历史上最长的堡垒，中国的长城，本文主要内容关键词为：长城论文,堡垒论文,中国论文,最长论文,历史上论文，此文献不代表本站观点，内容供学术参考，文章仅供参考阅读下载。
Like a snake,it winds across China. From its startingpoint below sea level,it climbs west for nearly 1,500 miles.This is the Great Wall of China.It is one of the engineeringwonders of the world.Yet it was built 2,200 years ago.
The story of the Great Wall is the story of Emperor ChinShih-huang（注：此处称秦始皇为Chin，是外国人对于中国事情知道太少所致。Chin Shih-huang是过去通用的拼法，现在应按汉语拼音方案拼为Qin Shihuang。）,who thought of it.And it is the story of millions of Chinese who worked—and died—to build it.
In 246 B.C.,Chin,at the age of 13,became king of oneof the many states in China. The states were warring witheach other,the rulers fighting for power.Chin was ambitious.He set out to bind the states into an empire —his empire.By 221 B.C.he had succeeded.
Emperor Chin knew that the men he had defeated would want to overthrow him.So he brought 120,000 of the richest and most powerful to his capital.In a sense,they were prisoners.But Chin built palaces for them just like those they had left.They lived in glory as lords of his court.
The emperor's own palace was the largest and richest ofall.It had thousands of rooms and separate apartments forthe emperor's wives,some of the most beautiful women in theempire.
Even with all this wealth,Chin lived in fear. Always present was the danger from the north.For 500 years northern barbarians had raided（注：raid／reid／vt.袭击，侵入） the farms of the Chinese.The raids of the savage horsemen weresudden—and they were terrible.
Chin could think of only one way to stop the raids. Thatwas a giant wall.It had to be so big that no horseman couldjump over it or ride around it.So the Great Wall was begun.
To build the Wall,Chin needed millions of workers.Almost no able-bodied（注：able-bodied adj.体格健全的） person in China escaped the call to work.Men who had never held a tool in their hands were sent to the stone pits（注：stone pit采石场）.Murderers and thieves were made to work — the Wall became the empire's jail.Cruel masters with whips kept the workers on the job.And those who got sick were left to die.
The Wall began at the Gulf of Chihli（注：Gulf of Chihli：“直隶湾”，是渤海湾过去的名字。清初将明代的北直隶改为直隶省，约相当于现在的河北省，1928年正式改名为河北省。）.From
there
the workers cut out two trenches（注：trench／trent∫ ／ n.深沟，堑沟）,25 feet apart.They laid stone squares and bricks in the trenches to a height of 20feet.The stones and bricks became the sides of the Wall.The space between was then filled withearth and paved with-bricks.The top of the Wall became a roadway for horses (wide enough for two of today's automo-biles). Then the workers built up the sides of the wall even higher.
Over the first 300 miles the workers did not find a levelstretch for weeks at a time.Up the steep hills they draggedthe heavy stone, their backs bearing the blows of themasters' whips.With little to eat and only rotting bits ofcloth to wear,many became sick and died. Families of theworkers sent messengers with food and clothes. But fewmessengers reached the Wall.They were afraid they, too,would be made to work.
West of Peking（注：Peking北京的旧拼法）,the builders struck（注：strike／straik／ vt.发现； 其过去式为 struck ） sticky（注：sticky／'stiki／adj.粘性的）
clay.Here they chained heavy logs and dragged them into place to make a mold（注：mold／
／n.模子，模板） for the Wall.In between the rows of logsthey dumped the soil.A long line of workers,each carrying two baskets of earth hung from a bamboo pole,filled the roadway .Others packed it down.As each stretch was finished,they hauled（注：haul／
／vt.拖曳） down the wooden mold and moved on.The Wallstood,made only of hard-packed clay.
Every 200 yards or so,towers 35 to 40 feet high werebuilt.Here soldiers with bows and arrows were left to defendthe Wall.About every mile,block-houses were built to housethe soldiers who guarded it.
Month after month,year after year,the Wall progressed.It swept in daring curves,climbed mountains, dropped intovalleys,leaped rivers.Work on the Wall stopped at a 200-foot cliff hanging over a foaming（注：foam／
／vi.起泡沫）white river.
How long did it take to build the Wall? No one can tellfor sure.It is known that Chin used millions of workers.Also he made use of many miles of walls already built. So it is possible that the job may have taken only 18 years.
Engineers say that the Great Wall is one of the greatestworks of man.And for a long while,it did its job. It keptout the wild horsemen of the north for more than 1,400 years.
