The Great Wall of China.
中国的长城.
1. Like a snake, it winds across China. From its starting point below sea level, it climbs west for nearly 1500 miles. This is the Great Wall of China. It is one of the engineering wonders of the world. Yet it was built 2200 years ago.
1、它似一条巨龙蜿蜒穿过中国的大地。它从低于海平面的起点向西爬行了1500英里。这就是中国的长城。长城是世界建筑奇迹之一。它修建于2200年以前。
2. The story of the Great Wall is the story of Emperor Chin Shih-huang, who thought of it. And- it is the story of millions of Chinese who worked—and died''—to build it.
2、长城的故事就是秦始皇的故事，是他想出了修筑长城的主意。长城的故事还是数百万中国人民的故事。他们为了修筑长城辛勤劳作，又为它死去。
3. In 246 B.C., Chin, at the age of 13, became king of one of the many states in China. The states were warring with each other, the rulers fighting for power. Chin was ambitious. He set out to bind the states into an empire—his empire. By 221 B.C. he had succeeded.
3、公元前246年，当时年仅13岁的赢政成了中国国家中的一个国君。这些国家当时正在互相征战，各统治者为了权力而相互讨伐。赢政野心勃勃。他开始了大业，要把这些国家统一为一个帝国—他的帝国。公元前221年时，他已完成了统一大业。
4. Emperor Chin knew that the men he had defeated would want to overthrow him. So he brought 120,000 of the richest and most powerful to his capital. In a sense, they were prisoners. But Chin built palaces for them just like those they had left. They lived in glory as lord of his court.
4、秦始皇明白那些被他打败的人们一定要想推翻他，所以他把其中12万最富有、最有权势的人迁徙到他的首都。从某种意义上来说，这些人成了囚犯。但是秦始皇为他们修建了宫殿，同他们原来住的宫殿一样华丽。这些人以秦朝廷贵族的身份过着显赫的生活。
5. The emperor''s own palace was the largest and richest of all. It had thousands of rooms and separate apartments for the emperor''s wives, some of the most beautiful women in the empire.
5、秦始皇自己的宫殿是所有宫殿中最宏伟、最奢侈的。它有成千上万个房间和单宫别院。供皇帝的嫔妃们居住。她们是从最美丽的妇女中选出来的。
6. Even with all this wealth, Chin lived in fear. Always present was the danger from the north. For 500 years northern barbarians had raided the farms of the Chinese. The raids of the savage horsemen were sudden—and they were terrible.
6、即使拥有如此巨大的财富，秦始皇仍生活在恐惧之中。来自北方的危险不断威胁着秦帝国。500年来，北方的野蛮人不断抢掠中国的农业区。野蛮的胡骑常闪电般长驱直入，进行极其凶残的掠夺。英文原文中称秦始皇为Chin，是因为外国人对中国事情知道太少所致。
7. Chin could think of only one way to stop the raids. That was a giant wall. It had to be so big that no horseman could jump over it or ride around it. So the Great Wall was begun.
7、秦始皇只能想出一个办法阻挡他们的抢掠，那就是修一道巨大的城墙。城墙必须又高又长使胡骑既跳不过去又绕不过去。就这样，长城的修建开始了。
8. To build the Wall, Chin needed millions of workers. Almost no able-bodied person in China escaped the call to work. Men who had never held a tool in their hands were sent to the stone pits. Murderers and thieves were made to work—the Wall became the empire''s jail. Cruel masters with whips kept the workers on the job. And those who got sick were left to die.
8、修筑长城需要几百万的劳工。当时中国的体格健全的人都奉召去服劳役，几乎没有一个人能幸免，一些从来手里没有拿过工具的人被送到采石场。杀人犯和强盗被强迫干活—修筑长城的工地成了帝国的监狱。残酷的监工官员挥舞着鞭子逼迫工人不得停歇地劳作。有病的人无人过问，只得等死。
9. The Wall began at the Gulf of Chihli. From there the workers cut out two trenches, 25 feet apart. They laid stone squares and bricks in the trenches to a height of 20 feet. The stones and bricks became the sides of the Wall. The space between was then filled with earth and paved with bricks. The top of the Wall became a roadway for horses （wide enough for two of today''s automobiles）. Then the workers built up the sides of the Wall even higher.
