Original Great Wall
5.古老的长城More than 20,000 kilometers (12,430 mi) long, the Great Wall of China is one of the most famous works of human engineering. But the wall we know today wasn't the first of China's great walls.
中国的长城绵延超过20000千米，它是人类工程中的结晶之一。但是我们今天所看到的长城并不是最早期的长城。
During the Warring States period, the Qin kingdom began building walls to protect their territory. Although massive, the early walls were a far cry from the modern stone structure. Instead, their builders used a method called earth-ramming. Soil was hauled to the building site, mixed with a binding agent, and then tightly packed. Once the soil dried, it formed the earliest iteration of the Great Wall of some places, the wall was up to 4.5 meters (15 ft) tall, making it an incredibly formidable obstacle for the time. Much like the later wall, the earth-rammed structure followed some pretty inhospitable terrain, meaning that any troops marching against the Qin would have to scale mountains and ridges as well as contending with the wall. Later, when Qin Shi Huang had a unified country to protect, he would begin joining the sections of wall, forming the oldest version of the wall we know today.
战国时期，秦王为了保护自己的疆土开始建造长城。虽然工程浩大，但是早期的城墙和我们现在看到的的石结构相去甚远。当时的建造者采用了一种称作版筑夯土墙的方法。他们将泥土拉到建筑物边上，混上一种黏合剂，然后压紧。等泥土干了，就形成了万里长城的最初的构造。在一些地方，城墙高达4.5米（15尺），这让长城成为当时难以跨越的雄关。与后来修筑的长城一般，秦长城依山就险，这意味着任何向秦国进攻的军队在需要攀登山脉和山脊的同时，还要对付这巍峨的城墙。后来，当秦始皇一统六国需要保护全国疆域时，他开始连接长城的各个部分，最终修筑成最原始的长城。
Dragon Boat Festival
4.端午节
Still held today, the Dragon Boat Festival is an extremely ancient celebration with roots in the Warring States period (although some argue that the true roots of the festival go back even further). According to legend, the festival is held in the memory of a poet and philosopher named Qu Yuan. A high-ranking member of the court of the Chu State, Qu Yuan spoke out in favor of uniting with rival states in order to oppose the power of Qin. His temerity got him exiled from the court, but he continued to write, becoming one of the most influential poets of the era. It was said that when he heard that Chu had fallen to the Qin, he drowned himself in the Miluo River.
延续至今的端午节是一个古老的节日，它的起源可以追溯到战国时期（也有人认为这个时间可能还要早一些）。相传，这个节日的出现为了纪念中国的诗人和哲学家屈原。屈原是楚国变法派的主要成员之一，他对外坚决主张联齐抗秦。然而，鲁莽的个性最终使他被放逐，不过，这无法停止这位浪漫主义者创作的步伐。最终，他成为春秋战国时期最富影响力的诗人之一。据说，在秦王攻下楚国后，绝望的屈原选择了在汨罗江投江自尽。The legend claims that when word spread of the beloved poet's fate, the people immediately took to the river to search for his body. Hence, a boat race is held every year on the anniversary of his death. Along with the boat race, the festivities also include a type of dumpling called the zongzi, which also dates back to the poet. At the time, it was believed that only those whose physical bodies were intact would be allowed entrance to the afterlife. It's said that while some searched for the poet's body, others threw zongzi into the river in the hope that anything that might seek to devour his corpse would eat the dumplings instead.
传说中，得知他们深爱的诗人的死讯后，人们纷纷赶到江边寻找他的尸体，赛龙舟也成为了每年人们祭奠屈原之死的仪式。除了赛龙舟，在端午节当然少不了要吃粽子。粽子，也是一种与屈原之死有关的食物。当时的人认为，人死后，只有保持尸身的完整才能够进入轮回。据说，在江中寻找屈原的尸体同时，人们把粽子丢入河中，这样，江中的生物在吃饱粽子以后，就不破坏屈原的尸体。Dazexiang Uprising
3.大泽乡起义
The rebellion against the Qin Dynasty started almost immediately after the death of Qin Shi Huang and the ascension of his son Hu Hai. While the legalist philosophy certainly had some benefits, like rewarding those who worked hard and putting experienced people in positions of power, it could also be incredibly cruel, with those who failed punished harshly, regardless of the circumstances.
秦始皇死后，秦二世胡亥即位，起义军揭竿而起。当时，遵守规则的人确实会获得一些好处，比如说他们会因为辛勤的工作而获得奖赏、有经验的人甚至会被授予官职，可是，这样的制度设计也是极为残忍的。因为人们会因为没有完成工作而受到严厉的处罚，而此时，客观因素是不会被统治者考虑的。Missing a deadline was considered breaking your word, and under Qin rule that meant being put to death. In 209 B.C. (about a year after Qin Shi Huang's death), a group of 900 peasant soldiers were on their way from the Huaihe River area to what is now Beijing. Severe rains and floods held them up, and it wasn't long before they realized that they weren't going to make their deadline. Knowing that they faced certain execution, the peasants killed their officers and declared their own kingdom. Two men—Chen Sheng and Wu Gang—took charge, sending their peasant army up against the mighty Qin forces. Naturally, they were soundly defeated and eventually murdered by their own forces. But other rebellions soon broke out, and the short-lived uprising marked the beginning of the end for the Qin Dynasty.
