1、北京天坛的英文导游词北京天坛的英文导游词北京天坛地处原北京外城的东南部，故宫正南偏东，正阳门外东侧，那么大家知道怎么向外国游客介绍天坛吗以下是北京天坛的英文导游词，欢迎阅览!ladies and gentlemen:welcome to the temple of heaven. (after self-introduction) preserved cultural heritages of china. there are basically two kinds of visitors who come here: local pensioners who do exercises her
2、e in the morning and evening and sightseers both from home and abroad. all in all ，there are 12 million visitors very year. now we are going to go along the route that leads to the alter. it will take roughly one hour. mind you ，the emperor also walked along this route to pay tribute to the god of h
3、eaven.the largest group of architectures ever to be dedicated to heaven ，the temple of heaven served as an exclusive altar for chinese monarchs during the ming and qing dynasties. it was decreed that rulers of successive dynasties would place altars in their own capitals to worship heaven and pray f
4、or good harvest. but why the ancient chinese believed that heaven was the supreme ruler of the universe and the fate of mankind，and thus worshiping rites dedicated to heaven came into being.the heaven the ancient chinese referred to was actually the universe， or nature. in those days， there were spe
5、cfic rites of worship. this was especially true during the ming and qing dynasties when elaborate ceremonies were held.the temple of heaven was built in 1420 during the reign of emperor youngle of the ming dynasty. situated in the southern part of the city ，this grand set of structures covers an are
6、a of 273 hectares. to better symbolize heaven and earth ，the northern part of the temple is circular while the southern part is square .the whole compound is enclosed by two walls， a square wall outside a round one. the outer area is characterized by suburban scenery， while the inner part is used fo
7、r sacrifices. the inner enclosure consists of the hall of prayer for good harvest and the circular mound altar.the circular mound altar is enclosed by two walls ，each containing four groups of southern lattice star gate， each in turn consisting of three doors， with 24 marble doors altogether. standi
8、ng on the passage facing north， you will notice that with each pair of doors on is narrower than the other. this reflects the feudal hierarchy: the wider door was reserved for monarchs， while the narrower one was used by courtiers.on the day of the ceremony ，the emperor would don his ritual costume
9、and be ushered in by the official in charge of religious affairs. he ascended the three terraces in the forefront to pay tribute at the alter.we are now on the top terrace of the altar， or the third terrace .each terrace has a flight of 9 steps. at the center of this terrace lies a round stone surro
10、unded by 9 steps. at the center of this terrace lies a round stone surrounded by 9 concentric rings of stone. the number of stones in the first ring is 9， in the second ，18， up to 81 in the 9th ring. even the number of carved balustrades on these terraces is a multiplee of 9. but whyaccording to anc
11、ient chinese philosophy， yin and yang were two opposing factors. heaven and the odd numbers belonged to yang while the earth and even numbers belonged to yin. nine was the largest heavenly number accessible to man . what is more， the ancient people also believed that heaven consisted of nine layers
12、and that the emperor s abode was on the uppermost tier.once more look at the round stone in the center. the upper terrace is nine zhang (a chinese unit of length， one zhang equals meters ) in circumference ，while the middle is 15 zhang， the lower，21 zhang. classified as yang numbers， the sum of thes
13、e numerals is 45 zhang which was meant to symbolized success. what is more， by applying the concept of odd numbers and strengthening nine and its multiples， the concept of heaven was thus illustrated and realized . the concept of nine will also be mentioned when we visit some other buildings.now i w
14、ill give you a brief account of what happened here annually on the inter solstice. the memorial tablet dedicated to heaven would be set up on the north side of the terrace， while tablets dedicated to the emperor s ancestors would be enshrined on the flanks. the service would begin around 4 o clock i
15、n the morning. all of the lanterns would be lit .in the foreground， a sacrificial calf is being barbecued. on the square in front of the altar， the emperor， under heavy escort of nearly a thousand courtiers， princes of royal blood ，musicians， dancers and uniformed soldiers， would slowly ascend the a
16、ltar to offer sacrifice and pray in honor of heaven. when the service drew to a close ，the sacrifice offered in front of the memorial tablets would be incinerated .all of participants would watch the thick smoke rise upward as if they were seeing god off .music and dancing would follow .in the end ，
