民间流传的故事孟姜女哭长城，是我国古代著名的民间传说，它以戏剧、歌谣、诗文、说唱等形式，广泛流传，可谓家喻户晓。相传秦始皇时，劳役繁重，青年男女范喜良、孟姜女新婚三天，新郎就被迫出发修筑长城，不久因饥寒劳累而死，尸骨被埋在长城墙下。孟姜女身背寒衣，历尽艰辛，万里寻夫来到长城边，得到的却是丈夫的噩耗。她痛哭城下，三日三夜不止，城为之崩裂，露出范喜良尸骸，孟姜女于绝望之中投海而死。

seeking her husband at the great wall
a han folktale

a little over two hundred years before our era, the first emperor of the chin dynasty ascended the throne under the name of shih huang. this emperor was very cruel towards his subjects, forcing people from every part of the country to come and build the great wall to protect his empire. work never stopped, day or night, with the people carrying heavy loads of earth and bricks under the overseers' whips, lashes, and curses. they received very little food; the clothes they wore were threadbare. so it was scarcely to be wondered at that large numbers of them died every day.

there was a young man, named wan hsi-liang, among those who had been pressed into the service of building emperor shih huang's great wall. this wan hsi-liang had a beautiful and virtuous wife, whose name was meng chiang-nu. for a long, long time after her husband was forced to leave her, meng chiang-nu had no news of him, and it saddened her to think what he must be suffering, toiling for the accursed emperor. her hatred of the wicked ruler grew apace with her longing for the husband he had torn from her side. one spring, when the flowers were in bloom and the trees budding, when the grass was a lush green, and the swallows were flying in pairs in the sky, her sorrow seemed to deepen as she walked in the fields, so she sang:

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作文地带知识拓展:

• 英语（English）属于印欧语系日耳曼语族西日耳曼语支，最早被中世纪的英国使用，并因其广阔的殖民地而成为世界使用面积最广的语言。英国人的祖先盎格鲁部落是后来迁移到大不列颠岛地区的日耳曼部落之一，称为英格兰。这两个名字都来自波罗地海半岛的Anglia。该语言与弗里斯兰语和下撒克森语密切相关，其词汇受到其他日耳曼语族语言的影响，尤其是北欧语（北日耳曼语），并在很大程度上由拉丁文和法文撰写。

  英语的英文释义：

  English 名词 uk  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/ us  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/

  the language that is spoken in the UK, the US, and in many other countries

  英语

  American/British English

  美式／英式英语

  Do you speak English?

  你会说英语吗？

  English   形容词 adjective   uk  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/ us  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/

  in or relating to the English language

  英语的

  an English teacher

  英语老师

  relating to or from England

  英格兰的;英国的

  English films/food/people

  英国电影／食品／人

  English law

  英格兰法律