聊一聊埃菲爾鐵塔的歷史，它具有什么政治意義

今天的這段對(duì)話，在討論埃菲爾鐵塔，

聊一聊埃菲爾鐵塔的歷史，它具有什么政治意義

來(lái)聽(tīng)今天的講解:

A:  What's that you are looking at?

你在看什么呀？

B: It's a postcard of The Eiffel Tower,  my friend went to France last month.

是一張埃菲爾鐵塔的明信片。我朋友上個(gè)月去了法國(guó)。

A: Do you know its history or anything at all about it?

你知道它的歷史或其他相關(guān)信息嗎？

B: I'm sorry to say. I only know the history written on the back of this postcard.

很遺憾，我只知道明信片背面印的歷史簡(jiǎn)介。

A: Well, I was born in France and I can tell you anything you need to know.

我在法國(guó)出生，可以告訴你任何你想知道的東西。

B: Well, that's great. When was it built? It looks like a modem building.

那就太好了。它是什么時(shí)候建的？看上去像現(xiàn)代建筑。

A: The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution

埃菲爾鐵塔是1889年為了召開(kāi)巴黎國(guó)際博覽會(huì)而建的，是為了紀(jì)念法國(guó)大革命一百周年。

B: So it has a big political idea,  French folks feel the Eiffel Tower made them free?

所以它具有偉大的政治意義，是木是法國(guó)人覺(jué)得埃菲爾鐵塔使他們獲得了自由？

A: Yes, but they invited the Prince of Wales, later King Edward V[I of England, co attend the ceremony. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a deS1gn competition. Gustave Eiffel's was unanimously chosen.

是的，但是他們卻請(qǐng)了威爾士王子，也就是后來(lái)的英國(guó)國(guó)王愛(ài)德華七世來(lái)為開(kāi)幕盛典捧場(chǎng)。在此塔的設(shè)計(jì)大賽提交的700多個(gè)方案中，居斯塔夫•埃菲爾的設(shè)計(jì)最終受到一致推選。

B: But, it's also pretty to look at! I think that he was a man of viS1on and ahead of his time.

不過(guò)埃菲爾鐵塔看上去也很漂亮。我想居斯塔夫•埃菲爾不僅有眼光而且走在了時(shí)代的前面。

A: Yes, I agree! Eiffel was an excellent deS1gner and the perfect choice for a project so large. However it was not accepted by all at first, and a petition of300 names-including those of Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Gamier who was an architect of the Opera Gamier, and Dumas the Younger-protested its construction.

是的，我贊成你的說(shuō)法。居斯塔夫•埃菲爾是一個(gè)出色的設(shè)計(jì)師，也是這個(gè)大項(xiàng)目的最佳人選。不過(guò)，他的最初設(shè)計(jì)并沒(méi)有被一致通過(guò)，有300人聯(lián)名請(qǐng)?jiān)阜磳?duì)采用他的設(shè)計(jì)，其中包括莫泊桑，埃米爾•左拉，加尼葉歌劇院的設(shè)計(jì)者查爾斯•加尼葉，以及小仲馬。

B: But why? Didn't they think he was good enough?

這是為什么呢？難道他們認(rèn)為他不能勝任嗎？

A: Oh, I think they all thought he was a good architect but they saw the Tower as "useless and monstrous".

哦，我認(rèn)為他們都公認(rèn)他是個(gè)優(yōu)秀的建筑師，但這座塔常被嘲笑為“毫無(wú)用處”和 “怪異丑陋”。

B: I think the construction of the Eiffel Tower is important for all French people.

我覺(jué)得埃菲爾鐵塔的建設(shè)對(duì)所有法國(guó)人民都非常重要。

A: Also, during its lifetime, the Eiffel Tower has also witnessed a few strange scenes, including being scaled by a mountaineer in 1954, and parachuted off in 1984 by two Englishmen .

而且埃菲爾鐵塔自建成之日起，也見(jiàn)證了很多奇聞逸事。例如1954年有一個(gè)登山運(yùn)動(dòng)員曾經(jīng)攀登過(guò)埃菲爾鐵塔．1984年又有兩個(gè)英國(guó)人帶著降落傘從塔頂上往下跳。

B: Oh yes, and I read that in 1923 a journalist rode a bicycle down from the first level. Some accounts say he rode down the stairs, other accounts suggest the exterior of one of the tower's four legs which slope outward.

是的，我還讀到過(guò)1923年有一個(gè)記者從埃菲爾鐵塔塔頂騎自行車下來(lái)。有些報(bào)道說(shuō)他是從樓梯騎下來(lái)的，另外一些說(shuō)飽是從向外傾斜的4個(gè)塔柱之一下來(lái)的。

A: Well, whatever he did,  he must have been crazy ! Anyway, the Eiffel Tower doesn't have a really long history, but it's an interesting one.

不論他從哪里下來(lái)的，我都覺(jué)得他肯定是瘋了。不管怎么說(shuō)，埃菲爾鐵塔的歷史并不算長(zhǎng)，但挺有意思的。