Chinese Architecture .

Asian architecture has four main branches - Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Islamic. Indian and Islamic architecture have had especially widespread influence. Indian architecture includes the architecture of Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tibet as well as that of India.

Chinese architecture began to develop in ancient times. The Chinese constructed a variety of buildings, but the chief structures were Buddhism temples and many- storied towers called pagodas.

Chinese temples consisted of rectangular wooden halls that featured an elaborate and beautiful arrangement of timber beams in the ceiling. Walls did not support the roof but served simply as screens for privacy and for protection against the weather. The roof support came from posts connected to the ceiling beams by wooden brackets that were often carved, painted red, and coated with gold. The Chinese covered many of the roofs with blue, green, or yellow glazed tiles. The edges of the roofs curved gracefully upward.

Traditional Chinese architecture featured roofs that curved upward at the end. The roofs were supported by wooden columns connected to the ceiling beams by wooden brackets. The courtyards above is part of the famous Forbidden City in Beijing.

№ 3. Make up sentences using the key words:

1. Began / architecture / in / Chinese / ancient / to develop / times.

2. Temples / of / wooden / Chinese / halls / consisted.

3. Constructed / the / variety / Chinese / a / buildings / of.

4. Support / to the / roof / came from / connected / the / posts / beams / ceiling.

5. Covered / many / Chinese / the / roofs / of the / glazed / with / tiles.

№4. Give Ukrainian equivalents of the following words:

Asian, branches, edges, protection, structures, many-storied, timber beams, privacy, ceiling, coated with gold, glazed tiles, roof, tower, elaborate, hall, rectangular, curve, support, to consist of.

№5. Read the following words and word-combinations, remember them:

# an ordinary house - звичайний будинок;

# an emperor - iмператор;

# to stand intact - стояти неушкодженим;

# to embrace - охоплювати;

# a veritable city - справжнє мiсто;

# a grand ceremony - велична церемонiя;

# female tranquility - жiночий спокiй;

# the Forbidden City - заборонене мiсто;

# great dimensions - великi розмiри;

# a palace of triple purity - палац потрiйної чистоти;

# national minorities - нацiональнi меншини.

№6. Read, translate and retell the text given below.