14 Paris City of Light

CHAPTER 1 The City of Light PEOPLE FROM EVERY COUNTRY COME TO SEE THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY. Paris— the City of Light. But why is it called that? One answer is that Paris was one of the first cities in Europe to have streetlights (in 1828). But another answer is that 300 years ago many great philosophers lived in Paris. Their ideas brought light to people's thinking and changed the world. Paris is the world's favorite city for tourists. About 42 million people visit every year! There are beautiful hotels and great restaurants— French cooking is also famous. And there's so much to see: the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, Notre Dame! About 12 million people live in the Paris region, but only 2.2 million live inside the old city walls. One hundred years ago, there were many factories and workers' homes in Paris. But now, homes are very expensive in the city. In the cheapest part of Paris, you can pay $300,000 for only two rooms! Paris is also a very important place for business. A quarter of all the money in France comes from the Paris region. Many world businesses have buildings in Paris, too.

来自世界各地的人们都来参观这座美丽的城市。 巴黎——光之城。 但为什么叫这个名字呢？ 一个答案是，巴黎是欧洲最早拥有路灯的城市之一（1828年）。 但另一个答案是，300年前，许多伟大的哲学家住在巴黎。 他们的思想照亮了人们的思想，改变了世界。 巴黎是世界上最受游客喜爱的城市。 每年约有4200万人参观！那里有漂亮的旅馆和很棒的餐馆——法国菜也很有名。 还有很多值得一看的：埃菲尔铁塔、卢浮宫、巴黎圣母院！大约有1200万人居住在巴黎地区，但只有220万人住在老城墙内。 一百年前，巴黎有许多工厂和工人之家。 但是现在，城市里的房子很贵。 在巴黎最便宜的地方，你可以花20万买两间房！巴黎也是一个非常重要的商业场所。 法国四分之一的财富来自巴黎地区。 许多世界性的企业也在巴黎设有办公大楼。

CHAPTER 2 History THE HISTORY OF PARIS IS LONG AND VERY INTERESTING. Paris is a very old city with a long, exciting history. There were villages in the region 6,000 years ago. Then the Romans came 2,000 years ago. They built a town called Lutetia Parisiorum. In 1348, there were 200,000 Parisians. That was a lot. Only 50,000 people lived in London then. For centuries, there were many wars in France. Most people were poor and hungry. In the 17th century, the poor people of Paris got angry. They started fighting the king, Louis XIV. In 1648, the king took his family and all the most important people in France to Versailles, 20 kilometers from Paris. There, they lived in a very big palace. They felt safe from the poor people. Louis XIV was king for 72 years! In that time Paris got smaller and less important, and Versailles got bigger and more expensive. In the end, Louis's palace took about 30 percent of all the money in France! The poor people of France got very angry.

第二章历史巴黎的历史既悠久又有趣。 巴黎是一座非常古老的城市，有着悠久而激动人心的历史。 6000年前这个地区就有村庄。 2000年前罗马人来了。 他们建立了一个叫Lutetia Parisiorum的城镇。 1348年，有20万巴黎人。 这是很多。当时只有5万人住在伦敦。 几个世纪以来，法国发生了多次战争。 大多数人又穷又饿。 在17世纪，巴黎的穷人非常愤怒。 他们开始反抗国王路易十四。 1648年，国王带着他的家人和所有法国最重要的人物来到距离巴黎20公里的凡尔赛。 在那里，他们住在一个非常大的宫殿里。 他们觉得远离穷人是安全的。 路易十四当了72年的国王！在那段时间里，巴黎变得越来越小，越来越不重要，而凡尔赛变得越来越大，越来越昂贵。 最后，路易的宫殿拿走了法国30%的钱！法国的穷人非常生气。

