VOA双语新闻 National Historic Landmark Status Endangered（在线收听）

As a former frontier mining camp, Tombstone, Arizona has faced its share of threats and calamities over the years, earning it a reputation as "the town too tough to die." Now the southwestern community is dealing with an official warning from the U.S. National Park Service, which says Tombstone could lose its designation as a National Historic Landmark if it does not depict its past in a more accurate way.

美国亚利桑纳州有一个小镇，叫作墓碑镇，TOMBSTONE。多年来，墓碑镇经历了种种危难，为自己赢得了“大难不死之镇”的绰号。现在，这个位于西南部的小镇，又受到美国国家公园管理局的警告。这项警告说，墓碑镇必需真实地介绍该镇的历史，否则就会失去其国家历史地标的称号。

Tombstone is best known as the scene of the 1881 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, where Wyatt Earp, his brothers and their friend Doc Holliday had a fatal shootout with a group of cowboys. Each year, some half a million visitors from around the world come to Tombstone to tour its historic downtown of saloons and stagecoaches, pay their respects to fallen frontiersmen at the Boothill Graveyard, and see dramatic reenactments of Old West history.

墓碑镇最为人所知的就是1881年在OK畜栏发生的枪战。当时怀雅特.厄普、他的兄弟以及他们的同党道克.豪乐迪和一伙牛仔之间发生了致命的交火。每年，都会有大约50万来自世界各地的游客来到墓碑镇，游览镇中心的酒吧和驿站马车，在靴山墓地向逝去的那些当年的边疆先民表示敬意，观赏经过重新演绎、栩栩如生的老西部的故事。

But are visitors getting a completely accurate picture of Tombstone's colorful past? The National Park Service has cited numerous violations of historical authenticity in Tombstone, including structures that have fake building materials or bear dates suggesting they are older than they really are.

游客们看到的是墓碑镇多姿多彩的过去吗？按照美国国家公园管理局的说法，事实并非如此。美国国家公园管理局列举了墓碑镇大量破坏历史真实性的做法，其中包括采用假建筑材料修建的建筑，或者建筑物上所铭刻的虚假日期误导人们相信，该建筑物是老建筑，而实际上根本没有那么长的建成历史。

James Garrison, Arizona's State Historic Preservation Officer, says this is not the first time officials have demanded that Tombstone correct violations. But he believes there is a bigger issue in the town as well. Tombstone became a historic landmark as an example of a silver mining town, and it has important physical remains built after the 1881 gunfight.

亚利桑纳州历史遗迹维护官员詹姆斯.加里森表示，官员们要求墓碑镇改正类似的违规行为，这已经不是第一次了。不过他认为，这个镇子还有一个更大的问题。墓碑镇是以一座当年盛产白银的典型小镇而成为一处历史地标的，而这个镇子还有一些重要的有形历史遗迹是1881年那场枪战后建成的。

"To the tourists, and I think the community leaders, and a lot of the people who gain a livelihood in Tombstone, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is the pinnacle event that draws people to Tombstone, and so there's some desire to restore the town to the point of the gunfight. But at the same time they have a responsibility to preserve the tangible remains of their entire history."

加里森说：“我想对于游客来说，还有对这里的社区领袖以及很多在墓碑镇生活的人们来说，OK畜栏枪战是把游人吸引到墓碑镇的最具传奇色彩的事件。因此，有些人要求把小镇恢复到枪战爆发时的样子。与此同时，他们也有责任维护他们整个历史的真实遗迹。”

But historians and preservationists have a powerful myth to contend with in the form of Hollywood movies like "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," and "Tombstone." Hollis Cook, a retired superintendent for the Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park, says movies have made the town synonymous with the story of Wyatt Earp and the O.K. Corral. "As a historian I would argue that the gunfight itself is really not very important historically at all. Nobody came West because of the gunfight… nobody didn't come West because of the gunfight. But because of Hollywood, it's become very important culturally, and we use it to define ourselves."

但是历史学家和传统古迹保护主义者要抗衡的是以好莱坞电影形式表现出来的虚构传奇。比如在《墓碑镇》这部影片中，由科特.拉塞尔饰演的怀雅特.厄普，由一名警长变成了一位未来的企业家。墓碑镇历史研究学者豪利斯.库克表示，那些电影使墓碑镇变成了怀雅特.厄普以及OK畜栏枪战故事的代名词：“作为一名历史学者，我要表明的是，枪战本身从历史的观点来看，真的根本没有那么重要。没有人是因为枪战而来到西部，也没有人由于枪战就不来西部。但是因为好莱坞，枪战在文化层面变得非常重要，所以，我们干脆用这个来介绍、定义自己。”

Hollis Cook argues that there is plenty of drama to be found in the story of silver prospector Ed Schieffelin, who started a mining camp at the Tombstone site in 1877. "Someone told him all you'll ever find over there will be your tombstone, hence the name of the town. And over a period of time millions in 1880 dollars were taken out of the hill over here, and it would amount to billions in today's money. That's really the importance to history of Tombstone."

