Passage 8

　　The Washington National Cathedral is one of the largest and most famous religious centers in the United States. It belongs to the Episcopal Church. The official name of the building id the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.// The National Cathedral was built with money from private citizens. The work started in 1907, and the Cathedral was not completely finished until 1990. The first stone was laid in the presence of President Theodore Roosevelt. Every President of the United States since then has attended services or visited the Cathedral.// It looks like many of the great religious centers built in Europe about 800 years ago. The building is shaped like a cross or the letter T. in the center is a bell tower 91 meters high. Two more towers stand at the bottom of the cross.// Two hundred windows are set high in the walls of the National Cathedral. Most are made of many pieces of colored glass. They color the sunlight as it enters the building and spills across the floor. Some windows have flower designs. Others have images from Christian stories or from American heroes.//

　　華盛頓國家大教堂是美國規(guī)模最大、最負盛名的宗教中心之一，隸屬主教派教會。該建筑的正式名稱是圣彼得和圣保羅大教堂。//國家大教堂是由私人贊助建造起來的。工程開始于1907年，直到1990年才完全竣工。奠基石是當著當時西奧多·羅斯福總統(tǒng)的面放置的。從那以后的每一任美國總統(tǒng)都參加過這里舉行的宗教禮儀活動，或參觀過大教堂。//大教堂看起來像歐洲許多建于800年前的宗教大中心，形狀像個“十”字，或像字母T，中間聳立了一座高達91 米的鐘樓，另外兩座塔樓坐落在十字形底部。// 200扇窗戶高高的嵌在國家大教堂的墻上。大多數(shù)窗都由多塊彩色玻璃拼成，射入建筑內(nèi)的陽光被彩色玻璃染得五彩繽紛，灑落在大教堂一側(cè)的地坪上，有些窗戶有花卉圖案，有些窗的畫面則是一些有關(guān)基督教的故事或美國歷史英雄的形象。//