美国国家公共电台 NPR Ahead Of 2020 Summer Olympics, A Building Boom In Kyoto Is Yielding Ancient Artifacts

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. A tourism boom is changing the face of Japan. The number of visitors has nearly tripled in the past five years to about 30 million, and the country is scrambling¹ to build enough hotels ahead of next year's Tokyo Olympics. NPR's Anthony Kuhn has been reporting in Kyoto about how this boom is uncovering that city's ancient riches.

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE²: Last summer, developers demolished³ the 570-year-old Jyokyo-ji Buddhist⁴ temple to make way for a hotel. Before they started construction, they gave archaeologist Koji Iesaki four months to dig up the site and salvage⁵ anything he could of historical value.

We're now in the excavation⁶ pick. The workers are digging into a number of circles that have been outlined with chalk. What are these circles and what's in them?

KOJI IESAKI: (Through interpreter) Those markings show the workers where to dig. I believe they should be the temple's pillars. We can tell from the color of the earth there.

KUHN: Iesaki says he's dug through multiple layers of earth, taking him back in time to the Heian era, which began more than a thousand years ago. He's found images of mythical⁷ beasts carved on roof tiles, a moat that used to surround the temple in the Warring States period some 500 years ago and ritual vessels⁸ that held human organs.

IESAKI: (Through interpreter) Anywhere you dig in Kyoto, you find a lot of stuff. The city has been continuously inhabited for 1,000 or 1,200 years. So it's like a treasure mountain. There are a lot of things used in people's daily lives.

KUHN: Iesaki says that if the Jyokyo-ji Temple hadn't been torn down, he wouldn't get the chance to dig here. But, he adds, he doesn't have long to work before the hotel goes up and the treasure is reburied underneath⁹ it.

Nearby, construction crews are renovating¹⁰ a hotel affiliated¹¹ with Kyoto's historic Honnoji Temple, the site of a famous rebellion in 1582. The face of Kyoto is changing fast, as ancient temples and picturesque¹² wooden townhouses come down and hotels and office buildings spring up. The city's infrastructure¹³ groans¹⁴ under the influx¹⁵ of tourists, and so do some Kyoto residents. But with Japan rapidly aging and depopulating, it needs the tourists' money. Near City Hall, Tomomitsu Umase (ph) is coordinating¹⁶ efforts to salvage cultural relics¹⁷. He's a former archaeologist who runs a Kyoto city government department in charge of buried cultural treasures.

TOMOMITSU UMASE: (Through interpreter) Post-war Japan has made great advances, not just in final written historical records, but also in digging up ancient remains¹⁸. Development has allowed the excavation of relics. Then again, 99 percent of the artifacts have been destroyed because of development.

KUHN: On the whole, Umase is gloomy about the building boom. The less development there is, he says, the more cultural treasures will be preserved for future generations to dig up. That got me thinking about the owner of the Jyokyo-ji Temple and his decision to tear it down. His name is Koki Mitsuyama. He's a 48-year-old priest in the Pure Land sect¹⁹ of Buddhism²⁰. When I meet him, he's wearing a traditional Japanese robe made of denim²¹. He explains that the spiritual needs of the Buddhist faithful are changing.

KOKI MITSUYAMA: (Through interpreter) Modern people care about getting benefits in this life, not the next. They want good things to happen to them today, tomorrow or next year, at the latest.

KUHN: The Pure Land sect makes spirituality simple, Mitsuyama says. Just by chanting the Buddha's name, even sinners can make it to heaven or the Pure Land. Meanwhile, aging congregations can no longer support his temple with donations. So Mitsuyama will build a nine-story hotel with the first floor divided into a lobby on one side and a temple on the other. He'll use the hotel to fund the temple. It just so happens that Mitsuyama previously²² worked as an investment banker, and he's confident he's putting the temple on a firm financial footing for the future. He says he feels he was born to do this.

MITSUYAMA: (Through interpreter) Changing people's ideas and coming up with new ways is part of the Pure Land sect's tradition of being original. This what I must do for the sect to help it prepare for the next century, and this is the right time to do it.

KUHN: The hotel is due to open next June, just in time for the Olympics. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Kyoto.

1 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

4 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

5 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

6 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。

7 mythical   

adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的

参考例句：

• Undeniably,he is a man of mythical status.不可否认，他是一个神话般的人物。
• Their wealth is merely mythical.他们的财富完全是虚构的。

8 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

10 renovating   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园，使生产大大增加。
• Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子，你得花很多钱。

11 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

12 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

13 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

14 groans   

n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• There were loud groans when he started to sing. 他刚开始歌唱时有人发出了很大的嘘声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was a weird old house, full of creaks and groans. 这是所神秘而可怕的旧宅，到处嘎吱嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

16 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

17 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。

18 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。

19 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

20 Buddhism   

n.佛教（教义）

参考例句：

• Buddhism was introduced into China about 67 AD.佛教是在公元67年左右传入中国的。
• Many people willingly converted to Buddhism.很多人情愿皈依佛教。

21 denim   

n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤

参考例句：

• She wore pale blue denim shorts and a white denim work shirt.她穿着一条淡蓝色的斜纹粗棉布短裤，一件白粗布工作服上衣。
• Dennis was dressed in denim jeans.丹尼斯穿了一条牛仔裤。

22 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。