英语听力：Byzantium-The Lost Empire 拜占庭：失落的帝国-5

 It’s only a little building, but it was actually the heart of ancient Palmyra. It’s the senate, the Oval Office where government was conducted, where the town elders met, where plots were hatched, all that sort of thing. Of course, in Constantine's great imperial cities, this would have been a vast long hall. And quite often in the central hall of government, Great Constantine himself would have sat where now the altars of Christian¹ churches stand, because this is basically the same building.

 

In the year 360, Constantine's son built a magnificent church in Constantinople, specially² for the drama of Imperial Communion. Next-door, those same pious³ emperors built a giant racetrack, a hippodrome. You can still see part of its outline in streets. And here at last, around this old Egyptian obelisk⁴, you can discover something of an atmosphere of ancient Constantinople, the heart of old Byzantium.

 

This stone is like a giant mirror, reflecting all the life that once went on around it. There’s the emperor and his family, Constantine’s successors come to the royal box to start a chariot race. There’s the obelisk in the middle of the racetrack and the chariots too, eight of them running all at once. You need a lot of luck to win.

 

This place wasn’t just a racetrack though. This is a place where people met their emperor and his court. It’s the air, the space of Byzantium, a hundred thousand people roaring, new emperors are presented to them, as captives of foreign wars are brought and thrown at the feet of the emperor. The old Parliament, it’s the real heart of Byzantium and that scene there maybe you've seen it before. Look at it carefully, the emperor's in the middle with his family, just like God. Around them stand the army and the court, just like the saints. Beneath them, begging mercy are Byzantium’s enemies, the damned. It’s a grand last judgment⁵ right here on earth with the emperor playing God.

 

So that’s it, really. The emperor brings happiness and harmony, the theater brings luck and victory .This is the center of the world, an image, you might say, of heaven on earth. So if we’d pushed open the gates of the imperial palace, the one stood beside the hippodrome, we’d have really been opening the earthly gates of paradise.

 

Arcades⁶ of gold and marble, silver boats on pools of mercury, silk carpets, golden thrones in halls of porphyry bowls, all have gone, only echoes of them still remain in Syria and Italy.

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

3 pious   

adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
• Her mother was a pious Christian.她母亲是一个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 obelisk   

n.方尖塔

参考例句：

• The obelisk was built in memory of those who died for their country.这座方尖塔是为了纪念那些为祖国献身的人而建造的。
• Far away on the last spur,there was a glittering obelisk.远处，在最后一个山峦上闪烁着一个方尖塔。

5 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

6 arcades   

n.商场( arcade的名词复数 )；拱形走道（两旁有商店或娱乐设施）；连拱廊；拱形建筑物

参考例句：

• Clothes are on sale in several shopping arcades these days. 近日一些服装店的服装正在大减价。 来自轻松英语会话---联想4000词(下)
• The Plaza Mayor, with its galleries and arcades, is particularly impressive. 市长大厦以其别具风格的走廊和拱廊给人留下十分深刻的印象。 来自互联网