The Great Wall 万里长城 - 13

The tombs all followed the same basic design, a temple in front and a walled enclosure with the underground tomb behind. Because Wanli(万历) ruled for so long, he constructed a huge tomb. And in 1956, Chinese archaeologists decided¹ to open it, the only Ming emperor's tomb ever excavated². As the workmen opened the heavy tomb doors, a giant corridor was revealed, far larger than any Egyptian pharaoh's tomb. And there laid the lacquered coffins³ of the emperor and two of his wives.

The tomb was opened by the communist authorities as a lesson in class consciousness to demonstrate how the capitalist rulers had lived a life of luxury whilst the toiling⁴ masses starved. They could not have chosen a better example as the lavish⁵ grave goods amply demonstrated. Amongst them, this light as air - woven gold cap. The combination of lavish living and incompetent⁶ governing couldn't last. Twenty-four years after this tomb was completed, the dynasty was over. But it wasn't the wall that led the Ming down. It was a love affair.

The Chinese believed that their Great Wall constructed by millions of workers would protect them forever. But in fact, it was destroyed by a pretty face. The story begins with the sack of Beijing in 1644 by a rebel army. In the chaos⁷ that followed, a nomadic⁸ tribe, the Manchu(满族) saw a perfect opportunity to invade. Their immense army marched against China. But the Great Wall remained intact, not an inch of wall was destroyed or even damaged during the invasion.

This is the fort the Manchu really wanted to capture. It was commanded by the greatest and most faithful general of the entire empire, General Wu, which makes it all the more strange that he is not here among the fort's collection of China's greatest soldiers. He is not included because of what he did when he was confronted by the Manchu army. The general had only one weakness, his love for a concubine, the Lady Chen, famous as the round-faced beauty. Lady Chen unfortunately also attracted the attention of the Chinese rebel leader who had just sacked Beijing. Desperate to regain⁹ his lost love, General Wu called upon his hated enemy, the Manchus to help him crush the rebellion and of course free his beloved Lady Chen. Here at Shanghaiguan(山海关), General Wu did the unthinkable. He opened the gates of the Great Wall and let the Manchu army in. The greatest civil engineering project in history failed, but not because of any structural¹⁰ weakness, it crumbled¹¹ because of the smile of a pretty girl.

lacquer: a liquid made of shellac dissolved in alcohol, or of synthetic substances, that dries to form a hard protective coating for wood, metal, etc

all the more: more so, even more, to an even greater degree

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 excavated   

v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

4 toiling   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
• She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎，心中涌满愤恨。

5 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

6 incompetent   

adj.无能力的，不能胜任的

参考例句：

• He is utterly incompetent at his job.他完全不能胜任他的工作。
• He is incompetent at working with his hands.他动手能力不行。

7 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

8 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

9 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

10 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

11 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。