2020年的MSE考试进行了重大改革，新版的MSE考试将更科学、更贴近生活、更与时俱进。特别是在阅读上，新版MSE的宗旨是“提升阅读和写作能力”，从某种意义上讲，增加了阅读相关题型的难度。

　　Mythical Cities

　　传说中的城市

　　People are always looking for lost cities and occasionally one is found: Borobudur in Indonesia, for example. But perhaps some of the places people look for never existed-or did they? Here are just a few famous mythical cities.

　　人们总是在寻找消失的城市，偶尔也会发现一座城市：例如印度尼西亚的波罗浮屠。但也许有些人寻找的地方从来就不存在，或者说是真的吗?这里有几个有名的传说中的城市。

　　El Dorado

　　(西)理想中的黄金国

　　El Dorado is a legend that began in 1537, when Spanish explorers found the Muisca people in the mountains of what is now Colombia. They heard the story of a man who covered himself with gold and dived into a lake.

　　“黄金国”是一个传说，始于1537年，当时西班牙探险家在现在的哥伦比亚山区发现了穆伊斯卡人。他们听说了一个男人把自己全身涂满金粉跳进湖里的故事。

　　The story went to Quito and people began to talk of El Dorado-'the golden men'. Soon people started to think of El Dorado as a place, too-a city of gold and amazing riches.

　　故事传到基多，人们开始谈论“黄金国”-“全身是金粉的人”。很快，人们也开始认为“黄金国”也是一个地方——一个拥有黄金和惊人财富的城市。

　　The Spanish sent many people to look for El Dorado, but they never found it. Nowadays, the name 'El Dorado' is still used to mean 'a place where you can get rich quickly'.

　　西班牙人派了很多人去寻找“黄金国”，但他们始终没有找到。如今，“黄金国”这个名字仍然被用来表示“一个你可以迅速致富的地方”。

　　Atlantis

　　神秘古国亚特兰蒂斯

　　There was once an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It was the mythical island of Atlantis.

　　大西洋中部曾经有一个岛屿。那是传说中的亚特兰蒂斯岛。

　　The people of the island were very rich, thanks to the natural resources on their island.

　　由于岛上的自然资源，岛上的人民非常富有。

　　For hundreds of years, they lived simple lives. But slowly they began to change. They started to want power. So the gods decided to destroy Atlantis. Suddenly, the island and its people were swallowed by the sea and were never seen again.

　　几百年来，他们过着简朴的生活。但慢慢地，他们开始改变。他们开始想要权力。所以众神决定毁灭亚特兰蒂斯。突然，这个岛和岛上的人被海水吞没，再也没有人看见了。

　　Most people say Atlantis never existed-it was just a story made by a Greek philosopher, Plato. But there are still people who look for it.

　　大多数人说亚特兰蒂斯根本不存在——它只是一个希腊哲学家柏拉图的故事。但仍有人在寻找。

　　Shambhala

　　香巴拉王国

　　In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala is a mystical kingdom that is hidden somewhere behind

　　the snowy peaks of the Himalayas.

　　在藏传佛教传统中，香巴拉是一个神秘的王国，在青藏高原雪山深处的一个隐秘地方。

　　Shambhala is a word from an old language that means 'place of peace or 'place of happiness'. It is said that there is no war in Shambhala, and that the city is inhabited by beautiful people who

　　live in fabulous houses.

　　香巴拉是一个来自古老语言的单词，意思是“和平之地”或“幸福之地”。据说香巴拉没有战争，城市里住着漂亮的人，他们住在漂亮的房子里。

　　It is also said that, in the future, when the world is full of greed and war, a huge army will come out of Shambhala, destroy the world's bad rulers, and start a new Golden Age. Some people say this will happen in 2424.

　　也有人说，在未来，当世界充满贪婪和战争时，一支庞大的军队将从香巴拉出来，摧毁世界上的坏的统治者，开始新的黄金时代。有人说这将在2424年发生。

　　来源：MSE指定教材 English In Mind (student's book 2)