Westminster Abbey1 威斯敏斯特教堂

華中師范大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院 張紫軒? 供稿

Standing in the heart of London， Westminster Abbey is an important church of England and the resting place of many great people including Charles Darwin， Stephen William Hawking and so on. It has stood witness2 to the rise and decline3 of the nation and the changing course of arts and literature4.

This present Gothic-style5 abbey began on the orders of Henry Ⅲ（1216-1272）， who was a weak yet generous King （in building this abbey）. Through the course of so many years， royals6 and builders have changed their names， which results in some fixing and repairing. When the days of Henry Ⅷ? （1509-1547） was reaching its end， he took the Abbey over in 1534 and closed it in 1540. During that hard time， Westminster Abbey created an interesting expression “robbing Peter to pay Paul7”， when money for this abbey was used for another famous church—St Pauls Cathedral. Later， it was under Elizabeth that Westminster finally played its present role： Collegiate8 Church of St Peter at Westminster under the leadership of a dean9， who is appointed10 by the king or queen directly.

Walking into the abbey， more careful steps are suggested， because many great people of different kinds take their long sleep there， from Kings to famous poets. And no matter how grand the abbey is， its space is limited. People have to save the room for future newcomers. So some memorials11 are stone slabs12 set in the floor. If you dont walk carefully， you may step on some memorials... And it happens， sometimes. It might sound a little terrible for those resting great people， but still， having a tiny space in this church would be the highest honor in England， as it reads on the memorial， “buried among kings”.

In addition， as the living symbol of England， Westminster is the place where many important events take place， including royal weddings. If you want to get a quick look at the English history， why not go on a pleasure trip to Westminster Abbey？ Then you may find yourself walking through arts， time and the changing history of England.

威斯敏斯特大教堂坐落于倫敦市中心，是英國重要的教堂，也是查爾斯·達(dá)爾文、斯蒂芬·威廉·霍金等偉人的長眠之地。它見證了英國的興衰沉浮和文學(xué)藝術(shù)的變革。

如今的這座哥特式修道院是在亨利三世（1216年—1272年）的命令下修建的。亨利三世是一位能力不足但慷慨大方的國王（就修道院的修建方面）。歷經(jīng)多年，皇室成員和建筑者不斷更易，這座修道院也不斷進(jìn)行著加固和修復(fù)。亨利八世（1509年-1547年）在其統(tǒng)治的末期，于1534年接管了修道院，并于1540年將其關(guān)閉。一個有趣的表達(dá)方式“拆東墻補西墻”就是在那段艱難時日中誕生：當(dāng)時原本用于這個修道院的錢被用在了另一個著名的教堂——圣保羅大教堂上。直到后來，在伊麗莎白的統(tǒng)治時期，這所修道院才獲得如今的地位，成為由國王或女王直接任命教長的威斯敏斯特大教堂。

進(jìn)這座修道院，建議你腳下要更小心一些，因為有許多偉大的人物，從國王到著名的詩人，皆安眠于此。不管修道院有多宏偉，它的空間總是有限的，而人們必須為未來的新“房客”騰出空間。因此，有些紀(jì)念物只是放置在地板上的石板。一不注意，你就可能會踩到一些紀(jì)念物……也不是沒出現(xiàn)過這樣的情況。對于那些安息于此的偉大人物來說，這聽起來可能有點糟糕。但無論如何，能在這里此占據(jù)一席之地是英國的最高榮譽，正如碑文所示的，“同國王長眠”。

此外，威斯敏斯特大教堂被視為英國的鮮活象征，許多重要活動在此舉行，其中就包括皇室婚禮。