Early on, everywhere you turned was chaos for over 300 years
(远古,有三百年乱世)
Legend says the Xia Kingdom was first to appear
(夏朝,是个传说)
About them little was known
(知之甚少)
Along came Shang, a farming society
(商朝,农耕社会)
Left bronze and some oracle bones
(留下了铜器和甲骨)
They venerated their ancestors so it’s called Qing Ming.
(祭祀祖先,号称清明)
Then came Zhou.
(轮到周朝)
Zhou Kings weren’t divine, they had to obey mandate of Heaven
(周王并非神灵,须从天命)
or else nature might send a great disaster your way
(天灾报应)
No one to blame but yourself
(只能罪己,休怨他人)
Invasions, rebellions, then your dynasty falls
(外患不已,造反频频,改朝换代)
Civil war would sour Zhou’s control
(内战削弱周王)
Qin would seize power
(秦朝趁势崛起)
Roads and money, build a war
(道路,金钱,都是为了战争)
唱到这里,波维尔改用Rap式的念白:
Qin ruled by Shihuangdi
(始皇帝的秦朝)
Strictest of dynasties
(最严酷的朝代)
Liu Bang with peasant brawn
(刘邦率乡民起事)
Overthrew then created Han
(灭秦建汉)
Northern invasion, civil war
(异族南侵,内战不已)
300 years blood and gore
(300年的腥风血雨)
Sui stepped up to boost morale
(隋朝重振江山)
Forced to build Grand Canal
(构筑大运河)
Tang gave government exams,and gave peasants back some land
(唐朝兴科举、分田地)
Li Bo, Du Fu wrote their thoughts
(李白、杜甫赋诗)
Artisans made their porcelain pots
(匠人制瓷)
Song conquered by Kublai Khan
(忽必烈灭宋)
Mongols beat by Zhu Yuanzhang
(朱元璋灭元)
Ming worked hard to build a war
(明朝苦战)
But they too, like all others, would fall
(难逃覆辙)
这首《中国朝代》有一段副歌:
Xia, Shang, Zhou
(夏、商、周)
Dynasties they come and they go
(王朝来了又走)
Xia, Shang, Zhou
(夏、商、周)
Don’t you know the Dao is “the way”
(你知道吗?“道”就是“路”)
Lao Zi had his say
(还是老子说得对…)
由于这段副歌在歌曲的开头、中间和结尾反复出现,所以一首歌听下来,虽然从商唱到了明朝,但是估计学生记忆最深的就是这一句:Xia, Shang, Zhou,其他的内容可能就真的是they come and they go….