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旅游观光阅读材料：第二篇 Passage 2

所属教程:简明英语口译教程

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2020年07月06日

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第二篇 Passage 2

Sightseeing in Beijing

A Modern Look for an Ancient City

Beijing, the Capital of the People’s Republic of China, has a history of thousands of years and previously served as the capital of the Jin (1115-1234), Yuan (1271-1368), and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Beijing has many ancient architectural complexes such as the 600-year-old Imperial Palace; the Summer Palace, which is China’s largest imperial garden; famous institutions of higher learning such as Beijing and Qinghua Universities; and National Library of China, China’s largest library, with a collection of paintings, calligraphy, classical books, periodicals and materials going back through the ages.

Beijing today covers an area of 16,808 square kilometers, 23 times that of 50 years ago. Roads have been widened and high buildings have been built in the city. Beijing has become an international metropolis with a population of 13.82 million.

The central north-south axis of Beijing was determined according to the principles of traditional architecture 700 years ago, when the city, then known as Dadu (the Great Capital) was built by Kublai Khan, the founding emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. In the 16th century, many structures were built along the 7.8-kilometer central axis, including Yongdingmen Gate, the Forbidden City, and the Drum and Bell Towers. Ten years ago, the International Olympic Sports Center and Asian Games Village were built on the northern section of the axis, which by that time had been extended to 13 kilometers.

In the 1970s, Beijing’s first Underground Railroad line was completed. When the Fuxinmen Overpass was built, Beijingers had their first look at a cloverleaf overpass. Since then, 124 overpasses have been built in Beijing, and the overpasses at Sanyuan, Siyuan, and Tianningsi compete for magnificence.

The second and third ring roads have been turned into high-speed highways, and the Beijing-Shijiazhuang, Beijing-Tongzhou, Capital Airport, and Badaling Expressways have now opened to traffic. The total length of highways and expressways in Beijing has reached 3,800 kilometers.

Twenty years ago, Beijing built 4.11 million square meters of housing a year, but housing was still a problem for many. Some people lived in compounds occupied by many families or in simple dwellings. Since the implementation of the reform and opening policies, great changes have taken place with each passing day.

In 1981, construction began on the Sheraton Great Wall Hotel, designed by Beckert International, an American company, and during the following decade, a series of hotels, covering a total of five million square meters of ground space was completed by introducing foreign funds and encouraging organizations and individuals to develop the service industry in Beijing. In addition to the major downtown business centers such as Wangfujing, Xidan, and Qianmen, there are 80 modern shopping centers, each having a commercial floor space of 10,000 square meters.

Over the past 20 years, the municipal government of Beijing has invested 100 billion yuan in water, power, central heating, roads, and telecommunications. Beijing now has 14 satellite towns and 371 residential areas. The annual completion of housing area exceeds 15 million square meters, and the average living space per person has increased from six square meters 20 years ago to 14.85 square meters.

Although Beijing has been modernized, it still retains its historical and cultural aspects. The unique features of 25 protected historical and cultural areas in Beijing have long attracted tourists from home and abroad.

In and around Beijing there are 30 rivers and 26 lakes that not only supply water for the city but also serve as scenic spots. In order to protect and re-create the look of the ancient capital, a large sewage-treatment project is now under way, using an investment of 1 billion yuan, on the city’s major rives and lakes, including the city’s Moat, Changhe and Tongzi River, and Yuyuantan and Beihai Lakes.

Some 62 percent of the Beijing area is hilly. Twenty years ago, Beijing suffered from dust pollution, but great changes have taken place since the forestation project started in and around Beijing and Tianjin in 1986. At the end of 1998, 39 percent of the urban area of Beijing was covered with trees and flowers. The green space in Beijing now averages 8.18 square meters per person, and the dust has decreased from 21 tons per square kilometer per month to 16.5 tons per square kilometer in the center of the city. The Miyun Reservoir, one of the major water supplies of Beijing, has 60.4 percent forest coverage.

Some Major Places of Interest in Beijing

The Great Wall

Known as the fourth wonder of the world, the Great Wall runs from Shanhaiguan Pass on the shores of Bohai Bay at the east end to Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu Province at the west end. It rises and falls, twists and turns along the ridges of mountain chains in northern China, stretching for 12,000 li (6000km) across seven provinces. Therefore, it is known in China as the “Ten-Thousand-Li Great Wall”.

