Say you are a 17th century construction worker who’s worked hard to build a splendid tower for the dead wife of your emperor.
Now say that the emperor orders your fingertips cut off so you can never build another one. Yes, this story is about the Taj Mahal, one of the most famous buildings in the world. And the tale behind the construction is just as impressive (令人赞叹的) as the building itself.
First, there’s the emperor of northern India, Shah Jehan, also called the King of the World. In 1612, Shah Jehan married Mumtaz Mahal. Mad in love, they had 14 children over the next 20 years. But then sadness came. As Mumtaz was about to give birth to child number 14, she said she heard her unborn baby cry out. It was a sign of death. And as Mumtaz lay dying, she asked Jehan to build a lasting memorial (纪念物) to celebrate their love.
The heartbroken Jehan ordered his wife’s dying wish carried out, and more than 20,000 workers worked nearly 22 years to complete the construction. In 1653, Jehan placed Mumtaz’s remains under the center of the building.
Later, son number five, Aurangzeb, murdered his brothers and took over the power from his aging father. Jehan lived the rest of his days, eight years, imprisoned not far from the Taj Mahal. Jehan was only allowed to climb onto the top of his prison to see the timeless treasure from a distance. But never again would he be allowed to visit it until he was buried next to his wife.
Today 25,000 people visit the Taj Mahal each day. Though the reason for building the tower was a strange and sad story, people who see its breath-taking beauty are reminded of the happiness that inspired its construction.
小题1:The first two paragraphs were written mainly to show that ______.A．the Taj Mahal is an unusual historic buildingB．India has some of the most famous buildings in the worldC．ancient Indian emperors were cruelD．construction workers led a hard life in ancient India小题2:The Taj Mahal was first built as ______.A．a memorial buildingB．a tourist attractionC．a prisonD．a gift to Mumtaz小题3:From the passage we can learn that Mumtaz probably died in ______.A．1626 B．1653C．1632D．1634小题4:The underlined word “happiness” in the last paragraph refers to “______”.A．the happiness Jehan felt on completing the Taj MahalB．the pleasure tourists experience when visiting the Taj MahalC．the married happiness of the emperor and his wifeD．the great pleasure Jehan once found in exercising his power