200/min Reading<8>--Where Is the Great Wall?

 

Where Is the Great Wall?

 

The Great Wall is in China. The Chinese built the Great Wall thousands of years ago. They wanted to protect their country from unfriendly people First, they built small walls around their towns. Then the emperor, Shi Huangdi, joined the walls and built new parts. He wanted to make one long wall--the Great Wall.

 

Shi Huangdi was the first Qin emperor. The name Qin sounds like Chin. The word China comes from the name Qin. Shi Huangdi made many changes in China. He and wanted China to be strong and modern. But many Chinese did not like Shi Huangdi. He didn't care about the people. Many people died because of his changes. Thousands of men worked on the Great Wall. It was very hard work. Many men got sick and died. Over one million people died to make the wall. Their bodies are buried in the wall. Some people say the Great Wall is "the Wall of Death."

 

Other Chinese emperors added to the wall and made it better. The Ming emperors added thousands of tall, strong buildings in the years 1368-1644. Men stayed in the buildings to protect and repair the wall. They were called guards. Sometimes more than a million guards worked on the wall. They were born on the wall and grew up there. They married there and died there. Many guards lived on the Great Wall all their lives. Sometimes unfriendly men came to the wall to start problems. The guards made a fire to show they needed help. Guards from other parts of the wall ran along the top of the wall to help them. [270 words]

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We don't know exactly how long the Great Wall is. There are many different parts of the wall, and some parts fell down. The wall is about 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) long and about 25 feet (7.6 meters) high. It is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) wide at the top. Buses and cars can drive along it Today, the Great Wall is the largest structure in the world. Some people say you can see the Great Wall from space. But in 1969, an astronaut who traveled in space said he did not see any building--not even the Great Wall.

 

Vocabulary

 

MEANING

 

Write the correct words in the blanks.

 

added/ protect/ buried/ spsce/ exactly/ modern/ structure/ along

 

1. The Chinese did not want unfriendly people in their country. They wanted to _______ their country.

 

2. How long is the Great Wall? We don't know the complete answer. We don't know _______ how long it is.

 

3. Other emperors put new parts onto the Great Wall. They _______ to it.

 

4. The emperor wanted China to be _______. He wanted China to have new things and new ideas.

 

5. An astronaut in _______ did not see the Great Wall. He was very far up in the sky away from the Earth.

 

6. The Chinese built something very big. They built a big _______.

 

7. You can drive a car or bus from one end of the wall to the other. You can drive _______ the top of the wall.

 

8. The stones and rocks in the wall covered some men's bodies. The bodies were _______.

 

WORDS THAT GO TOGETHER

 

Write the correct words in the blanks.

 

care about/ comes from/ fell down/ grew up

 

1. Some parts of the wall _______. The parts dropped to the ground.

 

2. Some words are developed from other words. The word China _______ the name Qin.

 

3. Many guards lived on the wall as children. They stayed there and became adults. They _______ on the wall.

 

4. The emperor was not interested in his people. He did not _______ them.