10-1 爱长城的好汉

The Man Who Cherishes 2 the Great Wall

Zhao Wei: It has been 18 years since you traveled along the Great Wall on foot in 1987 and became attached to it after the travel. Why do you choose the Great Wall as your deepest love among those famous historic 3 sites all over the world?

William Lindesay: After my long journey in 1987, I’d traveled two and a half thousand kilometers between Jiayuguan and Shanhaiguan. Along the way, I discovered that there’s so much Great Wall in China. There’s not just the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty. There’s Great Wall built by other dynasties. So I found I was on the edge of a very very interesting subject. Most people see the Great Wall as a tourist place, but I see the Great Wall as a subject in Chinese history. You know, I study geography, and I like photography, I like writing, I like traveling. So a journey along the wall challenged me in all these areas. And I finally found something that was for me.

Zhao: It seems that the protection for historic sites can hardly give you a sense of accomplishment 4, because there will be no end to vandalism1 or natural damage to historic sites. What we could do is just maintain 5 the status quo2, and the renewal 6 of their original appearance is almost impossible. What do you think of the significance of protection work?

William Lindesay: Well, Great Wall is a completely unique conservation challenge, because it’s so enormous 7. If the government in China puts lots of money to protect the Great Wall, they would have to spend more than that they’ ll spend on the Olympic Games, more than they spent fighting against SARS. It would be a huge investment 8. I think what we ought to do is look at the Great Wall and decide what can be done. Of course everybody coming to China wants to see the Great Wall, so it must be a tourist place. I think there should be a few tourist places where the wall is rebuilt. But beyond the tourist places, there are thousands of kilometers of wild wall, which has become overgrown with bushes. It’s crumbling3. The ashes of the towers are falling down. I think the Great Wall now is like an 80-year-old man. In some places, it’s still standing 9, but really unless there’ s some good medicine, most of it won’ t be standing in the next fifty or a hundred years. So it’ s a modern threat. What you said is quite correct. We can’t expect to return the wall to the state it was. What we can help to do is just to make it last longer, and save the best parts that are left, even that will take a lot of money, a lot of new expertise 10, a lot of good management, a lot of understanding.

Zhao: You and your group “International Friends of the Great Wall” have sponsored4 and organized a series of volunteer activities to protect the Great Wall. What achievements have you made?

William Lindesay: In some areas it seems like that the achievement is tiny. It’s like one hundred meter in a thousand kilometer long race. For example, garbage is a world problem. But I think we have to start somewhere, even though the task is enormous. So today we had an activity involving children. We asked them to make a drawing of the Wall, write a hundred words, and come up with a slogan. I think if we make children environmentalists, when the children grow up, this problem is certainly going to become smaller. I think it’s very important to teach children. Teaching 12 them is parents’ most important job. In other areas of Great Wall conservation, we are also making a start. We will have a program soon to explore for good reasonably low cost way of saving 13 towers which will probably collapse 14 in the next few decades. So we are moving from just environmental problem of garbage into conservation research. And I’ m always meeting with officials in Beijing to give them reports and photographs, and express my opinion.

Zhao: What kind of role the common citizens are playing in historic sites protection and environment protection? In turn, what’s the benefit of those activities to them?

William Lindesay: Well, I think there are many benefits. I came from England, and know if people in England feel something could be better, they get involved. For example, if the residents 15 feel the beach by their home is becoming polluted, they will start an organization called “Friends of the Coast.” And they will get together maybe two or three times a year for a group of activities. This shows the local government and the national government that people care, this is important. If everyone feels the world belongs to them, they will look after the world. But if people feel as though the world is outside of their spirit thinking, they will destroy the world.

Zhao: “International Friends of the Great Wall” is a volunteer group. Today, many Chinese young people become interested in volunteer works 16. What should they do if they want to take part in your activities?

William Lindesay: It’s very easy. To register 17, you just need to fill a form with your name, address, phone number and email address. And write a few sentences about what you feel about protecting the Great Wall and protecting our nature environment. And then you pay 50 yuan, and you get a T–shirt. On the front, we have a very famous sentence of Chairman Mao Zedong, which we change a little. He said, “Bu dao chang cheng fei hao han,” which means “who are we if we can’ t reach the Great Wall.” And we changed it to, “Bu ai chang cheng fei hao han,” which means “ who are we if we can’ t cherish 1 the Great Wall.”

