阅读理解
Located on the Persian Gulf (波斯湾) coast of the United Arab in west Asia, Dubai is an international city. It is said to be the land of luxury (奢侈) and an open society. Dubai is a city of big business, expensive hotels, skyscrapers (摩天楼), and shopping malls. In the early 20th century, Dubai was a successful trading port. People from the world stopped in Dubai to do business. But it was still a small city, and most people lived as fishermen and businessmen.
Then in 1966, oil was discovered. This brought a lot of money into the area, and soon Dubai began to change.
Today Dubai is one of the world's most important business centers. In fact, each year the city gets its money mainly from business, not oil. Recently Dubai has attracted more and more visitors from abroad. They come to relax on its beaches, and every year, millions visit just to go shopping!
Dubai is also one of the world's fastest growing cities. Many tall buildings are built in months. The city also has many man-made islands. One of these, the Palm Jumeirah, is like a palm tree (棕桐树) and is very beautiful.
The city is still an amazing mix (混合体) of people from different countries. The people from 150 countries live and work in Dubai, and foreigners now outnumberDubai natives (本地人) by eight to one!
Many people welcome the city's growth. But an increasing number of Dubai natives worry about the speed of change. As a Dubai native says, "We must always remember where we camefrom. Our kids must know we worked very, very hard to get where we are now, and there's a lotmore work to do."
