The Great Wall 万里长城 - 11
With the Mongols expelled, the new rulers, the Ming emperors, were determined 1 that an invasion would never happen again. And so in 1368, when Europe was being decimated by the Black Plague(黑死病, 鼠疫), the Ming rulers created the world's largest and greatest civil engineering project, even greater than earlier walls, because this wall was mostly built of stone. The Ming Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan(山海关) on the Yellow Sea to Jiayuguan(嘉峪关) in the Gobi Desert. It lies across China like a long winding 2 spine 3, 4,000 miles in length, with thousands of watchtowers poking 4 out like vertebrae.
Much of the Great Wall was made of stone, a building material 100 times more labor 5-intensive than mud brick. The wall builders were not in the least daunted 6 by spiked 7 mountain peaks. And even among these misty 8 mountain tops, the wall had to be zealously 9 guarded. Watchtowers were crucial to the protection of the wall. If reinforcements were needed, the guards signaled to the village of mere 10 a half mile away. Here, the old garrison 11 walls of a long abandoned barracks still stand. Some 500 troops would have been stationed here, and if this wasn't enough, there were even larger concentration of troops in forts, a few minutes' signaling away. In this way, a small number of men on the wall could alert an army of over one million men in a matter of a few hours.
Army garrisons 12 competed with each other in wall building. Each general wanted his section to be more impressive than all the others. A plaque 13 proclaims that in the spring of the year 1597, Tongkai was commander in charge of the gang building this section of the wall. Chen Yiting was in charge of food and even the lowly stonemason Wu Zengye had his name carved.
To build a wall to this standard was not easy, much of the labor was carried out by convicts, who if they died, had to be replaced by another member of their family, and so on until the sentence was completed, hardly a method that encouraged happy workers. Every 50 feet, the builders installed drains to carry off rain water. These waterspouts were always built on the inside of the wall, the side away from the enemy. So we couldn't lasso a spout 14 in climb of the wall.
decimate: destroy or kill a large part of (a group); inflict 15 great destruction or damage on
winding: twisting or turning; sinuous
in the least: also, in the slightest. At all, in the smallest degree. These terms are nearly always used in a negative context.
stonemason: a craftsman who works with stone or brick
- I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
- He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
- A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
- The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。
- He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
- His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。
- We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
- He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。
- She was a brave woman but she felt daunted by the task ahead. 她是一个勇敢的女人，但对面前的任务却感到信心不足。
- He was daunted by the high quality of work they expected. 他被他们对工作的高品质的要求吓倒了。
- The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句
- He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
- The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。
- Of course the more unpleasant a duty was, the more zealously Miss Glover performed it. 格洛弗小姐越是对她的职责不满意，她越是去积极执行它。 来自辞典例句
- A lawyer should represent a client zealously within the bounds of the law. 律师应在法律范围内热忱为当事人代理。 来自口语例句
- That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
- It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
- The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
- The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。
- I've often seen pictures of such animals at the garrisons. 在要塞里，我经常看到这种动物的画片。
- Use a Black Hand to garrisons, and take it for yourself. 用黑手清空驻守得步兵，为自己占一个。
- There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
- Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。
- Implication in folk wealth creativity and undertaking vigor spout.蕴藏于民间的财富创造力和创业活力喷涌而出。
- This acts as a spout to drain off water during a rainstorm.在暴风雨季，这东西被用作喷管来排水。