今天的这段对话，在讨论埃菲尔铁塔，
聊一聊埃菲尔铁塔的历史，它具有什么政治意义
来听今天的讲解:
A: What's that you are looking at?
你在看什么呀？
B: It's a postcard of The Eiffel Tower, my friend went to France last month.
是一张埃菲尔铁塔的明信片。我朋友上个月去了法国。
A: Do you know its history or anything at all about it?
你知道它的历史或其他相关信息吗？
B: I'm sorry to say. I only know the history written on the back of this postcard.
很遗憾，我只知道明信片背面印的历史简介。
A: Well, I was born in France and I can tell you anything you need to know.
我在法国出生，可以告诉你任何你想知道的东西。
B: Well, that's great. When was it built? It looks like a modem building.
那就太好了。它是什么时候建的？看上去像现代建筑。
A: The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution
埃菲尔铁塔是1889年为了召开巴黎国际博览会而建的，是为了纪念法国大革命一百周年。
B: So it has a big political idea, French folks feel the Eiffel Tower made them free?
所以它具有伟大的政治意义，是木是法国人觉得埃菲尔铁塔使他们获得了自由？
A: Yes, but they invited the Prince of Wales, later King Edward V[I of England, co attend the ceremony. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a deS1gn competition. Gustave Eiffel's was unanimously chosen.
是的，但是他们却请了威尔士王子，也就是后来的英国国王爱德华七世来为开幕盛典捧场。在此塔的设计大赛提交的700多个方案中，居斯塔夫•埃菲尔的设计最终受到一致推选。
B: But, it's also pretty to look at! I think that he was a man of viS1on and ahead of his time.
不过埃菲尔铁塔看上去也很漂亮。我想居斯塔夫•埃菲尔不仅有眼光而且走在了时代的前面。
A: Yes, I agree! Eiffel was an excellent deS1gner and the perfect choice for a project so large. However it was not accepted by all at first, and a petition of300 names-including those of Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Gamier who was an architect of the Opera Gamier, and Dumas the Younger-protested its construction.
是的，我赞成你的说法。居斯塔夫•埃菲尔是一个出色的设计师，也是这个大项目的最佳人选。不过，他的最初设计并没有被一致通过，有300人联名请愿反对采用他的设计，其中包括莫泊桑，埃米尔•左拉，加尼叶歌剧院的设计者查尔斯•加尼叶，以及小仲马。
B: But why? Didn't they think he was good enough?
这是为什么呢？难道他们认为他不能胜任吗？
A: Oh, I think they all thought he was a good architect but they saw the Tower as "useless and monstrous".
哦，我认为他们都公认他是个优秀的建筑师，但这座塔常被嘲笑为“毫无用处”和 “怪异丑陋”。
B: I think the construction of the Eiffel Tower is important for all French people.
我觉得埃菲尔铁塔的建设对所有法国人民都非常重要。
A: Also, during its lifetime, the Eiffel Tower has also witnessed a few strange scenes, including being scaled by a mountaineer in 1954, and parachuted off in 1984 by two Englishmen .
而且埃菲尔铁塔自建成之日起，也见证了很多奇闻逸事。例如1954年有一个登山运动员曾经攀登过埃菲尔铁塔．1984年又有两个英国人带着降落伞从塔顶上往下跳。
B: Oh yes, and I read that in 1923 a journalist rode a bicycle down from the first level. Some accounts say he rode down the stairs, other accounts suggest the exterior of one of the tower's four legs which slope outward.
是的，我还读到过1923年有一个记者从埃菲尔铁塔塔顶骑自行车下来。有些报道说他是从楼梯骑下来的，另外一些说饱是从向外倾斜的4个塔柱之一下来的。
A: Well, whatever he did, he must have been crazy ! Anyway, the Eiffel Tower doesn't have a really long history, but it's an interesting one.
不论他从哪里下来的，我都觉得他肯定是疯了。不管怎么说，埃菲尔铁塔的历史并不算长，但挺有意思的。
