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The oldest building in London, built long before the Great Fire, isone which from its name sounds like only part of a building. It is called the“Tower.” In the times long ago the Tower was a prison in which were put manyfamous people. Even princes and queens were put in this prison, and some ofthem were put to death. It is now a museum where are kept many interestingcuriosities of those days—the steel armor that soldiers and their horses, andeven their dogs, wore; the block and ax with which prisoners’ heads were cutoff; and wonderful jewels which the kings wore in their crowns—huge diamondsand rubies as big as walnuts. The Queen’s crown is there on a white satinpillow. It is studded with jewels and a huge diamond called the “Koh-i-noor,”which means “mountain of light.” This stone was supposed to bring bad luck toany man who owned it, so a woman now owns it—the Queen. The guards of the Towerare called “Beef- Eaters” and should any one break into the cases in which arethe jewels, the doors and gates of the Tower would automatically clang shut andthe thief be caught a prisoner.

Did you ever collect stones or stamps, butterflies or coins? Well,grownups have collected treasures and curiosities from all over the World andbrought them together in a wonderful museum, and the largest It is called theBritish Museum.

It is said that if all the streets in London were strung out in oneline they would reach round the World. No one could ever know the names of allthe London streets, not even the London policemen, who are called “Bobbies” andwho are supposed to know everything. They may have to look for a street in alittle book which they carry in an inside pocket. But every one knows the namesof some of the streets—they are either so famous or so funny. There isThreadneedle Street and Cheapside. There is Pall Mall and Piccadilly, where arefine houses, hotels, clubs, and palaces. There is Fleet, Strand, Regent, andBond Streets, which are shopping streets. There is Oxford Circus and PiccadillyCircus, but there is no “circus” there. A circus is simply a big open spacewhere streets cross, and which we should call a Square or a Circle.

参考译文

伦敦有座最古老的建筑物在伦敦大火发生之前很早就建起了，它的名字听起来像某个建筑物的一部分。它叫“伦敦塔”。很久以前，伦敦塔是座监狱，里面关押了很多著名的人士。甚至一些王子和王后也都曾先后被关押在里面，其中有些还被处以死刑。现在伦敦塔是个博物馆，收藏了很多过去的稀奇之物——士兵和他们的战马甚至狗穿的钢盔甲；砍掉囚犯头颅用的垫头木和斧头；国王的王冠上的稀世珠宝——硕大的钻石和胡桃般大的红宝石。女王的王冠就放在一个白色的缎子枕头上。上面镶有很多珠宝和一颗巨大的钻石，这颗钻石叫“科—依—诺尔钻石”，意思是“光之山”。这颗钻石被认为会给每个拥有它的男人带来厄运，所以现在它属于一个女人——女王。伦敦塔的看守被叫做“食牛肉的人”，一旦有人强行打开装珠宝的箱子，伦敦塔的大小门就会咣的一声自动合上，盗犯也就当场被捉，成为囚犯。

你收集过石头或者邮票、蝴蝶或者硬币吗？成年人把从世界各地搜集来的珍宝奇物收藏在一个非同寻常的博物馆里，它是世界上最大的博物馆，叫大英博物馆。

据说如果把伦敦所有的街道连成一条线就能绕世界一周。没有人能把伦敦所有街道的名称都记住，就是伦敦的警察也不能，伦敦的警察常被叫做“博比”，人们认为他们无所不知。他们衣服内侧的口袋装了一本小册子，有的街道只得在小册子里查询才能找到。但是有些街道的名称是人人皆知的——这些街道要么很有名，要么很有趣。比如针线街和便宜街；还有铁圈球场大街和皮卡迪利大街，那里有很多精美的房屋、旅馆、俱乐部和宫殿。还有舰队街、海滨街、摄政街和邦得街，这些都是购物街。还有牛津广场和皮卡迪利广场，那里可没有什么“马戏团”哦。他们的广场其实就是一处大的街道交叉口，我们一般把那叫做大转盘。