VOA标准英语2012--Cherry Blossom Symbolizes Japan's Rebirth After Tsunami

Cherry Blossom Symbolizes¹ Japan's Rebirth After Tsunami²

"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" opens with a powerful image - a single long shot from the top of a hill as a town is swept away in a rolling wave of blackened water.

Below, people react to the horror. 

“It can’t be,” shouts one. A child cries, “Grandma! Dad, where is Grandma?” Other voice screams, “Get up here quick!” Someone then moans, “They aren’t going to make it.”

Walker films survivors³ in refugee centers as they sort through the rubble⁴ and reflect on their lives.

“The film takes you on a journey from the very initial stages of grief and shock and tells the story of how these amazingly courageous⁵ people manage to pick themselves up and carry on," Walker says. "What is that process? What is that journey that human beings can go on from being so struck back to being able to clean up and get along and continue on into a future despite having lost so much?”

Walker talks to one man who watched his best friend drown right in front of him because he had gone back to move his new car.

“He speaks very passionately⁶ about how he doesn’t want clothes, a house or anything. He just wants his friend back. He says, ‘I have nothing. I have nothing. I have nothing.’ And then, by the end, he says, ‘No. No. I’m going to revive.’ And you can tell he’s digging deeply enough to get the courage and it’s very inspiring actually to see how resilient human beings can be.”

In Japan, that resilience, that capacity for rebirth, is symbolized⁷ by the cherry blossom. The cultural icon⁸ appears everywhere, adorning⁹ holiday events, schools trips and wedding parties. The film shows cherry blossoms in bloom against a rubble-strewn landscape. 

“In this very brief, very beautiful season, there’s a lot of spiritual feeling about it," Walker says. "There’s emotional healing power of the cherry blossom, not only is it spring and renewal¹⁰, although that’s wonderful energy, but there’s something about how quickly and beautifully they come to life.”

Walker sees her film as a visual haiku, a kind of Japanese poem about life, death and how to live with tragedy. 

“And so it is a poem about surviving and how beautiful life is," she says. "Somehow these cherry blossoms are sublimely¹¹, exquisitely¹², kind of uniquely beautiful and fleeting¹³ and that has a lot to teach us about life.”

"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" ends with a message of hope. Walker meets a young woman on the same hilltop from the film’s opening sequence. She is taking pictures to document the change she's seen in the year since the disaster.

“Every year that the trees bloom, they will give us courage to keep going," says the young woman. "They blossom as they watch over this town. They saw the tsunami. They see everything. I want to tell the bloom, 'Keep watching us. We’ll revive.'”

1 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》

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

5 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

6 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

7 symbolized   

v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• For Tigress, Joy symbolized the best a woman could expect from life. 在她看，小福子就足代表女人所应有的享受。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• A car symbolized distinction and achievement, and he was proud. 汽车象征着荣誉和成功，所以他很自豪。 来自辞典例句

8 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

9 adorning   

修饰，装饰物

参考例句：

• Many have gems adorning their foreheads, and gold bands on their arms. 许多人在前额上挂着宝石，手臂上戴着金饰。
• The commandments, or rules, are like pure white pearls adorning the wearer. （喻）戒律洁白，可以庄严人身，好像晶莹可爱的宝珠。

10 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

11 sublimely   

高尚地，卓越地

参考例句：

• In devotion woman is sublimely superior to man. 怜悯是女子胜过男子的德性之一。
• She was sublimely unaware of how foolish she looked. 她根本不知道她的样子多愚蠢。

12 exquisitely   

adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地

参考例句：

• He found her exquisitely beautiful. 他觉得她异常美丽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He wore an exquisitely tailored gray silk and accessories to match. 他穿的是做工非常考究的灰色绸缎衣服，还有各种配得很协调的装饰。 来自教父部分

13 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。