英语听力：Byzantium-The Lost Empire 拜占庭：失落的帝国-15-英语课

时间：2019-02-05 作者：英语课 分类：英语听力：文化博览2008年

英语课

Such mysterious cargos, such magic marbles from across the empire, now sailed the seas and came to the holy city of Byzantium to be gathered up upon the site of the imperial communion. This is the finished dream, the tense climax 1 of all of ancient engineering, a lively frame built with prayer and pragmatism to hold the largest dome 2 the world had ever seen.

This though, is just the outside of the sacred theater. Inside, forest of columns rises up in ecstasy 3. The walls, glass and gold and marble, light and dark, insubstantial and illusory, seem to simply fade away.

A perfect sea of space for God’s holy wisdom to come down and touch the earth, a perfect theater for the anthems 4 of Byzantium. Lo, the lords of heaven and earth have come. Blood-red columns of Egyptian porphyry were taken, so it was said, from the Temple of Sun in Rome, the church’s wooden doors from Noah's Ark, the building's bronze was stripped from the temple of the Goddess Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the pagan world. No wonder the building has itself become a legend.

Poets said: The church combined the signs of sunset and the scale of quarries 5, the hues 6 of birds and fish, and precious stones, all the textures 7 and experience of their ancient everyday, the living pink, baby's fingernails, the rising of a bright red star Arcturus.

In Byzantine, in Greek, this church was called the Church of Hagia Sophia, the church of holy wisdom. All of Justinian's enormous empire, its wealth, its piety 8, its pagan heritage, was gathered up inside it.

Throughout the next nine centuries, this vast old building stood right at the center of Byzantium, the symbol of its true destiny on earth. And on the last day of Byzantium, the emperor and his troops came here to pray before they walked out onto the city walls to die. For these with the vaults 9 that held the dream, the dream that was Byzantium.

1 climax

n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点

The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。

2 dome

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

3 ecstasy

n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷

He listened to the music with ecstasy.他听音乐听得入了神。
Speechless with ecstasy,the little boys gazed at the toys.小孩注视着那些玩具，高兴得说不出话来。

4 anthems

n.赞美诗( anthem的名词复数 )；圣歌；赞歌；颂歌

They usually play the national anthems of the teams at the beginning of a big match. 在大型赛事开始前，他们通常演奏参赛国国歌。来自《简明英汉词典》
Rise please, rise for the anthems of & . 请全体起立，奏和两国国歌。来自互联网

5 quarries

n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石