64 Venice The Floating City

CHAPTER 1 The History of Venice BORN OUT OF WAR, RAISED ON TRADE, VENICE HAS BEEN A EUROPEAN JEWEL FOR 1500 YEARS. The story of Venice started when the Germans and the Huns attacked the Roman Empire. Many people ran away from their homes. Some came to a lagoon along the Adriatic coast that contained 118 islands. They began building homes and businesses. In 421 CE the floating city of Venice was born.

威尼斯诞生于战争，发展于贸易，1500年来一直是欧洲的一颗明珠。 威尼斯的故事始于日耳曼人和匈奴人进攻罗马帝国。 许多人离家出走。 一些人来到亚得里亚海沿岸的泻湖，那里有118个岛屿。 他们开始建造房屋和企业。 公元421年，漂浮的城市威尼斯诞生了。

Venice became politically and economically important. Ships doing business between Europe and the Far East often stopped at Venice. It quickly became a busy port and before long, Venice controlled most international trade. By the late 13th century, it was the richest city in Europe. Venice is famous for art. The city had many rich people, powerful families, politicians, and church leaders. They built palaces, public areas, and churches. They paid the best artists, such as Titian and Tintoretto, to decorate their buildings. Venice is also famous for music. The composer Vivaldi was born there. Marco Polo (1254—1324) also came from Venice. He was one of the first Europeans to go to Mongolia and China. His book, The Travels of Marco Polo, was popular all around Europe. Other cities and countries began to trade with the Far East. As a result of this new competition, Venice soon no longer controlled international trade, and it began to lose its economic power.

威尼斯在政治和经济上都很重要。 在欧洲和远东之间做生意的船只经常在威尼斯停靠。 它很快成为一个繁忙的港口，不久之后，威尼斯控制了大部分的国际贸易。 到13世纪晚期，它是欧洲最富有的城市。 威尼斯以艺术闻名。这个城市有很多富人、有权势的家庭、政治家和教会领袖。 他们建造宫殿、公共场所和教堂。 他们花钱请提香和丁托列托等最好的艺术家来装饰他们的建筑。 威尼斯也以音乐闻名。 作曲家维瓦尔第就出生在那里。 马可·波罗（1254-1324）也来自威尼斯。 他是最早前往蒙古和中国的欧洲人之一。 他的书《马可波罗游记》在欧洲很受欢迎。 其他城市和国家开始与远东进行贸易。 由于这种新的竞争，威尼斯很快就不再控制国际贸易，并开始失去其经济实力。

CHAPTER 2 The Streets of Venice VENICE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN THE WORLD. Venice receives about 50,000 visitors a day Some want to experience the city's famous art, music, and architecture. Others love Venice's modern attractions: fashionable hotels, delicious food, and colorful festivals. Venice's historical center is small not much more than five square kilometers. The first thing that visitors notice is that there are no buses or cars. In fact, it is the largest traffic-free city in Europe. To get around, tourists must choose between traveling on foot or on the water, just like people had to do centuries ago.

威尼斯的街道威尼斯是世界上最重要的旅游景点之一。 威尼斯每天接待约5万名游客，有些人想体验这座城市著名的艺术、音乐和建筑。 另一些人则喜欢威尼斯的现代景点：时尚的酒店、美味的食物和丰富多彩的节日。 威尼斯的历史中心很小，不过5平方公里多一点。 游客注意到的第一件事是没有公共汽车或汽车。 事实上，它是欧洲最大的无交通的城市。 为了四处游览，游客必须在徒步旅行和水上旅行之间做出选择，就像几个世纪前人们不得不做的那样。

People who decide to walk may get lost as they try to find their way around the maze of narrow streets. They might find themselves on a street with no way out, or they might want to cross a canal but find that there is no bridge. Despite being small, Venice can be very tiring to get around on foot. One of the most amazing things about Venice is the way it was built. The lagoon is not very deep. Millions of pieces of wood, called piles, were pushed into the ground under the water. A platform sits on top of these piles, and that is the floor for all the architectural wonders of Venice. Most of the original piles are still there, because wood isn't destroyed by salt water as it is by air. It becomes hard like stone. Tourists in Venice today are sleeping, eating, and walking on top of pieces of wood from the 5th century.

决定步行的人可能会迷路，因为他们试图在迷宫般的狭窄街道上找到路。 他们可能会发现自己走在一条没有出路的街道上，或者他们可能想要穿过一条运河，但却发现没有桥。 尽管威尼斯很小，但步行游览还是很累的。 威尼斯最令人惊奇的事情之一是它的建造方式。 这个泻湖不是很深。 数以百万计的木桩被推入水下的地下。 在这些木桩的顶端有一个平台，这就是威尼斯所有建筑奇迹的地面。 大多数原始的木桩还在那里，因为木材不会像空气那样被海水破坏。 它变得像石头一样坚硬。 如今，威尼斯的游客们在5世纪的木片上睡觉、吃饭和走路。

People who choose to travel by boat have many choices and many routes they can follow. The Grand Canal is the busiest and biggest of these routes. Just over three kilometers long, it crosses the city centre in the shape of a backward letter S. It is between 30 and 70 meters wide, with its widest point next to the Piazza San Marco (St. Square). The other Venetian canals are quite small in comparison. The Grand Canal is like the main street of other cities, except it has almost no sidewalks. The best way to see the front of the beautiful buildings along the Grand Canal is from a boat.

选择乘船旅行的人有很多选择，他们可以遵循很多路线。 大运河是这些路线中最繁忙、最大的一条。 它只有三公里多长，以一个倒着的字母S的形状穿过市中心。 它的宽度在30到70米之间，最宽处靠近圣马可广场(St。 广场)。相比之下，其他的威尼斯运河都很小。 大运河就像其他城市的主要街道一样，除了它几乎没有人行道。 要看到大运河两旁美丽的建筑，最好的方法是乘船。

Boats in Venice are like buses in other cities. The bigger boats are called vaporetti, and most of them have seats inside and outside. They can be very slow, however, because they make frequent stops to let passengers on and off. Another possibility is to take a water taxi. This way you can travel quickly and directly to your destination. But have your wallet ready— they can be expensive!

威尼斯的船就像其他城市的公共汽车一样。 较大的船被称为汽船，大多数都有内外座位。 然而，它们可能很慢，因为它们经常停下来让乘客上下车。 另一种可能是乘坐水上出租车。 这样你就可以快速直接地到达目的地。 但是准备好你的钱包——它们可能很贵！