32. The Great Wall of China.
32、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。