The 17th and 18th centuries were the time of the Enlightenment. Great philosophers and writers in Paris wanted change. They wanted a better world that was good for everybody, not only the king and his friends. On July 14, 1789, angry people stormed an important building, the Bastille, in Paris. This was the beginning of the French Revolution. At first, the people tried to talk with the king, Louis XVI, but he didn't listen. So, in January 1793, the French guillotined him in Paris. A few months later, his wife, Marie Antoinette, also died on the guillotine. Now there are no kings in Versailles, and Paris is the capital of the Republic of France. In 1940, Nazi soldiers came to Paris. It was a very bad time. There wasn't much food, and people weren't safe. Then in 1944, the Allies— French, American, British, and other soldiers— fought the Nazis for Paris. Dietrich von Choltitz was the most important German soldier in Paris. Hitler told him to blow up the city before the Allies got there. But he didn't. He said it was too beautiful. So Paris still has its beautiful buildings today. The history of Paris is very interesting. Why not learn more about it?

17和18世纪是启蒙运动的时代。 巴黎的伟大哲学家和作家希望改变。 他们想要一个对所有人都好的更好的世界，而不仅仅是对国王和他的朋友。 1789年7月14日，愤怒的人们冲进了巴黎的重要建筑——巴士底狱。 这是法国大革命的开端。 起初，人们试图与国王路易十六交谈，但他不听。 1793年1月，法国人将他送上了断头台。 几个月后，他的妻子玛丽·安托瓦内特也被送上了断头台。 现在凡尔赛没有国王了，巴黎是法兰西共和国的首都。 1940年，纳粹士兵来到巴黎。 那是一段非常糟糕的时光。没有多少食物，人们也不安全。 然后在1944年，盟军——法国、美国、英国和其他国家的士兵——为巴黎与纳粹作战。 迪特里希·冯·乔尔蒂茨是巴黎最重要的德国士兵。 希特勒让他在盟军到达之前炸毁这座城市。 但他没有。他说它太美了。 所以巴黎今天仍然有美丽的建筑。 巴黎的历史很有趣。 为什么不多了解一下呢？

CHAPTER 3 Architecture WHY IS PARIS SO BEAUTIFUL? Paris has a special look. The architecture is the same in many places in the city. About 150 years ago, most streets and buildings in Paris were very old. The streets weren't very clean. And they were very narrow. It was difficult for many people to walk through them at one time. So the last French king, Napoleon III, asked a man named Georges-Eugene Haussmann to build a new Paris. Haussmann made wide streets and built beautiful new stone buildings, all with the same architecture. That's why Paris is so beautiful! Today, thanks to Haussmann, Paris has many wide streets, called avenues and boulevards. There are also a lot of beautiful parks, museums, churches like Notre Dame, and old bridges like the Pont Neuf. The famous Champs-Élysées Avenue is beautiful. It has many stores and some very expensive restaurants and cafes! On July 14 each year, many people go there to watch French soldiers and planes going down the avenue from the Arc de Triomphe to the Tuileries gardens.

第三章建筑为什么巴黎如此美丽？ 巴黎看起来很特别。这个城市很多地方的建筑都是一样的。 大约150年前，巴黎的大多数街道和建筑都非常古老。 街道不太干净。 它们非常窄。 对很多人来说，一次走完它们是很困难的。 因此，最后一位法国国王拿破仑三世要求一个名叫乔治-尤金·奥斯曼的人建造一个新的巴黎。 豪斯曼开辟了宽阔的街道，建造了美丽的新石头建筑，所有的建筑都是一样的。 这就是巴黎如此美丽的原因！今天，由于奥斯曼，巴黎有许多宽阔的街道，被称为大道和林荫大道。 还有许多美丽的公园、博物馆、像巴黎圣母院这样的教堂和像新桥这样的老桥。 著名的香榭丽舍大街-Élysées很漂亮。 它有许多商店和一些非常昂贵的餐馆和咖啡馆！每年的7月14日，许多人都去那里观看法国士兵和飞机从凯旋门到杜伊勒里花园的大道上行进。

