銳意英語口語資料庫24-01
A: I went to the Forbidden City on Sunday. It was a beautiful day with a blue sky and white clouds. The yellow tiles looked gorgeous.
A：星期天我去了故宮。在藍天白云下，故宮的黃色琉璃瓦顯得壯美極了。
B: Glazed tiles are unique to Chinese architecture. They were used exclusively on Imperial Palaces and buildings. Junior officials or ordinary people were not allowed to use them. That's why you can only see them in the Forbidden Palace, the Summer Palace or other Imperial architecture. There is a place in Beijing called Liu Li Chang, which means "glazed tile factory." It is where glazed tiles were made during the Ming Dynasty.
B：琉璃制品是中國古建筑中特有的材料，但只限于在皇家建筑中使用。一般官宦以及平民百姓是不準用的。所以你只能在故宮、頤和園等皇家建筑中看到琉璃。北京有個地方叫琉璃廠，在明代這里是燒制琉璃瓦的地方。
A: Is yellow the only color for those tiles?
A：琉璃瓦都是黃色的嗎？
B: No, there are other colors such as green, blue, purple and black. There were strict rules for the use of the tiles: yellow tiles for Imperial Palaces and green tiles for the homes of the Emperor's brothers.
B：不，還有綠色、藍色、紫色和黑色。對于各色琉璃瓦的使用有著嚴格的等級規(guī)定：皇宮用黃色；親王府用綠色。
A: Sounds special! Could you tell me more about the colors?
A：真奇特！你能多講講那些顏色嗎？
B: The colors are related to the five elements that make up our world. Those elements are metal, wood, water, fire and earth, and they are represented by the colors of white, green, black, red and yellow. Each element is also influenced by the four seasons. The five regions on earth are ruled, respectively, by five different Emperors. The Yellow Emperor, who is assisted by the God of Wood and is responsible for spring. The Red Emperor in the south is assisted by the God of Fire and is responsible for summer. The White Emperor is in the west. He is assisted by the God of Metal and is responsible for autumn. The Black Emperor is in the north, being assisted by the God of Water and responsible for winter. So, the colors used in traditional architecture correspond to the theory of the Five Elements and the Five Regions.
B：說到顏色，不得不提五行學說。傳統(tǒng)上，五色（白、青、黑、紅、黃）象征五行（金、木、水、火、土），并與春夏秋冬四季變化相聯(lián)系。天下五方由五帝統(tǒng)治——黃底居中，由土神相助，其色屬黃；東方為青帝，以木神相佐，其色屬青，掌管春季；南方為炎帝，以火神相助，其色屬紅，掌管夏季；西方稱白帝，由金神相助，掌管秋季；北方稱黑帝，由水神相佐，掌管冬季。中國古代建筑所用的顏色就與傳統(tǒng)五行、五方說相關。
A: Are those theories used in any of the contemporary buildings?
A：現(xiàn)代建筑依然按照這些學說來設計嗎？
B: Not much. The ten Milestone buildings, built in the 1950s, followed the traditional style but not today's landmark buildings in Beijing. Those buildings were designed together with Western architects. They seldom use any of the traditional colors.
B：不完全是。20世紀50年代，北京標志性的十大建筑特別強調傳統(tǒng)建筑風格。這幾年，外國建筑師成為京城標志性建筑的參與者，他們很少采用傳統(tǒng)的顏色。
A: If Beijing uses the five Olympic colors to dress up the city it will definitely look very impressives. It will also be in trne with the Five Color theory.
A：如果北京暗號奧運五環(huán)的色彩來裝飾，效果一定驚人。這也符合五色之說。
B: That's an interesting thought. Unfortunately there is no white in the Olympic colors, otherwise it would be a perfect match to the Five Colors.
B：這個主意挺有意思。遺憾的是奧運五環(huán)里沒有白色，否則就與中國的五色說相符合了。
