吕思勉中国文化史下载:关于英国议会大厦

英国议会大厦

THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

THE Houses of Parliament have had a long and violent history. Guy Fawkes tried to blow them up, Hitler destroyed large parts of them, and they were burnt to the ground in 1834 because someone stuffed too many government forms into the stove that heated them. So the building you see today by the river Thames isn't really very old. Only a few parts of it date back much more than a hundred years. But it still remains, with St Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace, one of the most famous buildings in London and, indeed, the world.

The Palace of Westminster

The proper name for the Houses of Parliament is the Palace of Westminster and, in fact, there has been a royal palace on that site ever since the days of Edward the Confessor_H. The last king actually to live there was Henry VIII who left the Palace of Westminster after a bad fire in 1529. The Houses of Parliament are still a royal palace and were controlled by the Lord Great Chamberlain himself until 1965. There are records of a keeper of the palace since 1150, and he was paid 7d a day for the job from that day until 1884, when the position was abolished. And if you think that is funny, remember that even today all the M.P.s' cloakroom pegs have a little loop of red tape hanging from them --- to hold their swords! The oldest part of the Houses of Parliament is Westminster Hall. Parts of this were built by William Rufus who succeeded William the Conqueror_H. But most of it was built by a famous architect called Henry Yevele between 1394 and 1399. When William Rufus first built Westminster Hall it was called the New Hall to stop it being confused with the Old Hall built by Edward the Confessor. From that day to this the courtyard in front of it has been known as “New Palace Yard.”

Westminster Hall was the scene of many famous trials and Sir Thomas More,_H Charles I, and Guy Fawkes were all tried and condemned to death there.

Burning and building

On the 16th October 1834 the Palace of Westminster was almost totally burnt down. Only Westminster Hall and a few rooms and corridors were left. The rest was a heap of smouldering ruins. Parliament had sat at the palace since 1547 but now they had to make do with some small and unsatisfactory rooms that had been patched up. After five months of this it is not surprising that the members decided to rebuild the Houses of Parliament properly. They soon decided that the designs of Mr Charles Barry were the best and the foundation stone was laid by his wife in 1840. It took just ten years to build the new palace and Parliament re-assembled there in 1850.

The palace is built on a great bed of concrete ten feet thick and has over 1,000 rooms. There are more than a hundred staircases and over two miles of corridors. New Members of Parliament take a long time to find their way about and it is unlikely that any one man has ever been everywhere.

The Palace is bombed?

The Houses of Parliament are so big that it was almost impossible for the German bombers during the 1939---1945 war to miss them. They were, in fact, hit by bombs on 14 separate occasions, although only a few caused any real damage. The worst of all was on 10th May 1941 when they were hit by twelve bombs. The bombs caused a disastrous fire which burnt out the Chamber where the M.P.s actually sit and destroyed a number of rooms and corridors.

Rebuilding began the week the war ended. Although the parts that were bombed were rebuilt very much as Barry had first designed them, they were brought up to date inside and made much more roomy and comfortable.

But one arch was left with the marks of the bomb splinters still on it to remind future M.P.s of the ordeal that the Houses of Parliament had gone through.

Big Ben?

The one part of the Houses of Parliament that people all over the world immediately recognize is _HBt5;Big Ben._H But nearly everybody gets it slightly wrong because Big Ben is really the name of the big bell which strikes the hours. The tall tower which holds the clock is correctly called the Clock Tower.

The dials --- all four of them --- of this enormous clock are 23 feet across and its works weigh five tons. The big bell which strikes the deep hour notes weighs 13?1/2? tons. In spite of its huge size, Big Ben is a very good timekeeper and almost never gets more than a second off time.

In the tower there are some cells into which M.P.s who misbehave themselves are put, although it hasn't been used for this purpose since 1880. And at the very top of the tower you can see a little light burning when the House is actually sitting.

Parliament?

The Houses of Parliament are the home of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is made up of Members of Parliament who are elected by the people of Great Britain to run the country for them. There are 630 of them, although it is very seldom that they are all there at once.