17、the emperor would return to the forbidden city secure in the belief that he would be blessed and protected by heaven until the next winter solstice.it is interesting to note that ，the stone in the very middle of the altar was of major importance ，since it was where the emperor used to stand to say h
18、is prayer. the stone ，which is known as the gods heart stone， is peculiar in that it is characterized by a specific acoustic phenomenon: it made the emperor s voice clearer and louder， thus adding to the mystic atmosphere of the service .you can try this out by yourself. (proceed northward to pass t
19、hrough the lattice stargate)this structure is known as heaven s storehouse. it is entered through the gate of glazed tiles. the roofing，beams， and brackets are all made of glazed tiles or bricks. this is the only structure of its kind in china today .the heaven s storehouse was where memorial tablet
20、s dedicated to the gods were kept. douglas hurd， a former british foreigh secretary ，once said ， “god attends to his affairs on the cir4cular mound altar but stays here. ” now let s go in to to see it (go through the left side door)(in the courtyard of heaven s storehouse)this is the imperial vault
21、of heaven， the main structure of heaven s storehouse. it was built in 1530 and is 17 meters in height and 19 meters in diameter. the structure feature blue roofs topped by a gilded ball ，and carved wooden doors and windows. it is decorated with colored paintings. founded on a 3-meter-hign round marb
22、le terrace ，the building also features a gigantic carved marble ramp laid in the stone staircase leading up to the front entrance. the ramp is carved in “two dragons playing with a pearl ” design in relief. we will enter the main hall by going up the stone staircase on the eastern side.the arch of t
23、he hall is buttressed by 16 giant pillars on two rings. on top of the pillars there are gilt brackets supporting a circular caisson ，or covered ceiling .the ceiling is characterized by a golden coiling dragon design. the 8 pillar of the inner ring are painted scarlet and decorated with golden lotuse
24、s.to the north of the hall there is a marble pedestal. atop it ，up a wooden flight of 9 steps， is where the major tablet dedicate to heaven was enshrined. on each flank four tablets are enshrined in honor of the ancestors of the qing emperors. in the annex hall in hornor of the ancestors of the qing
25、 emperors. in the annex halls in the courtyard， there are tablets dedicated to the deities of the sun， moon ，constellation， cloud ，rain， wind and thunder.aside from exquisitely laid out architectures， heaven s storehouse is also famous for two structures with peculiar acoustic features， i. e. the ec
26、ho wall and the triple- sound stone. a mere whisper at any point close to the wall can be heard clearly on the other side， although the parties may be 40 or 50 meters apart. this is possible because the wall is round and hermetically constructed with smooth ，solid bricks.in front of the steps leadin
27、g away from the halls is the triple sound stone. if you stand on the first stone and call out or clap your hands， the sound will echo once; on the second stone， the sound will be heard twice; and on the third stone， the sound will repeat three times. hence the name. (go out through the right door an
28、d stroll along the circular path nor thward)the temple of heaven is also famous for its cypress trees-there are more than 60，000 cypress trees in all，among which over 4，000 are more than one hundred years old ，adding to the solemn atmosphere of the temple .this tall cypress was planted more than 500
29、 years ago. its thick branches and twisting trunk resembling nine coiling playful dragons; thus it is known as the nine-dragon cypress. it is said that this tree was here to welcome the monarchs. now it is here to welcome visitor from all over the world.now we are back again on the central axis. thi
30、s brick-arched gate is known as chengzhen (adopting fidelity) .this gate is the northern gate of the circular mound altar and the hall of prayer for good harvest. the hall of prayer for good harvest is situated at the extreme end of the axis. it was used by the emperor in the first month of every lu
31、nar year for services dedicated to good harvest.entering the hall of prayer for good harvest， we set foot on a raised passage 360 meters long， which the emperor also took to proceed to the hall. this broad north-south walkway， called danbiqiao (red stairway bridge)， connects the two sets of main bui
32、lding in the temple of heaven and constitutes a single axis.the passage is divided into left， control and right paths by the cross arrangement of slabs. the central and the widest path is known as heavenly thoroughfare ， which was reserved exclusively for god; nobody， including the emperor， was allowed to set foot onto it . the emperor used the path on the east，which is known as the imperial walk. the ministers and princes used the one on the west .interesting enough ，there is no walkway left for ordinary people. this is because the temple of heaven used to be off-limits to th
