Text B The Classical Gardens of Suzhou
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苏州园林是指中国苏州城内的园林建筑，以私家园林为主，起始于春秋时期的吴国建都姑苏时（公元前514年），形成于五代，成熟于宋代，兴旺于明代，鼎盛于清代。到清末苏州已有各色园林170多处，现保存完整的有60多处，对外开放的园林有19处。占地面积不大，但以意境见长，以独具匠心的艺术手法在有限的空间内点缀安排，移步换景，变化无穷。1997年，苏州古典园林作为中国园林的代表被列入《世界遗产名录》。
With a history of more than 2,500 years,the ancient city of Suzhou,boasting splendid scenery,rich cultural heritage and abundant agricultural products,is situated in the Lower Yangtze basin by the side of Lake Tai.Ever since the founding of Suzhou as the capital of the Wu Kingdom in 514 B.C.,it has been the political,economic and cultural center of the region.As a place famed for its well-known scholars,successful merchants,great architects and distinguished artists,Suzhou provides favorable conditions for the creation and development of classical gardens.
The earliest gardens of Suzhou,which belonged to the King of Wu,can be traced far back to the Spring and Autumn period in the 6th century B.C.The Pijiang Garden was recorded as the earliest private garden-house dating from the 4th century Eastern Jin Dynasties.More gardens were built in the centuries that followed.During the prosperous Ming and Qing Dynasties,from the 16th to the 18th century in particular,Suzhou saw a booming of economy.Consequently,the number of gardens in the city of Suzhou and its environs increased a great deal,mounting to 200 odd.Dozens of them have survived to the present and are kept in a good state of preservation.With their numerical superiority and artistic perfection,the classical gardens of Suzhou have had a good reputation in this part of China,popularly known as “the earthly paradise”.
Laid out within a limited area by the house,a classical garden of Suzhou is a microcosm of the world made of the basic elements of water,stones,plants and different kinds of buildings with literary allusions.Like a freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese painting,it is the creation of “urban scenery” or an amicable environment that brings man into harmony with nature.Built in a period when privately-owned gardens were most flourishing,the Humble Administrator’s Garden,the Lingering Garden,the Master-of-Nets Garden and the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty,noted for their beautiful scenes,elegant buildings and literary connotations,represent the concentrated essence of wisdom of the Chinese and the finest specimens of all classical gardens of Suzhou.Like shining pearls,they are a brilliant part of Chinese cultural heritage.Their characteristics are as follows:
Firstly,they set fine examples of how garden spaces are ingeniously handled.
Interwoven with Taoist metaphysics of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi,the classical gardens of Suzhou were laid out in imitation of natural scenery to meet the intellectual and emotional needs of the Chinese.The terrestrial contours of the site are always made good use of methods and techniques which are numerous,including borrowed views,barred views,opposite views,framed views,the decorative and functional alteration,and the abstract and concrete alteration.The stress is put on meandering through a labyrinth of complexity and continuous surprises.Within limits the garden spaces are so ingeniously handled that the effect of infinitude is produced.In the Humble Administrator’s Garden,the Lingering Garden,the Master-of-Nets Garden and the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty,there are many instances in illustration of traditional Chinese aesthetics.
Secondly,they are the re-creation of the splendors of natural scenery through the processes of the decoration of land by planting trees,shrubs and flowers,and designing and materializing mountains and watercourses.
