IN Eurpe during the Middle Ages， pepleften went t church every day andften several times a day. They did nt gnly when there was a church service. They went t say their prayers by themselves； they went t tell their trubles t the priest， t get advice frm him， t burn a candle t the Virgin Mary，r simply t chat with their friends.
All during the Crusades and immediately after the Crusades， the chief thing that many peple thught abut was their church.
Almst everyne in Eurpe was a Christian althugh many twns had Jewish residents as well. Yu may remember that Jews had been frced t leave the Hly Land way back in 70 A.D. by the Rmans. Sme had made their way t Eurpe.
Fr Christians， there wasnlyne church in a neighbrhd， and everyne went t the same church， fr there were n Baptists， nr Episcpalians， nr Methdists； all were just Christians.
The church was everyne"s meetinghuse， s peple naturally gave as much mney and time and labr as they culd t make their church the best that culd be built. That is why there were built in France andther partsf Eurpe at this time manyf the finest churches and cathedrals in the wrld. These churches and cathedrals are still standing， and because they are s beautiful， peple g lng distances t see them.
Do you knw what a cathedral is？ A cathedral is nt just a large church. It is the churchf a bishp. In the chancelf this church， there is a special chair fr the bishp. This bishp"s chair is called in Latin a cathedra， and s his church is named a cathedral after this chair.
These churches and cathedrals were nthing like theld Greek and Rman temples； they were nt like anything that had ever been built befre.
If yu have ever built a huseutf blcks， yu prbably did it this way： first yu std tw blcks upright， and then yu laid anther blck acrss the tpf these fr a rf. This is the way the Greeks and Rmans built.
But the Christians thrughut Eurpe at that time did nt build in this way at all.
When yu were building ty huses， insteadf laying a single blck acrss the tw standingnes， yu may perhaps have tried leaning tw blcks tgether like the sidesf a letter A fr a rf. If yu did， yu knw what happened： the tw leaning blcks pushedver the sides， and crash！ everything tumbled. Well， these churches were built smewhat in this way， with stnes arched acrss the standing stne clumns. But t keep the stne arches frm pushingver the standing stne clumns， the builders put up prpsr braces. These prpsr braces were madef stne， t， and these prpsf stne were called flying buttresses.
Flying buttresses-apsef Ntre Dame ( 拱扶垛--巴黎圣母院的半圆室 )The peple in Italy thught this a crazy wayf building. They thught such buildings must be shaky and might easily tpplever-like a husef cards. The Gths wh had cnquered Italy in 476 were cnsidered wild and ignrant and after that peple called anything wild and ignrant Gthic. Peple called all buildings such as I have just described Gthic， althugh the Gths had nthing t d with the buildings.
Indeed， frm my dein yu， t， may think such buildings prpped up by flying buttresses must have been tttering and ugly， but they were neither. They were nt rickety， fr thughccasinallyne that was nt carefully built did cllapse， the largest and best are still standing tday. Althugh there wereld-fashined peple wh thught n building was beautiful that was nt built in the Rmanr Greek style， we have cme t admire the great beautyf theses-called Gthic buildings.
There werether ways in which the Gthic churches were different frm the Greek and Rman temples. Befre a Gthic church was started， a very large crss was first drawnn the grund with its head twards the east， because that is the directinf Jerusalem.n this crss-shaped plan， the church was built s that if yu lked dwn frm abven the finished building， it was shaped like a crss with the altar always tward the east.
Gthic churches had beautiful spiresr arrws， which have been likened t fingers pinting t heaven. The drways and windws were nt squarer rund at the tp， but pinted， like hands placed tgether in prayer.
Nearly the whle sidef a Gthic church was madef glass. These large windws were nt， hwever， plain white glass， but beautiful pictures madef clred glass. Small piecesf different clrs were jined tgether at their edges with lead t make what lked like wnderful paintings. These pictures were much finer thanrdinary paintings， fr the light shne thrugh the stained glass and made the clrs brilliant as jewels-blue like the clear sky， yellw like sunlight， red like a ruby. These pictures in glass tld stries frm the Bible. They were like clred illustratins in a bk. The peple wh culd nt read， and very few culd read， were able t knw the Bible stries just by lking at these beautiful illustratins.
