Pope John Paul II is the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral 1982: Pope makes historic visit to Canterbury England have Pope John Paul II has visited Canterbury Cathedral - the first pontiff ever to do so. The Pope was greeted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie and a crowd of wellwishers who cheered as he arrived by helicopter. The narrow streets of the ancient city were lined with up to 25,000 people. They included people from the Pope's native Poland, who waved their flags along the route. "How happy I am to be able to speak to you today in this great cathedral." Pope John Paul II said. The pontiff told the congregation of his happiness at visiting the cathedral, adding that it was a day "which centuries and generations have awaited". There was controversy ahead of the Pope's visit as it became clear he would not use the ceremonial entrance - the Great West door - at the front of the cathedral. His bodyguard, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, had earlier said the pontiff would use the back door because of "security and tiredness". John Paul II walked slowly with Dr Runcie to the deanery for a meeting with the Prince of Wales. The meeting with the Prince of Wales was followed by a ceremony which involved the Pope, Dr Runcie and Methodist minister the Rev Dr Kenneth Greet renewing their baptismal vows together. The church leaders then greeted all the cardinals and bishops with a "kiss of peace" before lighting candles for Christian martyrs of different faiths. The Pope and Dr Runcie knelt in silent prayer at the spot where St Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170. The Pope and Archbishop issued a common declaration, which thanked God for "the progress that has been made in the work of reconciliation" between them. Later in the afternoon, he received a massive ovation from 80,000 people at a mass at Wembley Stadium, billed as the first of his great "outdoor spectaculars". The crowd sang "He's got the whole world in his hands" and clapped their hands as the Pope passed by in his "Popemobile". Uniformed police surrounded a specially built main altarin the stadium as the Pope said "peace be with you" and began the mass in front of the huge crowd and 2,500 priests.

The two men only stayed on the summit for 15 minutes 1953: Hillary and Tenzing conquer Everest Artificially 1969: The The New Zealander Edmund Hillary, and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, have become the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest on the Nepal-Tibet border. They reached the top of the world at 1130 local time after a gruelling climb up the southern face. "A symmetrical, beautiful snow cone summit." Edmund Hillary said. The two men hugged each other with relief and joy but only stayed on the summit for 15 minutes because they were low on oxygen. Mr Hillary took several photographs of the scenery and of Sherpa Tenzing waving flags representing Britain, Nepal, the United Nations and India. Sherpa Tenzing buried some sweets and biscuits in the snow as a Buddhist offering to the gods. They looked for signs of George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine who had disappeared in 1924 in a similar attempt to conquer Everest, but found nothing. Then they began the slow and tortuous descent to rejoin their team leader Colonel John Hunt further down the mountain at Camp VI. When he saw the two men looking so exhausted Col Hunt assumed they had failed to reach the summit and started planning another attempt. But then the two climbers pointed to the mountain and signalled they had reached the top, and there were celebrations all round. Careful planning Col Hunt attributed the successful climb to advice from other mountaineers who had attempted the feat over the years, careful planning, excellent open-circuit oxygen equipment and good weather. Mr Hillary described the peak, which is 29,028 feet (8,847 m) above sea level, as "a symmetrical, beautiful snow cone summit". He was one of the members of the expedition led by Eric Shipton in 1951 that discovered the southern route to the top of the mountain. A year later, Tenzing reached the record height of 28,215 feet (8,599 m) during a Swiss expedition led by Raymond Lambert. Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest, the surveyor-general of India who was the first to produce detailed maps of the Indian subcontintent including the Himalayas.

Vocabulary:

congregation:（教堂中的）會眾 altar: 圣壇