The House of Lords is made up of “peers of the realm”, who are titled lords, bishops, and very senior judges. Most of the Lords are “hereditary” which means that their titles have come down from father to son, but recently a new sort of Lord, a “life peer”, has been introduced into the House of Lords. Life peers are men and women of great experience and ability who have done a great deal of work for the country and whose worth has been recognized in this way. A great many Lords who have the right to a seat in the House of Lords never bother to attend at all.

Too old, too cramped?

Although the Houses of Parliament are admired by many people outside, the Members of Parliament, the Lords, and the Civil Servants who actually work there find them very uncomfortable and old fashioned. Over the last few years the complaints have been getting louder and louder as M.P.s find that they've got no room to do their work properly. Some want to move to a new building entirely, others want big new buildings tacked on to Barry's masterpiece. But they can't agree on what is to be done.

One idea was to dig out a whole lot of new rooms underneath the present building, another was to fill up New Palace Yard with new buildings. yet another idea was to leave the buildings and London entirely and build totally new Houses of Parliament somewhere nearer the middle of Great Britain.

But it is almost certain that when you are grown up and with children of your own that the Lords and the Commons will still be in the Palace of Westminster as they have been for more than 400 years.

Mr. Speaker?

There are a number of important people in the Houses of Parliament --- the prime minister, the_HBt6; Lord Chancellor_H, the leader of the House of Commons, and many others. But the man who is most respected is the Speaker of the House of Commons who is an M.P. elected by all the other M.P.s to run the business of the House of Commons. When he is offcially on duty he wears magnificent robes and a full wig and everyone stands up as he passes. No one is allowed to argue with him and even the prime minister has to obey the Speaker's rulings.

The Speaker has his own beautiful house in the palace itself with its own library and courtyard and its own little lawn.

英国议会大厦

英国议会大厦的历史十分悠久而且风云迭起。盖伊·福克斯曾试图炸掉它，希特勒曾毁坏了大厦的一大部分。1834年，曾因有人在炉子里大量焚烧政府文件而引起火灾，把大厦夷为平地。所以，今天人们在泰晤士河畔看到的大厦，实际上并不很古老，只是其中一小部分远远超过了一百年，然而，如同圣保罗大教堂和白金汉宫一样，议会大厦也仍然是伦敦甚至世界上最负盛誉的建筑之一。

西敏斯特宫

议会大厦的确切名称是西敏斯特宫，实际上自从撤克逊王爱德华以来，这个地方一直是一个皇宫。住在这个皇宫的最后一个国王是亨利八世，他在1529年一场大火之后迁出了西敏斯特宫。现在的议会大厦仍是一个皇宫。1965年以前一直由掌礼大臣本人亲自管理。这里保存着1150年以来的看守人记录，看守人每天可得七便士的报酬，这个职位一直到1884年才取消。如果你认为这一点很有趣的话，那么请你记住直到今天，各议员衣帽间的衣帽钉上还吊着红布带做的小套环——供挂剑之用!议会大厦的最古老部分是西敏斯特大厅，它是由威廉一世的继承人威廉·鲁弗斯修建的，但大部分是由一位名叫亨利·耶维尔的著名建筑家于1394年至1399年之间建造的。威廉·鲁弗斯当初建造西敏斯特大厅时，把它称作新厅，以区别于撒克逊王爱德华建造的旧厅。此后，西敏斯特大厅前的庭院一直称作新宫院。

西敏斯特大厅曾是审讯许多名人的地方，如，托马斯·莫尔爵士、查理一世、盖伊·福克斯都是在这里出庭受审并被判处死刑的。?

