Page 2
READERS Level 3 Spacebusters: The Race to the Moon Spiders’ Secrets Beastly Tales The Big Dinosaur Dig Shark Attack! Space Heroes: Amazing Astronauts Titanic The Story of Chocolate Invaders from Outer Space School Days Around the World Movie Magic Polar Bear Alert! Plants Bite Back! Welcome to China Time Traveler NFL: Whiz Kid Quarterbacks Bermuda Triangle MLB: Home Run Heroes: Big Mac, Sammy, Tiger Tales and Junior Aladdin MLB: World Series Heroes Heidi MLB: Record Breakers Zeppelin: The Age of the Airship MLB: Down to the Wire: Baseball’s Great Spies Pennant Races Terror on the Amazon Star Wars: Star Pilot Disasters at Sea Star Wars: I want to be a Jedi The Story of Anne Frank The X-Men School Abraham Lincoln: Lawyer, Leader, Legend Abraham Lincoln: Abogado, Líder, Leyenda George Washington: Soldier, Hero, en español President Al Espacio: La Carrera a la Luna Extreme Sports en español Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Level 4 Superteam Days of the Knights NFL: Super Bowl! Volcanoes and Other Natural Disasters MLB: Strikeout Kings Secrets of the Mummies MLB: Super Shortstops: Jeter, Pirates! Raiders of the High Seas Nomar, and A-Rod Horse Heroes MLB: The Story of the New York Yankees Trojan Horse MLB: The World of Baseball Micro Monsters MLB: October Magic: All the Best Going for Gold! World Series! Extreme Machines WCW: Feel the Sting Flying Ace: The Story of Amelia Earhart WCW: Going for Goldberg Robin Hood JLA: Batman's Guide to Crime Black Beauty and Detection Free at Last! The Story of JLA: Superman's Guide to the Universe Martin Luther King, Jr. JLA: Aquaman’s Guide to the Oceans Joan of Arc JLA: Wonder Woman’s Book of Myths Spooky Spinechillers JLA: Flash’s Guide to Speed Welcome to The Globe! The JLA: Green Lantern’s Guide to Story of Shakespeare’s Theater Great Inventions Antarctic Adventure The Story of the X-Men: How it all Began Space Station: Accident on Mir Creating the X-Men: How Comic Atlantis: The Lost City? Books Come to Life Dinosaur Detectives Spider-Man’s Amazing Powers Danger on the Mountain: Scaling The Story of Spider-Man the World’s Highest Peaks The Incredible Hulk's Book of Strength Crime Busters The Story of the Incredible Hulk The Story of Muhammad Ali Transformers: The Awakening First Flight: The Story of the Transformers: The Quest Wright Brothers Transformers: The Unicron Battles D-Day Landings: the Story of Transformers: The Uprising the Allied Invasion Transformers: Megatron Returns Solo Sailing Transformers: Terracon Attack Thomas Edison: The Great Inventor Star Wars: Galactic Crisis! Dinosaurs! Battle of the Bones Star Wars: Beware the Dark Side NFL: NFL’s Greatest Upsets Fantastic Four: Evil Adversaries NFL: Rumbling Running Backs
Page 3
A Note to Parents DK READERS is a compelling program for beginning readers, designed in conjunction with leading literacy experts, including Dr. Linda Gambrell, Distinguished Professor of Education at Clemson University. Dr. Gambrell has served as president of the National Reading Conference, the College Reading Association, and the International Reading Association. Beautiful illustrations and superb full-color photographs combine with engaging, easy-to-read stories to offer a fresh approach to each subject in the series. Each DK READER is guaranteed to capture a child’s interest while developing his or her reading skills, general knowledge, and love of reading. The five levels of DK READERS are aimed at different reading abilities, enabling you to choose the books that are exactly right for your child: Pre-level 1: Learning to read Level 1: Beginning to read Level 2: Beginning to read alone Level 3: Reading alone Level 4: Proficient readers The “normal” age at which a child begins to read can be anywhere from three to eight years old. Adult participation through the lower levels is very helpful for providing encouragement, discussing storylines, and sounding out unfamiliar words. No matter which level you select, you can be sure that you are helping your child learn to read, then read to learn! 49
Page 4
