《疯狂英语》精选辑: 德国掠影
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疯狂英语精选辑 A Glimpse at Germany
A country of music and singing. A land of fairytale castles balanced on sheer cliffs. Of Gothic cathedrals built to last an eternity. A place of gently rolling fields and vineyards and jagged Alpine peaks. A country where old architecture and high tech industry live side by side in harmony. Everybody has a different concept of this country and everybody is right. And in one way or another, everybody’s life has been touched by it.
Germany is bounded on two sides by natural barriers. In the north, by the unpredictable North Sea and the much more gentle Baltic, and in the south, by the impregnable bastion of the Alps. It’s the country of the mighty Rhine, the placid Elbe, and the lovely Danube. Around the time of Christ, the Romans pushed their empire to the Rhine and Danube, and brought with them new levels of cultural sophistication. Building technologies, like these house floors heated by hot water basements, were unknown by the native Germanic tribes of the time. Many Roman outposts, strategically located at river crossings and trade routes, eventually grew into modern cities which today carry names like Cologne, Mainz, Regensburg, Trier, and Vienna.
Ruins of castles, built a thousand years after the Romans, still dot the landscape in many places. They are powerful witnesses from Germany’s distant past, when the far-flung frontiers of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation had to be defended. Styles of architecture and especially churches, are mirrors of the consciousness of the people and of the church and state. So often, they were one and the same.
The world has one supreme celebration of beer. The locals of Munich call it "Die Wiesen," meaning the meadow. The rest of the world calls it Oktoberfest. One has the feeling that the year in Munich culminates in this heaven of the Bavarians-this most joyous, most colorful, most lively of all folk festivals. Many names of German firms, in practically all modern industries, from cars to pharmaceuticals, from airplanes to electronics, enlists a certain awe. It is here that German craftsmanship, demand for perfection, and the quest for innovation, come together in technology admired the world over.
德国掠影
一个音乐之乡，善歌的国度。一个将童话般的城堡平衡建筑在陡峭的悬崖上的地方。永恒的哥特式教堂。绵延起伏的平原和葡萄园，以及此起彼伏的阿尔卑斯山脉，这是一个古老建筑和高科技工业和谐并存之国。每个人对这个国家的理解都不同，但每个人都是对的。无论从哪个方面讲，每个人的生活都被它影响着。
德国的两边是天然屏障形成的边界。北临波涛汹涌的北海和风平浪静的波罗的海，南接铜墙铁壁般的阿尔卑斯山，浩翰的莱茵河、平静的易北河以及美丽的多瑙河都流经此地。约在公元开始纪年的时候，罗马人将帝国的疆界扩伸到了莱茵河和多瑙河一带，并随之带来了更加博大精深的文化。如房屋底部的热水地窖可加热地板的建筑技术，是当时的德国本土人所不知道的。许多罗马人的前哨基地，位于战略地位重要的河流交汇处和贸易通道的军事要塞，最终都变成了现代繁华的城市，如科隆、美因茨、雷根斯堡、特里尔和维也纳。
罗马人入侵一千年生建立起的城堡的废墟。至今仍点缀着许多地方的风景，就一直是德国悠久历史的有力见证。从德意志民族维持神圣罗马帝国的辽阔疆域开始。 建筑，尤其是教堂的风格，折射出人民、宗教信仰和国家的意识，它们总是一致的。
这个国家有一个非常隆重的啤酒节。慕尼黑当时的居民称为“戴维森”，意思是草地。其余的人则叫它“十月节”。人们都觉得马伐利亚节在慕尼黑是一年的终结，它是所有民间节日中最欢快、 最吸引人、最热烈的。 几乎所有的现代工业中，许多德国公司的名字，从汽车到药品，从飞机到电子产品，都体现出一种严肃。在德国，工艺、对完美的追求和革新的愿望结合在一起而形成了让世界赞叹不已的技术。