The classical gardens of Suzhou were designed and built by great masters of different dynasties,employing extraordinary methods and techniques.As a result,they are unnaturally natural.Noted for their wonderful landscapes and waterscapes,the Humble Administrator’s garden,the Lingering Garden,the Master-of-Nets Garden and the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty are the vivid representation of natural scenery easy to be found locally.The miniature mountains made of yellow stones in the Master-of-Nets Garden or from earth with stones sticking out of them in the Humble Administrator’s Garden and the Lingering Garden look so natural and spontaneous that they seem to be rendered without human aid.A number of fine lime stones hauled from Lake Tai to the Lingering Garden,some of which are believed to be left behind by the imperial collector from the Song court,have the qualities of being slender,wrinkled,pierced with holes,yet capable of draining by themselves.The best limestone mountain designed and piled up by the great master Gu Yuliang in the Qing Dynasty is to be found in the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty.Great attention is paid to sequential loveliness.An abundant variety of flowers and trees are grown in the gardens.Valued highly for their several hundred years of age are the gingkoes in the Lingering garden,the wistaria in the Humble Administrator’s Garden and the Sabina chinensis in the Master-of-Nets garden.
Thirdly,they are an epitome of exquisite and multifarious buildings of old times in the south of the Lower Yangtze.
The classical gardens of Suzhou have many varieties of little pavilions and large constructions with their basic beam-framing systems such as Ting,Tang,Xuan,Guan,Lou,Ge,Xie,Fang,Ting (rising tone),and Lang,to satisfy the needs of reading,writing,painting,resting,viewing,meditating,playing chess,performing on a musical instrument,sipping tea,holding banquets and so forth.With traditional Chinese furnishings,these buildings richly ornamented with exquisitely carved door frames,windows,hangings,balustrades and screens inside and many kinds of lattic-windows,pavements and moon gates outside,have harmonized impeccably with functional,structural and aesthetical considerations.
Fourthly,they are rich in literary connotations,carrying a tremendous amount of information about Chinese culture.
Intertwined with ancient Chinese philosophy,ideology and aesthetics,the classical gardens of Suzhou are noteworthy places with unique architectural forms carrying poetic names in plateaux and parallel couplets in excellent calligraphy with literary allusion which helps to enhance the beauty of the whole property.Also,there are numerous inscribed stelae of great antiquity celebrated for their delicate workmanship and literary connotations.Indeed the classical gardens of Suzhou are the invaluable reservoir from which we can draw cultural substances.
To sum up,the classical gardens of Suzhou in the course of over two millennia have experienced many ups and downs,and gradually reached a state of artistic perfection.The sublimities of the classical gardens of Suzhou will endure forever and ever.
Words & Expressions
1.splendid['splendid] adj.辉煌的；极好的；灿烂的；杰出的
2.heritage['heritidʒ] n.遗产；传统；继承物；继承权
3.abundant[ə'bʌndənt] adj.充裕的；丰富的；盛产
4.favorable['feivərəbl] adj.有利的；良好的；赞成的；赞许的；讨人喜欢的
5.prosperous['prɔspərəs] adj.繁荣的；兴旺的
6.booming['bu：miŋ] adj.兴旺的；繁荣的；大受欢迎的
7.environ[in'vaiərən] vt.环绕；包围；（敌意地或保护性的）围住
8.preservation[，prezə'veiʃən] n.保存；保留
9.numerical[njuː'merikəl] adj.数字的；数值的；用数字表示的（等于numeric）
10.superiority[sjuː，piəri'ɔriti，sə-] n.优越；优势；优越性
11.microcosm['maikrəukɔzəm] n.微观世界；缩影
12.amicable['æmikəbl] adj.友善的；友好的
13.connotation[，kɔnəu'teiʃən] n.内涵；含蓄；暗示；隐含意义
14.specimen['spesimin，-əmən] n.标本；样品；样本
15.interwoven[，intə'wəuvən] 交错编织
16.metaphysics[，metə'fiziks] n.玄学；形而上学
17.terrestrial[ti'restriəl，tə-] adj.陆地的；陆生的；地球的；人间的
