On October 10th 1925， Chinese government arranged a grand ceremony in front of the Palace of Heavenly Purity to announce the inception of the Palace Museum。

1925年10月10日，中國政府在乾清宮門前舉行了一場盛大的典禮，宣布故宮博物館成立。

The Imperial palace was the grandest and the best preserved ancient architectural complex in our country。

故宮是我國現存最大，保存最完整的古建筑群。

Three harmonies are the Supreme Harmony， the Complete Harmony and the Preserving Harmony。

故宮三大殿——太和殿，中和殿，保和殿。

The Hall of Union lies between the Palace of Heavenly Purity and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility， with the meaning of combination of Heaven and Earth and happiness。

交泰殿在乾清宮和坤寧宮之間，含天地交合、安康美滿之意。

Tian’anmen Square is just in front of the Imperial Palace。

天安門廣場就在故宮的正門前。

It was built with blood and sweat of the labor people centuries ago。

故宮是幾百年前勞動人民智能和血汗的結晶。

The Imperial Palace is the biggest national museum in our country。

故宮是我國最大的國家博物館。

The Imperial Palace is composed of two parts—the Outer Court and the Inner Palace depending on the institution。

故宮按制度分外朝內廷兩部分。

To the north of the Imperial Palace， the WanSui Mountain is the natural cover for defense。

紫禁城北有天然屏障萬歲山。

The Hall of Complete Harmony is smaller among the three buildings and is surrounded by windows on all its sides。

中和殿在三個殿中算比較小的一個，四面都是窗戶。

The west chamber of the Hall of Union served religious purposes and the east one was the bridal chamber where the newly married emperor and empress spent their first two nights after their wedding。

交泰殿的西面房間是為宗教活動設計的，東面是皇帝新婚的洞房，在那里新婚的皇帝和皇后度過他們新婚的頭兩晚。

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。

內金水河的上面有五座橋，孔子給每座橋都賦予了一個人性方面的美德，分別是仁、義、禮、智、信。

The Palace Museum has more than 9000 rooms in it。

故宮里有九千多間房間。

The Palace Museum is rectangular in shape， 961 meters long from north to south and 753 meters wide from east to west， covering a space of 720，000 square meters of which 150，000 is building area。

故宮整體結構呈長方形，南北相距961米，東西相距753米，總共占地72萬平方米，建筑面積達15萬平方米。

In Ming Dynasty， the Palace of Earthly Tranquility is the living place for empresses。

在明代，坤寧宮是皇后的寢宮。

The Palace Museum was build by Zhu Di， the fourth son of the founding emperor of Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang。

故宮是在明朝時朱棣，也就是朱元璋的第四個兒子下令建造的。

Shenwumen is a daily access gate。 Now this gate is the main entrance。

神武門是日常出入的門。現在是故宮的正門。

The Palace Museum is a striking testimony to Chinese civilization during Ming and Qing Dynasty。

故宮為明清時代中國文明的歷史見證。

In 1988， the Forbidden City was listed by UNESCO as “World Cultural Heritage”。

1988年，故宮被聯合國教科文組織列為“世界文化遺產”。

The Forbidden City is a good place where you can understand Chinese feudalism history well。

故宮能讓你很好地讀懂中國的封建歷史。

Let’s Talk！

開始交流吧！

Tom： Wow， Look， What an inspiring scenery！ What is this？

湯姆：哇，快看，好壯觀啊，這些是什么啊？

Wang Xi： It is the world－famous Imperial Palace。

王希：這就是聞名全世界的故宮。

Tom： The reputation corresponds to reality 。What it is used for？

湯姆：真是名副其實啊，它是用來干嗎的呢？

Wang Xi： The Imperial Palace was also called the Forbidden City。 It was the royal palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties。

王希：這故宮還有個名字叫紫禁城，是明清兩朝皇帝居住的地方啊。

Tom： It has a long history， right？ But it seems that the Forbidden City is well－preserved。

湯姆：那它有很長的一段歷史了啊，不過看起來紫禁城保存得很好。

Wang Xi： Yeah， it has a history of about 600 years。

王希：是啊，有六百多年了。

Tom： Can I have a visit for it？

湯姆：我可以去參觀一下嗎？

Wang Xi： Sure。 The Imperial Palace has been open to the public。 Thousands of people come and visit it everyday。

王希：當然可以，故宮已經是對社會公眾開放了，每天都有好幾千人來這參觀呢。

Tom： It’s wonderful！ I can’t wait to have a look。

湯姆：太好了，我迫不及待地要去看一看了。

Wang Xi： I promise you will never regret your choice。

王希：我保證你進去后肯定不會后悔這一行動。

Tom： Are you sure？

湯姆：真的嗎？

Wang Xi： Of course！ When you get into it， you will know the reasons。

王希：當然啦！等你進去就知道啦。

Tom： Got it。 I’ m going inside， would you come with me？

湯姆：懂了。我要去了，你愿意和我一起嗎？

Wang Xi： My pleasure！

王希：非常愿意！

Beijing Opera

京劇

京劇是中國的國粹，是古代人民的經典創作。京劇的藝術理念，表演形態充分體現了中國傳統文化的審美觀，如中正端莊、典雅溫和、善惡分明、空靈婉轉。不論它被授予什么名號，京劇絕不遜色于世界其他經典，而且更具個性。想要了解中國的文化，京劇是必不可少的一部分。

Realize Beijing Opera

認識京劇

1京劇簡介及背景

Peking opera or Beijing opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music， vocal performance， mime， dance and acrobatics。 It arose in the late 18th century and became fully developed and recognized by the mid－19th century。 It was extremely popular in Qing Dynasty court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China。 Major performance troupes are based in Beijing and Tianjin in the north， and Shanghai in the south。 The art form is also preserved in Taiwan， where it is known as Guoju。 It has also spread to other countries such as the United States and Japan。

Although it is called Beijing Opera， its origins are not in Beijing but in provinces of Anhui and Hubei。 The early Qing Dynasty saw a great development of a plethora of operas。 In the middle of the Qing Dynasty， Hui and Han operas were brought into Beijing。 They became immensely popular with the imperial family， nobles， officials and the commoners。 The marriage of Hui and Han operas became known as the Beijing opera。

Peking opera features four main types of performers。 Performing troupes often have several of each variety， as well as numerous secondary and tertiary performers。 They utilize the skills of speech， song， dance， and combat in movements which are symbolic and suggestive， rather than realistic。 Above all， the skill of performers is evaluated according to the beauty of their movements。 Performers also adhere to a variety of stylistic conventions that help audiences navigate the plot of the production。 The layers of meaning within each movement must be expressed in time with music。 The music of Peking opera can be divided into the Xipi and Erhuang styles。 Melodies include arias， fixed－tune melodies， and percussion patterns。 The repertoire of Peking opera includes over 1，400 works， which are based on Chinese history， folklore， and， increasingly， contemporary life。