of the city.

The downtown peninsula is separated from the southern section of the city by the narrow inlet of False Creek. The center of downtown is Pacific Centre, a three-block complex of offices, restaurants, shops and theaters at the corner of Robson and Howe Sts. Robson and Georgia St are the two principal northwest-southeast streets. Both run into Stanley Park, the city's largest park, which occupies the tip of the peninsula. Chinatown, the West Side and other major neighborhoods are within walking distance of downtown.

The best time to visit is from early June to early October, when there's less rain, temperatures are warm, daylight hours are long and the transportation routes are open. Spring and autumn are good times for whale-watching. The winter ski season peaks in January and February, but at resorts like Whistler the slopes are open year-round.

Just about any month you visit Vancouver there will be a festival of some sort taking place. The city kicks off（开始） the year with an icy dip in English Bay called the Polar Bear Swim, a New Year's Day event since 1819. The city's thriving Chinatown is the center of mid-February's Chinese New Year celebrations, which feature dancing dragons, parades and the constant crackle of firecrackers. June heats up with the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. On July 1 are the Canada Day Celebrations. Mid-July's Vancouver Folk Music Festival is three days of concerts and workshops with some of North America's best musicians. There's also Dancing on the Edge, Theatre Under the Stars, Vancouver International Comedy Festival and the highly regarded Vancouver Chamber Music（室内乐） Festival.

·Casablanca (Morocco)

卡萨布兰卡（摩洛哥）

Casablanca (Morocco)

If the Hollywood image of 'Casablanca' is important to you, prepare for a shock from Casablanca. The city is further away from Oriental romanticism than any other in Morocco, and Casablanca is a modern city - and beautiful in its own respect.

The centre of Casablanca is fairly impressive. It's brand modern, with big, lively boulevards, high, white, well-kept buildings. And it's clean and efficient. People visiting Casablanca as their first city, could easily end up hating this place: There are few things here confirming the newcomers conception on the Orient. But for people having visited other parts of Morocco first, Casablanca is good! The city is modern in a Moroccan way, and an excellent example of Moroccans capacity of taking charge of the future of their country.

But as soon as you step out of the impressive centre of town, dark clouds cover the realities of people here. Extreme poverty and prostitution only to be matched by Tangier （丹吉尔，摩洛哥北部港市） is what you'll find without even looking for it. No other place in the country displays bigger differences between the haves and the have-nots.

If anything in Casablanca should fit the Casablanca of Bergman and Bogart（影片《北非碟影》中的女主角英 格丽·褒曼和男主角亨弗瑞·包嘉）, it should be the old city. It's small, consisting mainly of smaller houses, which all seem to be from this century, and the alleyways（小巷） dominating in other old cities, are rarely found here. There is a good market here, but look around before you buy, shop keepers here know their skills. Some thousand people live here, and in one or two spots, true beauty occurs.

Wide boulevards

Among the most visible aspects of Casablanca are the wide boulevards flanked by white, tall buildings. The streets run out as the leaves of a fan from the Place de Nations Unies. This place is the focal point of downtown Casablanca, and also the point where the modern town meets the medina.

Colony white

A walk around Casablanca will demonstrate clearly that Casablanca was the place that the French colonial authorities gave most attention. The old colonial centre of Casablanca is not small, and refreshingly beautiful. The buildings are of a French version of Arabo-Andalucian architecture, white with soft lines, and often plenty of details.

Corners do often give away the best examples, and happily, the buildings are most of the time in very good condition. The area to explore is south of Avenue des Forces Arms Royales, but of special interest is the Place des Nations Unies, which has the largest structures. Further east and south buildings are less impressive, but equally interesting.

Shopping

Casablanca isn't really the place to go searching from shop to shop. The city has a laidback feeling to shopping, especially if you step out from the market zone of the medina. The commercial areas reminds you principally of Europe's.

But money isn't a problem. Casablanca is one of the better places in all of Morocco to pick up something nice and different.

Old city

The old city of Casablanca is conveniently located - just off the main town square from where all avenues radiate, and near the sea. But as you enter, you will see that it is not all that old after all, that the houses here often have a form and size which would have made them natural elements in the "new" parts of many other Moroccan cities.

But still, it is very nice, even if it is surprisingly small. The best parts of the old city is made up of shopping areas, where all types of products are sold, and you should not either miss out on the less visited quarters - the areas where people live - where colours and shapes and curves brings you far away from elegance of downtown Casablanca.

 

·Rome (Italy)

罗马（意大利）

Rome (Italy)

There's no escaping it: Rome means history. There are layers of the stuff - Etruscan（伊特鲁里亚的） tombs, Republican meeting rooms, Imperial temples, early Christian churches, medieval bell towers, Renaissance（文艺复兴） palaces and baroque basilicas（长方形基督教堂）. In this city a phenomenal concentration of history, legend and monuments coexists（共存） with an equally phenomenal concentration of people busily going about their everyday life. It's hard to say what you'll find most breathtaking（惊人的） about the eternal city - the arrogant opulence of the Vatican（梵蒂冈）or the timelessness（永恒） of the Forum（古罗马广场）.

Rome is halfway down Italy's western coast, about 20km inland. It's a vast city, but the historic centre is quite small. Most of the major sights are within a reasonable distance of the central railway station. It is, for instance, possible to walk from the Colosseum（罗马圆形大剧场）, through the Forum, up to Piazza di Spagna（西班牙广场） and across to the Vatican in one day, but you wouldn't really want to. All the major monuments are west of the train station, but make sure you use a map. While it can be enjoyable to get off the beaten track（平坦的路） in Rome, it can also be very frustrating and time-consuming.

Most of the budget（便宜的） places to stay are clustered around Stazione Termini; this area is rife with pickpockets（扒手） and gangs of thieving children, so beware - do your best to look like you know where you're going. It is only slightly more expensive and definitely more enjoyable to stay closer to the city centre.

Rome's mild climate makes it visitable year-round; however, spring and autumn are without doubt the best times to visit, with generally sunny skies and mild temperatures. Unfortunately, these times are also the peak tourist season, when the tour buses pour in（川流不息的涌入） and tourists are herded around like cattle. July and August are unpleasantly hot, and Romans traditionally desert the stiflingly hot city in August, with many businesses closing; try to avoid visiting at this time. From December to February there is briskly cold weather, although it's rarely grey and gloomy.

Events-wise, Italy's calendar bursts year-round with cultural events ranging from colourful traditional celebrations with a religious and traditional flavour, through to cultural events. Summer is definitely the best time to visit if you want to catch the best of the festivals; however, the Romaeuropa festival is now a feature of the autumn calendar, the Roma opera season runs from December until June and the classical and contemporary music scene is lively all year round.

Havana (Cuba)

Havana, the capital city, can veer between inspiring and depressing. The inspiration comes from Havana's people, whose friendliness and hospitality seem boundless. But Old Havana is falling apart, and attempts at putting it back together have quite a ways to go. To walk its narrow cobblestone（鹅卵石） streets is to encounter sections that occasionally resemble earthquake zones. The government can't afford paint that resists salt air, so the color peels off the exteriors（表面）. For many buildings, maintenance is long overdue: Sagging balconies are supported by planks, and the facades of once-beautiful buildings are etched by huge cracks.

Old Havana is still very interesting, however. Dilapidated as they are, the buildings really conjure up（回忆起） the earlier times. It has an authenticity that is missing in some other countries' overly refurbished historic districts, which can seem more like living museums than neighborhoods. In the past few years, renovation has accelerated, at least in the streets that tourists see, with construction crews working on entire blocks at a time. But buildings that can't bring in tourist dollars as hotels, restaurants, shops or museums are left to crumble. In the Central area of Havana, very little work has been started yet. One of the areas under renovation that's generated the most interest is Plaza Vieja, which is lined with colonial baroque mansions that will be converted into galleries, little museums and boutique hotels.

While most of the details on the art-deco buildings lining the streets are crumbling away, the Spanish colonial structures are well preserved. Be sure to see the Museum of the City of Havana, the Cathedral de San Cristobal de la Habana and Castillo de la Fuerza.

You'll also run across a few Hemingway haunts in Old Havana, including La Floridita and La Bodeguita del Medio, two of Papa's watering holes. Be sure to take a look at some of the photos that line the walls of La Bodeguita del Medio: You'll recognize many celebrities of yesteryear（不久以前）, including Nat King Cole, Errol Flynn and Frank Sinatra. You'll also notice photos of Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Redford and other recent visitors.

Across the harbor from Old Havana is El Morro Castle and La Cabana Fort.

Central Havana, labeled Centro on maps, has little of interest to tourists, but Vedado, a modern area, has tourist hotels, nightclubs and the fascinating Columbus Cemetery, where the headstones and monuments are reminiscent of those in New Orleans.

Do take the time to walk along Avenida de Malecon, the road that winds along the city's extensive waterfront（滨水地区）. If the sea is up, you'll see groups of kids playing in the waves that splash against the seawall（海堤）. It makes a great picture. A visit to the waterfront is best undertaken during the daylight hours, however. For a tour of a cigar factory, go to the Fabrica Partagas in Havana.

Sites relating to the struggles of socialism are spread throughout the city. They include the Museum of the Revolution, located in the former Presidential Palace, and the motor launch Granma, on which Castro returned to Cuba in 1956 to renew his revolutionary fight.

At night, take in the glitzy show at the open-air Tropicana Club, seemingly unchanged since its opening in 1939. Rain can cancel the show, so keep an eye on the weather. Tickets, which include bus service, can be purchased at the better hotels.

 

·Havana (Cuba)

哈瓦那（古巴）

Havana (Cuba)

Havana, the capital city, can veer between inspiring and depressing. The inspiration comes from Havana's people, whose friendliness and hospitality seem boundless. But Old Havana is falling apart, and attempts at putting it back together have quite a ways to go. To walk its narrow cobblestone（鹅卵石） streets is to encounter sections that occasionally resemble earthquake zones. The government can't afford paint that resists salt air, so the color peels off the exteriors（表面）. For many buildings, maintenance is long overdue: Sagging balconies are supported by planks, and the facades of once-beautiful buildings are etched by huge cracks.

Old Havana is still very interesting, however. Dilapidated as they are, the buildings really conjure up（回忆起） the earlier times. It has an authenticity that is missing in some other countries' overly refurbished historic districts, which can seem more like living museums than neighborhoods. In the past few years, renovation has accelerated, at least in the streets that tourists see, with construction crews working on entire blocks at a time. But buildings that can't bring in tourist dollars as hotels, restaurants, shops or museums are left to crumble. In the Central area of Havana, very little work has been started yet. One of the areas under renovation that's generated the most interest is Plaza Vieja, which is lined with colonial baroque mansions that will be converted into galleries, little museums and boutique hotels.

While most of the details on the art-deco buildings lining the streets are crumbling away, the Spanish colonial structures are well preserved. Be sure to see the Museum of the City of Havana, the Cathedral de San Cristobal de la Habana and Castillo de la Fuerza.

You'll also run across a few Hemingway haunts in Old Havana, including La Floridita and La Bodeguita del Medio, two of Papa's watering holes. Be sure to take a look at some of the photos that line the walls of La Bodeguita del Medio: You'll recognize many celebrities of yesteryear（不久以前）, including Nat King Cole, Errol Flynn and Frank Sinatra. You'll also notice photos of Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Redford and other recent visitors.

Across the harbor from Old Havana is El Morro Castle and La Cabana Fort.

Central Havana, labeled Centro on maps, has little of interest to tourists, but Vedado, a modern area, has tourist hotels, nightclubs and the fascinating Columbus Cemetery, where the headstones and monuments are reminiscent of those in New Orleans.

Do take the time to walk along Avenida de Malecon, the road that winds along the city's extensive waterfront（滨水地区）. If the sea is up, you'll see groups of kids playing in the waves that splash against the seawall（海堤）. It makes a great picture. A visit to the waterfront is best undertaken during the daylight hours, however. For a tour of a cigar factory, go to the Fabrica Partagas in Havana.

Sites relating to the struggles of socialism are spread throughout the city. They include the Museum of the Revolution, located in the former Presidential Palace, and the motor launch Granma, on which Castro returned to Cuba in 1956 to renew his revolutionary fight.

At night, take in the glitzy show at the open-air Tropicana Club, seemingly unchanged since its opening in 1939. Rain can cancel the show, so keep an eye on the weather. Tickets, which include bus service, can be purchased at the better hotels.

·Seattle (U.S.)

西雅图（美国）

Seattle (U.S.)

Ever wondered whether caffeine is a viable substitute for sunshine? If so, Seattle is your kind of town. More than any other city in the region, Seattle epitomizes（浓缩） what people know of the Pacific Northwest. Nevermind that its sunshiny days can be suicidally few - its residents are among the nation's most outgoing and outdoorsy（爱好野外活动的）. Sure, it had everybody wearing flannel （法兰绒）shirts and whistling Nirvana for a while, but consider also the good things it's given us: the city's chilly mornings had the espresso（浓咖啡） generation brewing long before Starbucks sold its first cup. If you're looking for lifestyle, Seattle has it in spades（肯定地）.

Seattle is situated in the west of Washington, the northwesternmost state. The largest city in the state, Seattle sits on a skinny slip of land between the Puget Sound（普吉特海湾） and Lake Washington. Lake Union and the Lake Washington Ship Canal divide the city into northern and southern halves; downtown and the Capitol Hill and Queen Anne neighborhoods lie south of the canal, the U District is to the northeast.

Compared to the rest of the city, downtown orientation is pretty straightforward. Historic Pioneer Square contains most of the must-see sites. Seattle Center, home to many of the city's cultural and sport facilities, is just northwest of downtown.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Seattle area was home to the Duwamish, a generally peaceable tribe that fished the bays and rivers of the Puget Sound and befriended（帮助） early white settlers. In 1851, a native New Yorker named David Denny led the first group of settlers across the Oregon Trail with the intention of settling along the Puget Sound. Recognizing the area's seaport possibilities, Denny's band staked a claim on Alki Point in present-day West Seattle. After a winter of wind and rain, the group moved the settlement to Elliott Bay （依利雅特湾）, renaming it Seattle for the Duwamish chief Sealth, a friend of an early merchant.

Hardly a boomtown（新兴城市）, early Seattle was peopled mainly by bachelors until one of the founding fathers went back east on a mission to induce young unmarried women to come to Seattle. On two different trips, a total of 57 women made the journey and married into the frontier stock, in the process setting a more civilized tone for the city. A spur（铁路的支线） from the Northern Pacific Railroad's terminus in Portland reached Seattle in 1893, linking the town by rail with the rest of the country. The lumber, shipping and general commerce derived from immigration soon swelled the town's ranks so much that even the Great Fire of 1889 barely slowed the advance. After 50 blocks of the old wooden downtown burned in a single day, the city was reborn in brick and iron, centered on today's Pioneer Square.

Seattle's first boom came when the ship Portland docked in 1897 with its now-famous cargo: two tons of Yukon gold. Within weeks, thousands of fortune hunters from across the country passed through on their way to the northern gold fields. Local business blossomed as Seattle became the banking center for the nouveau riche（爆发户）, and the bars, brothels（妓院） and honky-tonks（下等酒馆） of Pioneer Square overflowed with pleasure-starved miners.

The boom continued through WWI, when Northwest lumber was greatly in demand and shipyards along the Puget Sound 'harvested' the surrounding forests. WWII furthered the shipbuilding boom, and aircraft and atomic energy industries added to the region's pattern of profit. Today, international trade and tech firms (such as Microsoft and Amazon) make up the backbone（支柱） of Seattle's booming economy. And although Boeing, for decades as synonymous with Seattle as rain, announced in 2001 that it was up and leaving for windier pastures in Chicago, the city's progressive politics, inventive culture and ready access to outdoor recreation continue to lure restless people like no place else on the West Coast.

·Amsterdam (Netherlands)

阿姆斯特丹（荷兰）

Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Amsterdam, seaport and principal city of the western Netherlands, in North Holland Province, near The Hague（海牙）. Amsterdam is the country's constitutional capital; the real seat of government, however, is in The Hague. Amsterdam is divided by more than 80 km of canals into about 90 islands joined by about 400 bridges.

