The Great Wall of ChinaThe Great Wall of China is called the “Ten thousand Ii Great Wall” in Chinese. In fact, it’ s more than 6 000 kilometres long. It winds its way from west to east, across deserts, over mountains, through valleys till at last it reaches the sea. It is one of the wonders of the world.The Great Wall has a history of over twenty centuries. The first part of it was built during the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Warring States Period, more walls were put up to defend the borders of the different kingdoms. It was during the Qin Dynasty that the kingdom of Qin united the dif ferent parts into one empire. To keep the enemy out of his empire, Emperor Qin Shi Huang had all the walls joined up. Thus, the Great Wall came into being.The Great Wall is wide enough at the top for five horses or ten men to walk side by side. Along the wall are watchtowers, where soldiers used to keep watch. Fires were lit on the the towers as a warning when the enemy came.It was very difficult to build such a wall in the ancient days without any modern machines. All the work was done by hand. Thousands of men died and were buried under the wall they built. The Great Wall was made not only of stone and earth, but of the flesh and blood of millions of men.Today the Great Wall has become a place of interest not only to the Chinese but to people from all over the world. Many of them have come to know the famous Chinese saying: “He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a true man.”
[点评]长城是世界的奇迹，中国的骄傲，中国人对它了解甚多，但用英语将它描述出来恐非易事。此文描述较为详细，是非常好的背景资料。
[参考译文]中国的长城中国的长城汉语中常叫作“万里长城”。实际上它长 6 ooo多公里。它从西到东，穿过沙漠，越过高山，跨过深谷，蜿蜒而行，最后直到海边。它是世界上的奇观之一。长城有两千多年的历史。最早是在春秋时期开始修筑的。战国时期，各诸候国为了保卫自己的边境，分别修筑了更多的城墙。在秦朝时，秦国把各诸侯国统一起来，成为一个帝国。为了御敌于国门之外，秦始皇令人把所有的城墙连接起来。这样，长城就形成了。长城上面很宽，足够五匹马或10个人并排而行。沿城墙有许多烽火台，过去常有士兵驻守。敌人来时，就点燃烽火，以通知士兵。没有任何现代机器，要修筑这样一座长城是非常困难的。所有的工作都不得不用手来完成。成千上万的人死了，被埋在自己修建的城墙下面。长城不仅是用石头和土筑成的，而且也是用数以百万计的人的血肉筑成的。今天，长城不仅对中国人，而且对来自全世界各地的人们来说都是一处名胜。其中许多人都已知道这句中国名言:“不到长城非好汉”。