The construction of the Wall began during the Warring States Period in the 5th century B.C. At that time, some ducal states in north China began to build defense walls in their own land in order to ward off the nomadic tribes further north. In the 3rd century B.C. when Emperor Qin Shihuang conquered all the other states and became the first emperor of a unified China, he had these walls linked up and extended. Reinforcement and renovations were carried out during successive dynasties. In the Ming times (14th---17th century) the Wall underwent major repairs and became what it is today.

The section best preserved and most often visited is the Great Wall at Badaling. Built solidly with regular lath stone and large-sized bricks, the Wall at Badaling is 8.5 meters high and 5.7 meters broad. Five horses or ten people can walk along it abreast. There are ramparts, embrasures, peepholes and apertures for shooting. Two-storied watchtowers are built in at 100-meter intervals. The top-story watchtowers were designed for observing enemy movements.

It is estimated that some 180 million cubic meters of tamped earth and 60 million cubic meters of stone and bricks must have been used to build the Great Wall. So it was an immense engineering project to obtain, transport the building material and construct the Great Wall.

Today, as the most important historical monument in China and one of the world’s famous architectural wonders, the Great Wall attracts large number of tourists from home and abroad each year.

Tian’anmen Square

Tian’anmen Square is located right in front of the Imperial Palace in the center of Beijing. It is one of the largest squares in the world and its 440,000-square-meter area can accommodate half a million people at one time. To the north of the square is the magnificent Tian’anmen Gate-tower. At the south is Qianmen or “Front Gate”. Both these gate-towers date back to the 17th century and typify classical Chinese Architecture. Now the square is flanked by massive modern buildings, the Great Hall of the People on the west, and the Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of Chinese Revolution on the east. At the center of the square stands the Monument to the People’s Heroes. To the south of the Monument lies Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. The bright Five-star red flag flies high on the square.

On the white marble base with fine bas-reliefs and 10-meteer high red walls stands the splendid double-eaves and yellow-glaze-tiled Tian’anmen Gate tower. The gate used to be the outer entrance to the Imperial Palace. It has five archways with the central one used exclusively by the emperor. A moat named Golden Water River flows along the foot of the gate-tower and spanned by five carved marble bridges, one for each archway. Each of the bridge is guarded by two stone lions and two towering stone pillars carved with cloud and dragon motifs. All these match perfectly and form a single unit of masterpiece of art signifying power and beauty.

During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, Tian’anmen Gate was where the emperors issued imperial edict and held grand celebrations.

In modern Chinese history, many important historical events took place on Tian’anmen Square. For example, the well-known May Fourth Movement in 1919, the December Ninth Patriotic Students Movement in 1935, the grand ceremony to celebrate the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 are all associated with the name of Tian’anmen.

The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is situated 15 kilometers northwest of Beijing. It is the largest and best-preserved imperial Chinese gardens.

The Summer Palace is famous not only for its beautiful scenery but also for its long history. Originally, it was a natural lake formed by spring water and surrounded by a hill called the Jar Hill. In 1153, Wanyan Liang, an emperor of the Jin Period, made it an imperial palace for short stays when he was away from the capital. In the Yuan Dynasty, the lake was enlarged and became a reservoir providing water for the court and the capital. In the Ming Dynasty, the royal family had a temple built on the hill, which was named the Perfect and Quiet Temple. In 1750, in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of his mother’s birthday, Emperor Qianlong, the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, had the Perfect and Quiet Temple rebuilt. He renamed the hill the Longevity Hill and the reconstructed garden the Clear Ripples Garden. In 1860 the garden was burned down by Anglo-French invasion forces. In 1888, when Emperor Guangxu was in reign, Dowager Cixi had it reconstructed by embezzling the navy funds under the pretext of building a navy training site, but it was never once used for that purpose. Cixi renamed it Summer Palace and made it her residence for the greater part of the year. In 1900, the palace garden was again badly damaged by the allied forces of the eight imperialist powers. It was reconstructed in 1903 and opened as a public park in 1924------13 years after the overthrow of the last imperial dynasty.

