事实：通布图是一座真正的城市-Timbuktu is a Real City

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

 

remote: far away

trading port: a central location where people go to buy and sell goods

scholar: a well-educated person; usually one who shares his or her knowledge

golden age: a time period when things went very well; a profitable¹ time

invade²: to enter an area by force and try to take it over

 

Timbuktu Is a Real City

In English, the word Timbuktu is often used to mean a very remote place. Many people do not realize that Timbuktu is a real city in the West African republic of Mali. Timbuktu is located at the northernmost tip of the Niger river, at the edge of the Sahara Desert. In the 11th century, it was a major trading port for gold and salt. Its location made it a natural meeting point for Africans and Arabs. Many Arab scholars made their home there, and by the 14th century, Timbuktu was considered a city of knowledge. The golden age ended in the 1500s, when the city was invaded³ by Morocco. For many centuries, Europeans considered Timbuktu a place of mystery that was too far away to explore.

1 profitable   

adj.有益的，能带来利益的，有利可图的

参考例句：

• That business became profitable last year.那项生意去年变得很赚钱。
• The convention business is very profitable for the hotel industry.承办会议业务能给旅馆业带来很高的利润。

2 invade   

v.侵略，侵犯；闯入，侵扰

参考例句：

• I don't want to invade your private life unnecessarily.我不想过多地干涉你的私生活。
• He ordered the army to invade at dawn.他命令军队在拂晓入侵。

3 invaded   

v.侵入，侵略( invade的过去式和过去分词 )；涌入；侵袭；侵犯

参考例句：

• Troops invaded on August 9th that year. 军队是在那年的8月9日入侵的。
• The diseased tissue can be easily invaded by these microorganisms. 有病的组织容易被微生物侵袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》