August 4

Four generations of the Royal Family greeted the crowds

England have The Celebrations have been taking place all over the United Kingdom to mark the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother is the first member of the Royal Family to reach her centenary and she is said to be quietly "very pleased indeed" to have achieved such a landmark birthday.

Sacks full of presents and cards have been delivered to Clarence House, the Queen Mother's home in London.

And during Her Majesty's traditional appearance outside her home this morning the Queen's personal postman, Tony Nicholls, made one extra special delivery - a hand-written telegram from Buckingham Palace.

The Queen Mother was among 12 centenarians around the country to be celebrating today.

Later, accompanied by her favourite grandson Prince Charles, the Queen Mother made her way to Buckingham Palace in a horse-drawn carriageadornedwith blue and gold flowers.

More than 40,000 well-wishers gathered in the Mall to watch the Queen Mother and her two daughters step onto the balcony of the Palace. They were soon joined by the rest of the Royal Family.

And it was not just in London that this special occasion was celebrated.

A 21-gun salute was fired from therampartsof Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, from Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland and from Cardiff City Hall.

At St Paul's Church, in Walden, Hertfordshire, where the Queen Mother was christened nearly a century ago the bells were rung.

At Glamis Castle in Scotland, where she spent most of her childhood, a specialbagpiperenditionwas played.

And at Glorious Goodwood today, a race was especially named after the Queen Mother to mark her birthday.

This evening, the Queen Mother and her daughters, attended a performance by the Kirov Ballet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
 

The Ku Klux Klan are suspected of carrying out the murders

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation found the three young men - two white and one black man - about six miles from the town in a wooded area near where they were last seen on the night of 21 June.

They were Michael Schwerner, aged 24, Andrew Goodman, 20, both from New York and James Chaney, 22, from Meridian, Mississippi. All were members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) dedicated to non-violent direct action against racial discrimination.

As soon as the men were reported missing, the case was made top priority and codenamed Miburn (Mississippi burning). FBI agents headed by Major Case Inspector Joseph Sullivan were sent down to Mississippi to investigate the matter.

After atip-offthey found the mens' burnt-out car two days after their disappearance.

The bodies have been taken to Jackson, Mississippi, for further examination into the cause of death. It is believed all three had been shot and the finger of blame is pointing at the Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group.

The three young men had left the CORE office in Meridian six weeks ago to investigate the destruction of a blackcongregationchurch in Longdale, Neshoba County because it was used as the site for a "freedom school".

The school was set up by Mr Schwerner as part of a wider civil rights campaign in Mississippi teaching black children, among other things, black history and the philosophy of the civil rights movement.

The Mount Zion Church was burned down on 16 June by members of the KKK searching for Mr Schwerner.

His wife, Rita, made an emotional statement to newspapers today.

She said: "My husband, Michael Schwerner, did not die in vain. If he and Andrew Goodman had been negroes, the world would have taken little notice of their deaths.

"After all, the slaying of a negro in Mississippi is not news. It is only because my husband and Andrew Goodman were white that the national alarm had been sounded."

adorn: make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.（装饰）

rampart:an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes（壁垒）

bagpipe:a wind instrument; the player blows air into a bag and squeezes it out through pipes（风笛）

rendition:a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role etc.（表演）

tip-off:inside information that something is going to happen（秘密消息）

congregation:a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church（圣会）