China, Russia starts tourism year to boost exchanges

 　　BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia on Friday started the "Tourism Year of Russia", a move designated to foster exchanges and friendship between the two countries and their peoples.

　　Chinese Vice¹ Premier² Wang Qishan and his Russian counterpart Vladislav Surkov attended the opening ceremony of the theme year at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

　　In a congratulatory message to the ceremony, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao hailed the traditional friendship and current bilateral³ ties, which, as he described, has reached an "unprecedented⁴ new level."

　　Wen urged the two countries, both rich in tourism resources, to expand cooperation and make the theme year a success to showcase Russia's natural landscape, history, culture, arts and its current social momentum⁵.

　　In 2011, more than 800,000 Chinese tourists took Russia as the first stop of their overseas trip, and the number of Russian tourists to China exceeded 2.5 million, Wen said.

　　"However, these numbers do not conform with the level of our bilateral friendship, cooperation and strategic ties," Wen said.

　　In his own message to the ceremony, Russian Prime Minister and president-elect Vladimir Putin said the expansion of a social foundation for strengthening bilateral ties is of great importance.

　　Putin recalled the exchanges and events organized by the two countries in recent years, saying he believes the "Tourism Year of Russia" will provide more chances for Chinese people to better understand Russia.

　　As agreed by the two heads of state, China and Russia will hold "Tourism Year of Russia" in China in 2012 and the "Tourism Year of China" in Russia in 2013.

　　More than 200 events are scheduled to be held during the "Tourism Year of Russia."

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

3 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。