CapitalCity

棉花糖

Many of you may know that Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia. But this will change soon.Why？

Changing capital city

In English-language news， when you read about “relations （關系） between Beijing and Washington”， it actually means “relations between China and the US”. Thats how important capital cities are-they stand for the country.

在英語新聞中，當你讀到“北京和華盛頓之間的關系”時，其實它的意思是指“中國和美國之間的關系”。這說明首都有多重要——因為它們代表著國家。

There are many cities in most countries. But every country has one special city-the capital. For example， Chinas capital city is Beijing. The capital of the UK is London. New Delhi is the capital of India.

大多數(shù)國家都有許多城市，但是每個國家都有一個特殊的城市——首都。例如，中國的首都是北京，英國的首都是倫敦，印度的首都是新德里。

The capital city is important. It is home to a countrys central government （中央政府）. Many important offices are there. Leaders （領導人） of a country work and live there. It is often the center of a countrys economy （經(jīng)濟） and culture too.

首都非常重要，它是一個國家中央政府的所在地，那里有許多重要的辦公部門。國家領導人在那里工作和生活。首都也通常是一個國家的經(jīng)濟中心和文化中心。

Because it is so special， countries do not often change their capital city.

正因為它如此特殊，所以很多國家是不會輕易改變他們的首都的。

But Indonesia （印度尼西亞） recently said that it is going to build a new capital on the island of Borneo. Jakarta， its current （現(xiàn)在的） capital， is overpopulated （人口過多的）.The traffic is heavy. The areas people live in are crowded. The environment is poor. Whats worse， the city is sinking into the sea， as people are using too much groundwater.

但是最近，印度尼西亞想在婆羅洲島上建立一個新首都。雅加達是目前印度尼西亞的首都，那里人口過剩，交通擁擠。人們居住的地區(qū)不僅擁擠而且環(huán)境還很差。更糟糕的是，這座城市正漸漸沉入大海，因為人們過度地開采地下水。

It will not be easy to change the capital city. Officials from the Indonesian government say it will take around 10 years and cost about $32 billion （十億）.

改變首都并不是一件容易的事情。印度尼西亞政府官員表示，這需要大約10年的時間，耗資約320億美元。

There are some interesting things to know about capital cities around the world.

Learn about the capitals

Capitals are usually large cities， but not always the largest city in a country. For example， Canberra （堪培拉） is the capital of Australia， but the largest city in Australia is Sydney.

首都通常都是大城市，但并不總是一個國家最大的城市。例如，堪培拉是澳大利亞的首都，但澳大利亞最大的城市是悉尼。

Some smaller countries take the whole country itself as the capital， such as Singapore in Asia and Monaco （摩納哥） in Europe （歐洲）.

一些比較小的國家會以整個國家本身為首都，比如亞洲的新加坡和歐洲的摩納哥。

Some countries build new cities to use as their capital. Washington， D.C. was a new city when it was set as the capital of the US.

有些國家將剛建造好的新城市作為首都。華盛頓特區(qū)被定為美國首都的時候就是一個新城市。

Beijings many names

Beijing was also the capital of several dynasties （朝代） in ancient （古代的） China. They include the Liao Dynasty （916-1125）， the Jin Dynasty （1115-1234）， the Yuan Dynasty （1271-1368）， the Ming Dynasty （1368-1644） and the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911）.

在古代中國，北京也是好幾個朝代的首都。這些朝代包括遼（916—1125）、金（1115—1234）、元（1271—1368）、明（1368—1644）和清（1644—1911）。

In history， Beijing had many names， such as Yanjing （燕京）， Zhongdu （中都）， Dadu （大都）， Jingshi （京師） and Beiping （北平）. In 1949， the Chinese government changed its name from Beiping to Beijing and chose it as the capital.

歷史上，北京有許多名字，比如燕京、中都、大都、京師和北平。1949年，中國政府將其名稱從北平改為北京，并選擇它作為首都。