IS bridge a possible translation of “立交桥”? This is the question often raised（提出） by Chinese learners of English. There are two words in English that exactly match “立交桥” in literal meaning. These are “overpass” and “flyover”. The former is used mainly in American English and the latter mainly in British English. A question that immediately arises is this: which of the two should “立交桥” be translated into? This issue can not be easily settled. In contrast, the word “bridge” is neutral（中立的）.
Another reason for not accepting bridge as a possible translation of “立交桥” lies in its tight association with the word river, as is embodied（体现） in the following line from a well-known poem: “小桥(small bridge)流水(flowing river)人家(straw hut) .” It roughly means my straw hut is located near a small bridge under which a river flows. This line depicts（描写） the beautiful scenery of a small town in the South as well as the homesickness（思乡病） of a traveling man. A bridge doesn’t have to be built across a river, however. If you travel to Lhasa by train, you’ll find lots of bridges built across valleys on the Qingzang Railway.
Probably one would still argue that “立交桥” does not look like the kind of bridge that we usually see. For example, it can spread out for a mile and is huge. Notice that a traditional bridge may have a complex structure too. This reminds me of a magnificent （宏伟的）stone arch bridge built across two rivers in my home town. As it once towered above all the buildings, it gave you a bird’s eye view of the whole town. So the idea of overpass actually can be traced back（追溯到） to the classical architecture（建筑风格） in bridge building.
