单元话题导读
The Palace Museum—the Essence of the Chinese Palace Architecture
Lying at the city centre of Beijing, the Palace Museum was the imperial① palace for twenty－four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was first built throughout 14 years during the reign of Emperor Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty(1368－1644). Rectangular in shape, it covers about 74 hectares. Surrounded by a 52-metre-wide moat② and a 10-metre-high wall, there are more than 9,000 rooms within the Palace Museum which is regarded as the world’s largest palace complex.
The Palace Museum bears exceptional③ testimony④ to⑤ Chinese civilisation, being true reserves of landscapes, architecture, furnishings and objects of art, as well as containing exceptional evidence to the living traditions and the customs of Shamanism⑥ practised by the Manchu people for centuries. It illustrates⑦ the grandeur of the imperial institution from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, as well as Manchu traditions, and presents evidence on the evolution of this architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries.
①imperial adj.帝国的；皇帝的
②moat n．护城河
③exceptional adj.杰出的；优秀的；卓越的
④testimony n．证据；证明
⑤bear testimony to见证，证明
⑥Shamanism n．萨满教
⑦illustrate v．说明，解释；展示
