外媒看中国：为什么长城在渐渐消失？

 　　Around 30 percent of China's Ming-era Great Wall has disappeared over time as adverse¹ natural conditions and reckless human activities -- including stealing the bricks to build houses -- erode² the UNESCO World Heritage site, state media reported.

　　据官媒报道，中国的明长城大约有30%随着时间的推移已经消失，这是由于不利的自然条件和不计后果的人类活动（包括偷长城上的砖盖房子）侵蚀了这座由联合国教科文组织认定的世界文化遗产。

　　In places it is so dilapidated that estimates of its total length vary from 5,600 to 13,000 miles, depending on whether missing sections are included. Despite its length it is not, as is sometimes claimed, visible from space.

　　长城有些地方破旧不堪，所以对它长度的估算从5600英里到13000英里不等，这取决于是否把消失的部分涵盖在内。尽管长城很长，但不像有时人们说的那样从太空里能看见它。

　　外媒看中国：为什么长城在渐渐消失？

　　Of that, 1,200 miles has melted away over the centuries, the Beijing Times reported.

　　《京华时报》报道称：“几个世纪以来，其中有1200英里已经消失了。”

　　Some of the construction weathered away, while plants growing in the walls have accelerated the decay, said the report Sunday, citing a survey last year by the Great Wall of China Society.

　　周日的报道引用了中国长城学会去年的调查，说一部分长城风化掉了，还有的城墙里植物疯长加速了损毁。

　　"Even though some of the walls are built of bricks and stones, they cannot withstand the perennial³ exposure to wind and rain," the paper quoted Dong Yaohui, a vice⁴ president of the society, as saying.

　　《京华时报》引用学会的副会长董耀会的话说：“即使部分城墙用砖石砌成，也禁不住常年风吹雨淋。”

　　Tourism and local residents' activities are also damaging the longest human construction in the world, the paper added.

　　报纸补充说：“旅游业和当地居民的活动也正在破坏这个世界上人类最长建筑。”

　　Poor villagers in Lulong county in the northern province of Hebei used to knock thick grey bricks from a section of wall in their village to build homes, and slabs⁵ engraved⁶ with Chinese characters were sold for 30 yuan ($4.80) each by local residents, it said.

　　据报道，位于华北的河北省的卢龙县里村民很穷，过去经常敲下村里部分城墙上青灰色的厚砖拿去盖房，而且刻有汉字的砖被当地居民卖到30元（4.80美元）一块。

　　Under Chinese regulations people who take bricks from the Great Wall can be fined up to 5,000 yuan, the Global Times said on Monday.

　　《环球时报》周一称：“中国条例规定从长城上偷砖会被处以高达5000元的罚款。”

　　"But there is no specific organisation⁷ to enforce the rules. Damage could only be reported to higher authorities and it is hard to solve when it happened on the border of two provinces," said Jia Hailin, a cultural relics⁸ protection official in Hebei, according to the report.

　　报道称，河北文化遗产保护官员贾海林说：“但是没有专门的部门来执行这一规定，破坏行为只能报告上级机关，如果发生在两省交界处就很难处理了。”

　　It added that explorations of undeveloped parts of the Great Wall -- an increasingly popular leisure activity in recent years -- had brought those sections more tourists than they could bear, damaging them severely⁹.

　　报道还提到，近些年探索未开发部分的长城作为休闲活动逐渐兴起，带来的游客数量超出了这些野长城的负荷，对长城损毁严重。

1 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

2 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

3 perennial   

adj.终年的；长久的

参考例句：

• I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
• There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。

4 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。

5 slabs   

n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片

参考例句：

• The patio was made of stone slabs. 这天井是用石板铺砌而成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The slabs of standing stone point roughly toward the invisible notch. 这些矗立的石块，大致指向那个看不见的缺口。 来自辞典例句

6 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

8 relics   

[pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸

参考例句：

• The area is a treasure house of archaeological relics. 这个地区是古文物遗迹的宝库。
• Xi'an is an ancient city full of treasures and saintly relics. 西安是一个有很多宝藏和神圣的遗物的古老城市。

9 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。