胡同

这是个死胡同。

zhè shì gě sǐ hú tòng

It's a dead end.

我家后面有条胡同。

wǒ jiā hòu mian yǒu tiáo hú tòng

There's an alley behind my house.

胡同是一种跟中国北京有关的窄街路。

hú tòng shì yī zhǒng gēn Zhōng guó Běi jīng yǒu guān de zhǎi jiē Lù

Hutongs are a type of narrow street, most commonly associated with Beijing, China.

在北京，胡同是由四合院的传统居所排形成。

zài Běi jīng hú tòng shì yóu sì hé yuàn de chuán tǒng jū suǒ pái xíng chéng

In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuans, the traditional courtyard residences.

“胡同”这个词，本意是“水井”，来源于700年前的蒙古语。

hú tòng zhè ge cí běn yì shì shuǐ jǐng lái yuán yú nián qián de Měng gǔ yǔ

The term "hutong", originally meaning "water well", came from the Mongolian language about 700 years ago.

他们的四合院要小得多，设计和装饰也比较简单，胡同也比较窄。

tā men de sì hé yuàn yāo xiǎo dé duō shè jì hé zhuāng shì Yě bǐ jiào jiǎn dān hú tòng Yě bǐ jiào zhǎi

Their siheyuans were far smaller in scale and simpler in design and decoration, and the hutongs were narrower.

最近，有些胡同被指定为保护区，以试图保存这方面的中国文化历史。

zuì jìn yǒu xiē hú tòng bèi zhǐ dìng wéi bǎo hù qū yǐ shì tú bǎo cún zhè fāng miàn de Zhōng guó wén huà lì shǐ

More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.

因为几乎所有的四合院有南面的门和主要楼房，所以大部分的胡同是从东到西建造的。

yīn wèi jī hū suǒ yǒu de sì hé yuàn yǒu nán miàn de Mén hé zhǔ yào lóu fáng suǒ yǐ dà bù fen de hú tòng shì cóng Dōng dào Xī jiàn zào de

Nearly all siheyuans had their main buildings and gates facing south for better lighting, so a majority of hutongs run from east to west.