英国著名景点、英文介绍、中文翻译~

大本钟
大笨钟，或大本钟（Big Ben），即威斯敏斯特宫钟塔，英国国会会议厅附属的钟楼 (Clock Tower) 的大报时钟的昵称。是坐落在英国伦敦泰晤士河畔的一座钟楼，是伦敦的标志性建筑之一。钟楼高95米，钟直径9英尺，重13.5吨。每15分钟响一次。
大笨钟的命名来源众说纷纭，有一种说法称大本钟的名字来自于本杰明·豪尔爵士。
大钟于1858年4月10日建成，是英国最大的钟。塔起码有320英尺高（约合97.5米），分针有14英尺长（约合4.27米），大笨钟用人工发条，国会开会期间，钟面会发出光芒，每隔一小时报时一次。
每年的夏季与冬天时间转换时会把钟停止，进行零件的修补、交换，钟的调音等。

Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster

The Clock Tower is a turret clock structure at the north-eastern end of the Houses of Parliament building in Westminster, London, England. It is popularly known as Big Ben, but this name is actually a nickname for the clock's main bell. The tower has also been referred to as St. Stephen's Tower or The Tower of Big Ben, in reference to its bell.

Structure
The tower was raised as a part of Charles Barry's design for a new palace, after the old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire on the night of October 16, 1834. The tower is designed in the Victorian Gothic style, and is 96.3 metres (316 feet) high.
The first 61 metres (250 feet) of the structure is the clock tower, consisting of brickwork with stone cladding; the remainder of the tower's height is a framed spire of cast iron. The tower is founded on a 15 by 15 metre (49 by 49 foot) raft, made of 3-metre (9-foot) thick concrete, at a depth of 7 metres (23 feet) below ground level. The four clock faces are 55 metres (180 feet) above ground.
Due to ground conditions present since construction, the tower leans slightly to the north-west, by roughly 220 millimetres (8.66 inches). Due to thermal effects it oscillates annually by a few millimetres east and west.

Clock faces
The clock faces were once large enough to allow the Clock Tower to be the largest four-faced clock in the world, but have since been outdone by the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The builders of the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower did not add chimes to the clock, so the Great Clock of Westminster still holds the title of the world's largest four-faced chiming clock. The clock mechanism itself was completed by 1854, but the tower was not fully constructed until four years later in 1858.
The clock and dials were designed by Augustus Pugin. The clock faces are set in an iron framework 21 feet (7 metres) in diameter, supporting 576 pieces of opal glass, rather like a stained glass window. Some of the glass pieces may be removed for inspection of the hands. The surround of the dials is heavily gilded. At the base of each clock face in gilt letters is the Latin inscription 'DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM' meaning 'O Lord, keep safe our queen Victoria the First'.
The clock became operational on September 7, 1859.
During World War II, the Palace of Westminster was hit by German bombing, destroying the House of Commons and causing damage to the tower's western clockface.

The main bell
The main bell, officially known as the Great Bell, is the largest bell in the tower and part of the Great Clock of Westminster. The bell is better known by the nickname Big Ben.

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