Amsterdam, chartered as a city in 1300, became a member of the Hanseatic League（汉萨同盟） in 1369. In the 17th century, after the successful conclusion of the Dutch wars for independence from Spain, Amsterdam became the chief commercial center of northern Europe. The city held this position until the late 18th century, when trade declined as a result of the silting（淤积；淤塞） of the Zuider Zee（须德海） and the British blockade before and during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). In 1810 Napoleon incorporated the Netherlands into the French Empire. After his downfall（衰败，垮台） the Netherlands regained its independence and the seat of government was moved to The Hague. In the latter part of the 19th century, commercial activities revived with the opening of the North Sea and North Holland canals. During World War II (1939-1945), Amsterdam was occupied by the German army for five years. The people suffered great hardship and the port was badly damaged, but it has since been rebuilt and improved.

Amsterdam is one of the most important commercial centers in Europe. The city is a major port linked to the North Sea and other European countries by a network of railways and canals, notably the North Sea Canal, which is navigable（适于航行的）by oceangoing（远洋航行的） vessels. Among leading industries in the city are shipbuilding, sugar refining, publishing, and the manufacture of heavy machinery, paper products, textiles and clothing, porcelain and glass, aircraft, automobiles, and chemicals. The city is also famous as a center for polishing and cutting diamonds and as the chief financial center of the Netherlands. A major European stock exchange is located in Amsterdam, as are the Bank of the Netherlands and several insurance firms.

Amsterdam has been an important center of European cultural life since the 17th century. The city is the site of the National Academy of Art, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, and the University of Amsterdam (1632). Its Rijksmuseum（阿姆斯特丹国立博物馆） contains one of the largest collections of Dutch and Flemish paintings in the world, and its Stedelijk Museum（市立现代美术馆） has an extensive collection of modern works. The Van Gogh Museum（凡·高博物馆） includes about 800 works by 19th-century painter Vincent van Gogh（文森特 · 凡高）in its collection. Amsterdam is also noted as the home of the renowned 17th-century painter Rembrandt（伦布兰特）; his home is now a museum. The Concert-gebouw, completed in 1883, is the home of Amsterdam's renowned orchestra. The city has numerous examples of 16th- and 17th-century architecture, as well as two historic churches: Oude Kerk (Old Church), built about 1300, and Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), built in the 15th century. The royal palace, originally built in the 17th century as the town hall, stands on a large square in the center of the city.

·Sofia (Bulgaria)

索非亚（保加利亚）

Sofia (Bulgaria)

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, has a history that goes back thousands of years. Through the centuries, many peoples have inhabited it and added to its rich and diverse history.

Today there are many archaeological sites in Sofia, that display the city's diverse history - the castle gates and towers, public buildings and streets thousands of years old. Many streets, buildings, parks, and even whole neighborhoods preserve the architectural style from the turn of the century.

Between 1879 and 1939, the population of Sofia grew from 20 000 to 300 000, while today 1 250 000 people live in Sofia.

Since ancient times the city was famous for the abudance of cold and thermal mineral water springs in and around it. The water is still available today and is praised for its numerous qualities.

Sofia has the buzz of a capital city and the convenience of a compact center where all the main sights can be visited on foot.

The following are the main points of interest in Sofia:

Alexander Nevski Memorial Church

Completed in 1912 in honour of the Russian casualties of the 1877-78 War of Liberation from Ottoman Rule. Gold-domed, it is the finest piece of architecture in the Balkans（巴尔干半岛）. Craftsmen and artists from 6 countries worked on the five-aisle church in the course of 30 years and created real masterpieces of icons, frescoes, murals and huge chandeliers. The interior decoration, made of Italian marble. Egyptian alabaster（雪花石膏）, Brazilian onyx（缟玛瑙）, gold, mosaics embodies the spirit of the finest Eastern Orthodox traditions. A superb collection of icons - the best in Bulgaria - can also be seen in the Crypt（ 地下室）.

Rotunda（圆形建筑） of St. George

A C4 brick building in the courtyard behind the Sheraton Hotel, adorned with finely preserved early medieval frescoes. There are also remains of a C2 street and other Byzantine（ 拜占庭式的） ruins.

St. Sofia Church

The 4th-6th century basilica（ 长方形基督教堂） was built during the reign of Justinian（东罗马帝国皇帝）. It has survived intact with 1600- year-old mosaic details and towards the end of the C14 gave the city its name. Beside the wall of the church is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Nearby is the grave of the national poet and writer Ivan Vazov, marked by an engraved boulder.

The National Palace Of Culture

The biggest Congress Centre in the Balkans. It is located in the centre of the city and faces the Vitosha Mountain.

·Kabul (Afghan)

喀布尔（阿富汗）

Kabul (Afghan)

Kabul, city in east central Afghanistan, capital of the country and Kabul Province. Kabul is on the Kabul River, situated at an elevation of about 1800 m (about 5900 ft) making it one of the highest capital cities in the World. The population is around 1 million people. The nation's chief economic and cultural center, it has long been of strategic importance because of its proximity （接近）to the Khyber Pass （开伯尔山口兴都库什山脉最大和最重要的山口。在巴基斯坦与阿富汗之间，穿行开伯尔山，东口距巴基斯坦白沙瓦16公里。历史上为连接南亚与西亚、中亚的最重要通道), an important pass in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Manufactures of the city include textiles, processed food, chemicals, and wood products. Tajiks are the predominant population group of Kabul, and Pashtuns（阿富汗民族，几乎半数的阿富汗人属于普什图民族）are an important minority. Kabul University (founded in 1932) had been the country's most important institute of higher education prior to its closure due to war in 1992. The university was the best known in the region in the 1970 and 1980's. The university now is being partially reopened and only a few students are returning. The University needs much reconstruction in order to operate normally.

An ancient community, Kabul rose to prominence in 1504, when it was made the capital of the Moghul Empire（摩格尔帝国） by the conqueror

War-torn museums

During the past decade of turmoil in Afghanistan, Kabul Museum has been virtually emptied and in other areas of the country sites have been plundered.

Babur （回教君王巴布尔）. Delhi replaced it as the imperial capital in 1526, but Kabul remained an important Moghul center until it was captured, in 1738, by the Persian ruler Nadir Shah. In 1747 Kabul became part of an independent Afghan state, and in the 1770s it replaced Qandahar as the capital of Afghanistan. It was a focus of British, Persian, and Russian rivalry for control of the Khyber Pass in the 19th century, when it was twice occupied (1839-1842 and 1879-1880) by British troops. The city grew as an industrial center after 1940.

Kabul was occupied by troops of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1979; the USSR withdrew from Afghanistan on Feb. 15, 1989. The city has gone through the toughest and most disastrous civil war in its history between 1992-1996. Over 50,000 people lost their lives during the Mujahideen (圣战) infightings on the streets of Kabul in 1992-1996 period. The city has been under the control of the Taliban government since 1996 and ended in 2001. The Northern Alliance took over the city as the Taliban withdrew from Kabul and retreated southwards. The fate of the city is yet to be known. The role of UN and World community is important in bringing a stable government in Kabul.

Infrastructures such as roads and traffic system, telephone system, electricity, water sanitation, renovation of buildings are in shambles and the need for reconstruction is very much needed to bring back the city of Kabul to a better place for living.



·Barcelona (Spain)

巴塞罗那（西班牙）

Barcelona (Spain)

Palau de Les Heures, Barcelona, Spain

In a privileged position on the northeastern coast of the Iberian peninsula and the shores of the Mediterranean, Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain in both size and population. It is also the capital of Catalonia, an Autonomous Community within Spain. There are two official languages spoken in Barcelona: Catalan, generally spoken in all of Catalonia, and Castillian Spanish. The city of Barcelona has a population of 1.510.000, but this number spirals （不断上升）to more than 4.000.000 if the outlying areas are also included.

The capital of Catalonia is unequivocally a Mediterranean city, not only because of its geographic location but also and above all because of its history, tradition and cultural influences. The documented history of the city dates back to the founding of a Roman colony on its soil in the second century B.C. Modern Barcelona experienced spectacular growth and economic revival at the onset of industrialization during the second half of the 19th century. The 1888 World's Fair became a symbol of the capacity for hard work and the international outlook projected for the city. Culture and the arts flourished in Barcelona and in all of Catalonia; the splendor achieved by Catalonian modernism is one of the most patent displays.

Barcelona, more than just a single city, is really a collection of multi-faceted and diverse cities. The visitor unfamiliar with its history might be surprised by the fact that such a modern and enterprising city preserves its historic Gothic center almost intact, or by the curious contrast between the maze of narrow streets and the grid-like layout of the Eixample, the urban planning "Enlargement" project of the end of the 19th century; or that beside a modern high-rise, we can also find a quaint square where the most outstanding decorative element is a chimney, an echo of the old factories that were installed there in the past.

·Gwangju (South Korea)

光州（韩国）

Gwangju (South Korea)

The first thing foreigners need to know about Korea is probably kimchi, which is what Koreans traditionally enjoy eating the most. Gwangju from the old days is famous for traditional kimchi.

Gwangju is Korea's fifth largest city with a population of 1.4 million, with a reputation for exquisite food thanks to the rich harvests in the mild southern part of the Korean peninsula. But the World Cup city has other attractions, too.

There is a long-cherished tradition of the arts and of a certain liberty of mind and democracy that is associated with Gwangju. This tradition has most recently been captured within the framework of the Gwangju Biennale, an arts festival growing in renown around the world.

To stage a World Cup of culture that will be commensurate（相称的） with its image as a city of arts, Gwangju links the World Cup matches with the fourth edition of the Biennale. Fans visiting the games from abroad will be fascinated to witness authentic performances including the distinctive style of traditional farm music known as Gwangsan Nongak as well as Gossaum Race, a loop fight played by the full moon.

There are also a variety of sightseeing programmes for foreign tourists, linking the spectacular Dadohae ("Many Islands Sea") National Marine Park with other popular places in and around Gwangju.

Occupying a surface of 330,000m2 in the new city centre area, the Gwangju World Cup Stadium is a football-only stadium.

But while it is keen to continue supporting traditional values, Gwangju is also rapidly developing into a future-oriented community where past and future co-exist in harmony. The city has approached the new millennium buoyantly, especially with its encouragement of the cutting-edge photonic（光子的）industry and with its continuing development of the humanistic culture and arts.

Thus the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan comes at just the right time to provide Gwangju with a golden opportunity to show the world just how genuine, how deep-rooted and how rich its cultural heritage really is.

·Kobe (Japan)

神户（日本）

Kobe (Japan)

Kobe port view

Kobe - home of one of the world's leading international trading ports - is a truly inviting city, noted for its beauty and thriving urban environment, superbly enhanced by the backdrop（背景）of verdant（长满绿色植物的）Mount Rokko.

Kobe has prospered from times of old as the hub of Japan's maritime activities. As far back as the 8th century it had a port, then called the Owada Anchorage, now known as Wadamisaki. It became a key place for both land and sea trade and, by the end of the 13th century, had come to be known as the Port of Hyogo. In 1868, Kobe opened itself to the outside world and began to write its own history as one of Japan's first five major ports opened to trade with the West.

In 1868, Kobe had a population of 134,000, which swelled to one million by 1939, making it one of the six major cities in Japan. Over the years, the port grew in size and importance, and industry flourished. Then came the Second World War, bringing widespread and unprecedented devastation to Kobe. By the time hostilities ended, the population had dwindled to a mere 380,000. Today, Kobe has a population of 1.5 million.

Kobe's downtown area contains districts that retain the atmosphere of those exotic bygone days. Prime examples include what is known as the Old Foreign Settlement, Nankin-machi (Chinatown) and Kitano, famous for its old western-style houses built by early foreign residents and known as Ijinkan.

Kobe Wing Stadium, a new 42,000 capacity football stadium, was so named to conjure up the image of wings, rising from the reconstruction after the 1995 earthquake.

Kobe is easily accessible by land, sea and air. It is approximately 3 hours and 20 minutes from Tokyo by Shinkansen train. Kobe, together with Osaka and Kyoto, forms the economic focal point of Kansai (关西), western Japan.

The town of Nara is famous nationwide for sake (日本酒) brewing, while Mount Rokko and Arima Hot Spring are popular resorts easily accessible from the city centre. A mere 30-minute drive westward from the city centre takes you to the Tarumi-Maiko Coast, which commands superb views of the scenic Suma Beach and the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (total length: 3,911 meters), the world's longest suspension bridge.

Although Kobe was seriously damaged by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 17 January 1995, restoration has progressed rapidly. In remembrance of that catastrophic event, the Kobe Port Earthquake Memorial Park, as well as other facilities, has been erected.

·Busan (South Korea)

釜山（韩国）

Busan (South Korea)

The multi-purpose stadium in Younjegu Geojedong has 55,982 seats with four storeys above ground.

Busan is the largest port and fisheries city located on the southeast coast of the Korean Peninsula.

With a population of four million, Korea's second largest metropolis grew into a modern port city between 1906 and 1944. It first opened its ports as the first international port in Korea in 1876.

As a frequently visited coastal city for Korean and foreign vacationers alike, Busan offers precious natural resources including mountains, rivers, hot springs and the sea, all to be enjoyed in a year round temperate climate. Busan, with its four distinct seasons, is reinventing itself into an international tourist sea resort. Aquariums let visitors embark on undersea journeys and sea resorts are equipped with amusement parks bringing tourists the best service and hot springs that could be offered in a special tourist zone.

All year round, exciting festivals await visitors at Busan. At the Busan Sea Festival, the summer's heat and the clean white sands, along with the fresh sea winds mingle with youthful vitality. Furthermore, the biggest seafood market at the Busan Jagalchi Festival offers fresh seafood and the Busan International Film Festival features world famous top-quality films. Various festivals such as the winter North Polar Bear Swimming Contest and the Greeting Sunrise Festival give residents and tourists a new lease on life.

Busan at night

Located close to the sea and plains, Busan is a place where people can relish fresh natural dishes ranging from raw fish, seafood soup, roasted eel to roasted beef and barbecued goat meat. Most of all, a tasteful combination of grilled Dongrae, a traditional plate with traditional Korea rice wine, know as makkolli, which used to be a presented to the king of the Josun dynasty, is especially worth a try.

Busan is also a city of sports. It has successfully hosted international sporting events such as the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Olympic Games, football and yacht competitions and the 1997 East Asian Games. Because of its hosting experience and world class facilities, Busan has been chosen to host the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the 14th Asian Games.

·Sapporo (Japan)

札幌（日本）

Sapporo (Japan)

In June 2001, Sapporo Dome, nicknamed "HIROBA" - a venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup - was completed in Hitsujigaoka on the outskirts of Sapporo.

Sapporo is not your typical Japanese big city. Located at the north of the Japanese Archipelago（群岛，列岛）, it has a pleasant climate from June to July. One of Sapporo's features lies in its distinctively clear-cut four seasons. In spring, awaking from a long sleep, numerous flowers burst into bloom. In summer, sunny days follow each other. In fall, trees are clad in golden yellow and crimson red（深红色的，绯红的）. In winter, everything is veiled in silky white snow. Sapporo has four distinct seasons, each of which exhibits impressively elegant charms. Especially in June, when the FIFA World Cup takes place, Sapporo enjoys a fresh, green season with sunshine, while the rainy season starts in the rest of Japan.

With a current population of approximately 1.83 million, Sapporo is Japan's fifth largest city, where the pioneer spirit coexists with its well-balanced, highly advanced urban functions. Historical structures stand amidst high-rise buildings. A park full of greenery embraces relaxing people. There are hot springs in the city. Sapporo's attraction lies in the unique harmony of urban convenience and oases of relaxation. Sapporo is a gourmet （美食家）city where delicacies can be savored during every season. There is also an entertainment district, Susukino, which accommodates over 5,000 shops, restaurants and pubs.

Sapporo Concert Hall "Kitara" furnished with world-class acoustic equipment

Odori Park stretches from Sapporo TV Tower, the reference point of north, south, east and west， to the west, and is an oasis where citizens can relax. From spring to fall, colorful flowers are blooming in the gardens around vivid green lawns and fountains. Snow statues at the Sapporo Snow Festival and White Illumination appear in winter. All these attractions entertain citizens and tourists.

