Xi Hui Park  锡惠公园

女士们，先生们，今天我们前往游览有无锡露天历史博物馆之称的锡惠公园。锡惠公园位于无锡城西部，公园包含了整个锡山和惠山，锡惠公园由此得名。

Ladies and Gentlemen，today we will go to Xihui Park, the “Open-air Museum of History”. The park is located in the west of Wuxi City and is made up of Xishan Hill and the Huishan Hill. That’s why the park has the name “Xihui”.

惠山有江南第一山之称，所谓“自古名山僧占多”，惠山也不例外。现在锡惠公园的一部份就是惠山寺的遗址。女士们，先生们，现在我们看到的这堵黄色大墙就是惠山寺的大门,名叫古华山门，让我们进入开始参观。

Huishan Hill is the “No.1 Hill in the South-of-the-Yangtze Area”. “Famous mountains are largely inhabited by Buddhist monks.” Huishan Hill is not exceptional. A part of today’s Xi Hui Park is on the ruins of Huishan Temple.

Ladies and Gentlemen，now this big wall gate painted in bright yellow in front of us, is the outer front gate of “Huishan” Temple, We call it “Gu Hua Shan Men”. Let’s enter the temple now.  

进入山门，我们可以看到有两座石经幢，左面的是唐朝遗物，右面的是宋朝遗物，有1000多年的历史，是无锡地区最古老的建筑。各位朋友，现在我要让大家看一幅中国对联：大哉王言，山为第一泉第二；巍然庙貌，祠以教孝寺教忠。第一句的意思是说，惠山是江南第一山，惠山的泉水是天下第二泉。第二句则表达了惠山寺有着非常深厚的历史文化。

Now, we see two stone pillars inscribed with Buddhist scriptures. The left one was built in The Tang Dynasty, and the other was built in the Song Dynasty. They are the most ancient constructions in Wuxi area. Dear friends, now  let me show you a couplet:

Authoritative is the lord's opinion; the hill evaluated as No.1 and the spring as the Second Best.

Massive is the building's span: the ancestral temple exemplifying filial piety and the Buddhist temple loyalty.

The first line means : Huishan Hill is the No.1 Hill in the South-of-the-Yangtze Area, and the spring of the hill is the "Second Best Spring Under Heaven."

The second line means: Huishan Temple has the extremely deep historical culture.

现在我们站在香花桥上，桥身正中有“云龙蟠旋”浮雕，还有两扇门，半开半闭，意思是“佛门半开，有缘进来”或者“善门开、恶门关”。朋友们，现在我们来到了金莲池，传说有位叫“显”的外国和尚，曾在惠山寺小住，在这个池子里种下了他带来的千叶莲花，据说吃了这种千叶莲花就可以成仙。这座桥名叫金莲桥，距今已经有800多年的历史，是江苏省最古老的桥。

Now we are standing on the “Fragrant Flowers Bridge”, Let’s look at the center of the bridge , it is carved with the design of coiled dragons and clouds, and also with two doors: one half open, one closed,. That conveys the idea of the world of Buddhism being “for believers only” or the idea that the door of Buddhism is open only to the good but closed to the wicked. Now we come to “Golden Lotus Pond”,It is said that a monk named Xian from a foreign country once came to the temple and stayed for a few days. He planted in the pond some thousand-leaf lotus he brought. It was believed that one would turn immortal if ate  this lotus We call this bridge “Golden Lotus Bridge”. It is already over 800 years old and it is the most ancient bridge in Jiangsu Province.

在金莲池的西面，有一座气派的亭子，里面的石碑雕刻着乾隆皇帝游览惠山留下的诗句，因此叫做御碑亭。亭子四周有12个圆孔，四大八小。这可以让阳光整天的照进来，比喻皇帝的统治就像阳光一样普照天下.向前走几步，有一块巨石，表面很光滑，一头微微隆起，就像枕头一样可以让人舒服的躺着。因此把它叫做石床。上面还有两个题字“听松”。关于这张石床还有一个很有趣的故事：很久以前这张石床是有生命的，躺在上面的是成人，它就会变长；躺在上面的是儿童，它就会变短，非常神奇。有一天，一位孕妇也想来试试这张石床，当她躺到石床上以后，石床不知道是变长好还是变短好，从此以后，石床就没有了生命。

To the west of the “Golden Lotus Pond”, there is a dignified architecture. It houses the imperial stele inscribed with poems about the sights in Huishan Hill. The poem was composed by Emperor Qian Long. Therefore, the stele is called Imperial Stele Pavilion. Around the pavilion, we can find twelve round holes, four big ones and eight small one. They can let the sunshine in all day long, allusive to the emperor’s rule being like the sun that shines everywhere and warms everyone. Walks to several steps, there is a stone which has a smooth surface with one end slightly turning up like a pillow that fit the body of a person lying on it . Hence called “stone bed”. Now we can find two characters on the stone which means“listening to the soughing of the wind in the pines.”There is a very interesting story about this stone.: the stone bed had the life , when an adult lies on it, the stone can becoe longer; when a child lies on it, the stone can become shorter. It’s very mysterious. One day, a pregnant woman also came to try this stone. However, the stone didn’t know whether to become longer or shorter, when the woman lied on it. So the stone died, and can not become shorter or longer anymore.