错过了规定的期限的行为会被认为不守信，在秦律中，这是要被处死的行为。公元前209年（秦始皇死后一年），九百名民夫被押解到淮河流域（现在的北京）去驻守。天遇大雨，道路不通，众人被困。随后，他们意识到他们已经不可能按时到达目的地。发现自己必死无疑，于是这些民夫杀害了看守他们的军官，然后建立了自己的王国。陈胜和吴广两个人成为这次起义的首领，他们带领农民起义军队伍去反抗强大的秦朝军队。很自然地，起义军被秦军打得土崩瓦解，最终都被秦军杀害。然而，其他的起义军如雨后春笋一般出现，这场短暂的起义开启了秦王朝覆灭的进程。Burning Of Books And Burying Of Scholars
2.焚书坑儒
Aside from his incredible tomb, Qin Shi Huang is perhaps most famous for his burning of religious and historical texts and his order to bury alive 460 Confucian scholars. In 1958, Mao Zedong even referenced the notorious act, stating: “People always condemn Emperor Qin Shi Huang for burning books and burying alive Confucian scholars, and list these as his greatest crimes. I think, however, he killed too few Confucians.” According to the story, Qin Shi Huang ordered that every work of pre–Qin Dynasty history be turned over to the authorities for destruction. It's usually painted as a massive inquisition that resulted in the loss of pretty much all historical and cultural works predating the period. That's probably something of an exaggeration, but there is some evidence that Qin Shi Huang ordered books to be burned to prevent scholars speaking “of the past in order to criticize the present.”However, the burying of the scholars doesn't appear in the historical record until hundreds of years later. Furthermore, it was recorded by Confucians, who had every reason to paint the legalist dynasty in a negative light. For this reason, the event is now viewed skeptically by historians, although it's impossible to disprove entirely.
除了宏伟的秦始皇陵，秦始皇最出名的要数焚书坑儒了，他曾下令活埋460名儒家学者。1958年，连毛泽东都提到了这一著名事件，他说:“人们常因焚书坑儒批评秦始皇，将该事件列入其罪状之中，我却觉得，他杀得还不够多”。据称，秦始皇曾规定：所有先秦书籍都必须上交销毁，这常被渲染为官方扼杀先秦历史文化作品的大规模审查。其实，这么说有点过了，但的确有证据说明秦始皇曾下令焚烧书籍，以防学者针砭时弊。然而，直至几百年后，焚书坑儒才被记入历史，记录者却是儒家学者们，他们可以肆意抨击这个以法学为尊的朝代。正因为这个原因，史学家们哪怕没办法完全推翻这一史实，也始终对此持怀疑态度。Warriors Might Have Been Real People
1.兵马俑可能源自真人
The thousands of terra-cotta warriors that have been excavated are all incredibly unique. They have different facial features, distinct details on their armor, and a variety of weapons. For a long time, it was thought that they were simply mass-produced in pieces, something that's easy enough to do with terra-cotta. A handful of craftsmen would have been responsible for eyebrows, while another group would have been responsible for hats, and another group would have assembled all the individual pieces.
出土的几千个兵马俑都十分独特:他们有不同的面部表情，所持兵器各异，连兵器上的细节都各不相同。长时间以来，人们都以为兵马俑都是用一块块陶土批量生产出来的，况且，以陶土为材料，批量生产也很容易:一组工匠做睫毛，一组做头套，另一组负责组装。That would have been impressive enough on its own, but new research suggests that the statues were actually based on real people. The breakthrough came when University College London researchers realized that, much like our fingerprints, our ears are unique to us. So they looked at the construction of the auricular ridges on each statue. And they're all different. The implications are staggering. As if the massive production line needed to complete the army wasn't enough, it now appears that every statue was based on a real soldier alive at the time of Qin Shi Huang. So far, the researchers have only compared a relatively small number of ears, but the findings definitely warrant further study. If the ears continue to be unique, we might find we're looking at the real features of an army that lived, breathed, and fought more than 2,000 years ago.
即使像这样生产，这也够令人震撼了。但最新研究发现:秦兵马俑是以真人为蓝本的。取得这一突破的是伦敦大学学院，学者发现:耳朵和指纹一样，因人而异，所以他们开始关注兵马俑耳朵的轮廓。每个兵马俑耳朵的轮廓都不一样!这一结论令人震惊。似乎完成一个军队陶像的生产流水线还不够令人惊叹，而以活生生的秦始皇时代的士兵为蓝本的兵马俑才算奇迹。目前，科学家只对比了一小部分兵马俑的耳部轮廓，但给足了科学家继续研究的信心，如果接下来看到的轮廓还不一样，那我们就可以看到一个军队的所有特点，这个军队曾在2000年前呼吸过，生活过，战斗过。翻译：小飞侠 来源：前十网