Sapporo, a core city of Hokkaido's politics and economy, has hosted various international events. Among the Japanese venues for the FIFA World Cup, only Sapporo has hosted the Olympics. Other international sporting events hosted include the Winter Universiade. It has also been successful in holding cultural events such as the Pacific Music Festival (PMF), the brainchild （某人的创作）of the world-known conductor, the late Leonard Bernstein.

Sapporo is also a core city where cultural, educational and technological facilities of world standard converge: Sapporo Concert Hall, "Kitara," features performances by leading world-famous musicians; Moerenuma Park is designed by a sculptor, the late Isamu Noguchi; Techno Park houses companies that specialize in advanced technological development and Hokkaido University accommodates exchange students from various countries.

Note:

HIROBA has "dual arenas" comprising one open and one closed and its most prominent feature is the "hovering soccer stage," which is the world's first air hovering mobile system. The natural turf soccer field prepared in the open arena can be moved into the all-weather closed arena.



·Bermuda (North America)

百慕大（北美）

Bermuda (North America)

Sailing is a popular pastime in Bermuda

Even though a large number of people live on this small island, you should never feel crowded. There are no billboards or neon signs, and relatively few cars to spoil the rolling countryside. Most houses seem to fit quite naturally into the landscape.

Bermuda consists of nine parishes（地方行政区）. From west to east, they are: Sandys (pronounced "sands"), Southampton, Warwick, Paget (which has the greatest concentration of hotels), Pembroke (home to the City of Hamilton), Devonshire, Smith's, Hamilton (not to be confused with the City of Hamilton), and St. George, which includes the U.S. naval air base and the little island of St. David's. In the early days, these districts, which encompass about 21 square miles, were called "tribes." By the beginning of the 18th century, the term Tribe Road referred to the boundaries between parishes. Pembroke, which encloses （围住）the capital city of Hamilton, is the largest parish in population; St. George has the largest land area.

Bicycling is a good way for the whole family to get around Bermuda

Because of its small size, it's easy to get to know the island parish by parish. There's much to see, whether you travel by bike, ferry, bus, or taxi. You'll need plenty of time, though, because the pace is slow. Cars and other motorized vehicles, such as mopeds（助动车；机器脚踏车）, must observe the maximum speed of 15 mph in Hamilton and St. George, 20 mph in the countryside. The speed limits are rigidly enforced, and there are severe penalties for violations.

If you're visiting for the first time, you'll want to follow the tourist route, basically the equivalent of visiting New York and seeing the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building: the Aquarium, Devil's Hole, and cruise-boat outings. For visitors on a second, third, or fourth visit to Bermuda, a different experience unfolds. Once you've done all the "must-sees," you'll want to walk around and make discoveries on your own. The best parishes for walking are Somerset, St. George, and Hamilton.

But don't fill your days with too much structured sightseeing. You'll want time to lounge （懒洋洋地倚，靠，躺）on the beach and play in the water, and to enjoy moments like sitting by the harbor in the late afternoon, enjoying the views as the yachts glide by（滑动，滑行）. Absorbing Bermuda's beauty at your own pace, and stopping to chat with the occasional islander, is really the point.

·Nashville (US)

纳什维尔（美国）

Nashville (US)

A view from the balcony at the new Grand Ole Opry

Admit it - as LA is to long-haired rockers and Chicago is to steamy blues - when you think Nashville, you've got country music on your mind. And why not? As the self-proclaimed 'Country Music Capital of the World,' Nashville revels in its down-home glamour. Banners and billboards announce new recording stars and releases like accolades （称赞；盛赞）in a high school yearbook, and streets bear the names of country legends like Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins. Music City (as Nashville's promoters like to call it) has even caught the attention of non-country singers - from Joan Baez to Jello Biafra - though their reviews have not always been favorable. Still, for a city that's staked（本意为把…押下打赌，拿...冒险） it's reputation on its trademark sound, there's no doubt about it - Nashville's tune is catchy.

Straddling the Cumberland River in northern central Tennessee, Nashville lies midway between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. From the state capitol - the city's highest point - a busy, compact downtown of narrow one-way streets and high-rise office buildings slopes eastward to Broadway, Nashville's central artery. Southeast of the capitol along 2nd Ave and Broadway, the renovation of historic commercial buildings has carved a downtown tourist destination called 'the District.' Music Row, the other main commercial district, is less than a mile southwest of downtown.

Record shop named after the famous country singer

In the rest of sprawling Nashville, it's hard to pinpoint（准确地确定）what constitutes a neighborhood, but a few are easily discernible（可识别的）. Elliston Place is a compact stretch of bohemian alternative culture about a mile west of downtown and north of West End Ave. South of this is the Vanderbilt University campus. East of Elliston Place and abutting（邻接；毗连） the university, Centennial Park is the site of the mock（仿制品）Parthenon leftover from the Centennial Exposition of 1897. This whole area is known as West End, and it centers on a cluster of restaurants along Broadway and West End Ave on either side of the university; you might also hear it referred to as 'Around Vanderbilt.'

Many tourists never set foot in downtown Nashville, confining their visit to the massive Opryland complex a few miles northeast of town. Here, the prefabricated（预先制造；预先构思） Music Valley boasts budget motels, franchise restaurants and outlet stores.

·Copenhagen (Denmark)

哥本哈根（丹麦）

Copenhagen (Denmark)

Stroget

Copenhagen has been the capital of Denmark for 600 years and is also the largest city in Scandinavia, but it hasn't let these high-ranking geopolitical facts go to its urban head - the city maintains a refreshingly low-level approach to the modernisation of its historic skyline, while its high-spirited denizens party in the streets. The city's seemingly interminable（无止尽的）pedestrian mall, Stroget, supplies numerous options for shopping and entertainment, from street theatre to offstreet theatre, while the famous Tivoli fun park serves up amusement in more traditional forms and the cosmopolitan Latin Quarter will leave you covered in aromatic（芳香的；馨香的）coffee grounds.

There's plenty of the green stuff in the city centre, with a couple of large parks and gardens in which to doze（打盹）or ramble（闲逛；漫步）. If even that sounds too energetic, try a cruise through the canals of Christianshavn, saving just enough adrenalin（兴奋）for a courteous（殷勤的，谦恭的，有礼貌的）nod in the direction of the Little Mermaid. Architecturally, Copenhagen has more than its share of interesting sights, from the administrative palace of Christiansborg Slot on the island of Slotsholmen to the scenic steeple of Vor Frelsers Kirke. The Danish capital pretty much covers all the needs of the international visitor, and does it with typical Scandinavian assurance and flair（天资）.

Many visitors enjoy taking boat rides through Copenhagen's canals.

Copenhagen got its name from the word k?ben-havn, which means "merchants' harbor." It grew in size and importance because of its position on the sound, the body of water between Denmark and Sweden, guarding the entrance to the Baltic.

From its humble beginnings, Copenhagen has become the largest city in Scandinavia, home to 1 1/2 million people. It's the seat of one of the oldest kingdoms in the world.

Over the centuries Copenhagen has suffered more than its share of disasters. In the 17th century the Swedes repeatedly besieged it, and in the 18th century it endured the plague and two devastating fires. The British attacked twice during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s. Its last major disaster occurred in 1940 when the Nazis invaded Denmark and held it in their grip until 1945 when the British army moved in again, this time as liberators.

Copenhagen still retains some of the characteristics of a village. If you forget the suburbs, you can cover most of the central belt on foot, making it a great place to visit.

·Tokyo (Japan)

东京（日本）

Tokyo (Japan)

Cherry blossoms signal the beginning of spring.

The sheer level of energy is the most striking aspect of Japan's capital city. While it's true the city has a somewhat depressing shortcoming- shoebox housing estates and office blocks traversed by overhead expressways crowded with traffic - Tokyo remains a glittering example of the 'miracle' of post-WWII Japan. Despite mega-construction, the average Tokyo suburb hasn't fallen prey to supermarket culture yet: streets are lined with tiny specialist shops and bustling restaurants, most of which stay open late into the night. Close to the soaring office blocks exist pockets of another Tokyo - an old wooden house, a Japanese inn, an old lady in a kimono （和服）sweeping the pavement outside her home with a straw broom. More than anything else, Tokyo is a place where the urgent rhythms of consumer culture collide with the quieter moments that linger from older traditions.

Major attractions in Tokyo:

Imperial Palace :The Japanese emperor and the imperial family still call the Imperial Palace home, so unless you get a royal invite to tea tourists are restricted to the outskirts and the gardens. New Year's Day (2 January) and 23 December (the Emperor's birthday) are the only exceptions to this rule.

Ginza is home to some of Tokyo's ritziest nightlife.

Ginza（银座）:Despite its disaster-ridden history and propensity for shape-changing, Ginza has become synonymous with conspicuous consumption and excessive shopping. At the end of the 19th century, after fire razed it to the ground, it was ressurected with brick buildings and wide boulevards that mimicked（模仿） the Champs Elysses.

Shinjuku （新宿）:The Shinjuku district is, without doubt, the most vigorous part of Tokyo; two million people per day pass through Shinjuku station alone. The two sides - east and west - sit side-by-side in mutual harmony; west Shinjuku is the staid commercial hub of the city, while the east is its colourful and exotic （异国情调的；奇特的）counterpart. The west is planned, administrative and skyscrapped, while the east side is rambling （杂乱的）, chaotic and full of fast-food shops and pawn shops.

·Cleveland (US)

克利夫兰（美国）

Cleveland (US)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is the centerpiece of the North Coast Harbor skyline.

Cleveland grabbed headlines in the 1970s as a financially strapped, rust-belt town with one of its waterways on fire. Today it boasts not only a very clean Cuyahoga River, but a stunning（令人震惊的), revitalized downtown area as well. The city is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (a $92 million facility designed by famed architect I.M. Pei) and the Great Lakes Science Center, which features an Omnimax theater.

For a taste of culture, spend some time in University Circle, the nation's largest concentration of cultural institutions within one square mile. Here you'll find first-class museums like the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History , the Center for Contemporary Art, and the Western Reserve Historical Society (which also houses the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum). Noteworthy historic exhibits include Hale Farm and Village in the town of Bath, with authentic Western Reserve buildings dating back to the 1820s, and Dunham Tavern, once a stagecoach （美国旧时的驿马车，定期公共马车）stop on the Buffalo-Detroit road.

The world-famous Cleveland Orchestra performs at Severance Hall in the winter and at Ohio's Music Festival at Blossom Music Center, where you can attend concerts, ballet, and popular music programs in a woodland setting in the summer. Playhouse Square, a complex of four restored 1920s movie palaces, is the second largest performing arts center in the country and houses the city's opera, ballet, and theater festival. It also hosts touring Broadway shows. Karamu House African American Theater is an international center for the performing arts.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

For a magnificent view of downtown Cleveland and the Lake Erie shoreline, head to the top of Terminal Tower, which provides a bird's-eye view from over 700 feet up.

Take a walk on the wild side with a visit to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and its Rain Forest, an indoor tropical ecosystem featuring more than 600 animals and thousands of plants, a 25-foot waterfall, and simulated（仿造的，人工的）rainstorms. Enjoy year-round outdoor activities in Cleveland's Metropark reservations, which span approximately 19,000 acres.

There's no shortage of fun for kids in the Cleveland area. Visit the Children's Museum or take a tour of the NASA Lewis Research Center. Sea World of Ohio in Aurora, an 80-acre marine-life park, features live shows and new exhibits like Dolphin Cove, Eagle Point, and Shark Encounter. For thrill rides and amusements, visit Geauga Lake Park, or the larger Cedar Point in Sandusky.



·Bangkok (Thailand)

曼谷（泰国）

Bangkok (Thailand)

The ancient ruins of Ayutthaya are a short day trip from Bangkok

It's worth putting up with the traffic jams, pollution, annual floods and sticky weather to experience one of Asia's most exciting cities. Bangkok has dominated Thailand's urban hierarchy, as well as its political, commercial and cultural life, since the late 18th century. Although the late 20th-century boom（迅速发展）is over - you can still shop in air-conditioned comfort in Western-style malls（设在郊区的大规模购物中心）.

Bangkok proper seethes（沸腾，热闹）on the east side of the Chao Phraya River. The city is reportedly sinking at a rate of 90cm (36in) every year, but there's too much happening in this vibrant city for anyone to get that sinking feeling for too long.

Metropolitan Bangkok covers 1569 sq km (612 sq mi) of southern Thailand, sitting in the middle of the most fertile rice-producing delta in the world. A network of natural and artificial canals crisscross（纵横交错地分布于） the city, feeding to and from Thailand's hydrological lifeline - the broad Chao Phraya River - which snakes through the city providing transport for passengers and cargo.

A dancer in traditional Thai costume

Bangkok is divided in two by the main north-south train line. Old Bangkok, where a large proportion of the city's temples and palaces and its Chinese and Indian districts are found, lies between the river and the railway. East of the railway, comprising the main business, tourist and sprawling residential districts, is 'new' Bangkok. Of course, outside of these general classifications, Bangkok sprawls in all directions with a mixture of commercial, industrial and residential areas.

Jim Thompson's House, the former abode （此指住处） of mystery man and silk entrepreneur Jim Thompson is a great spot to visit for authentic Thai residential architecture and South-East Asian art. Thompson was a New York architect who served as a spy in Thailand during WWII. After setting up house in Bangkok, he gradually built up worldwide clientele（顾客）for a craft that may otherwise have died out. Each wall of Thompson's house has its exterior side facing the building's interior, exposing the wall's bracing（支撑）system to residents and guests.

Bangkok is a cultural melting pot and there's no better evidence of this than Pahurat, on the edge of Chinatown. A wide variety of Indian goods are available in this small area, ranging from an astonishing array of silks to Thai shoulder bags. The choice is amazing, the haggling is fierce and the bargains can be unbelievable - if you're good enough, that is. Head down little alleys into the 'bowels' of this area and you'll find foodstuffs, household items and a thriving culture that might ordinarily pass by unnoticed. Pahurat lies west of Chinatown towards the river.

·Budapest (Hungary)

布达佩斯（匈牙利）

Budapest (Hungary)

There is more to Budapest than fish soup, paprika （辣椒粉）and Zsa Zsa Gabor. With its multifarious （繁杂的）history, incredible architecture and rich cultural heritage, Hungary's capital has the justly deserved sobriquet （绰号）of ’the Paris of Central Europe', set apart from other Hungarian and European cities by its beauty. The city straddles a gentle curve in the mighty Danube River, the Buda hills rising dramatically on the west bank while the Pest district marks the start of the Great Plain to the east.

The largest Hungarian city by a mile, Budapest is the heart, soul and memory of Hungary, with the Danube coursing through its veins（静脉，血管）. The city has a complex identity, currently facing something of a crisis with the allure of modern Western luxury in conflict with the simple traditions of its Eastern European roots and penchant （强烈倾向）for all things classical.

The Castle District on Castle Hill is the premier destination for visitors and contains many of Budapest's most important monuments and museums, not to mention grand views of Pest across the snaking Danube. The walled area consists of two distinct parts: the Old Town where commoners lived in the Middle Ages, and the Royal Palace. Stroll around the medieval streets of the Old Town and and take in the odd museum. A brief tour in one of the horse-drawn hackney cabs（出租马车）is worthwhile for the leg weary. The Old Town is filled with attractively painted houses, decorative churches and the famous Fishermen's Bastion. The latter was built as a viewing platform in 1905, named after the guild（行会）of fishermen responsible for defending this stretch of wall in the Middle Ages. It has commanding views over the city, and is dominated by seven gleaming turrets（角楼，塔楼）(representing the seven Magyar tribes who entered the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century) and a statue of St Stephen on horseback. Immediately south of the Old Town is the Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace has been burned, bombed, razed, rebuilt and redesigned at least half a dozen times over the past seven centuries. What you see today clinging to the southern end of Castle Hill is an 18th and early 20th-century amalgam（混合物）reconstructed after the last war. It houses, among other things, the impressive National Gallery (which has a huge section devoted to Hungarian art), the National Library and the Budapest History Museum. At the rear of the museum take a relaxing break in the palace gardens. Ferdinand Gate under the conical Mace Tower will bring you to a set of steps. These descend to a historic Turkish cemetery dating from the decisive Independence battle for Buda of 1686. To get to the Royal Palace, take the Sikló, a funicular（登山铁道）built in 1870 from Clark ádám, or for the more energetic, walk up the `Royal Steps' or the wide staircase that goes to the southern end of the Royal Palace.

