1.      More than two thousand years ago,Plato wrote about a beautiful city.He said that it had disappeared under the ocean.He called this city Atlantis.This was the start of the legend of Atlantis.

2.      Plato said that the people of Atlantis had been reaching and happy.There was amazing palace, church and ports in the city.The houses had fountains with hot and cold water, and the walls were covered with silver and gold. Outside the city, farmers grew food for all the people.

3.      For two thousand years, everybody thought that Atlantis was just a legend.They thought that Plato had invented the story. But then in 1882 an America called Ignatius Donnelly wrote a book about Atlantis. He believed that a beautiful city really had disappeared under the ocean.Thouasnd of people read his book and wanted to find the lost city.

4.      A lot of people believed that Atlantis had been on an island in Greece called Santorini. Santorini used to be much bigger then it is today. About 3500 years ago, a huge volcano erupted and most of the island sank under the ocean. People have been looking for the lost city for more than a hundred years, but nobody has ever found it.

翻譯

  2000多年以前，柏拉圖寫過有關一個美麗的城市的書。他說那個城市消失沉入海底，叫亞特蘭提斯。這是亞特蘭提斯傳說的開始。

  柏拉圖說在城市裡的人都很開心和富有。那裡有令人驚奇的宮殿、教堂和港口。那裡的房子有冷或熱的噴泉，牆也是用銀加上金組成的。在城市外，有農人種的食物，可供城市裡的人享用。

  這2000年以來，每一個人都認為亞特蘭提斯只是個傳說。大家都認為那是柏拉圖編的故事。但是在1882年一位叫Ignatius Donnelly的美國人寫了一本有關亞特蘭提斯的書。他相信那個美麗的城市真的存在並消失在地平面。很多人讀了這本書然後想找出這個消失的城市。

  有很多人相信亞特蘭提斯曾經在希臘的島上叫Santorini。Santorini原本應該要比今天的它還要大。大約在3500年以前，一個巨大的火山爆發，因而導致大半個島沉入海底。人們找那消失的城市有超過100年之久，但始終都沒有收穫。