Contents LONDON, NEW YORK, MUNICH, MELBOURNE, and DELHI To Lia Xiushun Leonard China today 4 Series Editor Deborah Lock U.S. Editor John Searcy Art Editor Gemma Fletcher Chinese history 10 Production Editor Siu Chan Production Pip Insley Jacket Designer Mary Sandberg Life in China 16 Reading Consultant Linda Gambrell, Ph.D. 08 09 10 11 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1First American Edition, 2008 In the countryside 24 Published in the United States by DK Publishing 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 Copyright © 2008 Dorling Kindersley Limited All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Big cities 28 Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission The Yangtze 34 of the copyright owner. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: Saving the pandas 38 DK Publishing Special Markets 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 SpecialSales@dk.com A catalog record for this book is available Festival time 40 from the Library of Congress. ISBN: 978-0-7566-3753-8 (Paperback) ISBN: 978-0-7566-3752-1 (Hardcover) Color reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore Printed and bound in China by L. Rex Printing Co. Ltd. Modern China 44 The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce their photographs: (Key: a-above; b-below/bottom; c-center; l-left; r-right; t-top) Alamy Images: AA World Travel Library 14br; Dennis Cox 21b; Ian Dagnall 20; D. Hurst 19br; Lou Linwei 31; Neil McAllister 21cr; Glossary 48 Mediacolor's 29cr; Sdbchina 33; Dave Stamboulis 24b; Ray Thrupp/ Agency Adams Picture Library 27br; Liu Xiaoyang 6.Corbis: Diego Azubel/epa 23; Louis Laurent Grandadam 13; Dallas and John Heaton/Free Agents Limited 3, 10-11; So Hing-Keung 42cb; Alex Hofford/epa 37tr; Andrew K/epa 37b; Wolfgang Kaehler 9tr; Jason Lee/Reuters 41cb; Danny Lehman 11br; Liu Liqun 22bl; Gideon Mendel 30t; Redlink 4crb, 24c; Michael Reynolds/epa 46; Keren Su 7clb, 7crb, 35; Swim Ink 14tl; Robert Wallis 34b; Xinhua/ Xinhua Photo 44br, 45; Michael S. Yamashita 42tl.DK Images: The British Museum 9tl (brush); Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford 12br. Getty Images: AFP 15t; Frederic J. Brown/AFP 15br; Cancan Chu 22tl; Alexander Hassenstein/ Bongarts 22br; Liu Jin/AFP 30br; Minden Pictures/Gerry Ellis 38; Guang Niu 47t; Photographer's Choice/Frans Lemmens 28-29; Stephen Shaver/AFP 36. Interactive Visualization Lab/iVizLab: 43cr. PunchStock: Corbis/Redlink 19t; Digital Vision 8tl. Jacket images: Front: Corbis: Mao Chen/epa. All other images © Dorling Kindersley For further information see: www.dkimages.com Discover more at www.dk.com
Page 6
China today Welcome to China. This ancient nation is now home to more people than any other country. One-fifth of all the people in the world live here. That’s a population of 1.3 billion people—one billion more than the United States. Chinese flag China Zhōngguó [jung-gwo]
Page 7
ASIA EUROPE NORTH AMERICA China AFRICA SOUTH AMERICA AUSTRALIA ANTARCTICA China is on the continent of Asia. It is one of the largest countries in the world, with an area of 3.7 million square miles (9.6 million square km). The Chinese name for the country, Zhōngguó [jung-gwo], means “Middle Kingdom.”
Page 8
Most people in China live along the crowded east coast or near the Yangtze [yang-see] River. Both the Yangtze and the Yellow River cut across China, flowing eastward to the ocean. The rest of the country is mainly covered in deserts, mountains, and highlands. Fewer people live in these areas. The rocky Gobi Desert lies to the north. In the west, there are many mountains, including the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest. Southern China has an unusual mountain landscape called “karst,” with spectacular caves and rock formations. Yellow River The Yellow River is 3,400 miles (5,44 km) long. It gets its name from the yellow mud and sand that is carried along by the current.
Page 9
Urumqi r Gobi ive ll BEIJING wR a Yellow Desert lo W el at Sea Y re G Qinghai Plateau Nanjing Shanghai H Sichuan Wuhan Pacific i Province iver m Nagqu eR Ocean gtz a l Chongqing n a Ya y a s South Mount China Karst Everest Hong Kong South China Sea Camels like these provide Hills made of limestone rise transportation across the sharply from the fields of deserts of northern China. the karst landscape.
