VOA标准英语2010年-150 Years Later, Destruction of Beijin

This week marks the 150th anniversary of the destruction of Beijing's Old Summer Palace, by French and British soldiers in the Second Opium¹ War. Although it remains² a minor³ event in history books in Britain and France, the destruction of the Yuanming Yuan is described in Chinese history texts as a key event in the country's "100 years of humiliation⁴," and a cautionary tale of what can befall China if it bows to Western influence.

Once an imperial garden, today Yuanming Yuan is open to the public as a park

The Yuanming Yuan is now a park visited by thousands of Chinese each year. A succession of Qing dynasty emperors built the 290-hectare palace complex beginning in 1707.

 
VOA - A Klayman
Chinese visitors enjoy snacks at this year's Spring Festival fair at the Yuanming Yuan park
More than 90 percent of the original buildings did not survive the blaze that British and French soldiers set on October 18, 1860, at the end of the Second Opium War. Some of the buildings were later rebuilt, but most of the complex today is an open park, with vast stretches of greenery during Beijing's muggy⁵ summers, and frozen lakes in the winter.

The real tourist attraction is a small area of marble ruins. These are the remains of a complex of European-style palaces built with help from Catholic priests from Europe.

Many Chinese see the ruins as an open wound, a 150-year-old crime scene. A college student visiting from Inner Mongolia says he almost burst into tears when he arrived.

He says the park symbolizes⁶ the humiliation of China being bullied⁷ by foreign countries, and serves as a lesson for the country to be stronger.

Historian Jeremiah Jenne, who lives in Beijing, says it is not surprising that many Chinese students are intimate with the park's history. He says the Communist Party designs history texts to emphasize stories of foreign imperialism⁸, like the Yuanming Yuan.

"The Communist Party's basic claim to legitimacy⁹ has always been that they've rescued the country from the twin evils of feudalism and foreign imperialism," he said. "So any representations of imperialism, things like the Yuanming Yuan ruins or memories of the Opium Wars, are very important to keep fresh."

After the Second Opium War, Western powers gradually forced the Chinese government to grant them more access to the country, including control of port cities such as Shanghai. The British and Portuguese¹⁰ much earlier had taken control of Hong Kong and Macau on the southern coasts.

It was not until the Communist Party won the country's civil war in 1949 that those agreements ended. And in the 1990s, Hong Kong and Macau returned to Beijing's control.

These days, the Yuanming Yuan is growing in popularity. Park administrators¹¹ say attendance jumped 77 percent in the first half of 2009.

The fate of the bronzes

The increase began after extensive media coverage¹² in China of the auction¹³ of two bronze heads that came from a Western-style fountain in the Yuanming Yuan. The auction in February 2009 sold art works once owned by French designer Yves St. Laurent in Paris.

The voices of Chinese bloggers and the Foreign Ministry¹⁴ rose in unison¹⁵, they wanted the bronzes - the heads of animals from the Chinese zodiac - back. Liu Yang led a group who tried to halt the auction in a French court.

Yang says if all of the Yuanming Yuan's zodiac statues are returned to China, it would be a good symbol of revival¹⁶ for the Chinese country and people.

They lost the lawsuit¹⁷, but the winning bidder¹⁸, also from China, did not pay the money for the bronzes, so they remain in France.

To many in China, the auction was an inflammatory reminder¹⁹ of the events of 1860. Chinese Central Television caught on to the public mood and produced a TV show in which a team went to American museums in search of treasures from the Yuanming Yuan.

But not all Chinese think the events of 1860 are worth so much attention. Critics of the government, like artist Ai Weiwei, say the Communist Party only allows people to protest these kinds of issues because it bolsters²⁰ nationalism.

"They never really care about culture. This is the nature of a communist, to destroy the old world, to rebuild a new one," Weiwei said.

Yet 150 years later, the looting and destruction of the Yuanming Yuan holds meaning for people in China. With domestic tourism on the rise, there has been renewed discussion about rebuilding parts of the palace and turning the Yuanming Yuan into a theme park.
 

1 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

4 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

5 muggy   

adj.闷热的；adv.（天气）闷热而潮湿地；n.（天气）闷热而潮湿

参考例句：

• We may expect muggy weather when the rainy season begins.雨季开始时，我们预料有闷热的天气。
• It was muggy and overcast.天气闷热潮湿，而且天色阴沉。

6 symbolizes   

v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The use of light and dark symbolizes good and evil. 用光明与黑暗来象征善与恶。
• She likes olive because It'symbolizes peace. 她喜欢橄榄色因为它象征着和平。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 imperialism   

n.帝国主义，帝国主义政策

参考例句：

• They held the imperialism in contempt.他们鄙视帝国主义。
• Imperialism has not been able to subjugate China.帝国主义不能征服中国。

9 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

10 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

11 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

12 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

13 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

14 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

15 unison   

n.步调一致，行动一致

参考例句：

• The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism.这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。
• My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。

16 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

17 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

18 bidder   

n.(拍卖时的)出价人，报价人，投标人

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder.电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。
• The bidder withdrew his bid after submission of his bid.投标者在投标之后撤销了投标书。

19 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

20 bolsters   

n.长枕( bolster的名词复数 )；垫子；衬垫；支持物v.支持( bolster的第三人称单数 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He used a couple of bolsters to elevate his head. 他用两个垫枕垫头。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The double-row piles with both inclined and horizontal bolsters also analyzed in consideration of staged excavation. 本文亦分析了考虑开挖过程的安置斜撑与带支撑的双排桩支护结构。 来自互联网