Tiger Hill虎丘英语导游词

Tiger Hill

概述——海涌桥——断梁殿——试剑石——枕石

The Tiger Hill is accepted as the most attractive place of historical interest in Suzhou.

Thirty-four meters above sea level, and some 20 hectares area, it used to be called the Hill of Emergence from the Sea .It is the burial place of He Lv, kIng of State Wu, Who founded the city of Suzhou in 514 BC and made it his capital. Historical records said that 496BC, When the king of Yue passed away. King He Lv wanted to seize the chance and intended to attack State Yue. The army of two states engaged at Zui Li of Jia Xing city. Because King He Lv’s underestimate, he was injured then died in the way back. His son Fu Chai conscripted more than 100 thousand labors to build the tomb in the Tiger Hill. Three days after his burial, it is said a tiger appeared on the top of the hill to guard the tomb, hence it named tiger hill. The local people said the hill is in the shape of a crouching tiger, the Broken Beam Hall is its head,( the gate is its mouth, two round windows its eyes,) hill path its back, the pagoda on the top of the hill is its tail. In the hill are some interesting stones such as Sword Testing Rock, Pillow Rock, Thousand Man Rock, Nodding Rock and so on. Each of them has stories and legends. Then the most famous highlight is the pagoda on the top. It is known as the leanin g tower of “Pisa” in Chinese. Tiger hill is known as the No.1 famous hill in Wu aera. No wonder the prominent poet Su Dongpo in Song dynasty remarked, “To visit Suzhou without seeing the tiger hill would be a thing for regret.”

Here is the Bridge of Emergence from the Sea. The bridge got its name because it is said that it ancient china here is a sea, and this hill used to be one of the small islands, but with the time passing, here becomes plain and only this island left that is nowadays Tiger Hill. The bridge is made of the granite, produced of Suzhou. On the railings of both sides are 12 lions- the 6 males their paws are embroidered balls which symbolize the power, other 6 females with baby lions under their paws, which means the endless offspring one generation after another.

This entrance hall is named the Broken Beam Hall. It gets its name because the main beam of the hall is made of 2 logs not joined in the middle. Under the eaves are bracket sets. Bracket sets bear the weight of the roof, and scant the weight through the post in the walls, walls of the

building bear no weight, if the walls are removed, the build will not fall down. All the joints of the wooden structure are fastened with the traditional tenons and mortises without a single metal nail. So the building can kept so long years. Under the roof of the hall there are two wooden tablets, on which are written four big characters each. Those facing south mean “the historical site famous in Kingdom Wu” and those facing north mean “containing the real and hiding the ancient.”

The famous Sword-Testing Rock is a big oval rock. It is cleft in the middle as though by a sword. Legend has it that this is the place where King He Lv tried out his precious sword. The story goes that He Lv, King of State Wu employed hundreds of foundry men to cast several thousand sharp swords for his army. Hearing that the couple, Ganjiang and Moye, were skillful sword-smiths, he ordered them to cast a pair of swords for his personal use. The husband and wife forged a pair of swords which were made of alloy that steel. One was called Ganjiang, the other was named Moye. Ganjiang presented Moye sowrd to King Wu, and hid another one himself. One day the King came to this hill and tested the sword on this rock. Down came the sword. The rock split in two as if it were mud. This rock is said to be today’s Sword-Testing Rock on the Tiger Hill. By the side of the Sword-Testing Rock there is an ancient poem engraved on a cliff, which means:”While the sword was tested, the rock was cleft, the cliff fell and the brook was blocked. Why, hundreds of years later, was it not used to decapitate the sinister eunuch Zhao Gao?”

A little further on the left is the Pillow Stone, which was said to have been used as the pillow by the monk Sheng Gong. Shenggong was a learned Buddhist monk in the Jin Dynasty around the 3rd and 4th centuries. He put new theory “those who have the sense of Buddhist can all become buddhas. His theory was opposed by those old school. And then his travelled in China, finally he settled down in the temple on SanTang street, he came to the hill to preach. Many believers gathered the hill to listen to the preaching. What he said was so excellent that all the listeners kept nodding to express their approval, even hard rock in the tomb was moved to nod. When tired of preaching, he would come to this stone and lie down for a rest with the stone as his pillow.

千人石——生公讲台(点头石)——二仙亭——“虎丘剑池”石刻——剑池