Statuesf saints and angels and characters in the Bible were carved in the stnewrkf the church. The churches were like Biblesf stne and glass.
Besides these hly things， strange， grtesque beasts were als made in stne-mnsters like n animal that has ever been seen in nature. These creatures were usually putn theutside edger cnnerf the rfr they were used frGargyle ( 滴水嘴 )water-sputs and called gargyles. They were suppsed t scare away evil spirits frm the hly place.
Nne nw knws wh were the architectsr the buildersf these Gthic churchesr wh were the sculptrsr artists. Almst everyne did sme wrkn the church. Insteadf giving mney， men and wmen gave time and labr. Men carved stner made stained glass. Wmen sewed and embridered vestments and altar clths.
Smef these Gthic churches tk hundredsf years t build， s that the wrkmen wh started them never lived t see them finished. Smef the mst famus cathedrals are Canterbury Cathedral in England， the Cathedralf Ntre Dame in Paris， Clgne Cathedral in Germany， and Chartres Cathedral in France.
Clgne Cathedral tk the lngestf all t build， as it was nt entirely finished until abut seven hundred years after it was begun！ Smef the cathedrals were destryed during the many wars fught since the Middle Ages.
Gthic churches were built， with lving care，f stne and jeweled glass. Nthing but the best was thught gd enugh. Tday many churches are still built with spires， pinted drs， and sme stained-glass windws， andften the altar is tward the east. But althugh they imitate the Gthic style in these things， they seldm have stne ceilings， as Gthic churches had， nr flying buttresses， nr wallsf stained glass. Real Gthic was enrmusly expensive and difficult， and nwadays peple haven"t the time， the mney， nr the interest t build in such a way.
That is the stryf Gthic churches that the Gths had nthing t d with.
【中文阅读】
在中世纪时的欧洲，人们通常每天都去教堂，常常一天去好几次，他们不是只 在有礼拜仪式时才去。他们去教堂可以自己做祷告；可以向神父倾诉自己的苦恼， 从他那儿得到建议，可以在圣母马利亚像前点燃蜡烛许愿，或者只是去那儿和朋友 们聊聊天。
十字军东征期间和刚结束的时候，许多人首先考虑的就是他们的教堂。 差不多所有欧洲人都是基督徒，不过许多城镇也有些犹太居民。也许你还记得早在公元 70 年由于罗马人的入侵，犹太人被迫离开圣地四处流亡，其中有些人去了 欧洲。