·Auckland (New Zealand)

奥克兰（新西兰）

Auckland (New Zealand)

Sailboats cruise by the Harbour Bridge

Auckland has been a hot spot for an awfully long time, but the reasons have quite fortunately changed.

New Zealand's largest city and prime international gateway resides on some 48 volcanoes, but it's been 600 years since lava flowed from any of them. Those volcanic hills have created great park space, fabulous （惊人的；难以置信的）panoramic views and twin harbors filled with watercraft. In fact, Auckland's nickname is The City of Sails.

It's a sprawling metropolitan area (actually four cities) of more than one million souls, including the largest concentration of Polynesians on the planet. And it's known for its multicultural flair.

The big attraction is all that waterfront property and the leisure pursuits that go with it. On land, there's a variety of museums (including a highly regarded Maritime Museum) and the famed Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium, with its sharks and penguins and masses of sea life.

Attractions :

NZ National Maritime Museum

New Zealand's leading maritime museum in the heart of Auckland's vibrant waterfront. Discover New Zealand's seafaring history in over 14 world class galleries. Sail the harbour aboard a heritage vessel.

Waiwera Thermal Resort

From the roaring, whirling twister and dual speed slide, to the sheer luxury of soaking in the Hibiscus pool watching movies on the large screen, to the relaxation of a soothing massage, to the intimate seclusion of rising steam, soft music and cascading waterfalls of the private spas, sauna and Jacuzzi （‘极可意"浴缸，周边可喷水按摩的小浴池，源自商标名）- Waiwera Thermal Resort's naturally heated water provides something for everybody - only 25 mins north of Auckland on State Highway 1.

Visitors observe sea creatures in their natural habitat from a glass tunnel at Underwater World

Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World

See colonies of King and Gentoo Penguins, watch them swim and plunge beneath the ice cap, then travel deep beneath the ocean and come face to face with the awesome predators of the deep - SHARKS - only centimetres away.

Auckland Zoo

Home to New Zealand's largest collection of native and exotic animals. Explore the Tropical Rainforest, Hippo River, Pridelands (African savannah) & Primate Trail. Discover Wilderness New Zealand. Experience Sealion and Penguin Shores where Sealions can be seen through an amazing underwater viewing window.

 

·Montreal (Canada)

蒙特利尔（加拿大）

Montreal (Canada)

Oratoire St-Joseph (St. Joseph's Oratory) is a church dedicated to Canada's patron saint.

The duality（双重性）of Canadian life has been called the "Twin Solitudes." One Canada, English and Calvinist （加尔文教徒）in origin, tends to be staid and smug and work obsessed. The other, French and Catholic, is more creative, lighthearted, and inclined to see pleasure as the end purpose of labor. These two peoples live side by side throughout Québec and in the nine provinces of English Canada, but the blending（混合）occurs in particularly intense fashion in Québec province's largest city, Montréal. French speakers, known as Francophones, constitute 66% of the city's population, while most of the remaining population are speakers of English--Anglophones. (Those few residents who speak neither, or who have another primary tongue, are called Allophones.) While both groups are decidedly North American, they are no more alike than Margaret Thatcher and Charles de Gaulle.

Montréal is a modern city in nearly every regard. Its downtown bristles with skyscrapers, but these are playful, almost perky （活泼的；有生气的）, with unexpected shapes. The city aboveground is mirrored by another below, where an entire winter can be avoided in coatless comfort. To the west and north of downtown are Anglo commercial and residential neighborhoods, centered around Westmount. To the east and north are Francophone quartiers, centered on Outremount and Plateau Mont-Royal.

Over the past decade, there has been the undeniable impression of decline in Montréal. A bleak （无希望的）mood has prevailed in many quarters, driven by lingering recession and uncertainty over the future. There is some truth in the perception. After all, it remains possible that Québec will yet choose to fling itself into an unknown independence from the rest of Canada.

The Montréal International Jazz Festival draws thousands of musicians and visitors every year

Lately, ripples of optimism are spreading through the province and its largest city. Unemployment, though still high, shows signs of shrinking. A new $900 million high-tech theme park is to be installed near the Port of Montréal, a project wrested away from the city's bitter rival, Toronto. Favorable currency exchange and the presence of skilled workers have made the city a favored site for Hollywood film and TV production, last year attracting movies starring Bruce Willis, John Travolta, and Eddie Murphy, among others, that brought in over $700 million in revenue. That success inspired the construction of two major film studios, one completed and another expected to be Canada's largest.

To many American city dwellers, Montréal already might seem an urban near-paradise. The subway system, called the Métro, is modern and swift. Streets are clean and safe. There are rarely more than 60 homicides（杀人案件） a year in Montréal, compared to the hundreds of murders annually in every American city of comparable or greater size. Montréal's best restaurants are the equal of their south-of-the-border compatriots in almost every way, yet they are as much as 30% to 40% cheaper. And the government gives visitors back most of the taxes they collect.

·San Juan (Puerto Rico)

圣胡安（波多黎各）

San Juan (Puerto Rico)

This one small island holds 13 golf courses, so you're never far from the links.

The capital of Puerto Rico is a spirited modern metropolis with high-rise beach strips and a major commercial center. It dates from the early 16th century, making it the second oldest city in the Americas (after granddaddy Cuzco, Peru). Today it's the engine of the island's economic and political life and the cultural beachhead for US influence in the Caribbean.

For an old timer, San Juan can seem pretty spry（精神好的；活泼的）- nothing like strips of high-rise hotels littered about the beaches to make a town look young. Even Old San Juan seems strangely fresh and well-preserved given that it's getting on for 500 years old. Many Caribbean adventurers never make it past San Juan: there's a lot to be said for being able to lay a towel down on an unmistakably white Caribbean beach, while having the culture and quaintness of a historic city and the convenience of a modern metropolis just minutes away. But if day tripping appeals, the capital also makes a good base from which to explore the compact island.

Sunset over the Plazuela de la Rogativa in Old San Juan

Proudly independent in spirit but technically a territory of the USA, Puerto Rico is where four centuries of Spanish Caribbean culture comes face to face with the American convenience store. This leads to some strange juxtapositions（并置，并列，同时存在）- parking lots and plazas, freeways and fountains, skyscrapers and shanties - but they're not hard to reconcile（调和；使一致）in the context of the Caribbean's hybrid（复杂的；混合的）history.

Although tourists have been visiting San Juan for decades, few ever felt the need to get out of the casinos, let alone （更谈不上）the city limits. Today, travelers who venture into the island's mountainous interior or explore its undeveloped southern and western coasts are coming across stately hill towns where the locals in the plaza seem to have been feeding the same pigeons for decades. Add to this a perplexing culture that is proud of its past yet unable to seize its independence and you have the ingredients for an intriguing （有趣的）adventure.



·Mexico City (Mexico)

墨西哥城（墨西哥）

Mexico City (Mexico)

Different styles of architecture can be found throughout Mexico City

Founded on the ruins of the glittering Aztec capital, Tenochtitan, Mexico City today is a study in startling contrasts. The "City of Palaces" is home to staggering （令人吃惊的）wealth and unspeakable poverty. The picturesque volcanos and mountains that ring the city makes the city's air pollution the worst in the world. A population center since ancient times, modern Mexico City is one of the most crowded cities in the world, with upwards of 20 million inhabitants.

Despite its problems, the city is a vibrant metropolitan area, alive with history, studded（点缀）with parks, and bustling（熙攘的）with the dynamic of the 20th century. There's no end to activities in this great metropolis, whether your tastes run more toward historic attractions, cultural pursuits, shopping or after-hours partying.

A 600-plus square block historic district raises blisters（起水泡）on the feet of walking-tourers, but several bus companies provide narrated drive-bys that are gentler on the feet. North of the city are the breathtaking Teotihuacan pyramids of the sun and moon, believed to date from a civilization that flourished between 200 and 400 B.C.

Participants in an Aztec festival perform Aztec spinning dance

For culture lovers, the city boasts more than 80 museums, many devoted to art, to history, and to archeological treasures. The grand avenue, Passeo de Reforma, leads to Bosque de Chapultepec, one of the world's greatest archeology museums.

Shopping is everywhere, from large stores and elegant boutiques to street vendors and bustling weekend markets with bright red awnings（凉篷,雨篷）over the stalls. Crafts from all over the country are available and range from bark paintings and beadwork to ceramics and silver. Bargaining at the markets is expected, so be ready to haggle（讨价还价）.

Hundreds of bars, discos and night clubs attract the after-hours crowd with live music, margaritas and cold bottles of Dos Equis. As in all big cities, a day in Mexico City can be a 24-hour adventure.

·Madrid (Spain)

马德里（西班牙）

Madrid (Spain)

Palacio Real (Royal Palace)

Madrid may not have the Roman origins that get city historians hot and bothered, and it may be a comparative parvenu, selected from rural obscurity to become capital only in the second half of the 16th century, but it oozes a vitality and character that rarely fails to move. In no other European capital will you find the city centre so thronged so late into the night, as though some unwritten law forbade sleeping before dawn.

To experience Madrid is to explore its restaurants and eateries （小饭馆）, prop up（原意是扶持、支持，这里是光顾的意思）its countless bars, and be swept up in the nocturnal （夜间的）madness of its music scene and clubs. Madrid has always been a city of immigrants and transients（过往旅客）, and the result is an unusually open and accessible city. Ambitious programs to modernise the city are afoot（在进行中的）, but the gatos (locals) of Madrid can rest assured that their town remains as refreshingly unlike Paris, London or Rome as ever.

A bronze statue of Madrid's official symbol, a bear and a madrono (strawberry tree)

Madrid is Europe's highest city (650m; 2100ft), and it's also surprisingly compact. The main north-south artery（干线，要道）, Paseo de la Castellana (which turns into Paseo de los Recoletos and Paseo del Prado), connects the city's two main train stations, Chamartín and Atocha. The oldest quarters（老居民区）are squeezed in between Paseo del Prado (where you'll find the city's great art galleries) and the Palacio Real to the west. Midway, the barrios（西班牙，波多黎各，菲律宾等地地方行政区域）south-east of Puerta del Sol leading to the working-class district of Lavapiés are filled with seemingly endless restaurants, bars and cafes. The densest concentration of accommodation can be found around Puerta del Sol, Plaza de Santa Ana and the barrios of Malasa?a and Chueca (for pensiones and hostales), and along the Gran Vía (hotels).

Few visitors to Madrid would want to miss out on a visit to Museo del Prado, one of the art world's holy grails（本意是传说中耶稣最后晚餐所用之杯）. Lovers of Spanish art will particularly enjoy the coverage given to the big three - Velázquez, Goya and El Greco. Wsith a museum this size you really should visit more than once, particularly as fewer than half of the collection is ever on view at any given time.

·Istanbul (Turkey)

伊斯坦布尔（土耳其）

Istanbul (Turkey)

The famous Blue Mosque at dusk

Known in previous incarnations （作为化身、代表）as Byzantium （拜占庭）and Constantinople （君士坦丁堡）, the ancient city of Istanbul has over the past few decades grown a healthy cosmopolitan skin. Turkey had an economic good time in the 1980s that led in turn to resurgence （恢复生机）in national tourism when the thoroughfares of Istanbul were crowded with new restaurants, hotels, cafes and cultural institutions. The feel-good optimism was dashed by a devastating earthquake in 1999 but the city has since recovered some if its equanimity （心绪平静）.

The Bosphorus, the strait flowing between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, creates a natural north-south divide in Istanbul - European Istanbul comprises the bulk（大部分）of the city to the west, while Asian Istanbul is to the east. European Istanbul is itself divided by the Golden Horn into the Old City to the south, and Beyoglu and other modern districts to the north.

The Egyptian Dikiltas marks the site of the city's ancient hippodrome.

The Old City is where you'll find all the main sights, such as Topkapi Sarayi (Topkapi Palace), Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque), Aya Sofya (Sancta Sophia), the Atmeydani (Hippodrome) and the old city walls. The 21st-century version of Istanbul is a short walk north across the Galata Bridge, and is exemplified by bustling Taksim Square, the eye of the city's commercial storm. Buses, trams and the developing Metro system, not to mention footpower, will get you around the two main parts of the city - ferries（渡轮）can run you between them and across the Bosphorus to Asian Istanbul, although there's little of interest for tourists in this suburban area.

·Bali (Indonesia)

巴厘岛（印度尼西亚）

Bali (Indonesia)

National Temple

Bali is so picturesque（图画般的美丽) that you could be fooled into thinking it was a painted backdrop（背景幕）: rice paddies（稻田,水田）trip down hillsides like giant steps, volcanoes soar through the clouds and the forests are lush（苍翠繁茂的）and tropical.

But the postcard paradise gloss（这里指景象） has been manufactured and polished by the international tourist industry rather than by the Balinese themselves - who don't even have a word for paradise in their language - and it pays scant （极少的）regard to the economic reality of life on Bali, which is still recovering from Indonesia's economic crisis and the collapsing currency.

Just considering the weather, the cooler dry season from April to October is the best time to visit Bali. The rest of the year is more humid, more cloudy and has more rainstorms, but you can still enjoy a holiday.

Balinese festivals, holidays and special celebrations occur all the time, so don't worry about timing your visit to coincide with local events.

The following are the major attractions in Bali.

Kuta Bay

Including the two beach sites of Kuta and Legian, this area is a major resort for travelers, offering cheap accommodation, Western food, great shopping, surf（冲浪运动）, sunsets and riotous nightlife.

Denpasar

The capital of Bali has been the focus of much of the growth and wealth on the island over the last quarter of a century. It now has all the bustle（繁忙）and confusion one associates with （与……联想起来）the fast-growing cities of Asia. While the traffic, noise and pollution make it a difficult city to relish （欣赏，品味）, Denpasar still retains pleasant, tree-lined streets and gardens and is very much part of the 'real' Bali.

The Bali Museum consists of an attractive series of separate buildings, including examples of both palace and temple architecture. The exhibits themselves are not always well presented, but there are enough arts and crafts and everyday items displayed to make it worthwhile.

Local musicians perform

Ubud

Situated in the hills 20km (13mi) north of Denpasar, Ubud is the cultural centre of Bali. Extensive development in recent years has meant that Ubud has engulfed（吞没） a number of nearby villages, although these have retained their distinct identities.

In Ubud itself, the Puri Lukisan Museum displays fine examples of all schools of Balinese art in a beautiful garden setting. There are several other quality galleries such as Museum Neka, which features（以……为特色）work of some Western artists who have painted in Bali, and Agung Rai Gallery, a commercial operation which also houses a small, but important, permanent collection. Ubud is a good place to see Balinese dancing and hear Balinese music.

 

·Phoenix (US)

菲尼克斯（美国）

Phoenix (US)

The setting sun enhances the majesty of these canyons in Sedona, about a two-hour drive north of Phoenix

Like the phoenix of ancient mythology, Arizona's capital city of Phoenix rose from its own ashes--in this case, the ruins of an ancient Indian village. The name Phoenix, given to the city by an early settler from Britain, has proven apt. Rising from the dust of the desert, this city has become one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country.

Though the city has had its economic ups and downs, the Phoenix metropolitan area, often referred to as the Valley of the Sun, is currently booming. The Camelback Corridor, which leads through north-central Phoenix, has become the heartland of the city and shiny glass office towers keep pushing up toward the desert sky. This burgeoning（增长迅速的，发展很快的）stretch of road has also become a corridor of upscale（高档的）restaurants and shopping plazas（市场；购物中心）, anchored （原意是抛锚使船停泊，使固定） by the Biltmore Fashion Park, the city's temple of high-end consumerism. Today Phoenicians are flocking to （涌向）this area both for work and play.

