关于英国大本钟的英文介绍！

大本钟(Big Ben)
Big Ben is one of London's best-known landmarks, and looks most spectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. You even know when parliament is in session, because a light shines above the clock face.

The four dials of the clock are 23 feet square, the minute hand is 14 feet long and the figures are 2 feet high. Minutely regulated with a stack of coins placed on the huge pendulum, Big Ben is an excellent timekeeper, which has rarely stopped.

The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, but to the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the first commissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall.

This bell came originally from the old Palace of Westminster, it was given to the Dean of St. Paul's by William III. Before returning to Westminster to hang in its present home, it was refashioned in Whitechapel in 1858. The BBC first broadcast the chimes on the 31st December 1923 - there is a microphone in the turret connected to Broadcasting House.

During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the Commons chamber of the Houses of Parliament, but the clock tower remained intact and Big Ben continued to keep time and strike away the hours, its unique sound was broadcast to the nation and around the world, a welcome reassurance of hope to all who heard it.

There are even cells within the clock tower where Members of Parliament can be imprisoned for a breach of parliamentary privilege, though this is rare; the last recorded case was in 1880.

The tower is not open to the general public, but those with a "special interest" may arrange a visit to the top of the Clock Tower through their local (UK) MP.
大本钟(Big Ben)是英国最著名的地标, 与英国国会大厦相连. 大本钟因其走时准确而名扬四海。每隔一小时，大钟根据格林威治时间发出沉重而铿锵的响声, 在数英里之外也能听到钟声的回荡.
Great bell (Big Ben) is the United Kingdom's most famous landmark, linked with the British parliament building. Great bell because, she was walking and accurate. Every Clock, bell Jiatelinwei Time issued under heavy sonorous sounds, a few miles away can hear the bell reverberate.

Big Ben, "the banks of the River Thames is located in the north of the parliament building, stands a tall clock tower, inlaid with large bell," Wallace. "Every one hour, 10 minutes under a heavy GMT issued and sonorous beep , A few miles away can hear the bell reverberated. 1859, the bell by the then King of the Public Works Minister Sir Jieminghuoer producer, the bell with a total weight of 21 tons, casting at a cost of 27,000 pounds. "Big The "bell as a symbol of London, where the tourists to London, think of the clock tower all around, from the Parliament in London this bridge to enjoy a unique architecture.

The Big Ben is located in the tower at the eastern end of the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, Greater London. It was designed by Edmund Beckett and Baron Grimthorpe.
When most people heat the words "Big Ben" they immediately conjure up an image of the striking Victorian Gothic structure of the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament). Let's clear up a common misconception first; technically speaking, the name "Big Ben" does not refer to the famous tower, nor to the four huge clock faces of this London landmark; instead, it refers to the largest of the five bells inside the clock tower, whose chimes are such a familiar sound to listeners to BBC radio over the years.