美国国家公共电台 NPR German City Accepts Karl Marx Statue From China, But Not Everyone's Happy

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

After communism collapsed¹ in Europe and Germany was reunited, many people in the former West Germany saw themselves as being on the right side of history. Many people in the former East Germany wanted to forget their communist past. Now more than 25 years later, a debate over a statue of one of communism's founding fathers, Karl Marx, is dividing a city in western Germany. NPR's Lucian Kim reports from Trier.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHURCH BELLS)

LUCIAN KIM, BYLINE²: There's a saying that in Trier, it's either raining, or the church bells are ringing. Locals were probably saying the same thing 200 years ago when Karl Marx, author of "The Communist Manifesto," was born in this picturesque³ town near the French border. Conservative and Catholic, Trier has long had an ambivalent⁴ view of its most famous son, a radical⁵ revolutionary born into a Jewish family. But earlier this month, the city overwhelmingly voted to put up a 20-foot statue of Marx for the bicentennial of his birth next year.

WOLFRAM LEIBE: (Speaking German).

KIM: That's Trier's mayor, Wolfram Leibe. He says Karl Marx can't be held responsible for the perversion⁶ of his ideas after his death. Leibe says Marx didn't commit any crimes or atrocities⁷. He was a philosopher.

LEIBE: (Speaking German).

KIM: Reiner Marz, one of a handful of councilmembers who voted against the statue, says he has nothing against a Karl Marx monument per se. His problem is that it's a present from China.

REINER MARZ: (Speaking German).

KIM: "The Chinese government tramples⁸ on human rights," Marz says. "I don't want to receive any presents from such a regime." It's no coincidence the statue is coming from China. Not only is the country officially still communist. It's also the largest foreign investor⁹ in Germany and one of the biggest sources of tourists for Trier.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Speaking German).

KIM: A tour guide leads me around Karl Marx's birthplace, a stately three-story townhouse with creaky wooden floors. The museum says a quarter of its visitors are from China. The town reckons it gets up to 150,000 Chinese tourists each year, a number greater than Trier's entire population. That's one reason why so few politicians in this conservative town voted against the Karl Marx monument. Another reason, says Michael Schmitz of Trier's newspaper, is the passage of time.

MICHAEL SCHMITZ: (Speaking German).

KIM: He says a lot of people didn't experience the Cold War personally and only read about communism in history books.

(CROSSTALK)

KIM: Out on Trier's main square, the wine stand is opened after the winter. Over a glass of local Riesling, people open up, like Thorsten Domeier, who moved to Trier from the former East Germany almost 20 years ago. He says he's against the statue.

THORSTEN DOMEIER: (Speaking German).

KIM: Domeier says that for him, communism didn't have any positive aspects. He grew up not too far from an East German town once named after Karl Marx, and, Domeier laughs, it seems he just can't get away from him.

DOMEIER: (Laughter, speaking German).

KIM: "No, no, definitely not." Lucian Kim, NPR News, Trier.

1 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

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 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。

4 ambivalent   

adj.含糊不定的；(态度等)矛盾的

参考例句：

• She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
• Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人，然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。

5 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

6 perversion   

n.曲解；堕落；反常

参考例句：

• In its most general sense,corruption means the perversion or abandonment.就其最一般的意义上说，舞弊就是堕落，就是背离准则。
• Her account was a perversion of the truth.她所讲的歪曲了事实。

7 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 tramples   

踩( trample的第三人称单数 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

9 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。