Shakespeares Globe Theatre， on the south bank of the Thames in the centre of London， looks old and yet quite new， too. It has become a popular tourist site in London today.

莎士比亞環(huán)球劇場，位于泰晤士河南岸的倫敦的中心，看上去既古老又清新。今天它已經(jīng)成為了倫敦一個頗受歡迎的旅游勝地。

In fact， it is a three layer1， polygonal2， round wooden building， which is made of oak3 in the main and can hold 3，000 people. The Globe Theatre we are seeing today is a superb4 reconstruction. The original5 Globe Theatre was destroyed by fire on June 29th， 1613.

事實上，莎士比亞環(huán)球劇場是一座由三層、多邊形、橡木建成的圓形建筑，可以容納3000人。我們今天看到的環(huán)球劇場是一個豪華的重建物，最初的環(huán)球劇場曾在1613年6月29日的一場大火中化為灰燼。

Shakespeare and a group of actors put money together to build the theatre in 1599. It was the first time ever in England actors had paid to build a theatre. So that was very special. And it became famous in London as Shakespeares company became the number one acting company of London. So it became from 1599 as the number one venue6 for theatre and certainly the number one venue for Shakespeares plays until 1631.

莎士比亞和他的演員們于1599年共同集資建成了這個劇場。英國首次由演員出資修建劇場，這是一件非常特殊的事情。環(huán)球劇場隨著莎士比亞公司在倫敦的出名而成名。因而環(huán)球劇場自1599年始就成了首屈一指的演出場所，當然也是莎士比亞戲劇的演出地點，這種盛況一直持續(xù)到1631年。

The original Globe Theatre provided great entertainment for the public for over 13 year before the fire. In 1631 they put on a play about Henry VIII and they had a cannon7 effect to show the arrival8 of the king on stage. But it was a special effect that went badly wrong because a spark9 from the cannon flew up and hit the roof which is made of thatch10. It caught fire and the theatre burnt to the ground during the performance.

最初修建的劇場在火災之前給人們帶來了精彩的娛樂活動長達13年之久。1631年戲劇《亨利八世》上演時，他們在舞臺上利用大炮的威力宣布國王的到來。但是這一個特殊效果出現(xiàn)了嚴重問題，因為火花從大炮上飛出，落在了茅草做的屋頂上。屋頂起了火，劇場在演出時被燒毀了。

Luckily for all of us today， the theatre has been rebuilt.

今天，值得人們慶幸的是劇院已經(jīng)重建了。