Hello 大家好，新的一期 Weekend English Club 更新了。这一期我们来聊聊位于欧洲的 The Alps 阿尔卑斯山脉。相信大家对于阿尔卑斯山的名字都不陌生，那对于背后的历史文化大家又了解多少呢？ 八月份接下来的几周我们都不会更新，因为我们要去放一个小小的暑假！下一次更新会在九月份。Hope you enjoy the summer :) Hello and welcome to the 16th episode of Weekend English Club. Today I will talk about the Alps, a mountain range in the north of Italy. The Alps are some of the most famous mountains in Europe, and I think they have a very interesting history and culture. They are most famous for their relationship to Italy, but they actually touch a few other countries as well, including France, Monaco, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. The tallest peak of the Alps is the Mont Blanc, a beautiful mountain on the French-Italian border. The Alps are the natural border of northern Italy, and they have always defended Italy from outside enemies. The ancient Roman Empire also relied on the mountains to protect them, and one of the most famous people to cross the mountains into Italy was general Hannibal. He was a great general who managed to cross the Alps with a large army and elephants which he used for war, more than 2000 years ago. He almost defeated the Roman Empire and because of this became one of the most famous generals in European history. The Alps are very large, so crossing them on foot is very difficult. In the year 1800 the French general Napoleon also managed to cross the Alps into Italy with 40.000 men, just like Hannibal once did, and Napoleon managed to then conquer most of Italy. The Alps became a famous subject for stories and art, and many mountain climbers were drawn to their natural beauty. There are a few places where you can cross the Alps on foot, and these were used for trade for a long time. This has always been difficult however, and in our modern times a few tunnels were built under the mountains to make traveling between countries much easier. The Alps have their own cultural traditions, and practices such as farming, cheese making and woodworking are still popular in the villages there. Nowadays tourism is also a big thing in the Alps, mostly for winter sports such as skiing. More than 120 million tourists per year visit the Alps, making it one of the most popular winter sports destinations in the world. * The Alps：阿尔卑斯山脉 * Relationship：关系 * Touch：接触，触及 * Defend：：防御 * Rely on：依靠；依赖 * Cross：穿越，横渡 * General：将军，上将 * Defeat：击败，战胜 * Be drawn to：被...所吸引 * A few：一些；几个 * Tunnels：隧道；地下道 * Destination：目的地 主播：Daniel 校对：nan_nan

Hello 大家好！我们放假回来继续做播客了，这一期我们来讲一下巴塞罗那，也是我们假期里去旅行的一个城市。 Hello and welcome to another episode of Weekend English Club. I just finished a long vacation and I am now back to make more episodes for the podcast. Today I want to talk about a city I visited during my vacation called Barcelona. I thought it was a very beautiful and impressive place. Barcelona is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of a region called Catalonia, with a population of around 1.6 million people. Barcelona is a very famous city for tourists, because it has a very rich cultural history. The Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi had a large influence on the city, which is why it is such a beautiful city with many unique and famous buildings. The city has two universities and in 1992 the Olympics were held in Barcelona as well. It is one of the most visited places in the world, so during the summer it is very busy. More than 50 million people per year pass through the airport of Barcelona. The old medieval part of Barcelona is called the Gothic Quarter, and here you can see some beautiful medieval buildings like the Barcelona cathedral which was built 800 years ago. In this area is also a big market where you can find all kinds of fruit, seafood, spices and famous Spanish meat. Spain is famous for high quality pork meat, so if you are there it is definitely worth visiting the market for meat. As I mentioned before, the architect Antoni Gaudi designed many famous buildings in Barcelona. The most famous of these by far is a cathedral called the Sagrada Familia, which has been under construction since 1882 and is still not finished. They expect to finish building it in 2026, but you can already visit it. I think it is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, and it has become a symbol of Barcelona. The style is different from any other buildings I know, but I can talk more about that another time. * Vacation：假期 * Barcelona：巴塞罗那 * Northeastern coast: 东北海岸 * Spanish：西班牙的 * Architect：建筑师；设计师 * Influence：影响，作用 * The Olympics：奥运会 * Pass through：经过；通行 * Medieval：中世纪的 * Cathedral：大教堂 * Spain：西班牙 * Definitely：肯定地。当然 * Construction：建筑，建造 * Already：已经 主播：Daniel 校对：nan_nan

