旅游英语Unit 1 C课件.ppt

Text C Xian ;I. Text C II. Exercises III. Chinese version of Text C; Xian 1 Xian, the largest city on the southern bank of the Wei River, is in northwest China. It is the political, economic and cultural center of the province of Shaanxi. Shaanxi province should not be confused with Shanxi province to the east. The slight difference in spelling indicates a tonal difference applied to the first syllable. To the north lies the Shaanxi Plateau, rising from about 2,500 feet above sea level to almost 4,000 feet on the northern provincial border adjoining Inner Mongolia, and, to the south, the Qinling Mountains, which are mostly over 6,000 feet with one peak, Taibai Shan, reaching 11,400 feet. The northern plateau shelters Xian from the biting northerly winds in winter, and the southern mountains protect the town from the hotter weather of the south. ;2 The name of the province literally means west of the pass, referring to the pass Tong Guan about 35 miles downstream where the River Wei enters Huang He, or the Yellow River. One of the reasons Xian was preferred as the site of the ancient capital was its greater immunity from attack because of its location west of the pass. The Wei Valley and middle Yellow River area of Shaanxi have been inhabited since the Neolithic Era and before. The regions may be considered the cradle of Chinese civilization. The first Chinese states known today from written records were later established in the area, but before then, in 1066 BC, nomads came in from the east and founded the Zhou Dynasty. Sites in and around present-day Xian were established as the capital from this time up until the end of the Tang Dynasty, when Chang An, as the city was then called, was the most important center of Asia and the meeting point of east and west. When the Tang Dynasty was eclipsed by the Song Dynasty in 907 AD, the town went into decline and emerged from obscurity again only during the Ming period. ;3 Xian, known in former days as Cha