9、长城始于渤海湾。人们在那里劈出两个25英尺宽的堑沟，堑沟里砌了20英尺高的方块石和砖。这些石和砖，构成长城的侧面。在两壁之间的空间填土，并在上面铺砖。长城上面成了可行马匹的路面（宽到足以容两部现代的汽车并列）。然后民工把城墙的侧面修得高出路面。
10. Over the first 300 miles the workers did not find a level stretch for weeks at a time. Up the steep hills they dragged the heavy stone, their backs bearing the blows of the masters'' whips. With little to eat and only rotting bits of cloth to wear, many became sick and died. Families of the workers sent messengers with food and clothes. But few messengers reached the Wall. They were afraid they, too, would be made to work.
10、在前一段300英里的修建中，民工们几个月找不到一段平坦的地段。他们背上挨着监工的鞭子，身后拖着沉重的石头，爬上陡峭的山坡。他们食不裹腹，衣衫褴褛，许多人都病死了。民工的家庭派人去送食品和衣物，可是能到达长城的很少。他们害怕自己也会被逼着去干活。
11. West of Peking, the builders struck sticky clay. Here they chained heavy logs and dragged them into place to make a mold for the Wall. In between the rows of logs they dumped the soil. A long line of workers, each carrying two baskets of earth hung from a bamboo pole, filled the roadway. Others packed it down. As each stretch was finished, they hauled down the wooden mold and moved on. The Wall stood, made only of hard-packed clay.
11、在北京西边，修筑者们遇到了粘土。他们在这里用链条拴住沉重的原木，然后把它们拉到适当的位置当城墙的模子。他们在两行原木中间倒进泥土。一长列的民工每个人都用竹扁担担着两筐土挤在路上走着。别的民工把土砸实。填起了一段城墙以后，民工们就把木模拉下来，再移向前方。这一段的长城耸立着，仅仅是用夯实的粘土修建的。
12. Every 200 yards or so, towers 35 to 40 feet high were built. Here soldiers with bows and arrows were left to defend the Wall. About every mile, block-houses were built to house the soldiers who guarded it.
12、每隔200码左右就修建起一座高35至40英尺的敌台。士兵们带着弓箭留驻在这里保卫长城。大约每隔一英里，修起一处供守墙士兵居住的碉堡。
13. Month after month, year after year, the Wall progressed. It swept in daring curves, climbed mountains, dropped into valleys, leaped rivers. Work on the Wall stopped at a 200-foot cliff hanging over a foaming white river.
13、月复一月，年复一年，长城延伸着。它划着雄伟的弧线，爬上崇山峻岭，坠入深涧峡谷，跨过河流。长城终于竣工了，终端雄踞在一处高达200英尺的悬崖之上，俯瞰着下面白浪滔滔的河流。
14. How long did it take to build the Wall? No one can tell for sure. It is known that Chin used millions of workers. Also he made use of many miles of walls already built. So it is possible that the job may have taken only 18 years.
14、修建长城用了多长时间呢?没有人能确切地回答这个问题。人们只知道赢政动用了几百万民工。他还利用了以前已修建的许多英里长的城墙。所以长城的修建很可能仅用了18年的时间。
15. Engineers say that the Great Wall is one of the greatest works of man. And for a long while, it did its job. It kept out the wild horsemen of the north for more than 1400 years.
15、工程师们说长城是人类最伟大的工程之一。在相当长的时期内，长城起到了保卫边疆、抵御敌人的作用。它阻止了北方胡骑入侵达1400年之久。
16. The Wall we see today is not wholly that of Emperor Chin. It was worked on in later years, mostly between 1380 and 1644. Parts of it are in good condition. Other parts, nearly covered by sand, rise only a few feet above the desert. Yet the Great Wall still stands. Here is a lasting record of one man''s desire for power—and the work of unknown millions.
16、我们今天看到的长城已经不完全是秦始皇修的长城了。秦始皇之后，长城又被增修过。主要是在1380年到1644年之间。长城有些部分仍完好。其它部分几乎已被沙土掩埋了，仅仅高出沙漠地面几英尺。然而长城仍然屹立着。它是一个人的权力欲望的永存的记录，也是几百万劳动者的血汗的永存的记录。
