英语听力：自然百科 The.First.Emperor 秦始皇 Part1（在线收听）

The.First.Emperor 秦帝国

Qin Shi Huangdi remains a controversial figure in Chinese history. After unifying China, he and his chief adviser Li Si passed a series of major economic and political reforms. He undertook gigantic projects, including the first version of the Great Wall of China, the now famous city-sized mausoleum guarded by a life-sized Terracotta Army, all at the expense of many lives. To ensure stability, Qin Shi Huang outlawed Confucianism and buried many scholars alive. All books other than those officially decreed were banned and burned in what is known as the great Confucian purge. Despite the tyranny of his autocratic rule, Qin Shi Huang is regarded as a pivotal figure....

‘This kind of opportunity only comes once in 10,000 years.’

‘There’s only one way for Chin to survive, and that is through conquer.’

He founded a mighty country—China. He was its first emperor, and his empire became his fortress protected by a Great Wall. The legend says he was a tyrant, driven mad by power.

‘Find out who’s responsible and have him killed.’

He cheated death, ‘Assassin, assassin.’ and built the tomb the like of which mankind has never seen. But it wasn’t enough, he wanted to live forever.

‘Immortality, and if I do not have it, who does?’

A man with one extraordinary vision. ‘How big is this supposed to be? How big is this going to be?’ and he left a legacy that has lasted over 2,000 years.

‘Your divine son speaks.’ ‘Here I am!’

‘The First Emperor of China.’

When the first emperor was laid to rest, the legend says he was the most powerful man on earth, that for 30 years, he’d subjected China to the most violent and bloody phase in its history. He had achieved the impossible: He unified the people, ten times as many subjects as the Pharaohs of Egypt, across an empire that would outlast Rome by 1,000 years. China was his. When the doors of his tomb were closed for the final time, the most fantastic part of that legend was born.

注释:

outlast: to continue to exist or be effective for a longer time than something else

pharaoh: 法老

tomb: a stone structure above or below the ground where a dead person is buried