中国传统文化故事一的英语阅读感悟

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2024年5月21日发(作者：)

关于长城的传说

In the north of China, there lies a 6,700-kilometer-long (4,161-mile-long)

ancient wall. Now well-known as the Great Wall of China, it starts at the Jiayuguan

Pass of Gansu Province in the west and ends at the Shanhaiguan Pass of Hebei

Province in the east. As one of the Eight Wonders in the world, the Great Wall of

China has become the symbol of the Chinese nation and its culture.

Lots of beautiful legends and stories about the Great Wall took place following

along the construction, and since that time these stories have spread around the

country. Those that happened during construction are abundant, such as Meng

Jiangnu's story and the legend of the Jiayuguan Pass. Meng Jiangnu's story is the

most famous and widely spread of all the legends about the Great Wall. The story

happened during the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC). It tells of how Meng Jiangnu's

bitter weeping made a section of the Great Wall collapse. Meng Jiangnu's husband

Fan Qiliang was caught by federal officials and sent to build the Great Wall. Meng

Jiangnu heard nothing from him after his departure, so she set out to look for him.

Unfortunately, by the time she reached the great wall, she discovered that her

husband had already died. Hearing the bad news, she cried her heart out. Her howl

caused the collapse of a part of the Great Wall. This story indicates that the Great

Wall is the production of tens of thousands of Chinese commoners.

Another legend about the Jiayuguan Pass tells of a workman named Yi Kaizhan

in the Ming Dynasty (1368BC-1644BC) who was proficient in arithmetic. He

calculated that it would need 99,999 bricks to build the Jiayuguan Pass. The

supervisor did not believe him and said if they miscalculated by even one brick,

then all the workmen would be punished to do hard work for three years. After the

completion of the project, one brick was left behind the Xiwong city gate. The

supervisor was happy at the sight of the brick and ready to punish them. However

Yi Kaizhan said with deliberation that the brick was put there by a supernatural

being to fix the wall. A tiny move would cause the collapse of the wall. Therefore

the brick was kept there and never moved. It can still be found there today on the

tower of the Jiayuguan Pass.

In addition to the above-mentioned stories about the construction of the Great

Wall, there are also plenty of stories about current scenic spots. A famous one is

the legend of the Beacon Tower. This story happened during the Western Zhou

Dynasty (11th century BC-711 BC). King You had a queen named Bao Si, who was

very pretty. King You liked her very much, however Bao Si never smiled. An official

gave a suggestion that setting the beacon tower on fire would frighten the King's

subjects, and might make the queen smile. King You liked the idea. The subjects

were fooled and Bao Si smiled at the sight of the chaos. Later enemies invaded

Western Zhou, King You set the beacon tower on fire to ask for help. No subjects

came to help because they had been fooled once before. Thus, King Zhou was

killed by the enemy and Western Zhou came to an end.

Beautiful stories and legends about the Great Wall help to keep alive Chinese

history and culture. In each dynasty after the building of the Great Wall, many more

stories were created and spread.

历史

No one can tell precisely when the building of the Great Wall was started but

it is popularly believed that it originated as a military fortification against intrusion

by tribes on the borders during the earlier Zhou Dynasty. Late in the Spring and

Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC), the ducal states extended the defence work and

built "great" structures to prevent the attacks from other states. It was not until the

Qin Dynasty that the separate walls, constructed by the states of Qin, Yan and Zhao

kingdoms, were connected to form a defensive system on the northern border of

the country by Emperor Qin Shi Huang (also called Qin Shi Huangdi by westerners

or the First Emperor). After the emperor unified the country in 214 BC, he ordered

the construction of the wall. It took about ten years to finish and the wall stretched

from Linzhao (in the eastern part of today's Gansu Province) in the west to

Liaodong (in today's Jilin Province) in the east. The wall not only served as a

defence in the north but also symbolized the power of the emperor.

From the Qin Dynasty onwards, Xiongnu, an ancient tribe that lived in North

China, frequently harassed the northern border of the country. During the Han

Dynasty, Emperor Wu (Han Wu Di), sent three expeditions to fight against the

Xiongnu in 127 BC, 121 BC and 119 BC. The Xiongnu were driven into the far north

of the Gobi. To maintain the safety of the Hexi Corridor (today's Gansu Province),

the emperor ordered the extension of the Great Wall westward into the Hexi

Corridor and Xinjiang region. The ruins of the beacon towers and debris of the Han

Wall are still discernible in Dunhuang, Yumen and Yangguan. A recent report shows

that ruins of the Han Wall have been discovered near Lopnur in China's Xinjiang

region.

Further construction and extensions were made in the successive Northern Wei,

Northern Qi and Sui dynasties.

The present Great Wall in Beijing is mainly remains from the Ming Dynasty

(1368 - 1644). During this period, bricks and granite were used when the workers

laid the foundation of the wall and sophisticated designs and passes were built in

the places of strategic importance. To strengthen the military control of the

northern frontiers, the Ming authorities divided the Great Wall into nine zones and

placed each under the control of a Zhen (garrison headquarters). The Ming Wall

starts from Yalujiang River (in today's Heilongjiang Province), via today's Liaoning,

Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia provinces, to Guansu. The total

length reaches 12,700 li (over 5,000 kilometers). The Shanhaiguan Pass and the

Jiayuguan Pass are two well-preserved passes at either end.

Today, the Wall has become a must-see for every visitor to China. Few can help

saying 'Wow!' when they stand on top of a beacon tower and look at this giant

dragon. For centuries, the wall served succeeding dynasties as an efficient military

defence. However, it was only when a dynasty had weakened from within that

invaders from the north were able to advance and conquer. Both the Mongols

(Yuan Dynasty, 1271-1368) and the Manchurians (Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911) were

able take power because of weakness of the government and poverty of the people

but never due to any possibility of weakness of the Wall.

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