对于基督徒而言，一个居民区只有一所教堂，人人都去同一座教堂，因为那时 还没有浸信会教徒，没有圣公会教徒，没有循道宗教徒，所有人只是基督徒。
既然教堂是大家的聚会所，所以人们自然会尽可能付出钱财、时间和精力把他 们的教堂建得最好。这就是为什么在那个时期法国和欧洲其他地区建造了很多世界 上最精美的教堂和大教堂。这些教堂和大教堂至今仍然矗立在那里，因为它们华丽 壮观，所以即使路途遥远人们也要前去参观。
你知道什么是大教堂吗？大教堂不只是面积很大，而且它是主教的教堂。在大 教堂的圣坛里，有一个专为主教而设的特别椅子。这把主教的椅子在拉丁语中被称 为"主教座"，所以大教堂以这把椅子命名，也叫做主教座堂。
这些教堂和大教堂与古希腊和罗马的神庙完全不一样，和以前的任何建筑物也 不一样。
如果你用积木搭过房子，可能你是这样做的：首先你把两块积木竖起来，然后 把另一块积木横放在这两块积木顶上做屋顶。希腊人和罗马人就是这样建造房子的。
但是在中世纪欧洲，各地的基督徒建造房子完全是用另一种方式。
你搭玩具房子时，可能不是把一块积木横放在两块直立的积木上，而是试着把 两块积木靠在一起做屋顶，像字母"A"的两条斜边一样。如果你试过的话，就知 道会是什么结果了：斜靠在一起的两块积木把两边的积木抵倒，哗啦一声，所有积 木都倒塌了！欧洲这些教堂就有点像这样建成的，石头做成拱形跨在直立的石柱上。 不过为了防止石拱推倒直立的石柱，建造者搭了很多支柱或支架。这些支柱或支架 也是用石头做的，这些石头做的支撑物被称为"拱扶垛"。
意大利人认为用这种方式建房子真是疯了。他们想这样的建筑肯定不牢固，很 容易倒塌--就像纸牌搭的房子一样。公元 476 年征服过意大利的哥特人被认为既 野蛮又无知，从那以后人们把任何粗野、愚昧的事物都叫做"哥特式的"。我刚才描 述的这类建筑物也被称为"哥特式的"，尽管哥特人和这种建筑物没有任何关系。
的确，通过我的描述你可能也以为这种由拱扶垛撑起的建筑物一定摇摇欲坠、 丑陋不堪，但事实并非如此。它们没有摇摇晃晃，尽管偶尔某个建筑物因为盖得不 仔细而坍塌，但是那些最大、最重要的建筑物现在仍然屹然不动。虽然还有些守旧 的人认为凡是不按古罗马或希腊风格而造的建筑物都是不美的，但是这些所谓的哥 特式建筑的华丽壮观最终还是让我们赞叹不已。
在其他一些方面哥特式教堂与希腊和罗马的神庙也不相同。哥特式教堂开工之 前，先在地上画一个巨大的十字架，十字架的头向着东方因为那是耶路撒冷的方向。 教堂是按这种十字架平面图而建造的，所以在建成后，如果你从教堂高处俯瞰，教 堂的形状就像十字架，祭坛总朝向东方。
哥特式教堂有美丽的尖顶或"箭头"，被比作指向天堂的手指。门道和窗户的顶 部不是方形或圆形，而是尖的，就像人们祷告时合十的双手。
哥特式教堂几乎有整整一面是用玻璃做的。但是这些大玻璃窗不是平常的白玻 璃，而是由彩色玻璃做成美丽图画。不同颜色的小块玻璃在边缘处用铅条固定在一 起，拼成一幅幅图案，像精美的油画。这些图案比普通油画美多了，因为阳光透过 彩色的玻璃，让画上的色彩绚丽如宝石--蓝色像是晴天，黄色如同太阳，红色美 似红宝石。这些玻璃上的图案讲述了圣经中的故事。它们就像书中的彩色插图。那 些不识字的和识字很少的人只要看看这些美丽的插图就能知道圣经故事了。
圣经里面的圣徒、天使和人物雕刻在教堂的砖石上。这些教堂犹如石头和玻璃 做成的圣经。
除了这些神圣的事物，还用石头做成奇形怪状的野兽--这些怪兽一点也不像 自然界里所能看到的动物。通常这些怪兽被摆放在屋檐上或屋顶的角落里或者被用 做喷水嘴，被称为"滴水嘴"。这些怪兽据称可以把恶魔从这神圣的地方吓跑。
没人知道这些哥特式教堂的建筑师或修建者是谁，雕刻者或艺术家是谁。几乎 每个人都为教堂出了力。人们不是捐钱而是直接付出了时间和劳动。男人们雕刻石 头或者制作彩色玻璃。女人们缝制圣衣和祭坛罩，并在上面刺绣。
有些哥特式教堂花了几百年才建成，所以开工时的工匠直到去世也没有看到教 堂完工。其中最著名的大教堂有英国的坎特伯雷大教堂、巴黎的圣母院、德国的科 隆大教堂和法国的沙特尔大教堂。
科隆大教堂是所有大教堂中建造时间最长的，因为从开始动工，建了近七百年 还没有彻底完成！中世纪以来战乱频繁，有些大教堂在战火中毁掉了。
哥特式教堂是用石头和饰有宝石的玻璃精心建造而成的。只有最好的才被认为 是完美的。今天很多教堂仍然有尖塔、尖门、一些彩色玻璃窗，通常祭坛也向着东 方。但是尽管它们在这些方面模仿哥特式风格，但是它们很少有哥特式教堂那样的 石头天花板、拱扶垛和彩色玻璃墙。建造真正的哥特式教堂耗资巨大，非常困难， 如今人们没有那么多时间、金钱和兴趣来建造这样的教堂了。
这就是哥特式教堂的故事，和哥特人一点关系也没有哦。