Even downtown Phoenix, long abandoned as simply a place to work, is taking on a radically new look of late. Two new museums--the Phoenix Museum of History and the Arizona Science Center--have been built adjacent to（邻近）historic Heritage Square, and the Phoenix Museum of Art has undergone a major renovation and expansion. However, the biggest project in downtown Phoenix in recent years was the construction of the Bank One Ballpark, a covered baseball stadium with a retractable（可来回收缩的）roof.

Beauty in the Arizona desert

Throughout the metropolitan area the population is growing at such a rapid pace that an alarm has been raised: Slow down before we become another Los Angeles! Why the phenomenal growth? In large part it's due to the climate. More than 300 days of sunshine a year is a powerful attraction. Sure, summers are hot, but the mountains--and cooler air--are only 2 hours away. And it's in the winter that the Valley of the Sun truly shines. While most of the country is frozen solid, the valley is sunny and warm. This great winter climate has helped make this area the resort（常去的休闲度假之处）capital of the United States.

Golf and tennis are only the tip of the iceberg (so to speak). With the cooler winter weather comes the cultural season, and between Phoenix and the neighboring cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, and Mesa, there's an impressive array of（一系列；大量）music, dance, and theater to be enjoyed. Scottsdale is also well known as a center of the visual arts, ranking only behind New York and Santa Fe in its concentration of art galleries.

Over the years, Phoenix has both enjoyed the benefits and suffered the problems of rapid urban growth. It has gone from tiny agricultural village to sprawling（迅速拓展的）cosmopolitan metropolis in little more than a century. Along the way it has lost its past amid urban sprawl and unchecked development; at the same time, it has forged a city that's quintessentially（典型地，标准地）20th-century American. Shopping malls, the gathering places of America, are raised to an art form in Phoenix. Luxurious resorts create fantasy worlds of waterfalls and swimming pools. Wide boulevards（大马路）stretch（延伸）for miles across land that was once desert but has been made green through irrigation. Perhaps it's this willingness to create a new world on top of an old one that attracts people to Phoenix. Then again, maybe it's just all that sunshine.

·Mumbai (India)

孟买（印度）

Mumbai (India)

Bombay University

An island connected by bridges to the mainland, Mumbai is the industrial hub of everything from textiles to petrochemicals, and responsible for half of India's foreign trade. But while it aspires to（热望，向往）be another Singapore, it's also a magnet for the rural poor. It's these new migrants who are continually re-shaping the city, making sure Mumbai keeps one foot in its hinterland and the other in the global marketplace.

Mumbai is located on India's central-western coast along the Arabian Sea. The city developed for 150 years in isolation from its hinterland and still seems to belong in a different world to the huge, predominantly Hindu state of Maharashtra which encompasses a 500km (310mi) coastal strip, a portion of the Western Ghats and a significant part of the Deccan plateau. The Western Ghats (literally, steps) start to rise just north of Mumbai and run parallel to the coast. They have an average elevation （平均海拔）of 915m (3001ft) and are covered with tropical and temperate（温带的）evergreen forests and mixed deciduous（落叶性的）forest and harbour a rich array（大量）of plant and animal life, including 27% of India's flowering plants.

Kamata Nehry Park

The principal part of the city is concentrated at the southern claw-shaped end of the island. The southernmost peninsula is known as Colaba and this is where most travellers gravitate （被吸引）since it has a decent range of hotels and restaurants and two of the city's best landmarks, the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel. Directly north of Colaba is the area known as the Fort, since this is where the old British fort（堡垒，要塞）once stood. Further west is Marine Drive, which sweeps around Back Bay, connecting the high-rise modern business centre with Chowpatty Beach. To the north are the suburbs of Greater Mumbai. Here you'll find the two airports, Sahar International and the domestic Santa Cruz.

·Paris (France)

巴黎（法国）

Paris (France)

Arc de Triomphe

The discovery of the City of Light and the experience of making it your own is and always has been the most compelling reason to visit. If you're a first-timer, everything in Paris, of course, will be new to you. If you've been away for a while, expect changes: Taxi drivers may no longer correct your French but address you in English--and that's tantamount to（同等的,相当于) a revolution. More Parisians（巴黎人） have a rudimentary（基本的,初步的）knowledge of English, and the country, at least at first glance, seems less hysterically（歇斯底里地，极端地）xenophobic（对外国人无理仇视的，排外的） than in past years. Part of this derives from Parisians' interest in music, videos, and films from foreign countries, and part is caused by France's growing awareness of its role within a united Europe.

Yet France has never been more concerned about the loss of its identity, as it continues to attract an increasing number of immigrants from its former colonies. Many have expressed concern that the country will lose the battle to keep its language strong, distinct, and unadulterated（无搀杂的，纯正的）by foreign (particularly American) slang or catchwords (le weekend, for example).

Touring the Seine River by boat

Though Paris is in flux （巨变）culturally and socially, it lures travelers for the same reasons it always has.

Both the capital of the nation and of the historic Ile de France region, Paris is located in northern central France, 265km (165mi) south-west of Brussels, 295km (185mi) south-west of Luxembourg and 510km (315mi) west of Stuttgart. The city centre - known as Intra-Muros, or within the walls - is bisected by the River Seine. The area north of the river, the Rive Droite (Right Bank), includes the tree-lined Avenue des Champs-élysées, running west to the Arc de Triomphe. East of the avenue is the massive Musée du Louvre, the Centre Georges Pompidou and a lively district of museums, shops, markets and restaurants. Immediately south of the Pompidou Centre on the Ile de la Cité is the world-famous Notre Dame. The area south of the river, the Rive Gauche (Left Bank), is home to the city's most prominent landmark, the Eiffel Tower.

·Johannesburg (South Africa)

约翰内斯堡（南非）

Johannesburg (South Africa)

Transvaal Museum, located in nearby Pretoria, is the country's best natural science museum.

It is known as the City of Gold, a sprawling megacity （百万人口以上之城市）on the South African rand（边缘）that seems to radiate endlessly beyond the gleaming urban core.

Johannesburg exists largely because of the gold first found here in the 1880s by an Australian prospector（勘探者,探矿者）. He'd come across the richest gold reef ever found, and more than a century later, gold is still being extracted（开采） from mines around the city.

The jobs and wealth those mines have generated have made Johannesburg the country's largest city, with six million people. A lot of that growth has happened on the city's outskirts, where unemployed rural blacks in search of jobs came and established what became known as townships - in a lot of cases little more than massive squatter （新开垦地的定居者） camps. The most famous of these is Soweto（索韦托）, and tours there are now available to take visitors to a distinctly different part of greater Johannesburg.

A lively show in Sun City, the entertainment and resort complex northwest of Johannesburg

Those who have prospered live in a cosmopolitan city that in areas seems to ooze（渗出；冒出）wealth, and there are many fine galleries, shopping centres and restaurants to choose from.

There's also the popular Rosenbank and Randburg Waterfront nightclub districts, the Wanderer's Club cricket grounds and Ellis Park, where the home team Springboks captured the 1995 Rugby World Cup and sent a country into delirium（极度兴奋，发狂）.

·Jerusalem (holy city for both Islam and Judaism)

耶路撒冷

Jerusalem

El Asqua Mosque and the Dome of the Rock

Jerusalem is arguably the world's most revered city. It's the city of King David (1,000 B.C.), the place of Christ's last ministry and crucifixion（钉死于十字架）, and the site where the prophet Mohammad is believed to have ascended to heaven. Over a turbulent 3,000-year history, Jerusalem has seen more than its share of sieges, while Jews, Christians, and Muslims have all tried their hand at ruling the city.

During the centuries of the Crusades（十字军东征）, Jerusalem was the ethereal （天国的）vision that moved the armies of Europe and Islam, but for almost 700 years after the Crusades ended, the actual city of Jerusalem existed as a shadowy, forgotten backwater（荒僻处）, slowly falling into ruin and decay. Not until the 19th century did the city again begin to come alive and reemerge from behind its walls.

During the years of the British Mandate（托管）(1918-48) the current incarnation（原意为化身）of Jerusalem developed as a quiet religious center, tourist attraction, and university town in a remarkably beautiful mountain setting. Nineteen years of division by war, barbed wire（有刺铁丝网）, and minefields (1948-67) brought Jerusalem's gentle renaissance（复兴，复活）to a temporary halt.

The Mosque of Umar, located next to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, features a Syrian-type minaret.

Situated along an edge of the West Bank in east-central Israel, Jerusalem is the nation's capital and largest city, with a population of around 560,000. It is comprised of the history-drenched Old City, and modern urban neighborhoods that have grown up outside the Old City's walls.

Modern Jerusalem is a center of government, culture and tourism. Naturally, the Old City is of most interest to visitors, given sacred landmarks like the Curch of the Holy Sepulcher, the Dome of the Rock, and the Wailing Wall. Numerous museums and other historic sites lend further appeal to one of the world's holiest（最神圣的）cities.

·Geneva (Switzerland)

日内瓦（瑞士）

Geneva (Switzerland)

Promenade de Saint-Antoine (It takes its name from a chapel consecrated to Saint Anthony that once stood against the gate of the same name at the entrance to today's rue des Chaudronniers.)

Geneva is located in the Rhone Valley at the southwestern corner of Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman, in French), between the Jura Mountains and the Alps. It's the capital of the canton （瑞士的州）of Geneva, the second-smallest canton in the Swiss Confederation.

Switzerland's second-largest city has an idyllic（田园诗的）setting on one of the biggest alpine lakes and within view of the pinnacle（山顶,山峰）of Mont Blanc. Filled with parks and promenades（散步场所）, the city becomes a virtual garden in summer. It's also one of the healthiest cities in the world thanks to prevailing north winds that blow away all air pollution.

The city covers itself in flowers and takes chocolate to an art form has got to be okay. You can't go wrong visiting this city, even if you just walk its streets and lakeshore for days on end -- those flowers are everywhere and the Lake Geneva is clear and picturesque.

It might be in Switzerland, but Geneva is tres （法文，非常的意思）French. It didn't join the Swiss Confederacy until after 1815, so French culture permeates （浸透；充满）the place by way of food and language. Still, Calvin, who preached here during the Reformation （宗教改革，十六至十七世纪的天主教会改革运动,结果产生了基督新教)，seems to have had a deep effect, tempering（锻造）the French spirit a bit.

Flower Clock: 5 metres in diameter and located on a slope, its surface is covered by approximately 6,500 plants, which are grown according to what is called here 'mosaiculture' .

Geneva is surrounded by French territory, connected to Switzerland only by the lake and a narrow corridor. The city's overwhelming French influence is apparent in its mansard（双重斜坡的屋顶）roofs, iron balconies, sidewalk cafes, and French signs.

But if the city seems a little staid（端庄的,深沉的）, perhaps it's because it contemplates （思忖，思量）the fate of the planet on a daily basis. Switzerland hasn't seen a war for over 300 years; Geneva hosts hundreds of humanitarian and scientific agencies. It was the home to the League of Nations, the predecessor（前身） of the United Nations. The UN still maintains an office here. The International Red Cross is here. So is the World Health Organization. And the European Centre for Nuclear Research, CERN, which also brought us the Web. The list goes on and on.



·Cairo (Egypt)

开罗（埃及）

Cairo (Egypt)

View of Pyramids from the Mena House Hotel

Few other countries are so dominated by their capital: Cairo is Egypt. For Egyptians to speak of one is to speak of the other. The 'Mother of the World' nurtures more than 16 million Egyptians, Arabs, Africans and sundry（各式各样的）international hangers-on in a collision of East and West, old and new, African and Arabic. She's overburdened with one of the world's highest population densities, which makes for a seething （原意为沸腾）mass of people, buildings and cacophonous（发音不和谐的）traffic.

Cairo has been the heart of Egypt for more than 1000 years. Here the medieval world and the contemporary Western world clash in a confusion of mud-brick houses and towering modern office buildings, of flashy cars and donkey-drawn carts（驴车）. Cairenes see nothing strange in this. They aren't driven by the Western obsession to update and upgrade. The resulting pervasive sense of timelessness is one of the city's great charms. At the end of the day, it's a city travelers either loveor hate; few come away indifferent.

Cairo Tower at Night

Finding your way about Cairo's vast sprawl is not as difficult as it may seem. Midan Tahrir is at the center. Northeast of Tahrir and centered on Sharia Talaat Harb is Downtown, a bustling commercial district. The city's main train station at Midan Ramses marks Downtown's northernmost extent. Heading east, Downtown ends at Midan Ataba and the old medieval heart of the city known as Islamic Cairo takes over.

Bordering Downtown to the west is the Nile River, which is obstructed （拦截）by two sizeable islands. The more central of these, connected directly to Downtown by three bridges, is Gezira, home to the Cairo Tower and the Opera House complex. The west bank of the Nile is less historical and much more residential. The primary districts are Mohandiseen, Agouza, Doqqi and Giza, all of which are light on charm and heavy on concrete. Giza covers by far the largest area of the four, stretching some 20km (12.4mi) west on either side of the long, straight road that ends at the foot of the Pyramids.

·Buenos Aires (Argentina)

布宜诺斯艾利斯（阿根廷）

Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Plaza de Mayo (May Square)

Visitors to Argentina's capital city are pleasantly surprised by the European energy buzzing（弥漫在） in the South American air.

Like European cities, Buenos Aires is known for its late-late-night dining and clubs that let visitors dance until sunrise.

Buenos Aires is a sprawling（蔓生的；不规则地伸展的）giant, with towering glass skyscrapers casting shadows on 19th century Victorian houses and a wealth of unique neighborhoods, each with its own personality.

The San Telmo district, where Buenos Aires artists work and live, is noted for its mishmash（混杂物）of architectural styles, perfectly embodying （体现）Buenos Aires' multinational heritage in Spanish Colonial houses with Italian detailing and graceful French Classic buildings holding antique shops, tango bars and cafes. La Boca's pressed tin houses were painted a rainbow of colors by 19th century Italian immigrant families, colors which are still bright and set off by the colorful murals decorating the walls of side streets. The city's chicest（时髦的）neighborhood is the Barrio Recoleta, called the Beverly Hills of Buenos Aires for its art galleries and upscale（高档的）restaurants.

A memorial to Eva Peron

Culture flourishes here too. One of the world's finest opera houses, the Teatro Colon, has hosted the likes of Maria Callas, Toscanini, Stravinsky, and Caruso in its luxurious French Renaissance-styled theatre. Tickets are hard to come by（得到）as season ticket-holders crowd the seats, but visitors can tour the theater from 10am to 6pm weekdays.

Buenos Aires' famous Museo de Bellas Artes is Argentina's finest art gallery with a good collection of modern Argentine painters, wood sculptured artifacts from the provinces, and Impressionist and post-Impressionist （后印象派主义）paintings such as Monet, Degas, and Chagall. And any visitor includes the Plaza de Mayo on his or her itinerary（旅程）to see the plaza where the citizens gathered together to hear speeches by populist leaders Juan and Evita Peron.

·Sydney (Australia)

悉尼（澳大利亚）

Sydney (Australia)

Sydney's landmark Opera House

Australia's premier city is the oldest settlement in Australia, the economic powerhouse of the nation.

The Sydney area was the ancestral home of the Daruk tribe, whose territory extended from Botany Bay to Pittwater. There are some 2000 Aboriginal （土著居民的）rock engraving sites in the Sydney area, and many of Sydney's suburbs have Aboriginal names. The city of Sydney began life as a penal colony（指英国放逐犯人的殖民地） in 1788, and for the next 60 years received the unwanted, persecuted and criminal elements of British society. Despite its brutal beginnings, the city's mixture of pragmatic egalitarianism（平等主义）and plain indifference has transformed it into a thriving multicultural society. Sydney now attracts the majority of Australia's immigrants and the city's predominantly Anglo-Irish heritage（传统）has been revitalized by large influxes of Italian, Lebanese, Turkish, Greek, Chinese and Vietnamese.

