国家地理:The Coliseum 古罗马竞技场

The solution lay in three key architectural innovations that formed the secret of Rome's great monuments. The most important, is the arch.

The arch is an almost perfect design for bearing heavy loads. And that design is so simple. A series of wedge-shaped blocks is assembled together in a semi-circular form, and supported on top of two pillars at the side. The weight of the building is absorbed by the key stone in the centre of the arch, and distributed evenly over the entire span of the arch and then down into these two side pillars. This allows the pillars to bear enormous loads. And because the space in between the pillars is empty, this reduces the weight of the building even further.

The arch would become a reoccurring theme throughout the building of the Coliseum. On the outer ring, 80 gigantic arches, 23 feet high, form a giant ring around the perimeter¹. On top of these is set another 80 arches; on top of these, is a third tier, making 240 arches in all.

The Coliseum really is nothing but arches; it's a symphony of arches.

The organization required to achieve this feat³ of engineering was phenomenal. But even here, Rome's engineers had a trick or two up their togas. For them, building was a business of mass production.

Standardization⁴ is key for the efficient building of the Coliseum. For example, the Romans used the arch, and the arch repeated again and again and again, by countless⁵ teams of builders and that kind of standardization is very akin² to what we have in an industrialized world today.

So the breaking-down of the building allows them to have lots of work gangs with not huge skills. They just had to simply build an arch.

In this way, the thousands of laborers⁶ working on the Coliseum could be left to build their section with minimal⁷ supervision⁸, confident in the knowledge that their labors⁹ were being repeated all over the structure.

You are gonna have a lot of unskilled laborers, you are gonna have a lot of bricklayers, you are gonna have a lot of people that have some sort of skill, but they are not gonna be required to know more than a whole lot. Then you are gonna have a lot of skilled laborers, the people that are going to be carving¹⁰ the columns, the people that are going to be carving the statues that are gonna go in the niches¹¹ in the upper floors. So you are gonna have a lot of skilled craftsmen¹², you are gonna have a lot of unskilled people participating in this very massive and important construction site.

Just making sure that each working was in the right place at the right time, and doing the right thing, was a challenge itself.


wedge: A piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered¹³ to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice¹⁴, used for splitting, tightening¹⁵, securing, or levering. 楔子
toga: A loose one-piece outer garment worn in public by male citizens in ancient Rome. 托加袍

1 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

2 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

3 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

4 standardization   

n.标准化

参考例句：

• Standardization of counseling techniques is obviously impossible. 很清楚，要想使研讨方法标准化是不可能的。
• In Britain, progress towards standardization was much slower. 在英国，向标准化进展要迟缓得多。

5 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

6 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

7 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

8 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

9 labors   

v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
• Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句

10 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

11 niches   

壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位）

参考例句：

• Some larvae extend the galleries to form niches. 许多幼虫将坑道延伸扩大成壁龛。
• In his view differences in adaptation are insufficient to create niches commensurate in number and kind. 按照他的观点，适应的差异不足以在数量上和种类上形成同量的小生境。

12 craftsmen   

n. 技工

参考例句：

• rugs handmade by local craftsmen 由当地工艺师手工制作的小地毯
• The craftsmen have ensured faithful reproduction of the original painting. 工匠保证要复制一幅最接近原作的画。

13 tapered   

adj. 锥形的，尖削的，楔形的，渐缩的，斜的 动词taper的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The tail tapered to a rounded tip. 尾部越来越细，最后成了个圆尖。
• The organization tapered off in about half a year. 那个组织大约半年内就逐渐消失了。

14 crevice   

n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口

参考例句：

• I saw a plant growing out of a crevice in the wall.我看到墙缝里长出一棵草来。
• He edged the tool into the crevice.他把刀具插进裂缝里。

15 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。