各位朋友，我想大家现在一定对这颗巨大的银杏树非常感兴趣。这颗古树已经有600多年的历史，是无锡市最高、最古老的树，非常珍贵。我们知道，银杏树是雌雄异株的，这颗就是雄性树，只开花不结果。但非常有趣的是，在1984年8月14日，偶然发现这颗树离地约10米的一个树枝上有一串7个果实。其中4颗在第二年5月16日播种，有一颗还发了芽，并存活了46天。这就是所谓的反祖现象。还有一件有趣的事情，这颗树上寄生着一棵“薜苈”，每年果实累累。

Dear friends, now I guess you become interested in this huge gingko tree. This ancient tree is over 600 years old now. It is the oldest and tallest tree in Wuxi. We know, gingko tree is a plant that has genders like human do. This very tree is a male one——a tree that only blooms. However, it was found on Aug. 14,1982 to bear seven nuts on one of its branches 10m above the ground. Four of the seven nuts were sown on May 16 the next year on experimental purpose and only one of the four sprouted, yet survived for only forty-six days. It was said to be a case of reversion,which was rare for gingko trees. Another interesting thing is that an evergreen plant called “climbing fig” has been living on the gingko tree as a parasitic plant that, however, bears seeds regularly every year.

各位朋友，下面我们要去参观天下第二泉。此泉原名叫做惠山泉，在1200多年前的中国唐朝，有一位茶叶专家陆羽，一位刑部侍郎刘伯刍，都把惠山泉评为天下第二泉，从此，惠山泉声名远播。当时在首都西安的宰相李德裕非常喜欢二泉水，竟然利用自己的权利通过驿站把泉水从无锡运送到千里之外的西安。这在历史上被称为“水递”。到了1000年前的宋朝，著名的文学家苏东坡多次拜访惠山泉，并留下了很多诗句。现在的惠山泉分为三个池，在亭子中的圆池是上池，稍大的方池叫做中池，上池泉水比中池泉水来的清澈透明，中池泉水则比较混浊。究其原因，目前还是一个谜。下池是最大的，在东面的墙上还有王树的题词，天下第二泉。现在我们把陆羽品泉、苏轼题诗、王树题字叫做“二泉三绝”。

Dear friend, we’re going to visit “The Second Best Spring”. The spring was originally called “Huishan Spring”, in the Tang Dynasty, some 1200 years ago, Lu Yu ,the tea expert; Liu Bochu, the Minister of the Ministry of  Punishments, they also judged that water from Huishan Spring was the second best. Since then the “Second Best Spring under Heaven” has become known far and wide. In the Tang Dynasty Capital Xi’an, The then Prime Minister Li Deyu lovered the spring water so much that  he used the power to order the water be delivered all the way from Wuxi to Xi’an via official postal system. It is recorded in history as “water delivery in relays”. In the Song Dynasty, the “Second Best Spring” water was elected as a tribute to the imperial court while a great number of celebrities including men of letters and poets swarmed to Huishan Hill to enjoy the “Second Best Spring” tea. Now, Huishan Spring can be partitioned into three ponds, the round or the “upper pond” which is sheltered in a pavilion, the square or the “mid pond” which is very close to the “upper pond”, It is recorded that the spring water from the upper pond has been crystallinely clear while the spring water from the square or the mid pond slightly turbid or muddy. This puzzled it is. And the much bigger square pond that is called the “lower pond.” On the eastern wall, there are five characters:“Second Best Spring under Heaven” from the Wang Shu’s handwriting. Three things relating to the “Second Best Spring ” have been very much appreciated: Lu Yu passed his judgment on the spring to make it known as the “Second Best Spring under Heaven ”. Su Dongpo composed poems to the spring. Wang Shu’s handwriting. The three titbits have been fondly referred to as “Three Consummating Achievements for the Second Best Spring ”

朋友们，也许你对“二泉映月”这首中国乐曲非常熟悉。这是用中国民间乐器二胡演奏的，是无锡民间盲人音乐家华彦钧的代表作。现在，“二泉映月”已经成为世界十大名曲之一，越来越多的国外友人正是因为这首曲子才知道中国无锡，了解天下第二泉。可以说这位盲人音乐家把他的故乡推向了世界。

Dear friends, now let’s talk about “The Moon Reflected in the Second Best Spring”, maybe you are quite familiar with this piece of Chinese music. It is performed with Erhu which is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. And it is the magnum opus for the blind folk musician of Wuxi, Hua Yanjun. Now “The Moon Reflected in the Second Best Spring” has already become one of “The Top ten Music of the World”. More and more people from foreign countries got to know Wuxi and the Second Best Spring under Heaven through this musical piece. So we can said A blind folk musician helped spread the fame of an historic site of his own hometown to other countries of the world.