2013高考英语短文阅读：Sightseeing in the United Kingdom

　　Sightseeing in the United Kingdom

　　观光联合王国

　　After the wedding, my cousin and his wife went to the United Kingdom for nationwide sightseeing. He faxed a letter to me in English yesterday. To my delight, he no longer made any tense error. And his description roughly clarified my questions about the UK--its currency, its administration, the institution which divides it into four provinces, and the historical conflicts and quarrels when Southern Ireland broke away from the UK.

　　Unwilling to leave out any attraction, my cousin arranged his enjoyable journey carefully. One attractive place he visited was a castle in the countryside of Scotland, which lies near a port. It used to be the headquarters(请注意：音频里面是headquarter，没有加s，是不对的。)of the Communism union   but broke down during the war. Finding nothing could take the place of this splendid architecture, people accomplished rebuilding it in 1952. It was to their credit that all furnished rooms are consistent with what they used to be. My cousin was thrilled by its collections consisting of statues plus royal uniforms folded in glass tanks. Though there was no possibility to buy some of these exhibits, it was convenient to take photos, which he sent me along with his fax.

　　我的表弟和他妻子在举办了婚礼后到联合王国做全国旅游观光去了。他昨天传真了一封英文信给我，让我高兴的是，他再也不犯时态错误了，而且他的描述也粗略地向我阐明了关于英国的一些问题——它的货币啦，行政管理啦，把它分成四个行政区的制度啦，还有在南爱尔兰脱离联合王国时发生的一些历史上的冲突和争拗。

　　因为不愿意漏掉任何一个景点，我表弟仔细地安排了他愉快的旅程。他参观的其中一个吸引人的地方是苏格兰乡村的一个城堡。城堡靠近一座港口，曾经是共产主义联盟会的总部，但是在战争中倒塌了。人们发现没有任何东西可以取代这座辉煌的建筑，于是在1952年完成了重建。值得赞扬的是，所有配备家具的房间都和它们过去一致的。由雕像加折叠在玻璃柜里的皇家制服组成的收藏品使我表弟震撼不已。尽管没有可能购买这些展览品，拍照却很方便，他在传真中一起发给了我。