Hello 大家好！上周我们讲了西班牙的巴塞罗那，那这周我们将来具体讲讲巴塞罗那最著名的景点之一 -- 圣家堂。 Last week I talked about Barcelona, the largest city of Catalonia in Spain. Today I want to tell you a bit more about the Sagrada Familia, the most famous church of Barcelona which is still being built. It is a very beautiful building, so if you want you can look up a picture of the Sagrada Familia online to know what I mean. Construction of the church started in 1882 and the current design was an idea of the architect Gaudi. He had his own unique style and combined two architectural styles, known as Gothic and Art Nouveau. He dedicated his whole life to the project, but he died in 1926 when less than a quarter of the project was finished. The construction depended on donations so it progressed slowly, and in the 1930's Spain was in a civil war, which was also a significant interruption for the construction. In the 1950's construction continued and thanks to computers it is now easier to make faster progress. The church should be finished in 2026, exactly 100 years after Gaudi's death. Although the church is not yet finished you can already visit, and the entrance fee is used to pay for the construction of the church. I think it is really worth it to go there and visit the church, because I have seen many churches in my life but the Sagrada Familia is really one of the most impressive ones I have ever seen. The decorations of the walls outside are very detailed and beautiful, and when you go inside the shapes of the pillars, ceiling and windows of the church are really impressive. Because of the shape of the pillars inside it almost feels like you are looking at a forest made of stone when you look up, and the windows are made of colored stained glass, so the sun shining through the windows creates beautiful light in different colors. It feels very magical, and I hope I can see it again sometime. It is a very popular place to visit though, so if you go there you should buy your entry tickets one or two weeks before you plan to go there so they are not sold out. When I am on vacation I like visiting these kinds of buildings because they are very relaxing and the feeling when you are inside is very special. I always think it is very impressive that people can come up with these kinds of ideas and build something like this. * Online: 在网上；网上的 * Combine: 结合，组合 * Dedicate：致力于，献身于 * Less than：少于...；不到... * Quarter：四分之一；一刻钟；季度 * Donations：捐赠（复数） * Progress：进步，进展 * Civil war：内战 * Interruption：暂停；打断；中断期 * Thanks to：由于；因为 * Although：虽然，尽管 * Pillars：柱子 * Ceiling：天花板 * Magical：魔法的；神奇的 * Sold out：售罄 * Come up with：想出，提出（指产生想法、计划、解决方案等） 主播：Daniel 校对：nan_nan

Hello 大家周末好！相信很多人都听说了最近大热的游戏 <黑神话·悟空>，我们也想借此机会用英文来聊聊大家耳熟能详的《西游记》，而在下一期将专门用来讲孙悟空。 Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Weekend English Club. Today I want to talk about a very famous Chinese story which I’m sure you all know. In English it is called Journey to the West, and in Chinese 西游记. This novel was published more than 500 years ago during the Ming dynasty and is still one of the most famous pieces of literature of East Asia. The novel is actually based on a real story, that of the journey of a Chinese Buddhist monk to India in the 7th century. His name was Xuanzang, a monk from the Jingtu temple in Xi'an and he went to India to look for Buddhist writings to bring back to China. He travelled through India for 13 years before returning to China with much new knowledge and recorded the story of his journey in his own book. Journey to the West takes his story and adds a lot of fantasy elements to it. The Buddha gives the monk the task to go to India and to help him he receives three companions for protection: Sun Wukong the Monkey King, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing. They ride a White Dragon Horse to travel to India and have to work together to succeed on their journey. The novel is strongly influenced by Chinese mythology, Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, and this tells you a lot about which ideas were popular back when the book was written. I think it is a great adventure story with interesting characters and it is still very popular. I once watched a Hong Kong movie from 1995 called A Chinese Odyssey which is also based on the story of Journey to the West, and just last month a new video game was published about the Monkey King Sun Wukong. Next week I will talk about him a bit more. * Novel：小说 * Publish：出版，发行 * Pieces：片，块，段；作品（复数） * Literature：文学，文学作品 * Buddhist monk：佛教僧侣 * India：印度 * Bring back：带回 * Record：记录 * Fantasy：幻想，想象 * Elements：要素，元素（复数） * Companions：同伴（复数） * Succeed：成功，达成 * Mythology： 神话 * Adventure：冒险，奇遇 * Characters：人物角色（复数） 主播：Daniel 校对：nan_nan