The most famous building in Paris isn't really a building at all. It's the Eiffel Tower. Gustave Eiffel built his famous tower in 1889, 100 years after the Revolution. It is very tall: 324 meters. Tourists love to go up the tower and see Paris from above. The Eiffel Tower is unusual because most buildings in Paris aren't very tall. In 1973, work ended on the Montparnasse Tower. It was a new kind of building, 210 meters tall. Most Parisians didn't like it. So new buildings in Paris can't be so tall now. Paris has some interesting new buildings, too. In the 1970s, the French government built an exciting new building the Pompidou Center. Inside are a museum of modern art, a big library, and a place for studying music. Millions of people visit it. Another beautiful new building is the Bastille Opera. Paris now has two opera houses— an old one and a new one. Some of the world's best singers come to sing in Paris. Beautiful music for a beautiful city!

巴黎最著名的建筑其实根本不是一座建筑。 这是埃菲尔铁塔。1889年，法国大革命100年后，古斯塔夫·埃菲尔建造了他著名的埃菲尔铁塔。 它非常高：324米。 游客们喜欢登上这座塔，从上面俯瞰巴黎。 埃菲尔铁塔是不寻常的，因为巴黎的大多数建筑都不是很高。 1973年，蒙帕纳斯大厦完工。 这是一种新型建筑，210米高。 大多数巴黎人不喜欢它。 所以现在巴黎的新建筑不可能这么高。 巴黎也有一些有趣的新建筑。 在20世纪70年代，法国政府建造了一座令人兴奋的新建筑蓬皮杜中心。 里面有一个现代艺术博物馆，一个大图书馆和一个学习音乐的地方。 数以百万计的人参观它。 另一座美丽的新建筑是巴士底歌剧院。 巴黎现在有两座歌剧院——一座旧的和一座新的。 一些世界上最好的歌手来巴黎演唱。 美丽的音乐，美丽的城市！

CHAPTER 4 Culture PARIS IS A CITY OF CULTURE, WITH ART, ARCHITECTURE, MOVIES, AND FASHION. Paris is a very important place for culture. It has a long history of art and artists. Its museums show work by great French artists like Renoir, Rodin, and Czanne— and other painters who came to live in Paris, like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Dali. A lot of writers also came from other countries to live in Paris. For example, in the 1920s, the American writers Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in Paris. Artists and writers often met in cafés like Les Deux Magots to talk about their ideas. You can visit the cafe today, too, but now it's very expensive! France makes a lot of movies. A Frenchman, Louis Le Prince, "the father of film," made the world's first movie in 1888. You can see Paris in many movies, too, for example Amélie, The Bourne Identity, and The Da Vinci Code. A great movie for seeing the city is Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. It shows Paris today and in the past. An American man from today goes back in time at midnight and meets all of the famous artists, writers, fashion designers, and beautiful people in Paris in the 1920s.

巴黎是一座文化之都，有艺术、建筑、电影和时尚。 巴黎是一个非常重要的文化中心。 它有着悠久的艺术和艺术家历史。 它的博物馆展出了伟大的法国艺术家的作品，如雷诺阿、罗丹和赞恩，以及其他来到巴黎生活的画家，如梵高、毕加索和达利。 许多作家也从其他国家来到巴黎生活。 例如，在20世纪20年代，美国作家欧内斯特·海明威、格特鲁德·斯坦和F。 斯科特·菲茨杰拉德住在巴黎。 艺术家和作家经常在像双人舞这样的咖啡馆见面，谈论他们的想法。 你今天也可以去咖啡馆，但是现在很贵！法国制作了很多电影。 法国人路易斯·勒·普林斯，“电影之父”，在1888年制作了世界上第一部电影。 你也可以在许多电影中看到巴黎，例如，《刺客聂隐子》、《谍影重重》和《达芬奇密码》。 伍迪·艾伦的《午夜巴黎》是观赏这座城市的好电影。 它展示了巴黎的今天和过去。 一位来自今天的美国人在午夜回到过去，在20世纪20年代的巴黎会见了所有著名的艺术家、作家、时装设计师和美女。