每日中华文化专词双译|长城

长城

The Great Wall

图片来源：“学习强国”学习平台

也称“万里长城”。由城墙、敌楼、关城、烽火台等多种建筑工事构成的完整的防御体系。公元前3世纪，秦王朝在统一中国后，为防御匈奴南侵，将战国时期燕、赵、秦等诸侯国修筑的长城连成一体并加固延长，修筑了西起临洮（今甘肃岷县）东至辽东（今辽宁省）、蜿蜒一万余里的长城。此后，两汉、北朝、隋等各代都曾在与北方游牧民族接壤的地带修筑长城。明朝是最后一个大修长城的朝代，自洪武至万历年间，先后修筑长城18次，今天人们看到的长城多是明长城。明长城西起嘉峪关，东至山海关，总长度为8851.8千米。长城是中国古代最伟大的军事防御工程，后世常用“长城”或“万里长城”比喻担负国家重任的人，长城还成为中华民族团结一心、众志成城、坚不可摧的一种文化象征。

The Great Wall, also known as the '10, 000-li (5, 000 kilometer) long Great Wall,' was a complete defensive system consisting of walls, watchtowers, gated passes, and beacon towers. After unifying China in the 3rd century BC, the Qin Dynasty sought to ward off southward incursions of the northern nomadic tribes known as the Xiongnu by linking up and fortifying sections of the defense walls which had been built by the feudal states of Yan, Zhao, and Qin during the Warring States Period that had just ended. Extending about 10, 000 li, the Great Wall wound its way from Lintao in the west (present-day Minxian County, Gansu Province) to Liaodong in the east (present-day Liaoning Province). Later dynasties including the Western and Eastern Han, the Northern Dynasties, and the Sui Dynasty all added sections to the Great Wall in places abutting on northern nomadic tribal areas. The Ming Dynasty was the last Chinese dynasty to engage in extensive construction of the Great Wall, which was rebuilt 18 times between the reigns of emperors Hongwu and Wanli. A great part of the Great Wall that still stands today is from the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Great Wall extends from the Jiayu Pass in the west to the Shanhai Pass in the east, with a total length of 8851.8 km. The Great Wall is the greatest defense work built in ancient China. Later the term a 'great wall' or a '10, 000-li long great wall' often alludes to a person or a group of people who are a bulwark of the country. This term is also a symbol of fortitude and unity of the Chinese nation.

引例 Citations：

◎乃使蒙恬北筑长城而守藩蓠，却匈奴七百余里，胡人不敢南下而牧马……（贾谊《过秦论》）

（秦始皇）于是派遣蒙恬到北方修筑长城、镇守边境，使匈奴后退七百余里，使胡人不敢南下中原来牧马……

The First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty then sent General Meng Tian north to build the Great Wall and guard the border. This forced the Xiongnu people to pull back over 700 li, no longer daring to go south to raise their horses… (Jia Yi: On the Shortcomings of the Qin)

◎吞珪既丧，坏了万里长城，国中精锐已尽，如何是好？（陈忱《水浒后传》第十二回）

吞珪死了，国家的栋梁毁坏了，国中的精锐没有了，怎么办好呢？

As Tian Gui is dead, the country's great wall has collapsed, and its elite are lost. What should we do? (Chen Chen: Sequel to Outlaws of the Marsh)

（推荐：教育部 国家语委 供稿：北京外国语大学 外语教学与研究出版社）