英闻天下——325 Jerusalem 'Ice City' Festival - A Carnival for All

 　　Residents of Jerusalem swarmed¹ into the city's Old Train Station compound on the first day of this year's 'Ice City' Festival to embrace the long-awaited ice world.

 

　　Three 12-year-old girls Einav, Yael and Maayan enjoy themselves on an ice slide featuring the Great Wall of China at the Jerusalem 'Ice City' Festival on February 20, 2013. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com / Zhang Jin]

 

　　Parents, children, and people of all ages flock to the festival; everybody has an excited look on their face. Yael Hadar is a mother of two girls. She brought her daughters right after the festival started and was happy that she chose to do so.

 

　　"We enjoyed very much. It's so amazing, sculptures of ice. It's incredible to see what people can do with ice. I took my two daughters. They are having fun here. They are really, really enjoying it. They don't want to go out."

 

　　The 'Ice City', featuring sculptures depicting² dragons, dinosaurs³ and even a "water land", is heaven for children. Einav, Yael and Maayan are all 12-years-old. The three young girls like everything on view within the 'Ice City'.

 

　　"It's so cool! The coolest thing in the world! Amazing! It's so fun! Last year we were here every week. We wait for a whole year. We wait for it to open every day. So happy that we came here the first night."

 

　　Moving away from last year's ice models depicting Jerusalem's landmarks⁴ and exhibits based on popular local fairy tales and Biblical stories, this year's sculptures showcase images from the Far East, especially Chinese elements.

 

　　Bai Liang, Deputy General Manger of Heilongjiang Province Ice and Snow Art Development Company, responsible for building the 'Ice City' for the past two years, says they want to introduce elements of Chinese culture to foreign people.

 

　　"This year we introduced the Great Wall, Tian'anmen and slides with dragons… and the results have been very good. We have a plan to gradually promote Chinese elements to cities in which we hold ice exhibits, and we have found that foreigners enjoy such exhibits very much. Children coming this year are really happy and often don't leave until closing time."

 

　　Visitors to this year's festival can also enjoy a breathtaking acrobatics⁵ show on ice up to four times every day, for an hour each time. Yoel Peer is the owner of leading Israeli ticket agency Bimot which sells tickets to the festival.

 

　　"This year we also brought something special. We brought a very good group of acrobats⁶ from China. We decided⁷ this year to bring something more because we felt that the audience would like to spend more time in the 'city of ice', and we give them another option to spend time and money."

 

　　And the show has stunned⁸ local people.

 

　　"Very good, and I enjoyed very much.

 

　　Oh very, very good. It's been wonderful, wonderful.

 

　　Wonderful. I've been in China, I saw very nice things, but here it was wonderful."

 

　　Daniella Wechsler is a newcomer to the 'Ice City' Festival. Fascinated by the acrobatics show, she says she will bring her children to watch it next time.

 

　　"It's my first time and it's gorgeous. Amazing, amazing! I'm sorry my kids are not here to see it. Please God I will (bring them here)! Got two months to bring them out. Yes, I will. It's beautiful."

 

　　The Jerusalem 'Ice City' Festival lasts from February 20 to April 30. Last year it attracted 300,000 people from across Israel, and 50,000 more visitors are expected this time.

 

　　For CRI, I'm XYee.

1 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

2 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

3 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句

5 acrobatics   

n.杂技

参考例句：

• Acrobatics is hard to learn but beautiful to watch.杂技不好学，但很好看。
• We watched a performance which included a puppet show and acrobatics.我们观看了一场演出，内容有木偶和杂技。

6 acrobats   

n.杂技演员( acrobat的名词复数 )；立场观点善变的人，主张、政见等变化无常的人

参考例句：

• I was always fascinated by the acrobats at the circus. 我总是着迷于马戏团里的杂技演员。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The acrobats' performance drew forth applause from the audience. 杂技演员的表演博得了观众的掌声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。