The Wall we see today is not wholly that of Emperor Chin.It was worked on in later years,mostly between 1380 and 1644.Parts of it are in good condition. Other parts, nearlycovered by sand,rise only a few feet above the desert. Yetthe Great Wall still stands.Here is a lasting record of oneman's desire for power—and the work of unknown millions.
它似一条巨龙蜿蜒穿过中国的大地。它从低于海平面的起点向西爬行了1500英里。这就是中国的长城。长城是世界建筑奇迹之一。它修建于2200年以前。
长城的故事就是秦始皇的故事，是他想出了修筑长城的主意。长城的故事还是数百万中国人民的故事。他们为了修筑长城辛勤劳作，又为它死去。
公元前246年，当时年仅13 岁的嬴政成了中国大地上诸多诸侯国中的一个国君。这些国家当时正在互相征战，各统治者为了权力而相互讨伐。嬴政野心勃勃。他开始了大业，要把这些国家统一为一个帝国——他的帝国。公元前221年时，他已完成了统一大业。
秦始皇明白那些被他打败的人们一定想要推翻他，所以他把其中12万最富有、最有权势的人迁徙到他的首都。从某种意义上来说，这些人成了囚犯。但是秦始皇为他们修建了宫殿，同他们原来住的宫殿一样华丽。这些人以朝廷贵族的身份过着显赫的生活。
秦始皇自己的宫殿是所有宫殿中最宏伟、最奢侈的。它有千万个房间和单宫别院，供皇帝的嫔妃们居住。她们是从最美丽的妇女中选出来的。
即使拥有如此巨大的财富，秦始皇仍生活在恐惧之中。来自北方的危险不断威胁着帝国。500年来， 北方的野蛮人不断抢掠中国的农业区。野蛮的胡骑常闪电般长驱直入，进行极其凶残的掠夺。
秦始皇只能想出一个办法阻挡他们的抢掠，那就是修一道巨大的城墙。城墙必须又高又长使胡骑既跳不过去又绕不过去。就这样，长城的修建开始了。
修筑长城需要几百万的民工。当时中国的体格健全的人都奉召去服劳役，几乎没有一个人能幸免，一些手里从来没有拿过工具的人被送到采石场。杀人犯和强盗被强迫干活——修筑长城的工地成了帝国的监狱。残酷的监工官员挥舞着鞭子逼迫工人不得停歇地劳作。有病的人无人过问，只得等死。
长城始于渤海湾。人们在那里劈出两个25英尺宽的堑沟，堑沟里砌了20英尺高的方块石和砖。这些石和砖，构成长城的侧面。在两壁之间的空间填土，并在上面铺砖。长城上面成了可行马匹的路面（宽到足以容两部现代的汽车并行）。然后民工把城墙的侧面修得高出路面。
在前一段300英里的修建中， 民工们几个月找不到一段平坦的地段。他们背上挨着监工的鞭子，身后拖着沉重的石头，爬上陡峭的山坡。他们食不裹腹，衣衫褴缕，许多人都病死了。民工的家庭派人去送食品和衣物，可是能到达长城的很少。他们害怕自己也会被逼着去干活。
在北京西边，修筑者们遇到了粘土。他们在这里用链条栓住沉重的原木，然后把它们拉到适当的位置当城墙的模子。他们在两行原木中间倒进泥土。一长列的民工每个人都用竹扁担担着两筐土挤在路上走着。别的民工把土砸实。填起了一段城墙以后，民工们就把木模拉下来，再移向前方。这一段的长城耸立着，仅仅是用夯实的粘土修建的。
每隔200码左右，就会有一座高35至40英尺的敌台。 士兵们带着弓箭留驻在这里保卫长城。大约每隔一英里，修起一处供守墙士兵居住的碉堡。
月复一月，年复一年，长城伸展了。它划着雄伟的弧线，爬上崇山峻岭，坠入深涧峡谷，跨过河流。长城终于竣工了，终端雄踞在一处高达200英尺的悬崖之上，俯瞰着下面白浪滔滔的河流。
修建长城用了多长时间呢？没有人能确切地回答这个问题。人们只知道嬴政动用了几百万民工。他还利用了以前已修建的许多英里长的城墙。所以长城的修建很可能仅用了18年的时间。
工程师们说长城是人类最伟大的工程之一。在一个相当长的时期内，长城起到了保卫边疆、抵御敌人的作用。它阻止了北方胡骑入侵达1400年之久。
我们今天看到的长城已经不完全是秦始皇修的长城了。秦始皇之后，长城又被增修过。主要在1380年—1644年之间。长城有些部分仍完好。其它部分几乎已被沙土掩埋了，仅仅高出沙漠地面几英尺。然而长城仍然屹立着。它是一个人的权力欲望的永存的记录，也是几百万劳动者的血汗的永存的记录。