1955:Rock and roll

 

　　With his speedy, spiced-upversion of rhythm and blues, Chuck Berry combined all the essential ingredientsof rock 'n' roll and delivered them to the mainstream audience. Juiced up withdouble-string guitar licks and a witty lyricism that appealed to postwar youth,his sassy and energetic Maybelline skyrocketed to number five on the Billboardcharts. Elvis Presley burst upon the scene shortly thereafter - adding themoves, charisma, and sensuality that caused nationwide hysteria. Rock 'n' rollwas born.

 

　　1387:Tales from the trail

 

　　Geoffrey Chaucer beginswork on The Canterbury Tales--the story of a storytelling contest amongst agroup of pilgrims traveling to a shrine in Canterbury. Chaucer's exploration ofthe young Middle English language profoundly influenced the development ofEnglish literature; his tales, ranging from the terrifyingly bleak to theraucous and bawdy, exhibited a keen perception of the human condition.

 

　　1795:Sense and Sensibility

 

　　Jane Austen expanded thenovel's range in subject matter as the first to write about average people ineveryday situations. Although not the first novelist (Defoe, Richardson, andFielding beat her to it), her writing exhibited a shrewd mastery of the form.Austen's works have had mass appeal, proving that daily life for women at theclose of the eighteenth century was every bit an adventure and a battlefield.

 

　　指環王

 

　　In the fantasy film"The Lord of the Rings", by turning the developing 20th century'sstruggle with industrialization and war into a tale about an unlikely allianceof good souls battling an encroaching evil, the director synthesizes thetraditional and the modern.(簡介)

 

　　To find examples one needlook no further than the success of fantasy film "The Lord of TheRings", one of the most renowned films in the year 2004. This outstandingfilm, which won all 11 Oscar awards that it was nominated, is understandable tomost people as a tale about an imaginative alliance of good souls battlingagainst a frightful evil, and may be further interpreted as struggle of humanswith industrialization and war. The success of "The Lord of TheRings" is no doubt the representative of such great artistic works.(容易被接受;反應現實)

 

　　1260:The gothic cathedral

 

　　Consecrated in 1260, themassive Chartres Cathedral in France marked the highpoint of gothicarchitecture. Its towering spires could be seen from twenty miles away, andinnovations such as tall arcades, a narrow triforium, and a cavalcade of flyingbuttresses pushed the boundaries of architectural possibility. A popularpilgrimage destination in the Middle Ages, the Chartres Cathedral seemed toembody the popular conception of God at that time--dwarfing, unreachable, andunknowable.

 

　　1883:First steel framed structure

 

　　A new cathedral is born onthe cusp of the twentieth century— the skyscraper. The HomeInsurance building in Chicago contained the first fireproof steel frame, butthe Woolworth building in New York City combined several new technologies,including a set of concrete piers delving into the bedrock below the waterline,portal arches, and high speed elevators. Mies Van der Roe carried theskyscraper to a whole new aesthetic level using metal and glass to give themonoliths an ethereal sense of lightness and spaciousness.

 

　　The Potala Palace

 

　　The Potala Palace is Tibet’s cardinal landmark and a structure that deserves a place as one of thewonders of eastern architecture. The Potala palace was built by Songtsen Gampo,the first king of Tibet, in the 7th century. The roof and many other parts ofthe Palace were decorated by pure gold, which was contributed by the Buddhistin Tibet. Since its construction, the Potala Palace has been the home of eachsuccessive Dalai Lamas, the religious leader of Tibet. This building dedicatesnot only to religious belief but also to the accommodation place—over a thousand Lamas live in it today. Shaped by the people of Tibet, thePotala Palace has a far-reaching influence on the Tibetan’s religion as well as every day lives.

 

　　Bank of China Tower

 

　　Besides religious impact,buildings represent our intellectual and business behavior. Take Bank of ChinaTower as an example. It is located at No. 1 Garden Road, central Hong Kong. Thetower itself is 315 meters high, and the unique style and spectacularappearance has made it one of the most distinguished buildings in the world.The BOC tower is a masterpiece of the world famous American-Chinese architectMr. I.M.Pei. The inspiration of the design is derived from the elegant poise ofbamboo. Now, the BOC tower is a symbolic of strength, vitality and growth,representing also the Bank’s commitment to the rapiddevelopment of Hong Kong and to servicing the community. The BOC tower has notonly recorded a glorious page in the construction history of Hong Kong but alsohighlighted the new phases of expansion in Hong Kong.

 

　　Big Bell

 

　　Constructed in the Victory Age, the Big Bellis now the biggest bell in the world and is still one of the important parts ofthe English lives.