念念 楊慶春

Leshan Giant Buddha

樂山大佛

A 71-meter-high giant stone Buddha sits in the beautiful Leshan Mountain at the confluence（匯流處）of the Dadu， Qingyi and Minjiang rivers.

Around the year A.D.713， construction began on the Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan， China. The construction was halted for about 70 years due to funding issues. The project was resumed（恢復）and completed by the year 803 A.D.

At the time， the raging rivers made it difficult for ships to pass through. And a Chinese monk（僧人）felt the statue in Buddhas honour would get the water to calm down. So he decided to have it built. In the end， so many stones fell into the water， and they actually did make the turbulent（狂暴的）waters calmer and easier for ships to pass through.

Built entirely by hand， this giant statue remains the largest statue of Buddha known to man.

在風景壯麗的四川樂山，一座高達71米的佛像端然正坐在大渡河、青衣江與岷江的合流處。

公元713年前后，樂山大佛開始動工。由于資金問題，工程停工約70年之久。復工后，大佛最終于公元803年被建造完成。

當時，湍急的河流使得船舶難以通行。一位僧人認為佛祖雕像之尊嚴會使河水平靜下來，于是決定修建大佛。后來，很多石頭落入水中，確實使狂暴的河水平緩許多，也使得船只更容易通過。

迄今為止，這座完全手工雕刻的大佛仍是佛像中的“霸主”。

The Great Wall

萬里長城

Construction on the Great Wall of China began as early as the 7th century B.C. and was continued by several different Chinese dynasties. It was built to protect the borders of the country from intrusion.

It took hundreds of years to complete the Great Wall， which is over 21，000 kilometers long.

It was very difficult to build such a wall in the ancient days without any modern machines. All the work was done by hand. Thousands of men died and were buried under the wall that they built.

Made of stone， brick and wood. This 2，000-year-old wall still stands today， attracting millions of visitors annually.

長城的建造早在公元前7世紀就開始了。此后，數(shù)個朝代傳遞接力棒似的繼續(xù)著建造工作，旨在保護王朝邊界免遭外敵入侵。

歷經(jīng)數(shù)百年，長城終于得以建成，其長度超過2.1萬公里。

沒有任何現(xiàn)代機器的輔助，要修筑這樣一座城墻是非常困難的。所有的工作都不得不依靠手來完成。成千上萬的人被掩埋在自己修建的城墻下面。

長城由石頭、磚塊和木頭構(gòu)成。這座2000年高齡的城墻今天仍然屹立不倒，每年吸引成千上萬的游客前往參觀。

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

港珠澳大橋

The Hong Kong-ZhuhaiMacao Bridge， the worlds longest sea-crossing bridge， opened to public traffic on Oct. 24， 2018. It is also the longest bridge in the world. It links Hong Kong and Macao to the Chinese mainland. The bridge has a total length of 55 kilometers. The Guardian（《衛(wèi)報》） has described it as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World”.

Builders had to make an artificial island in the Pearl River Delta（珠江三角洲） to provide the support for the bridge. There is also an underwater tunnel in the middle of the bridge. The bridge has a service life of 120 years， 20 years longer than most bridges.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge makes travel times much faster among the three areas it connects. It shortens（縮短）the travel time from Hong Kong to Zhuhai from four hours to about 40 minutes.

The opening ceremony of the bridge was held in Zhuhai on Oct. 23， 2018.

港珠澳大橋是世界上最長的跨海大橋，于2018年10月24日正式通車。它也是世界上最長的橋。大橋把香港、澳門與祖國大陸緊密連接在一起。這座橋全長55公里。《衛(wèi)報》稱它是“現(xiàn)代世界的七大奇觀”之一。

為了支撐這座橋，建筑工人不得不在珠江三角洲建造人工島。在橋的中間處有一條水下隧道。大橋的使用壽命為120年，比大多數(shù)橋梁的平均使用年限長20年。

大橋使得人們在港珠澳三地之間快速通行，香港到珠海的行程時間從4小時縮短至大約40分鐘。

港珠澳大橋通車儀式于2018年10月23日在珠海舉行。