库克说，有很多戏剧描写的都是探矿先驱埃德.席费林的故事。席费林1877年在墓碑镇开设了第一个采矿营地：“有人曾经告诉他说，‘你在那里能找到的将只有你的墓碑。’这就是这座小镇名字的由来。可是过了一段时间之后，到了1880年的时候，从这儿的小山里，开采出价值成百上千万美元的白银。那些钱现在折合下来有几十亿美元之多。对于墓碑镇的历史来说，这才是真正重要的事件。”

A different perspective comes from Robert Love, whose family has owned the O.K. Corral site since 1963. Even if the gunfight was not a turning point in western history, Mr. Love calls the O.K. Corral saga an "archetype" of bigger themes in America's frontier past. "On the one hand you had the Earps. They were Republicans. They represented big business. On the other hand you had the cowboys. They were ranchers. They were Democrats. The cowboys controlled the territory around the town politically, but businesses from the East were trying to come in and make the town a place where capitalism could flourish. And these two quite different philosophies met at the O.K. Corral."

罗伯特.拉弗则抱有不同的观点。自从1963年起，他的家庭就一直拥有OK畜栏的遗址。拉弗是“墓碑镇历史性冒险”组织的成员。他认为，即使OK畜栏枪战不是西部历史的转折点，OK畜栏的传奇故事也堪称美国开拓边疆历史这一更大主题的一个原型和缩影。“一方面，我们这里过去有很多厄普式的人物，他们就是今天的共和党人。他们代表了大公司企业。另一方面，我们当年又有牛仔。他们是牧场主，他们算是今天的民主党人。这些牛仔在政治上控制着小镇周围的这片领地，但是来自东部的商业势力试图进入这个地方，把这个小镇变成一个资本主义繁荣昌盛、大行其道的地方。这两种相当不同的哲学理念在OK畜栏相遇，发生了碰撞。”

Mr. Love says Tombstone is also battling dilemmas faced by other historic American towns. "Competing against I-pods and computer games has become very difficult. You also have to recall that in the 1950s, when Tombstone had its rebirth, half the television programs on primetime were (about) cowboys. Today there are almost no cowboy movies around. And so the town has to try to maintain its history and yet offer things to a younger generation."

拉弗认为，墓碑镇同样在应对美国其它历史上有名的城镇所面临的两难处境：“与I-POD随身听和电脑游戏盛行的现代社会相抗衡变得非常困难。你得回想一下上个世纪50年代的情景。当时墓碑镇再次复兴，黄金时段一半的电视节目都和牛仔有关。但是今天几乎已经没有牛仔电影。所以墓碑镇在保持自己的历史风貌的同时，还要向年轻一代提供一些具有吸引力的东西。”

Even tourists disagree as to whether Tombstone is living up to its fabled past. Hermann, who comes from Germany, says this is his second visit to the town, and he's enthusiastic. "This is the original Old West town. It's not the town that's built for show."

至于墓碑镇是否仍然保持着历史的风貌，甚至连游客也有不同的看法。来自德国的游客赫尔曼说，这是他第二次造访这个小镇：“这是原汁原味的西部小镇。而不是为了装模作样，供人游览修建的镇子。”

But Paul McKissack, of Williamsburg, Virginia, complains he finds Tombstone too commercial. "Seeing the streets paved over rather than in dirt, it just gives me the reaction of another tourist trap."

来自维吉尼亚州威廉斯堡的保罗.麦基萨克却觉得墓碑镇商业气息太浓：“看着这儿的街道铺砌一新，而不是原始的土路，就让我觉得，这里不过是又一个蒙骗游客的陷阱。”

There is an added factor in the Tombstone debate, says State Preservation Officer James Garrison, and that is the needs of the local population. Some 1700 people live in Tombstone, and their numbers are growing. "How do you add to the ambience of the town," asks Mr. Garrison, "without creating this unauthentic place? The actual amenities for the local resident are rather few in the historic commercial area. It's almost totally turned over to tourism, and that's part of the issue. Do they still have a real town, or has it become that proverbial Disneyland or Wild West showcase?"

亚利桑纳州历史遗迹维护官员詹姆斯.加里森表示，有关墓碑镇的辩论还有另外一个考虑因素，那就是当地居民的需要。现在墓碑镇有大约1700名居民，而且居民的人数在不断增加。加里森说：“不创建这样一个不大符合历史原貌的地方，怎么能够增添这个小镇的气氛呢？在游人参观的旅游商业地带，可供当地居民休闲生活的东西很少。整个小镇几乎都成为旅游业的天下，这就是问题的部分所在。他们还拥有一个真正的小镇吗？还是这个镇子已经变成众人皆知的迪斯尼乐园，抑或狂野西部的展示窗口？”

Tombstone has until 2007 to comply with National Park Service demands and retain its historic landmark status. As it deals with those demands this year, it will also celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral -- making it a time to consider the competing claims of 19th century history and a 21st century community.

在2007年之前，墓碑镇必须遵照美国国家公园管理局的要求行事，才能够保持它的历史地标地位。今年在应对这些要求的同时，墓碑镇还将庆祝OK畜栏枪战发生125周年。这给墓碑镇的人们提供了一个契机，来思考在保存19世纪的历史和建设21世纪的社区这两种相互冲突的需求方面，如何找出妥善的解决方案。