焚毁和建造

1834年10月16日，西敏斯特宫几乎全部焚毁，只有西敏斯特大厅和为数不多的房间以及走廊幸免，其余部分都化为灰烬。议会自1547年就设在这座宫内，火灾后，议会只好将就着使用那些临时盖起的不能令人满意的狭小房间。难怪五个月后，议员们就决定好好地重建议会大厦。很快，他们便选中了查尔斯·巴里的设计方案，认为这是最好的方案。1840年，大厦由巴里的妻子奠基。修建这座新宫殿用了整整十年。1850年，议会又重新在西敏斯特宫开会了。

这座宫殿建筑在十英尺厚的用混凝土制成的巨大基座上，共有一千多个房间，一百多个楼梯和两英里多长的走廊。新上任的议员要花不少时间来熟悉他们要走的路。至今都不可能有任何人走遍宫殿的各个地方。

宫殿被炸

议会大厦乃一如此庞然大物，在1939年至1945年的战争中，德国的轰炸机几乎不可能不轰炸它。事实上，宫殿先后被炸中了十四次，不过只有几次造成了严重破坏，其中最严重的一次是在1941年5月10日，那一次被十二颗炸弹击中，引起了灾难性大火，烧毁了议员们开会的会议厅，并毁坏了一些房间和走廊。

战争一结束的那个星期就开始重建了。虽然被炸部分尽可能照巴里的原设计进行修复，但内部装修现代化了，房间也比原先宽敞舒适多了。

但是留下了一个拱门没有整修，弹片痕迹依然可辨，以便使今后的议员们牢记议会大厦所经历的浩劫。

大本钟

议会大厦只有一部分是世人一下就能认出的，那就是“大本钟”，但是几乎人人都说得不甚准确，因为“大本钟”是鸣声报时的大钟的名字，而装有这只大钟的高塔的确切名字叫钟塔。

巨钟的四个钟面，每个直径为二十三英尺，机件重五吨，敲击出低沉浑厚钟声的大钟重十三吨半。尽管大钟硕大无朋，走时却很准确，误差几乎从未超出一秒。

钟塔里有几间监禁室，用来关押那些行为不轨的议员，但自1880年之后，一直没有用于这种用途。钟塔的顶端有一个窗口，当窗口出现灯光时，说明议会正在开会。

议会

英国议会大厦是上下两院所在地。下议院由议会议员组成，议员由英国人民选举出来，为他们管理国家。议员共有六百三十名，但这些议员很少全体同时出席会议。

上议院是由“贵族”组成的，他们都是有头衔的勋爵、主教、高级法官。大多数勋爵是“世袭”的，即儿子可以继承父亲的头衔。但近来一种新的勋爵，即“非世袭的终身贵族”进入了上议院。他们是经验丰富、能力非凡的男女志士，他们为国家做出了卓越贡献，因此，授予他们贵族称号，以表彰他们的功勋。许多有权在上议院中占有席位的勋爵，却从来不高兴出席会议。

太老、太窄狭

外界许多人都赞美议会大厦，而实际在里边工作的议员们、勋爵们及公务员们都感到不舒适，感到地方太老式。最近几年来，议员们感到没有足够的地方进行正常工作，而愈发怨声载道。有的主张全部迁到一所新楼里去，另有人主张在巴里的杰作旁建造一些附属楼房，究竟怎么办，其说不一。

有一种设想是在现址底下建造一整片新的房间，另一种设想是在新宫院里建满新楼房，还有一种设想，就是全部从现址、从伦敦迁出，到更接近英国中心的某个地方另建新的议会大厦。

但基本上可以断定，当下一代长大成人并生儿育女时，上下两院还将如过去四百多年来一样坐落在西敏斯特宫。

议长先生

B议会大厦里有许多重要人物——首相、大法官、下议院领袖以及其他要人。但最受尊敬的是下议院的议长，他是全体议员选举出来管理下议院的事务的。当他正式执行任务时，他身穿庄严的锦袍，头戴长长的假发，他所到之处，人人都起立致敬。谁都不许同他争论，甚至首相也要服从他的裁定。

议长在这座宫殿里有自己的优雅的住所，还附有图书馆、庭院和小草坪。

—— 译自：〔英〕《知识画报》周刊?