The centre of Sydney is on the south shore of the harbour, about 7km (4mi) inland from the harbour heads. The CBD （中央商务区） has become a mini Manhattan of skyscrapers vying（竞争的；竞赛的）for dominance and harbour views, but its relentlessness （指城市钢筋水泥建筑的丛林给人留下的硬邦邦的感觉） is softened by shady Hyde Park and the Domain parkland to the east, Darling Harbour to the west and the main harbour to the north. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the harbour tunnel link the city centre with the satellite CBD of North Sydney and the suburbs of the North Shore. The city's airport, Kingsford Smith (otherwise known as Mascot), is about 10km (6mi) south of the city centre. Central Station, Sydney's main train station, is in the south of the city centre, and the main bus terminal is just outside it.

The city has a population of 3.7 million and is growing fast.

Darling Harbour, with its museums and shops, is a major tourist draw.

The harbour is the focal point of the city, and its beaches, coves（小海湾）, bays and waterside parks offer welcome release from the rigours （条件艰苦）of urban life. Criss-crossed by ferries and carpeted by yachts on weekends, it is both the city playground and a major port. The string of ocean beaches on the north and south shores offer dramatic cliff scenery, great waves and a close-up of Aussie beach culture at its best.Kings Cross is the city's budget accommodation （住宿经济）centre. There are heaps of good restaurants in Darlinghurst, Kings Cross, Paddington and Glebe, and a few around Circular Quay. For cafés, try Oxford and Victoria Sts in Darlinghurst, Stanley St in East Sydney, King St in Newtown or Norton St in Leichhardt. Sydney's theatres are scattered around the edge of the CBD, the Opera House is on the edge of Circular Quay. The best nightlife is centred on Oxford St and Kings Cross. Louts in the city centre on Friday and Saturday night can make it a less than enjoyable experience. The Rocks can be fun, but the area is overtly aimed at tourists.

·Seoul (Republic of Korea)

汉城 （韩国）

Seoul (Republic of Korea)

A pavilion in the grounds of the Kyongbuk-kung Palace, Seoul, South Korea. The palace remained the royal residence for around 200 years. Following destruction by invasions and wars only 10 of the original 500 buildings survive today.

Seoul is mega-modern and appealingly ancient city. Flattened in the Korean War, most of the city has been rebuilt since the 1950s. Peeking out from among the 12-lane freeways, overshadowed by high-rises（高楼大厦）, Seoul has a hidden history of centuries-old temples, palaces, pagodas and pleasure gardens. It also has cheap accommodation （住宿）, excellent public transport and cultural experiences aplenty. The Han-gang River bisects（一分为二） the city, with Chung-gu the central district, Chongno-gu (with most of the budget hotels and sights) to the north, and It'aewon-dong (packed full of shopping, bars and nightlife) just south of the city centre.

Seoul is justifiably famous for its palaces. Kyongbokkung Palace is the best known. Built at the beginning of the Yi Dynasty, most of the 500 buildings in the palace grounds were destroyed when the Japanese invaded. Reconstructed in the late 19th century, destroyed again in the Korean war, the palace and its grounds have now been entirely restored once more. The palace is actually several buildings, including one of the most exquisite（精致的）pagodas in the country and an enormous two-storey throne room. The National Folk Museum in the grounds of the palace is dedicated to showing how ordinary Koreans have lived through the ages. Another palace highlight is Ch'anggyonggung Palace, built in 1104. Once the rulers' summer palace, the Japanese downgraded Ch'anggyonggung to a park. Cross a footbridge from the palace and you're at the Chongmyo Shrine.

"Chongmyo Shrine" was added to Unesco's World Heritage List in 1995. Chongmyo is the oldest and most authentic of the Confucian royal shrines that have been preserved.

If a bit of a chat with the locals is what you're after, head south-west of Ch'anggyonggung to T'apkol Park, where crowds of friendly elderly folk sit around talking about the weather. This is where the Declaration of Independence was first read in 1919, and murals（壁画）around the park are dedicated to the independence movement. The park is named after the marble pagoda (t'apkol) in its grounds. The city's other great park is Namsan, south of the city centre. The third tallest tower in the world, the Seoul Tower is within the park, and it's packed full of tourist fun - an aquarium, games room and the Fancy World.

National Treasure No 1 is the Namdaemun Gate, once Seoul's chief city gate. The gate, built in the 14th century, is near the Seoul train station. Its solidity and calm elegance make it an island in a sea of traffic. South of the river, Lotte World has its own ice skating rink（溜冰场）, hotel, swimming pool and the Disney-clone Lotte World Adventure - hours of family entertainment.

·London (UK)

伦敦（英国）

London (UK)

Buckingham Palace

The British capital is more eclectic and electric than it's been in years. There's almost a feeding（渐渐增强的）frenzy（狂热）setting out to prove that London is the most pulsating （搏动的；悸动的）, vibrant （充满生气的）city on the planet, even rivaling New York for sheer energy, outrageous art, trendy restaurants, and a nightlife equal to none（无与伦比的）. Newsweek hailed London as a "hip （时髦，时尚）compromise between the nonstop newness of Los Angeles and the aspic-preserved （这里指固定的，不变的）beauty of Paris--sharpened to New York's edge." Wine Spectator proclaims more modestly that "The sun is shining brighter in London these days."

Experimental theater is taking over stages that were built for Shakespeare's plays; and upstart（暴富的）chefs are reinventing the bland dishes British mums made for generations into a new and inventive cuisine; for the first time ever, Brits （英国人）are even running the couture houses （高级服装店）of Dior and Givenchy. In food, fashion, film, pop music, the visual arts, and just about everything else, London stands at the cutting edge again, just as it did in the 1960s.

However traditional London still lives, basically intact（原封不动的；未受损伤的). From high tea at Brown's to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the city abounds with the culture and charm of days gone by.

Designed by Sir Christopher Wren, St. Paul's Cathedral is the symbolic heart of London.

Discovering London and making it your own can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you have just a little time. Even in the 18th century, Daniel Defoe found London "stretched out in buildings, straggling（蔓延）, confused, out of all shape; neither long nor broad, round nor square." The City of London proper （真正的伦敦城） is merely one square mile of very expensive real estate around the Bank of England. All the gargantuan rest of the city is made up of separate villages, boroughs（自治市镇）, and corporations（市政府）--Westminster, Chelsea, Hampstead, Kensington, and many more--each with its own mayor and administration ready to fight for its independent status. Together, however, they add up to a mammoth metropolis, once the largest on the globe.

Luckily, whether you're looking for Dickens' house or the Dr. Marten's Superstore, only a minute fraction of London's huge territory need concern you. The heart of this behemoth（原意是巨兽）is one of the most fascinating areas on earth, and for about a century, one-quarter of the world was ruled from central London. With almost every step you take, you'll come across signs of the tremendous influence this city has exerted over our past, both in thought and action.

London is a mass of contradictions. On the one hand, it's a decidedly royal city, studded （点缀）with palaces and court gardens. Yet it's also the home of the world's second-oldest parliamentary democracy (Iceland was the first).



·Chicago (U.S.)

芝加哥（美国）

Chicago (U.S.)

Chicago's world-famous skyline

You could argue that Chicago is the quintessential （典型的）American metropolis--not just the first great city carved from the young nation's western frontier （边远地区）, but an international capital of commerce and culture.

Daniel Burnham, the legendary Chicago architect and city planner, nailed （使固定）it a century ago when he said, "Make no small plans." This, after all, is where the steel-frame skyscraper was born. Where Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, and Thomas Dorsey gave shape to the signature American music forms known to the world at large as jazz, blues, and gospel （福音音乐：源于美国黑人歌曲宗教音乐，有流行歌曲或民歌风格）. Where George "Papa Bear" Halas pioneered the National Football League, and Michael Jordan--one of the greatest athletes in history--transcended the game of basketball to become, arguably, the most famous human being on the planet. Nothing in Chicago, from the Sears Tower to the vast sweep of parks strung（串起;使排成一列）along Lake Michigan is small.

Many people say Chicago is the most livable big city in the United States. A generation ago, people poured out of the city for greener suburban pastures （牧草地,放牧场）, but today people seem to want to live in the city again. The city has its well-publicized problems--among them, chronically troubled schools, street-gang violence, and deplorable （糟糕的）public-housing conditions--but on many of these fronts, the city seems recommitted to repairing its afflictions. New town houses are sprouting in many quarters of the city, and developers scramble to （争夺，抢夺）carve out condos （各户有独立产权的公寓）in neighborhoods on the fringes of downtown once thought unfashionable. Even fish have returned to the once-polluted Chicago River.

The immensely popular Navy Pier features shops, eateries, nightlife, and a 15-story ferris wheel.

Visitors have more reasons than ever to visit Chicago, with its impressive new home for the Museum of Contemporary Art; a lively, rehabilitated Navy Pier and the resurrected North Loop theater district. Come summer, the lake sparkles and draws legions（大批的人）to its shores, slowing traffic on Lake Shore Drive as envious drivers crane their necks （伸长脖子） to watch the volleyball players cavorting （跳跃）on the beaches. Chicago's domination of the convention business was further solidified recently with the completion of a mammoth new wing at the city's major convention hall, McCormick Place, and that booming trade has sparked another round of hotel construction.

Today, the typical visitor will discover that Chicago is more Paris than prairie（大草原;牧场）. Within a few minutes you can go from the cosmopolitan buzz（忙乱） of the downtown Loop to a working-class Latino neighborhood. Unlike the oppressive density of Manhattan or the smog-choked skies over LA, there's room to breathe here. This is a living, vibrant, wonderfully diverse city, and one that offers something for everyone, whatever your tastes, inclinations（爱好）, or budget may be. You won't cover it all （看不完）, nor should you try. Chicago demands repeat visits.

·San Francisco (U.S.)

旧金山（美国）

San Francisco (U.S.)

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world.

Even people who hate the USA love San Francisco. It has an atmosphere of genteel （彬彬有礼的;有教养的）chic（高尚、别致） mixed with offbeat（不跟随时尚主流的;非传统的;特异的）innovation, and a selfeffacing（自我谦逊的）quality so blatantly missing from New York and LA.

One of the USA's most attractive cities, San Francisco's hilly streets provide some gorgeous glimpses of the San Francisco Bay and its famous bridges. This is a mosaic（马赛克式的东西）of a city, a big picture made from the colorful tiles of bustling Chinatown, gay Castro （旧金山一著名同性恋社区）and faux-hemian（法语词，故意表现得质朴童稚的）North Beach.

San Francisco covers the tip of a 30mi (50km) peninsula (半岛) in Northern California, with the Pacific Ocean on its western side and the San Francisco Bay to the north and east. San Francisco is just one of many cities in the Bay Area; others include Oakland (east across the Bay Bridge), Berkeley (just north of Oakland) and San Jose (an hour's drive southeast of San Francisco, near the southern tip of the bay). Marin County and the Wine Country lie to the north, across the Golden Gate Bridge.

A newly restored street car on Market Street

The most touristed part of the city resembles a slice of pie, with Van Ness Ave and Market St making the two sides and the Embarcadero the round edge of the pie. The steaming toppings of this homebaked slice are the classy shops around Union Square, the highrise Financial District, the classy Civic Center, the down-and-out but up-and-coming Tenderloin, swanky（华丽的） Nob Hill and Russian Hill, Chinatown, North Beach and the epicenter of tourist kitsch, Fisherman's Wharf（渔人码头）. To the south of Market St lies SoMa, an upwardly mobile warehouse zone of clubs and bars that fades in the southwest into the Mission - the city's Latino quarter - and then the Castro, the center of gay life.

Making a circuit of the 49-Mile Drive is a good way to check out almost all of the city's highlights（最有意思或精彩的部分）. The route is well posted with instantly recognizable seagull signs, but a map and an alert navigator are essential. Do yourself a favor and allow a whole day to complete the circuit.

Greyhound is the only regular long-distance bus company operating to the city - all bus services arrive and depart at the Transbay Terminal in SoMa. Amtrak's rail network connects the Bay Area with the rest of the continental US and Canada. Its main stations are in Oakland and Emeryville, both in the East Bay. Caltrain links San Francisco with the peninsula and San Jose; its depot is in SoMa.

·Los Angeles (U.S.)

洛杉矶（美国）

Los Angeles (U.S.)

Greater Los Angeles, on the southern west coast of the United States, takes in a range of geographical extremes, including a subtropical （亚热带的）desert, 76mi (122km) of sea coast, a pair of offshore islands and peaks that exceed 10,000ft (3000m) in elevation （海拔）. But the most notable thing about Los Angeles' geography is that it straddles one of the world's major fault zones（断层带）. The San Andreas Fault - which comes within 33mi (56km) of downtown LA - has been responsible for five serious quakes this century and dozens of imperceptible（感觉不到的）quakes every week.

Covering 465 sq mi (1200 sq km), Los Angeles takes in 88 incorporated cities. The Santa Monica Mountains separate Hollywood and Beverly Hills from the San Fernando Valley to the north; adjacent Orange County, home of Disneyland, extends along the coast to the southeast. Santa Monica and Venice are on the coast, just west of Beverly Hills, while the international airport is south of Venice. Downtown (where you'll find Union Station, the Amtrak depot) is east of Hollywood, with Watts and Compton to its south. You'll find the main Greyhound terminal east of downtown and south of Little Tokyo. Head west from Santa Monica to get to Malibu.

Basically, LA is a monster of a city to get around. It's a tangle of freeways and sprawling suburbs, where anyone without a car is considered intellectually impaired（弱智）.

Hollywood

Los Angeles has built its reputation on the glamour of the movies. Hollywood itself (in northwestern LA) is no longer the movie mecca（圣地）it once was, but it certainly holds plenty of historic interest. Take a walk down Hollywood Blvd and you'll pass by famous sights such as Mann's (née Grauman's) Chinese Theatre, where more than 150 of the glitterati（社会名流）have left their prints on the sidewalk out the front. Head east along the Boulevard, stepping on those famous bronze stars, and you'll find yourself at the Roosevelt Hotel.

If you don't manage to spot a real star while you're in Hollywood, drop by the Hollywood Wax Museum.

Disneyland

Disneyland is divided into four different lands: Adventureland has a jungle theme and features Indiana Jones and the Forbidden Eye; Frontierland celebrates the myth of the Wild West; Fantasyland devotes itself to Disney's favorite characters; and Tomorrowland is (you guessed it) all about the future.

Palm trees flank a glamorous Beverly Hills street.

Beverly Hills

The tour would not be complete without a visit to Beverly Hills, home to the rich and famous. Just west of Hollywood, this city-within-a-city flaunts（炫耀）its wealth with opulent manors （豪宅）on manicured（修剪整齐的）grounds and shopping streets overflowing with designer labels（设计师品牌商标）.

North Beverly Hills is the epicenter of luxury living, home to the likes of Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty and Harrison Ford.

·Honolulu (U.S.)

火奴鲁鲁（美国）

Honolulu (U.S.)

Diamond Head, a volcanic peak, offers sweeping views of Oahu.

Honolulu is a harbor city at the southern end of Oahu, the most visited island of the Hawaiian archipelago (群岛). The city lies 2550 miles (4100km) southwest of Los Angles; 3860 miles (6220km) southeast of Tokyo; 5060 miles (8150km) northeast of Sydney; and 1470 miles (2370km) north of the equator. Not surprisingly, it's a major hub for trans-Pacific air travel.

Downtown Honolulu contains all Oahu's state and federal government buildings, including the state capitol and Iolani Palace, once home to Hawaii's last few monarchs and still the only royal palace in the USA. Chinatown is a few blocks northwest of the palace; the Aloha Tower and cruise ship terminals are a few blocks west. Southeast of downtown, Waikiki is the epicenter (中心) of all things touristic: all the big resorts and much of the city's nightlife are found here. Just southeast of Waikiki, 760ft (230m) Diamond Head rises up as the city's favorite geological landmark. All of these sites are within the boundaries of greater Honolulu.

H-1, the main south shore freeway, passes east-west through Honolulu, connecting it to the airport and all other freeways on the island.

Local Hula dancers in Honolulu perform in full regalia.

