故宫里的黄色琉璃瓦-锐意英语口语资料库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：星期天我去了故宫。在蓝天白云下，故宫的黄色琉璃瓦显得壮美极了。

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：琉璃制品是中国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准用的。所以你只能在故宫、颐和园等皇家建筑中看到琉璃。北京有个地方叫琉璃厂，在明代这里是烧制琉璃瓦的地方。

A: Is yellow the only color for those tiles?
A：琉璃瓦都是黄色的吗？

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，还有绿色、蓝色、紫色和黑色。对于各色琉璃瓦的使用有着严格的等级规定：皇宫用黄色；亲王府用绿色。

A: Sounds special! Could you tell me more about the colors?
A：真奇特！你能多讲讲那些颜色吗？

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：说到颜色，不得不提五行学说。传统上，五色（白、青、黑、红、黄）象征五行（金、木、水、火、土），并与春夏秋冬四季变化相联系。天下五方由五帝统治——黄底居中，由土神相助，其色属黄；东方为青帝，以木神相佐，其色属青，掌管春季；南方为炎帝，以火神相助，其色属红，掌管夏季；西方称白帝，由金神相助，掌管秋季；北方称黑帝，由水神相佐，掌管冬季。中国古代建筑所用的颜色就与传统五行、五方说相关。

A: Are those theories used in any of the contemporary buildings?
A：现代建筑依然按照这些学说来设计吗？

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世纪50年代，北京标志性的十大建筑特别强调传统建筑风格。这几年，外国建筑师成为京城标志性建筑的参与者，他们很少采用传统的颜色。

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：如果北京暗号奥运五环的色彩来装饰，效果一定惊人。这也符合五色之说。

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：这个主意挺有意思。遗憾的是奥运五环里没有白色，否则就与中国的五色说相符合了。