張祖平

The Capitol Building is located in Washington， D.C.， and is the home to Congress2.

The original design for the Capitol Building was drawn by Dr. William Thornton and the current dome3 on the Capitol was designed by Thomas U. Walter. But there have been 11 architects4 of the Capitol who have all made contributions to the building.

This building was placed at one end of the National Mall， in the heart of the nations capital. It is over 200 years old， with a rich history.

The Capitol building has 540 rooms and 658 windows.

The Dome is 8，909，200 pounds of cast iron with 108 windows， and was constructed between 1855 and 1866. The statue at the top of dome is the Statue of Freedom.

The building stands 180 feet， 3 inches tall. Paintings and sculptures5 about significant people and events in U.S. history are on display.

The United States Capitol Building houses6 the meeting chambers of the Senate7 （in the north wing） and the House of Representatives8 （in the south wing）—the two bodies that compose the legislative9 branch of the American government.

It also includes the offices of congressional10 leadership， and it is used for ceremonies of national importance.

The U.S. Capitol is also a museum of American art and history and is visited by millions of people every year.

國會大廈坐落于華盛頓特區(qū)，是美國國會的所在地。

國會大廈最早的圖紙是由威廉姆·桑頓博士繪制的?，F(xiàn)在大廈頂部的圓頂屋是由托馬斯·U·沃爾特設(shè)計的，但總共有11位建筑師為這棟建筑作出了貢獻。

這座建筑位于美國首都中心華盛頓國家廣場一端，它已經(jīng)有兩百多年的悠久歷史。

國會大廈有540間房，658扇窗。

圓頂屋由8909200磅鑄鐵和108扇窗組成，建于1855年至1866年。圓頂?shù)捻敹耸亲杂傻裣瘛?/p>

這座建筑有180英尺3英寸高。室內(nèi)陳列有關(guān)于美國重要人物、事件的油畫和雕塑。

國會大廈包括北廂的參議院和南廂的眾議院，這兩院構(gòu)成了美國政府的立法部門。

大廈內(nèi)還有國會領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人辦公室。大廈也被用于重要的國家儀式。

美國國會大廈也是一座美國藝術(shù)和歷史博物館，每年訪客數(shù)以百萬計。

Notes：

1. Capitol [] n. 美國國會大廈 2. congress [] n. 國會；代表大會；會議

3. dome [] n. 圓屋頂 4. architect [] n. 建筑師

5. sculpture [] n. 雕塑；雕刻

6. house [] vt. 覆蓋；給……房子住 7. senate [] n. 參議院，上院

8. representative [] n. 代表；眾議員 House of Representatives 眾議院

9. legislative [] adj. 立法的；有立法權(quán)的

10. congressional [] adj. 國會的；會議的；議會的