Honolulu International (HNL) is a 9 mile (15km), 25 minute drive northwest of downtown via Ala Moana Blvd/Hwy 92 (Nimitz Hwy) or the H-1. The Ala Moana Center, on Ala Moana Blvd just northwest of Waikiki, is the central transfer point for The Bus, the island's public bus network. Its routes branch across the island, with each line's destination written above the bus' windshield (汽车的挡风玻璃). The Ala Moana Center is the central transfer point. Overall, the buses are in excellent condition - clean and air-conditioned - though buses on popular routes tend to be packed (挤满了人) and their pace is always dawdling (速度缓慢). Setting your watch by this system gives you nothing but a good sense of Hawaiian Time. The Waikiki Trolley (无轨电车) is an expensive, tourist-laden open-air bus geared primarily for sightseeing shopaholics (购物成癖的人). The attraction-lined route between Waikiki's Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and downtown Honolulu is narrated.

Oahu is not a big island, and few places are more than an hour's drive from Honolulu. If you plan on spending all your time in the resorts of Waikiki, forget about renting, but if you plan to get beyond the city limits, a car is the easiest way to do it. The minimum age to drive in Hawaii is 15 years, and most car rental agencies hike that limit to 25. Gasoline is about 25% more expensive on the island than on the US mainland. Driving is on the right.

Taxis wait at most major downtown hotels and at the airport. Otherwise, you'll need to phone for a cab. Bikes are available for rent in Honolulu and Waikiki, and most bike shops provide maps, helmets (头盔) and locks. The city is poorly suited for cycling, though, and most riders prefer to use their bikes for longer jaunts (旅游) around Oahu.

·Toronto (Canada)

多伦多（加拿大）

Toronto (Canada)

CN TOWER, 1,815 ft and 5 inches high, is the tallest freestanding structure in the world, There are multiple observation decks - with glass floors, a revolving restaurant, and the world's highest public observation gallery.

Toronto is a big, beautiful and efficient city, one that has emerged from relative obscurity （不引人注目）over the past half century to become the center of culture, commerce and communications in Canada.

With its colorful ethnic mix, rich history and breathtaking architecture, Toronto offers non-stop adventures for the willing tourist. To get a sense of how big, various and magical Toronto is, the best place to start is the CN Tower, the tallest free-standing （无支撑物的，独立的）structure in the world. From this vantage point （有利位置）, visitors get a bird's-eye-view （鸟瞰）of the city's striking skyline and unique geography.

In addition to being an important cultural and commercial center, Toronto is also a major multiethnic metropolis（多种民族混居的大都市）. The city'spopulation numbers more than 4.5 million people, and its residents come from countries around the world and from all manner of ethnicbackgrounds. On any given day, and in most quarters of the city, a hundred different languages can be heard on the streets, from Hindi（印度语）to Greek to French. This, perhaps, explains why former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once said that Canada is really more a mosaic （马赛克式的东西）of cultures and languages than a melting pot（文化熔炉）.

Street signs in Toronto are mostly in English. Weekly and daily newspapers are published in myriad（各种各样都有的）languages, and the city hosts a successful international film festival each September. It is also the second-largest live-theater venue on the continent (after New York), and is home to a popular baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Simply put, Toronto has something for everyone.

A streetcar moves through the city's bustling Chinatown, one of the largest in North America.

Toronto's less well-traveled parts include the original Chinatown, laid out west along Dundas Street and running all the way to "new" Chinatown, near the Spadina Avenue/Dundas Street intersection. From here, it's just a short walk to the colorful, European-style Kensington Market, which abounds in fresh vegetables, poultry（家禽）and meats. Toronto is also a city filled with boutiques, restaurants, and cafes, and of course there are plenty of shopping opportunities in the Underground City, an 11 km (7 mi) subterranean（地下的）walkway lined with shops, banks, medical offices and theaters.

An often overlooked gem（本意是宝石、宝玉，这里指多伦多的精髓之处）of Toronto are the beach-fringed Toronto Islands. These eight tree-lined islands - and more than a dozen smaller islets （小岛）that sit in Lake Ontario just off the city's downtown - offer a welcome touch of greenery （长着的或者采下做装饰的漂亮的绿叶）. They've been attracting visitors since 1833, especially during the summer months when the more than 550 acres of parkland are most irresistible （不可抗拒的）. From here, you'll have spectacular views of Toronto's skyline, especially as the setting sun turns the city's skyscrapers to gold, silver, and bronze. If all this isn't enough, and you want something quirkier （奇特的）, come in January for the annual ice canoe race, when five-man/woman teams haul canoes across the ice floes （浮冰）off Harbourfront Centre.

·Rotterdam (Netherlands)

鹿特丹（荷兰）

Rotterdam (Netherlands)

The Netherlands Architecture Institute is much more than a museum. It is a cultural institution, open to the general public, that concerns itself in a variety of ways with architecture, urban design and spatial planning.

The resilient（本意指有弹力的，迅速恢复精力的）port city of Rotterdam has come back from the dark days of World War II, reborn as a modern metropolis from the ashes of the German bombing raids in 1940. The bombing virtually destroyed the port and harbor areas, which were rebuilt, however, with modern facilities that gave it an edge（优势）over older ports. Today, Rotterdam is the major terminus （终点港）not only for shipping produce and other goods from Europe; it's also the world's most important oil terminal （集散地）, with five major oil refineries（炼油厂）located at the port.

The city's reconstruction also gave a new generation of Dutch architects a chance to build on their talents. The result: A cityscape （都市风景）alive with the kinds of quirky （古怪的） constructions more commonly found in newer cities like Miami. Piet Blom's Picasso-esque cubist （立体主义的；立体派画家的）houses at the Blaakse Bos are local landmarks of weirdness, where furnishings have to be adapted to the tilted（倾斜的，翘起的）structures. The new Netherlands Architectuurinstitute （即Architecture Institute）showcases the best of Dutch design, while the Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum offers a world-class collection of modern art and earlier masterpieces.

These houses in the Blaak were designed as cubes resting on vertices of poles. They look like trees, hence the name Blaakse Bos (wood). They are also called cube or pole houses.

Though Rotterdam's one-time harbor, the Oude Haven, was decimated（被毁灭）by the bombing, the medieval Grote Kerk was lovingly rebuilt by the locals. And in front of the church, the 1622 bronze statue of Erasmus (born in Rotterdam in 1469) still holds court. The former harbor itself has become a maritime museum. At the nearby Leuvehaven harbor, the Prins Hendrik Maritime Museum traces the city's watery heritage. Also moored（停泊）there is the Museumschip Buffel, a 19th century warship-turned-museum.

Today's Rotterdam still owes its fortune and fame to the watery ways that have long made it an international destination for trade and tourism. Butnow,its lost history is part of its allure（魅力）, and its present dominance as a world trade center is steering the city's course (带引本市的发展方向）into the next century.

·Berlin (Germany)

柏林（德国）

Berlin (Germany)

the Brandenburg Gate

Perhaps no other city in the world wears its history on its sleeve quite like Berlin. Sure, the wall （柏林墙）isn't there any more, but Berlin is still very much divided: in the center of the city, there's a pretty neat segue （【音】继续）from the wealthy glitz（耀眼；炫目）of the west to newly developed central east Berlin. This area was quickly colonized by the trendy café-bar set in the early 90s and swift rebuilding has erased nearly all trace of the wall.

Before it came down, the wall was the most enduring icon （标志）of a nation's alienation （疏远；分离）. But it's not as if the city hadn't seen it all before. From the civic turmoil（骚动，混乱）of the Thirty Year War, to the devastating impact of the fire-bombing during WWII, Berlin has constantly been under siege （包围）or in a post-siege rebuilding phase. Even in the middle of trouble and strife（冲突）, though, Berliners have known how to live it up（享受人生）.

Unter der Linden

Berlin sits in the middle of the region known from medieval times （中世纪）as the Mark, and is surrounded by the new Bundesland (federal state) of Brandenburg. The city spills north and south of the Spree River which winds through some of the magnificent parkland that comprises （构成）a third of the municipal area. You can't really get lost within sight of the brooding （俯视的）and monstrous （高大的）Fernsehturm (TV Tower), a useful orientation （定位）point visible from most of central Berlin. Unter der Linden （菩提树下大街）, the fashionable avenue of aristocratic （有贵族气派的）old Berlin, extends from the Brandenburg Gate （勃兰登堡门）to Alexanderplatz （亚历山大广场）, once the heart of socialist Germany. Some of Berlin's finest museums are here, on Museumsinsel in the Spree, the original center of the metropolis （大都市）. West of the Brandenburg Gate, the boulevard runs through Tiergarten, a huge landscaped park. You may remember the Victory Column at its center from the Wim Wender's film Wings of Desire. The commercial center of west Berlin glitters just to the south.

·Athens (Greece)

雅典（希腊）

Athens (Greece)

The Parthenon and other main buildings on the Acropolis were built by Pericles in the fifth century BC as a monument to the cultural and political achievements of the inhabitants of Athens.

With thousands of years of history and mythology under its belt （这里指地域、地区）, Athens - named for the olive-tree-loving Athena （雅典娜 goddess of wisdom）- is more than a concrete jungle. It's an affable （和蔼可亲的，友善的）city enlivened （使有生气）by outdoor cafes, pedestrian streets （行人步行街）, parks, gardens and characters aplenty （丰富的，大量的）. If you get into the spirit of things, you might not even notice the layer of nefos (smog) hanging overhead.

The city is bounded on three sides by Mt Parnitha, Mt Pendeli and MtHymettos. Within Athens there are no less than eight hills, of which the Acropolis and Lykavittos are the most prominent （重要的，著名的）. The hills provide a peaceful respite（短暂的休息或喘息）from the clamour （喧嚣，吵闹）of the city, and offer stunning views to the glistening waters of the Saronic Gulf - the city's boundary on the south side.

Syntagma Square is the main square of Athens. Syntagma means Constitution so it is also known as Constitution Square. There is a metro station here and a fountain and the main post office and a MacDonalds too.

Just about everything of interest to the traveller is within a small area surrounding Plateia Syntagmatos (Syntagma Square). This area is bounded by the districts of Plaka to the south, Monastiraki to the west, Kolonaki to the east and Omonia to the north.

Plateia Syntagmatos is dominated by the old Royal Palace and is the beating heart of the business district, with luxury hotels, banks and airline offices. Plaka, nestled below the Acropolis, is the old Turkish quarter and virtually all that existed when Athens was declared the capital of independent Greece. Though Plaka is packed with tourists in high season, it's also one of theprettiest and most atmospheric areas of the city. Monastiraki is the market district and a fascinating part of town to wander. Psiri, nearby, is brimming （盈满的）with stylish cafes and bars and makes a great place to stop for a spot of lunch. Kolonaki, a classy residential area tucked in under Lykavittos Hill, is full of trendy boutiques （时尚专卖店）, art galleries and cafes.

·Salzburg (Austria)

萨尔斯堡（奥地利）

Salzburg (Austria)

The hills are alive with the sound of tourists in Salzburg, known to the world for its musical legacies and legends. The hometown of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart（奥地利著名作曲家）and the setting for the beloved Julie Andrews musical （音乐片）about the singing von Trapp family （音乐片《音乐之声》里的一家人）, Salzburg is a lyrically （抒情地，极热情地）lovely city on the Salzach River.

Salzburg, a city of 145,000 near the German border, has many nicknames （绰号，浑名）, among them "Festival City," so-called for the world-famous summer Salzburg International Festival (of music); and "The Golden City of High-Baroque （注重装饰和新奇怪异的巴罗克艺术风格）," a title earned by the city's wealth of Baroque architecture.

Landmarks for both Mozart and the movie musical are swarmed （挤满；群集）by tourists year-round. Pop a chocolatey "Mozart Kugeln （一种称做Mozart Kugeln的巧克力）" in your mouth before strolling the Mozartplatz （莫扎特广场）, a city square named for Salzburg's favorite son, where street musicians often play his music. Then tour such sites as Mozart's Birthplace and his Residence, or visit exhibits like the multi-media Mozart Audio and Video Museum.

Salzburg has made its fortune from the likes of Mozart and the movie musical, yet it's intriguing （有趣的，有魅力的）to note that the locals were late-comers to their praise. Only after Mozart's death was he recognized as a hometown treasure (many of his peers saw the brash （傲慢的，目中无人的）composer as a spoiled brat （宠坏了的孩子）, and "The Sound of Music," despite having been filmed here in 1964, flopped （拍动，拍手）with a decidedly unmelodious thud （不悦耳的拍击声）when it opened in Salzburg. Perhaps the locals didn't need to see the sights on film when the real thing was just outside the theater doors.

·Genoa (Italy)

热那亚 （意大利）

Genoa (Italy)

Genoa's economy has centered around the port, Italy's largest in terms of water surface area.

Genoa (or Genova) is the hometown of Christopher Columbus（克里斯多弗-哥伦布）, and one of Italy's classic seaports. The city is centrally located in northwest Italy's Liguria Region （利吉里亚区）, which curves around （环绕）the Gulf of Genoa's north shore.

Nicolo Paganini (1782-1840) Paganini's works always contain musical substance that goes way beyond technical bravura.

Genoa has suffered economic decline recently, but the city has a grand cultural heritage（文化遗产）. It's streets are filled with medieval cathedrals, glorious palaces, and Renaissance fountains（文艺复兴时代建的喷泉）.

Since the 13th century, Genoa's economy has centered around the port, Italy's largest in terms of water surface area. Now, in addition to shipping and freight transfer（货运）, metallurgy（冶金）, food processing, and tourism employ many of the city's 760,000 residents.

Visitors are attracted by Genoa's port city character, its art treasures, and nearby beach resorts. Popular local festivals include a variety of regattas（赛船大会）, an international boat show in the fall, and the Niccolo Paganini Pemio di Violino competition（以意大利著名小提琴家帕格尼尼命名的小提琴演奏比赛）, named for another of Genoa's favorite sons.



·Florence (Italy)

佛罗伦萨（意大利）

Florence (Italy)

The Arno River runs through the center of Florence.

Florence is the capital of the region of Tuscany, on Italy's north-west coast. The cultural and historical impact （影响力）of Florence is overwhelming. However, the city is one of Italy's most atmospheric and pleasant, retaining a strong resemblance（特征）to the small late-medieval center that contributed so much to the cultural and political development of Europe.

Where Rome is a historical hot-pot （热点）, Florence is like stepping back into a Fiat and Vespa-filled Renaissance （文艺复兴）: the shop-lined （商店林立）Ponte Vecchio, the trademark Duomo, the gem-filled Uffizi Gallery, the turreted （有角塔的,角塔状的）Piazza della Signoria and the Medici Chapels.

Duomo cathedral

The remarkable Duomo （大教堂）, with its pink, white and green marble fa? ade （房屋正面）and characteristic dome （拱顶）, dominates the city's skyline. The building took almost two centuries to build (and even then the facade wasn't completed until the 19th century), and is the fourth-largest cathedral in the world. The enormous dome was designed by Brunelleschi, and its interior features frescoes （在……作壁画）and stained-glass windows （由各色玻璃拼成的彩画玻璃窗）by some of the Renaissance-era's best: Vasari, Zuccari, Donatello, Uccello and Ghiberti. Take a deep breath and climb up to take a closer look, and you'll be rewarded by fantastic views of the city and an insight into how the dome was so cleverly constructed - without scaffolding （脚手架）. The dome still defines the scale of the city, and no building in town is taller.

Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus can be found in Piazza della Signoria.

Florence was founded as a colony of the Etruscan city of Fiesole in about 200 BC, later becoming the Roman Florentia, a garrison town （有驻防的城市）controlling the Via Flaminia. In the 13th century the pro-papal（罗马教皇）Guelphs and pro-imperial （国王）Ghibellines started a century-long bout of （一次）bickering （争吵，矛盾）, which wound up with（以……而告终）the Guelphs forming their own government in the 1250s. By 1292 Florence eventually becoming a commercial republic controlled by the Guelph-heavy merchant class.In the latter part of the 14th century the Medicis began consolidating （巩固）power, eventually becoming bankers to the papacy （罗马教廷）. Florence became capital of the Kingdom, and remained so until Rome took over （控制）in 1875.

Florence used to be badly damged by war (WWII ) and floods (in 1966), fortunately the salvage operation （拯救工作）led to the widespread （广泛的）use of modern restoration techniques（修复技术）which have saved artworks throughout the country.

