[00:05.49]Reading
[00:08.20]THEME PARKS--FUN AND MORE THAN FUN
[00:14.08]Parks provide people with a place to amuse themselves
[00:20.24]and to escape their busy lives for a while.
[00:24.79]Though parks share this basic purpose,
[00:29.36]they find various ways to meet this need.
[00:33.91]Soem parks are quiet places with trees and lakes.
[00:39.68]In these parks,people sit chatting,play games,
[00:46.03]listen to birds'singing,or just relax a bit.
[00:51.49]Families come too,to have picnices or have fun together in other ways.
[00:59.14]It costs little or no money to go to them.
[01:04.29]In recent dexades,however,
[01:08.41]many parks have been designed to provide entertainment.
[01:14.29]We call them theme parks.
[01:18.45]They are more than amusement parks with rides,such as a Ferris wheel,
[01:24.90]merry-go-round or a roller coaster.
[01:29.13]They are such huge places that visitors often use shuttles to get around.
[01:37.18]These new parks have a variety of things to see and do.
[01:43.63]They have restaurants and even hotels.
[01:48.88]They all charge money for admission,and for the rides and shows in the park.
[01:56.45]The big companies that own theme parks expect to make a profit
[02:03.51]not just by the charges for admission,
[02:07.74]but also by selling souvenirs in their shops and advertising them on television.
[02:16.39]Theme parks have a certain idea--a certain theme--
[02:23.33]that the whole park is based on.
[02:27.41]For example,a sports theme park will offer visitors sports to play or watch.
[02:36.06]Its purpose is to involve visitors in physical exercise and athletic competition.
[02:45.02]The challenge for the park is to encourage its visitors
[02:50.58]to buy a particular brand of sports equipment or clothing.
[02:56.46]So basketballs and footballs may be sold along with sneakers
[03:03.12]and special sports clothing.
[03:07.19]Some are history or culture theme parks.
[03:12.52]The past can come to life when we see how our ancestors dressed,worked and lived.
[03:21.56]Other show us how special groups of people dress today,
[03:27.12]what they eat and what their homes look like.
[03:31.77]We might go for rides on animals,
[03:36.24]help cook cultural foods
[03:40.29]or have our pictures taken in the clothing of emperors or of minority people.
[03:47.37]These theme parks also charge admission
[03:52.65]and sell food and other items in their souvenir shops.
[03:58.81]The oldest theme park in the world is Disneyland,
[04:04.38]built near Los Angeles,California in 1955.
[04:11.14]The park is named after Walt Disney,the famous film maker.
[04:18.01]Disneyland was so different from other parks
[04:23.26]that it seemed like a place of fantasy.
[04:27.73]Indeed,one place in the park is called Fantasyland.
[04:34.08]Both children and adults enjoyed seeing the characters from Disney films.
[04:41.52]Disneyland has exciting rides,
[04:46.48]visits to castles and chances to get close to life-size cartoon figures.
[04:54.43]Model villages of life in the past
[04:59.18]show visitors how the early settlers in America lived.
[05:05.63]Other theme parks include marine or ocean parks,
[05:11.69]where visitors can see and swim with dolphins and learn about ocean life.
[05:19.35]There are also science theme parks
[05:24.99]where visitors can take an active part in experiments,
[05:30.87]and there are future parks,
[05:34.42]where people can go on imaginary trips to space
[05:40.66]and use advanced computer techniques to experience life in the future.
[05:48.84]Listening
[08:14.89]Reading and speaking
[08:23.85]FUTUROSCOPE--EXCITEMENT AND LEARNING
[08:29.81]Would you like to take a journey deep into space,
[08:35.55]to the end of the solar system,and be pulled into a Black Hole?
[08:42.19]How about a trip to Brazil
[08:46.13]to experience surviving an airplane crash in the jungle?
[08:52.09]You could,if you like,
[08:55.75]go with famous divers to the bottom of the ocean and see mysterious,
[09:02.90]blind creatures that have never seen the sunlight |