The Great Wall 万里长城 - 15 (END)

When the British arrived at the emperor's summer residence, they were lavishly¹ entertained and spent days touring its beautiful parks and temples. Macartney(马戛尔尼), a good Englishman and loyal to his king, refused to kowtow to the emperor and provoked a huge scandal at the Chinese court. In their final meeting, the British were asked to bow to a scroll² from the emperor. And when they opened it, its message was pointed³.

"We possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious and have no use for your country's manufactures. Oh, King of England, tremblingly obey and show no negligence⁴." This is a story of pride. Two empires each convinced they were the masters of the universe. One of the British delegates said "In short, we entered Beijing like paupers⁵. We remained in it like prisoners and we quitted it like vagrants⁶."

Humiliated⁷, the British plotted their revenge, knowing full well from all the military intelligence they had gathered that when it came to war, the Chinese were centuries behind the Western world. The Great Wall was obsolete⁸.

A century of Chinese humiliation⁹, civil war, foreign invasions and chaos¹⁰ was to follow. In the 20th century during the turmoil¹¹ of Mao's Cultural Revolution, wonderful stretches of the ancient wall were destroyed.

Today the wall was protected and is an icon¹² for China used in advertisements from cough drops to banking¹³. But preserving and conserving¹⁴ an ancient monument, some 35,000 miles long, is a nightmare for the Chinese. In an era when almost everything on the planet has been mapped, the wall remains¹⁵ so complicated and so vast that not one single accurate map of it exists. All of this is a constant worry to the man who knows the wall better than anyone else. Now in his 60s, Chen Daling spends every day photographing and looking for lost sections of his beloved wall. He worries that no young Chinese scholar is ready to take his place. He worries that the wall would be spoiled by commercial exploitation, and he worries that the more remote parts of the wall would be destroyed simply because no one knows their importance.

As Chen walks across China, he is also walking back in time--as far back as the Emperor Qin and the millions of Chinese who died building the wall. He is afraid they would be forgotten as Chen puts it "they died building the greatest construction ever built by man."

scandal: an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage

bow: prostrate one self

pauper: beggar

cough drop: sweet hard candy containing medication to help stop coughing

1 lavishly   

adv.慷慨地，大方地

参考例句：

• His house was lavishly adorned.他的屋子装饰得很华丽。
• The book is lavishly illustrated in full colour.这本书里有大量全彩插图。

2 scroll   

n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡

参考例句：

• As I opened the scroll,a panorama of the Yellow River unfolded.我打开卷轴时，黄河的景象展现在眼前。
• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements.他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

5 paupers   

n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 )；贫民；贫穷

参考例句：

• The garment is expensive, paupers like you could never afford it! 这件衣服很贵，你这穷鬼根本买不起！ 来自互联网
• Child-friendliest among the paupers were Burkina Faso and Malawi. 布基纳法索，马拉维，这俩贫穷国家儿童友善工作做得不错。 来自互联网

6 vagrants   

流浪者( vagrant的名词复数 )； 无业游民； 乞丐； 无赖

参考例句：

• Police kept a close watch on the vagrants. 警察严密监视那些流浪者。
• O Troupe of little vagrants of the world, leave your footprints in my words. 世界上的一队小小的漂泊者呀，请留下你们的足印在我的文字里。

7 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

8 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

9 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

10 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

11 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

12 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。

13 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

14 conserving   

v.保护，保藏，保存( conserve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Contour planning with or without terracing is effective in conserving both soil and moisture. 顺等高线栽植，无论做或不做梯田对于保持水土都能有效。 来自辞典例句
• Economic savings, consistent with a conserving society and the public philosophy. 经济节约，符合创建节约型社会的公共理念。 来自互联网

15 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。