·Kos (Greece)

科斯岛（希腊）

Kos (Greece)

Hippocrates Statue

The third largest island in the Dodecanese（希腊的多德卡尼斯群岛）, after Rhodes and Karpathos （喀帕苏斯岛）, Kos （科斯岛）lies between Kalimnos （卡利姆诺斯岛）and Nissiros . It is mainly flat with a mountain chain -Mts. Dikeos (875 m.) and Simpatras-- running along （绵延）the south coast.

Famous as the birthplace of Hippocrates （希腊名医希波克拉底）, the father of medicine, Kos is also known for its lovely, gentle scenery. It is both lush （繁荣的）and fertile（富饶的）, with an abundance of （大量的）springs and streams, gorgeous beaches and a marvelous climate.

Inhabited since prehistoric times, Kos, like Rhodes and the other Dodecanese, has known periods of great prosperity but also times of great hardship over the centuries.

During the Mycenaean （迈锡尼文明的）period (15th - 12th century B.C.), the island was densely settled and took part in （参与）the Trojan War （特洛伊战争）. In the 7th and 6th century B.C., it was the sixth city-state -- along with （除……以外）Halicarnassus, Knidos, Lindos, Ialyssos and Kameiros- in the Dorian （多里斯的）hexapolis.

After the end of the Persian Wars it became a member of the First Delian （爱琴海中的得洛斯岛）or Athenian Confederacy（联盟）.

In the 2nd century A.D., however, Kos fell under the sway （受到……的统治）of Rome and sank into （陷入）obscurity.

landscape of Kos

The long centuries under Byzantine（东罗马帝国的）rule were beneficial to the island, but by the 11th century, it was under constant threat from Saracen （撒拉逊人）and pirate raids before passing into the hands of the Venetians, the Genoese and, eventually, the Knights of the Order of St. John in 1315.

In 1522, the Turks finally conquered it after a series of unsuccessful attempts. The Turks held it until 1912, when the Italians occupied it and the other Dodecanese, and Kos did not become united with Greece until 1947.

Kos today has developed into a cosmopolitan resort（世界性的旅游胜地）, which is becoming more and more in demand （非常需要的）for apart from（除了）its physical beauty, it possesses some remarkable archaeological sites and important monuments -- leftovers （残留物）of various eras - excellent facilities for tourists and, furthermore, it is easy to get to whether by boat or by plane.

·Majuro (the Marshall Islands)

马朱罗（马绍尔群岛）

Majuro (the Marshall Islands)

Traditional house on Namu (outer islands)

Majuro （马朱罗，马绍尔群岛共和国首都）, a 30-mile-long atoll（环状珊瑚岛、环礁）, is the captial and main urban center of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Almost half the Marshall Islands' present population of around 60,000 live in Majuro. Along with administrative offices and tourist amenities, the city's attractions include a relatively pristine stretch of beach called Laura.

The atoll has 57 small islets（小岛）, the largest of which are connected by a single 55 kilometre stretch of paved road, making Majuro appear to be one long, narrow island. Robert Louis Stevenson called the atoll the 'Pearl of the Pacific' when he visited in 1889, but it's a far less pristine Majuro that one sees today.

Races held by Americans on Kwajalein

Majuro is the most Westernized（西化、欧化）of the Marshall Islands, but there's still a lot that can be learned about life in the islands from a visit. You can grasp what it's like to live on a ribbon of land so narrow that as often as not you can see the ocean on both sides. By visiting Laura Village, at the westernmost end （最西端）of the mainland, you can find a rural lifestyle somewhat similar to that of the outer islands. While there, make use of the islands' best beach and Majuro Peace Park, a memorial built by the Japanese and dedicated to those who died in the East Pacific during WWII.

Named for an 18th century British sea captain, the Marshall Islands consist of 29 atolls and five coral islands（珊瑚岛） that are equal to Washington, D.C., in terms of land area, yet scattered over 780,000 square miles of the Central Pacific Ocean. U.S. forces wrested control of the Marshall Islands from Japan toward the end of World War II, and subsequently conducted nuclear weapons tests on the Enewetak and Bikini atolls. The Kwajalein atoll still hosts a US ballistic missile（弹道导弹）test range.

Marshallese Crafts

The Marshall Islands economy is based on farming, fishing (especially tuna（金枪鱼） for sushi（寿司）), and tourism. Coconut products account for 90 percent of the nation's export volume.

Marshallese society has always been stratified（阶层分明）, and despite increasing Westernization and the introduction of a moneyed economy（金钱经济）, social status still comes as much from one's kinship（血统关系） as it does from one's own achievements. Chiefs continue to wield a great deal of authority over land ownership and usage.

Food cultivation on the islands has always been catch as catch can（千方百计，用尽一切办法）. Fish and seafood provide the bulk of the nonvegetable dishes, with tuna a staple of the catch. On land, breadfruit, coconut, arrowroot, yams, taro and pumpkins are the traditional mealtime mainstays. With the increasing Westernization of the Pacific, North American junk food（垃圾食品、无营养食品）has been increasingly dominating more traditional staples; on the rise too are the related health problems of obesity, diabetes, high blood-pressure and alcoholism.

One craft once common in the Marshall Islands (but growing less so) is canoe building. The walap canoes of old could reach a length of 100ft (30m) and carry up to 40 people, with supplies for open-sea voyages that could last more than a month. The smaller and faster tipnol was used mainly for fishing inside the lagoons, while the korkor, a small outrigger sometimes fitted with a sail, was also used within the lagoons.

Marshallese and English are both official languages of the islands and are commonly spoken throughout the country. Indicative of islanders' general amicability, their traditional greeting, Yokwe yuk, means 'Love to you.'

·Banff (Canada)

班夫（加拿大）

Banff (Canada)

Moraine Lake

Banff（班夫）began life in 1883 as a tiny community beside the newly built Canadian Pacific Railway line and some nearby hot springs（温泉）. Later the Canadian government protected the area as the Rocky Mountain Park Reserve（落基山保护区）, a designation which in 1930 became Banff National Park. Canada's first national park. It was popular with tourists then, and it's just as popular today.

Exterior of Banff Springs Hotel

Banff swarms year-round with visitors（终年都有大批游客蜂拥而至） who come to marvel at the stupendous（惊人的） mountain beauty that surrounds the townsite, and signs in stores（商店的标牌） are just as likely to be written in Japanese as in English. Several local resorts（旅游景点） are as good as skiers（滑雪的人） will find anywhere, and the massive stone-hewn Banff Springs Hotel（用巨石开辟成的温泉宾馆） is a Canadian travel icon. The Banff Centre for the Arts is an international focal point for writers, artists and actors.

Lake Louise（莱克路易斯）, 30 minutes west up a busy highway, is another picturesque destination （风景如画的目的地）favored by skiers, hikers, climbers and less adventurous travellers in tour buses and motor homes. While Banff is a bustling town （熙熙攘攘的城镇）with services normally found in much bigger places, Lake Louise cultivates a much quieter village lifestyle.

·Cairns (Australia)

凯恩斯（澳大利亚）

Cairns (Australia)

A diver meets the neighbors along the Great Barrier Reef, near Cairns

Cairns（凯恩斯）is surrounded on three sides by rainforest and on the fourth by the Coral Sea（珊瑚海）, and it's the jumping off point to the Great Barrier Reef（大堡礁）and the Wet Tropics World Heritage Rainforest. It is in northern Queensland, the place that dubs itself（自己戏称自己）the Sunshine State. So perhaps the Cairns Web site that declares "Welcome to Paradise" isn't too far off base.

Divers will discover colorful fish all along the Great Barrier Reef.

Some details: Much of the natural world surrounding Cairns is dense and diverse. The Wet Tropics World Heritage Rainforest was set aside as a world heritage area for its scientific and cultural importance and its natural beauty. The hundreds of miles of rainforest contains the most complete and diverse record of plant evolution. It is home to dozens of rare or unique plant and animal species.

The forest has also been home to aboriginals（澳大利亚土著居民）for tens of thousands of years. Aboriginal and Torres Straight（托雷斯海峡）Islanders culture has been captured in part for the tourist trade. You can take in the Aboriginal Dance Theatre, learn how to throw a boomerang or spend days in the forest with an aboriginal guide.



·Cape Town (South Africa)

好望角（南非）

Cape Town (South Africa)

The Victoria and Albert Waterfront

Set on the waterfront（滨水地区）, surrounded by spectacular （壮观的；壮丽的）mountains, Cape Town （南非西南部港市开普敦）is one of the world's prettiest cities.

Think of San Francisco and the Mediterranean rolled up into one - a place with great arts and culture, nearby wine country with gorgeous （灿烂的）old architecture and prize-winning product, sunny, active beaches, and a city center full of charm and history.

Clocktower Museum

It's been called the African Eden（伊甸园，乐园）and the Mother City, the place where modern South Africa has its roots. Explorers had sailed round the Cape for many years, but it wasn't until the mid-17th century that the Dutch landed and started a settlement against the backdrop （背景）of Table Mountain.

It has grown through the years as a regional centre and remains very much the reserve（保留地）of South Africa's European descendants.

The attractions here are endless, from simple walks around the historic downtown quarters（住处）, dining and drinks at the waterfront , art galleries, Cape wine tours to drives up the scenic west coast or along the Indian Ocean-side Garden Route.

Africa's racial policies kept Cape Town a travel secret for decades, but apartheid （种族隔离政策）is gone and the city wants a place on the world stage.

·Lima (Peru)

利马（秘鲁）

Lima (Peru)

The Iglesia de San Francisco features the city's first cemetery as well as many rare documents.

Straddling （坐落在…旁）both banks of the Rjo Rjmac at the foot of the Cerro San Cristobal, the capital of Peru is an eclectic（折衷的）mix of traditional colonial buildings, soaring skyscrapers and Pueblos（印第安人村庄）(shanty settlements that blanket the dusty hills overlooking the city).

Home to two-thirds of Peru's industry and nearly one-third of the country's total population, pollution and poverty is highly present this city of seven million. A few miles southwest of the city center, Villa El Salvador shelters 350,000 people.

In spite of its troubles, the city boasts a great many historic monuments, museums for every palate（口味，品位）, a lively cultural and arts scene and the country's best food, drink and nightlife.

Most of Lima's sights can be found within the old city, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO（联合国教科文组织）.

The dramatic Andes Mountains outside of Lima

Attractions include the Palacio Torre Tagle, the city's best surviving specimen of secular（长期的）colonial architecture; the Museo de Oro del Peru, with its precolumbian（哥伦布发现新大陆前）metals, weavings and mummies and the Museo de Arte, with more than 7,000 exhibits giving a retrospective（回顾）of Peruvian cultures and art from 2,000 years ago to the present day.

Lima's many markets overflow with hand-crafted （手工的）jewelry of silver and gold, Peruvian textiles and ceramics（陶器）, flowers and fresh produce.

For a break from the city's clamor, duck into（钻进）Lima's fine baroque churches（巴洛克式教堂）or take a stroll through its many parks and gardens, some established as early as the 17th century by Lima's Spanish aristocracy（贵族统治）.

·Singapore (Singapore)

新加坡城（新加坡）

Singapore (Singapore)

The Cavenaugh Bridge is a must-see for visitor, especially newlyweds.

According to Malay legend（马来传说）, a Sumatran （苏门答腊人）prince encountered a lion - considered a good omen - on Temasek, prompting him to found Singapura, or Lion City. It mattered little that lions had never inhabited Singapore (more likely the prince had seen a tiger); what did matter was the establishment of the region as a minor trading post for the powerful Sumatran Srivijaya empire and as a subsequent vassal state （封建时代的诸侯国）of the Javanese（爪哇人的）Majapahit empire in the mid-13th century.

Traditional Malay dancers throw petals to the audience.

Singapore might have remained a quiet backwater（荒僻处）if not for Sir Stamford Raffles' intervention in 1819. The British had first established a presence in the Straits of Malacca (now called Melaka)（马六甲海峡）in the 18th century when the East India Company set out to secure and protect its line of trade from China to the colonies in India. Fearing another resurgence（卷土重来）of expansionism（扩张主义）in the Dutch - which had been the dominant European trading power in the region for nearly 200 years - Raffles（废弃的物品）argued for an increased British presence, which he was promptly given. Under his tutelage（指导，托管）, Singapore's forlorn（荒凉的） reputation as a fetid（有恶臭的）, disease-ridden （疾病盛行）colony was soon forgotten. Migrants attracted by a tariff-free port poured in by the thousands, and a flourishing colony with a military and naval base was established.

·Vienna (Austria)

维也纳（奥地利）

Vienna (Austria)

This statue of the goddess Athena is an example of the Greek influence on Vienna's public architecture.

The Austrian capital of Vienna (Wien), with a population of more than 1.6 million, is a city forever implanted into the international imagination as a dreamy place of cream-filled pastries（奶油馅饼）and angelic choir boys, of prancing white horses and swirling Strauss waltzes. It is a city where legend overrules reality -- the Danube River（多瑙河）, which flows through Vienna, may not be true blue, yet, the "Blue Danube" waltz（蓝色多瑙河华尔兹）has permanently painted the waterway that hue in the mind's eye.

The imperial seat of the Habsburg court since the 17th century, Vienna was one of the world's most powerful cities, both culturally and politically, until World War I, when the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire（奥匈帝国）left it humbled by the redefinition of Europe's political structure. Despite having the power plug pulled, the city has retained its cultural cache（文化蕴藏地）.This statue of the goddess Athena is an example of the Greek influence on Vienna's public architecture.

The world-famous Vienna Boys Choir

Music is the soul of Vienna -- the great composers of Europe, from Mozart to Beethoven, Haydn to Schubert, Strauss to Mahler, called the city home. And at every opportunity, from the grand Opera Ball to the smallest of musical gatherings, Viennese swoon（陶醉）together in the city's famously romantic waltz. Or they gather for dramatic musical stagings（上演的节目）at the Staatsopera (State Opera House), one of the world's great opera venues.

Vienna celebrates its well-composed heritage with numerous festivals and concerts, as well as well-preserved landmarks such as Schubert's birthplace and the homes of Mozart and Beethoven. Another noteworthy Viennese note-taker, Sigmund Freud, is honored at a museum devoted to his life and work as the father of psychotherapy（精神疗法，心理疗法）.

Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Art) contains some of the world's greatest art.

Art and architecture are also Viennese trademarks, and with 90 museums, many devoted to art, the city is awash in great works. Art Nouveau (known locally as "Jungendstil," or Young Style) took hold here, born of the Vienna Secession which straddled（跨越，横跨）the turn of the 20th century. The movement's most famous member was Viennese painter Gustav Klimt, and his work, as well as that of other secessionists, is showcased at the Secession Pavilion, designed by Josef Maria Olbrich. Vienna's most famous art museum, however, is the Kunsthistorisches, housing works by such greats as the Dutch master Pieter Brueghel the Elder.

As for Vienna's other cultural icons, they still thrive: from the Spanish Riding School, home of the world-famous, high-stepping Royal Lipizzaner Stallions, to the dulcet-toned Vienna Boy's Choir（维也纳男童合唱团）, which tours the globe when not singing morning mass at the Hofburgkapelle during the summer months.

·Helsinki (Finland)

赫尔辛基（芬兰）

Helsinki(Finland)

These Finnish dolls are dressed in traditional Lapland costumes.

Appointed by Alexander I of Russia, this port city replaced Turku（土尔库，芬兰西南部港市）as the seat （所在地）of Finnish government in 1812. Today it is a modern European capital with a parliamentary government that supports the current continental shift toward European unity（欧洲大家庭）and a single Euro-currency（欧洲统一货币）.

Therapy with bay leaves in Finnish sauna

The ballet, opera, symphony（交响乐）, theater and visual arts all combine to make this political capital a cultural capital as well. In fact, Helsinki has been selected as one of the European culture capitals for the year 2000. Home of the Finnish National Opera and the Finnish National Gallery, the city supports a rich mix of theaters, cultural centers and museums.

Known for its light-colored granite（花岗岩）buildings, wide well-laid-out streets, public parks and maritime（海上的）scenery, the "White City of the North" numbers （计入，算作）among its architecturally diverse treasures the classic Helsinki cathedral （大教堂）and the modern Finlandia Hall.

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