故宫-中英文.doc

【故宫】 午门 Meridian Gate午门是进出紫禁城的主要通道。这样命名是因为皇帝认为自己是“天子”，紫禁城是宇宙的中心，因此贯穿南北的中轴线作为子午线贯穿故宫。The main entrance to the Palace is the Meridian Gate, which was so named because the emperor considered himself the Son of the Heaven and the Palace, the center of the universe, hence the north-south axis as the Meridian line going right through the Palace. 午门在紫禁城南面城垣正中，为禁城正门，是紫禁城四座城门中最大的一座。明永乐十八年（1420年）建成。Meridian gate, in the middle of the south wall, is the mine entrance to the Forbidden City. It’s the largest one in the four gates of the Forbidden City, built in the eighteenth year of Emperor Yongle, Ming Dynasty. (1420). 城台中央门洞为皇帝出入的“御路门”，此外只有皇后大婚时喜轿入宫，殿试高中的状元、榜眼和探花出宫时可以走中门，以示皇帝的优崇。宗室王公则出入西门，文武官员出入东门。The central doorway is for the emperor to go in and get out, called “Imperial Gate”. In addition, to show the emperors preferential treatment, only the queens wedding sedan into the palace, the Champion scholar, Runner-up scholar and the Third in the imperial examination out the palace can walk in the central door (“Imperial Gate”). Imperial clan get in and out from the west gate, officials from the east gate. 明代，皇帝施淫威处罚大臣的“廷杖”也在此进行，“推出午门斩首”的说法即由此讹化而来。In Ming dynasty, Emperor punished their minister by “Court Beating” in front of Meridian Gate. “Launch meridian gate beheaded” was incorrectly relayed this information, which is not real. (As the legend goes,?the Meridian Gate used to be a place where condemned ranking officials would be executed. This not true) 内金水桥 Inner Golden Water Bridge Beyond the Meridian Gate unfolds a vast courtyard across which the Inner Golden Water River runs from east to west. The river is spanned by five bridges, which were supposed to be symbols of the five virtues preached by Confucius——benevolence, righteousness, rites, intelligence, and fidelity. Golden Water Bridge: They are five white marble stone bridges across the river. The one in the middle was used exclusive by the emperor and its banisters were carved with dragon and phoenix designs,