Page 10
More people speak Chinese than any other language. The most common form of Chinese is called Mandarin, but people speak different forms in different parts of the country. The meaning of a word changes depending on how it is said. In Mandarin, the word shu [shoo] means “tree” when said with a short, sharp tone. But when it is said with a long, high tone, shoo means “book.” Student’s workbook Hello! nǐ hǎo [nee how]
Page 11
Writing tools Chinese calligrapher Instead of an alphabet, Chinese writing uses characters. Each character stands for a word, and they can be added together to make new words. There are thousands of characters. About 2,000 are needed for simple reading and writing. tiān zuótiān jīntiān míngtiān [tee-yan] [zwo-tee-yan] [jin-tee-yan] [ming-tee-yan] day yesterday today tomorrow
Page 12
Chinese history The culture of China is at least 4,000 years old, making it the oldest continuous civilization that we know about. Much of Chinese history can be divided into time periods based on dynasties, or royal families. Timeline 2000BCE 221BCE 207BCE Prehistoric Qin 10
Page 13
Each dynasty brought its own changes to the country. During the Qin [chin] Dynasty, China was united by Qin Shi Huang [chin shee hwang], who is known as the first emperor of China. Construction began on the famous Great Wall, designed to protect the northern border of the kingdom, while thousands of clay warriors, called the Terracotta Army, were made to guard the emperor’s tomb. The Terracotta Army 11
Page 14
During the Han Dynasty, the Silk Road became an important route for trading goods and ideas between countries of the East and West. Paper was invented in the Han Dynasty, and the development of printing during the Song Dynasty led to the world’s first printed books. Chinese merchants traded goods made from silk, bronze, and porcelain. Bronze ornament Porcelain camel Silk cloth Timeline 2000BCE 221BCE 207BCE 220 960 1279 Prehistoric Qin Han Song 12
Page 15
The Forbidden City During the Ming Dynasty, Beijing became the capital of China. A palace complex called the Forbidden City was built for the emperor’s family. Ordinary people were not allowed to enter. In 1911, the Qing [ching] Dynasty was defeated in a revolution, ending the tradition of Chinese emperors. 1368 1644 1911 Ming Qing 13
Page 16
In 1949, the Communist Party, led by Chairman Mao Zedong [mow zuh- dung], formed the People’s Republic of China. The Communists promised a nation in which everyone would be equal. But Mao made many laws without thinking of the good of the people. Millions starved due to a lack of food. Mao and his Red Guards punished anyone who disagreed with them. China became cut off from the rest of the world. Mao’s Little Red Book The Little Red Book contains Mao’s famous sayings. People carried it with them to prove their loyalty to their leader. Timeline 2000BCE 221BCE 207BCE 220 960 1279 Prehistoric Qin Han Song 14
Page 17
Chairman Mao at a May Day celebration Mao died in 1976. Since then, China has raced forward into the modern age, and it is once more open to the rest of the world. China’s Congress meets in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. 1368 1644 1911 1949 Ming Qing Communist 15
Page 18
Life in China With so many people in China, there are not enough resources for everyone. The government limits the population by allowing families to have only one child, or in some cases two. Children are often called “little emperors” because they are so precious, but they also feel great pressure to make their families proud. 16
Page 19
Children usually start school at age six. Classes are in Mandarin, but some schools also teach English as a second language. At age 14, students take an important test that is considered the key to a successful future. “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere,” goes an old Chinese saying. Friend péngyou [pung-yoh] 17
Page 20
Traditionally, children in China lived in the same home as their parents, grandparents, and sometimes even their great-grandparents. Today, people move more often, and most homes are small, especially in the crowded cities. Family and friends often gather for mealtimes. A Chinese meal is made up of many different dishes, which are shared by everyone. These usually include soup, dumplings, steamed and stir-fried dishes, plus plenty of rice or noodles. People use chopsticks to eat. Noodles Dim sum Dumplings 18
Affichage des 20 premières pages. Téléchargez le document pour le voir en entier.
Commentaires (0)
Aucun commentaire pour le moment. Soyez le premier !