The palace garden covers an area of 290 hectares, three-fourths of which is water, mainly Kunming Lake at the foot of the Longevity Hill. It has more than 3,000 halls, mansions, towers, pavilions, corridors, walkways, bridges and other structures, each having its unique style, but they all bend harmoniously with the landscape. They are many tourist attractions in the garden.

The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity was where the Empress Dowager and Emperor Guangxu handled court affairs, received government officials and foreign diplomatic envoys.

The Hall of Happiness and Longevity was where Cixi lived during her stay at the Summer Palace.

One of the marvels of the Summer Palace is the Long Corridor which runs for 728 meters along the northern shore of the Kunming Lake and connects with the buildings at the southern foot of the Longevity Hill. It is the longest garden corridor consisting of 273 sections. On its cross-beams, the ceiling and side pillars are all paintings of historical and legendary figures, famous Chinese landscapes, flowers and birds, and there are more than 14,000 pieces of pictures in all. So it is actually an art gallery.

At the west end of the long corridor is the Marble Boat. The 36-meter long “boat” was carved out of huge marble. It is where Cixi relaxed in mid-summer.

The first attraction on entering the park is the marble Seventeen-arch Bridge spanning the blue-green waters of the lake in a pleasant curve. All the 500 balusters along its 150-meter length are topped by more than 540 carved lions, each in a different pose. The bridgeheads are guarded by pairs of legendary formidable animals.

With the background of the Jade Spring Hill and the Western Hill in the distance and the Longevity Hill, the Kunming Lake and numerous graceful garden buildings, flowers and trees inside the garden, the Summer Palace has the poetic touch of a traditional Chinese painting. It is a classic example Chinese Garden-building art.

The Temple of Heaven

Located in southeast Beijing and built in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty, the Temple of Heaven used to be the place where the emperors of Ming and Qin Dynasties worshiped heaven for good harvest and performed sacrificial rituals. It is now one of the largest public parks in the capital.

The Temple of Heaven covers an area of 273 hectares. It consists of three main structures on a north-south axis: the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest in the north, the Imperial Vault of Heaven in the center and the Circular Mound Altar of Heaven in the south.

The Temple of Heaven is mostly sky blue in color. It has two surrounding walls, both of which are round to the north and square to the south. Such a pattern symbolizes the ancient belief that the heaven is round and the earth square.

The main temple, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, is a lofty cone-shaped wooden structure joined together entirely by wooden bars, laths, rafters, and brackets without the use of iron or bronze. This brilliant example of ancient Chinese architecture measures 38 meters in height and 30 meters in diameter. Set with deep blue glazed tiles, the roof is crowned at the top with a huge golden ball. The triple eaves of the roof are supported by 28 massive wooden pillars. The four central columns, called the “Dragon-Well Pillar”, represent the 4 seasons. Surrounding these 4 columns, there are 2 rings, one inside the other, of 12 columns each: the inner ring symbolizes the 12 months and the outer, the 12 divisions of day and night; the pillars of the inner and the outer rings together stand for the 24 solar terns or the 24 divisions of the solar year in the traditional Chinese calendar. It was in this hall that the emperors of Ming and Qin Dynasties prayed for good harvest every year on the 15th of the first month of the lunar year.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven, circular structure with deep blue glazed tiles, was used to house the memorial tablets of the “Supreme Ruler of Heaven”. Around it is the Echo Wall, where the acoustic effects are such that a whisper at one end of the wall can be heard at some distance at the other end.

The Circular Mound Altar is a 3-tiered circular marble terrace enclosed by marble balustrades on each tier. The platform is laid with marble stones in nine concentric circles, and everything is arranged in multiples of the number 9. Every year on the winter solstice sacrifices were offered at the altar by the emperor who, surrounded first by the circles of the terrace and their railings and then by the horizon, seemed to be in the center of the universe.

课文词语 Words and Expressions from the Text

ancient architectural complexes 古建筑群

overpass 高架道路；天桥

clover-leaf overpass 意为“四通八达的立交桥”

compound 这里指北京的“四合院”

sewage-treatment 污水处理

forestation 造林

moat 护城河

reinforcement 加固

renovation 修复

lath stone 条石

rampart 宇墙