旅游英语阅读教程Unit 3.ppt

Unit3 Lanes 新世纪高职高专 旅游与酒店管理类课程规划教材 Contents Lead-in Text Hutong One of the unique features of Beijing is its numerous hutongs which mean small lanes. The life of ordinary people in these lanes contributes greatly to the charm of this ancient capital. In these small lanes, you will find many siheyuans. No one knows exactly how many lanes there are in Beijing which has been China’s capital for five dynasties. But one thing is certain, if we connected all these lanes, their total length would be longer than the famous Great Wall, which is more than 6,000 kilometers long. Why are Beijing’s lanes called hutongs? According to historical records, a small scale city first appeared in the Beijing area about 3,000 years ago. It was not until the Jin Dynasty in the 12th century that Beijing became the capital city for the first time. Text At that time, there were no hutongs in Beijing, just streets and roads. The word “hutong” is said to originate from the Mongolian language which is one of China’s minority languages. It means a passage between rows of siheyuans. Hutongs are the places where life has been going on for the last 700 years since they first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty. In the early 13th century, a Mongolian tribe from the north became very strong. Led by Genghis Khan, the Mongolians occupied Beijing, then the capital of the Jin Dynasty. In 1260, Kubla Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan established the Yuan Dynasty. Kubla Khan chose Beijing as the capital city. Unfortunately, the old city was destroyed during the war. So he had to rebuild it. Text The city was well designed to be symmetrical under the effect of ancient Chinese culture. First, they had to find a center, and then built a regular square city. The layout of the city was very much like a chessboard. About 50 residential areas were constructed, with straight roads and hutongs in between. At that time, there was a clear definition for avenue, street and hutong.