18.contour['kɔntuə] n.轮廓；周线；等高线；电路；概要
19.meander[mi'ændə] vt.漫步；蜿蜒缓慢流动
vi.漫步；漫谈
20.labyrinth['læbərinθ] n.迷宫；迷路；难解的事物
21.infinitude[in'finitjuːd] n.无限；无穷
22.spontaneous[spɔn'teiniəs] adj.自发的；自然的；无意识的
23.haul[hɔːl] vt.拖运；拖拉
24.sequential[si'kwenʃəl] adj.连续的；相继的；有顺序的
25.epitome[i'pitəmi] n.缩影；摘要；象征
26.exquisite['ekskwizit，ek'skwizit] adj.优美的；精致的；剧烈的；细腻的；异常的
27.multifarious[，mʌlti'fεəriəs] adj.多种的；各式各样的；多方面的；多样性的
28.antiquity[æn'tikwəti] n.高龄；古物；古代的遗物
29.reservoir['rezəvwɑː] n.水库；蓄水池
30.sublimity[sə'blimiti] n.崇高；庄严；气质高尚
Notes
1.The Humble Administrator’s Garden （拙政园）： The Humble Administrator’s Garden is reputed to be one of the finest classical gardens in Southern China.The original owner was a Tang Dynasty scholar （881 A.D.），but over the past 1，100 years，successive occupants have stamped their own identity on the gardens.One of its more famous occupants was the writer Cao Xueqin who lived here as a teenager.It’s not hard to imagine how this elegant garden may have provided at least some of the inspiration behind his Novel Dream of the Red Chamber （a Story of the Stone）.Today’s garden has been restored to its late Qing appearance，with numerous pavilions and bridges set among a maze of connected pools and islands.
2.The Lingering Garden （留园）： Lingering Garden is located outside the Changmen gate （阊门） of Suzhou，Jiangsu Province.It was commissioned by Xu Taishi （徐泰时），an impeached and later exonerated official in 1593.Stonemason Zhou Shichen （周时臣） designed and built the East Garden （东园） as it was initially called.The East Garden became famous in its day when the magistrates of Wu and Changzhou County both praised the design of Shi Ping Peak，a rockery constructed to resemble Tiantai Mountain in Putao.
3.The Master-of-Nets Garden （网师园）： The Master-of-Nets Garden in Suzhou is among the finest gardens in China.It is located at Canglang District，Dai Cheng Qiao Road，No.11 Kuo Jia Tou Xiang （沧浪区带城桥路阔家头巷11号）.It is recognized with other classical Suzhou gardens as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The garden demonstrates Chinese garden designers’ adept skills for synthesizing art，nature，and architecture to create unique metaphysical masterpieces.The Master-of-Nets Garden is particularly regarded among garden connoisseurs for its mastering the techniques of relative dimension，contrast，foil，sequence and depth，and borrowed scenery.
Exercises
I.Match each of the words on the left with its meaning on the right.
1.splendid a.magnificent; displaying splendor
2.abundant b.following in order of time or place
3.preservation c.more than enough; plentiful
4.spontaneous d.natural,not forced
5.sequential e.action of preserving
II.Translate the following phrases into Chinese.
1.Lower Yangtze basin
2.the Spring and Autumn period
3.the earthly paradise
4.the Humble Administrator’s Garden
5.the Lingering Garden
6.the Master-of-Nets Garden
7.Taoist metaphysics of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi
8.perform on a musical instrument
9.sip tea
10.hold banquets
III.Try to fill in each of the following blanks with suitable words.
1.Ever since the founding of Suzhou as the capital of the Wu Kingdom in 514 B.C.,it has been the political,________center of the region.
2.With their numerical superiority and artistic perfection,the classical gardens of Suzhou have had a good reputation in this part of China,popularly known as “________”.
3.Within limits the garden spaces are so ingeniously handled that the effect of ________is produced.
4.The best limestone mountain designed and piled up by the great master ________in the Qing Dynasty is to be found in the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty.
5.The classical gardens of Suzhou have many varieties of little pavilions and large constructions with their basic ________systems such as Ting,Tang,Xuan,Guan,Lou,Ge,Xie,Fang,Ting (rising tone),and Lang.