burj al arab was designed by british architect tom wright. the design and construction were aplished by canadian engineer rick gregory.
帆船酒店坐落在阿拉伯联合酋长国迪拜市内，是一家五星级的奢华酒店（也常常被人误认为七星级）。高321米，是世界第四最高酒店。它矗立在离朱美拉海滩280米的一个人造岛上，通过一座私人的拱桥与陆地相连。整座酒店的设计就像一艘正在航行的帆船。
酒店由英国建筑师汤姆·赖斯设计。设计和构造由加拿大工程师瑞克·瑞格里所完成。
又见ufo
dialogue
ufo is always the topic people are glad to discuss. john and david are talking about this topic.
不明飞行物一直是人们乐于讨论的话题。约翰和戴维就在讨论这一话题。
john: it has been many years since america's first landing on the moon. i'm wondering why there's no second moon landing plan by any country till now.
约翰：美国第一次登陆月球已经过去很多年了。不知道为什么直到现在也没有任何国家进行第二次登月行动。
david: i have read some adventure records books about the moon landing. it seemed that the astronauts had encountered the ufo on the moon.
戴维：我读过一些关于月球登陆纪实的探险纪录书籍。好像是宇航员在月球上遇到不明飞行物了。
john: oh, it is one piece of the movie transformers 3. maybe it is the megatons.
约翰：噢，这是电影《变形金刚3》的一个片段。或许是威震天吧。
david: the film is just based on a fiction.but i think ufo do exist. the aliens must have visited the earth for many times.
戴维：电影只是根据小说创作的。但是我认为不明飞行物的确存在。外星人一定造访过地球很多次了。
john: i agree with you. many people have witnessed the ufo in many places around the world. some of them are illusions. but i don't think all of them are just unreal.
约翰：我也这样觉得。世界很多地方都有人目击过不明飞行物。一些目击事件是错觉，但我认为不是所有的情况都是假的。
david: have you heard of the crop circles?
戴维：你听说过麦田怪圈吗？
john: yes, i've watched a tv programme about it. it seems that even the scientists couldn't explain the reason of that.
约翰：是的，我看过一个关于麦田怪圈的电视节目。好像连科学家都无法解释原因。
david: some people claimed that they had seen ufo near these circles. maybe we canmunicate with the aliens directly with our technology one day.
戴维：一些人声称曾在麦田怪圈附近看到过不明飞行物。或许有一天我们可以依靠科技和外星人直接交流。
notes
1. wonder [?w?nd?] v. 感到疑惑（好奇），想知道；n. 惊奇；奇迹
2. record [?rek?:d] n. 记录，唱片；履历；v. 记录，写下
3. astronaut ['?str?n?:t] n. 宇航员
4. witness [?witnis] n. 目击者；证据；v. 目击；作证
5. illusion [i'lu??n] n. 幻想，错误的假象，幻觉；错误，假象
小贴士
crop circle
a crop circle is a sizable pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, or cole. crop circles are also referred to as crop formations, because they are not always circular in shape. while the exact date crop circle began to appear is unknown, the documented cases have substantially increased from the 1970s to current times. approximately ten thousand crop circles appeared in the last 30 years of the 20th century. ninety percent of those were located in southern england. many of the formations appeared near the historecal remains, such as stonehenge. according to one study, nearly half of all circles found in the uk in 2003 were located within a 15 km（9.3 miles）radius of avebury.
麦田怪圈
麦田怪圈是指在农田如小麦、大麦、黑麦、玉米、油菜等农田上通过某种力量把农作物压平而产生出几何图案。麦田怪圈也称农作物阵型，因为他们并不总是圆的形状。麦田怪圈的出现并没有一个确切的时间。有资料记载的此类现象出现于20世纪70年代。在20世纪的最后30年内大约出现了一万个麦田怪圈，而90％的麦田怪圈发生在英国南部。许多阵型都出现在古文明遗迹附近，如史前巨石阵。一项研究指出，2003年英国大约有一半的麦田怪圈在埃夫伯里周围15千米范围内的地区被发现。