都江堰英语导游词
Dujiangyan Irrigation灌溉System
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today we will visit the Dujiangyan Irrigation System.
Dujiangyan irrigation system is located on the middle reaches of the Minjiang River, about 50km from Chengdu, is an ancient technological wonder of the country.
This unique feature has made it together with Mt Qincheng a World Cultural Heritage granted by UNESCO in 2000. It is this marvelous irrigation system that turns Sichuan into a Land of Abundance.
According to the historical record, this project was constructed by Li Bing, a local governor of Shu state around 256 BC. Dujiangyan Project is the world’s oldest water conservancy(保护,管理) project, which is still in operation in modern time. More than 2000 years ago, the river, flooded the Chengdu agricultural area and local farmers suffered a lot from the water disaster for many years. Libing designed this water control and irrigation system and organized thousands of local people to complete it. Due to the success of the project, the system automatically diverts转移the Mingjiang River and channels河道it into irrigation canals(运河,水道). For many years the dam has continued to make the most of the water conservancy works.
Actually! The Old Ancient Babylon['bæbilən]Empire used to be one of the Four Civilization in world. The empire built a famous Nari-Hammurabi[,hɑ:mu'rɑ:bi]Channel. But it’s a great pity this channel was scrapped(报废) just after 300 years. The same situation happened to the water supply channel of old Empire Rome. They all costed a great amount of money, but not last long. Yuqiuyu, a noted Chinese scholar once wrote: In my opionion, the most exciting man-made ancient project in China is not the Great Wall but Dujiangyan.
What makes Dujiangyan Irrigation system so wonderful?
That’s because it is a large hydraulic液压的；水力的；haɪ'drɔːlɪkwater project which consists of three main parts: the Fish Mouth Water-Dividing Dam, the Flying Sand Fence, and the Bottle-Neck Channel.
Well! Here we are now at the bank of the dike堤坝. Why people call it Fish Mouth? If you take a careful look you may find the world project looks like a fish, and the front part has a circular cone圆锥体，圆锥形like a fish mouth, so people called it Fish Mouth. But why is the Fish Mouth constructed here and what role does it play?
The main function of the Fish Mouth is water diversion. Li Bing had the project built, based on the favorable terrain地形，地势at the flatland. That means the Fish mouth functions is to divide the flow of water into an inner river and an outer river. Long ago, when Li Bing works as the local governor of the Shu State, he found the old river canal was too narrow to hold much water, which often overflowed the banks and caused disastrous flood. Based on natural geographic conditions, he organized the people to built a man-made dam. The whole dam looks like a fish, and the front dam has a circular cone shaped like a fish mouth. As you see! It is the dam that channels water into an outer canal and an inner canal.
·Please look! The outer side of the riverbed is higher than the inner side in this section of the topography地形,地势, 60% of the water along the lower side of the dike flows into the inner river so the extra water goes through the inner canal for irrigation in Chengdu areas, as the irrigating water in spring when farmers plough[plaʊ]犁；耕their fields. In flood season, the flow volume increases rapidly and the water level is much higher. The bend of the river has much less restraint抑制，克制；约束on the water torrent奔流；倾注；迸发as it does in the dry season. In addition, the outer river is wilder than the inner river. As a result, the Fish Mouth discharges排放；卸货；流出60% of water to the outer river and leaves only 40% of water flowing through the inner river, which prevents the flood from inundating淹没；泛滥；浸水the Chengdu Plain. The effect of water diversion is summarized as a six-character motto: divided by 40% and 60%, subdue征服抑制flood and drought. The Fish Mouth also has the function of releasing sand and pebbles carried by the torrent奔流；倾注. It is strategically set at the end of the bend弯曲, which turns out to be an ideal location for both channeling water and sweeping away sand and pebbles鹅卵石；沙砾；卵石. It is estimated that about 80% of the sand and pebbles are swept away into the outer river, while the inner river is prevented from being siltedvt. 使淤塞；充塞up. The 20% of sand and pebbles is swept away by sand flying spillway溢洪道；泄洪道. So I think the Fish Mouth likes a great commander: left please, rightplease. While the Bottle-neck channel worked as a check gate to safeguard Chengdu plain. The three projects have worked closely since they were built, thanks to the project, Chengdu plain has been “ the land of abundance充裕，丰富” since ancient times!
At present, the system does a good job of irrigating farming land across 33 counties of the western part of Sichuan Province. Local people feel proud of the system because it has supported a large amount of people in their daily life.
Well, that’s the Fish Mouth, Let’s go to the next stop, I will show you the Flying Sand Fence, that is another important system o f Dujiangyan Irrigation System, this way, please!