注释：

1. vandalism [5vAndEli z(E)m] n. 故意毁坏文物的行为

2. status quo [5steitEs 5kwEJ] n.（拉）现状

3. crumble 18 [5krQmbl] vi. 崩溃，瓦解，消失

4. sponsor 11 [5spCnsE] vt. 发起，举办，主办

爱长城的好汉

赵巍：自1987年您徒步跋涉长城并与长城结缘已有18年之久。世界各国有不少名胜古迹，您为什么独独钟情于中国长城？

威廉·林赛：在1987年的漫长旅程结束后，我已经在嘉峪关至山海关间走过了2500公里的路程。沿途，我发现中国的长城太多了。不仅有明长城，还有其他朝代建造的长城。因此我意识到自己快要找到一个非常非常有意思的题材。大多数人把长城看作一个旅游景点，但我认为长城是一个有关中国历史的题材。要知道，我是研究地理的，而且我喜欢摄影、写作和旅游。因此沿长城旅行在所有这些方面对我都是个挑战。我最终找到了适合我的事情。

赵：看来，古迹保护工作几乎不能给您带来成就感，因为古迹会不断地遭到人为或自然的破坏。我们所能做的只是保持现状，几乎不可能恢复原貌。在您看来保护工作的意义是什么呢？

威廉·林赛：长城在古迹保护方面具有非常特殊的挑战性，因为它太庞大了。如果中国政府投入大量资金保护长城，那花的钱会比举办奥运会的还要多，比抗击非典的还要多。这将是巨大的投资。我认为，我们应该做的事情就是察看一下长城，决定能做什么。当然，每个到中国来的人都想看看长城，因此长城肯定是旅游景点。我想应该在重建的长城段上设立一些旅游景点，但在这些景点之外还有数千公里的野长城。这些长城树丛密布，正在不断倒塌，烽火台的废墟正在不断塌陷。我认为长城现在就像个80岁的老人。有些地方还是耸立着的，但实际上，如果没有很好的救护措施，它的大部分将会在50年或100年之内倒掉，所以这是一个新的威胁。你说得很对，我们不可能期望把长城恢复到原来的状态。我们所能做的只是帮助它保存得更久，并把现存的最好部分保留下来，即使这需要很多的资金、很多的新技术、很多的良好管理以及很多的理解。

赵：您与您的“长城国际之友”发起和组织了一系列保护长城的志愿活动。这些活动都取得了哪些成效？

威廉·林赛：在某些方面看起来成就很小，就像1000公里长跑赛中的100米。例如，垃圾是个世界性的问题。但我认为我们必须从某些地方着手，即使这个任务非常艰巨。因此，我们今天举办了一个活动，让孩子参与其中。我们让孩子们画一张长城的画，写100字关于长城的文章，以及提出一条口号。我想如果我们让孩子们成为环保主义者，那么他们长大后这个问题肯定会有所缓解。我认为教育孩子是很重要的。教育他们是家长最重要的工作。在保护长城的其他方面，我们也开始行动起来。我们将很快制定一项计划，寻找一种合理的低成本方法来保护那些在今后几十年很可能会倒塌的烽火台。这样，我们就从环境方面的垃圾问题转移到保护研究方面。而且我经常与北京的政府官员会面，向他们提交报告和照片，阐述我的意见。

赵：普通老百姓在文物古迹和环境保护事业中起什么作用呢？参与这些保护活动又会给普通市民带来哪些益处？

威廉·林赛：我认为有很多好处。我来自英国，知道英国人如果觉得什么事可以变得更好的话，他们就参与其中。比如，如果居民觉得离家不远的海滩正在遭受污染，他们就会成立一个组织，叫“海滩之友”，然后每年可能集会两到三次，举行一系列的活动。这些活动向当地政府和国家政府表明，人们关注这件事，它很重要。如果每个人都觉得这个世界是属于他们的，那么他们就会看护好这个世界。但如果人们觉得世界好像与他们的思想不相干，那么他们就会摧毁这个世界。

赵：“长城国际之友”是一个志愿者组织，目前，中国许多年轻人开始对志愿活动感兴趣，如果他们要想参加你们的活动他们应该怎么做？

威廉·林赛：很简单，入会只需填一个表格，把你的姓名、地址、电话和电子邮件地址写上。然后写几句话，谈谈你对保护长城和保护自然环境有什么感想，再交50元钱，你将得到一件T恤衫。T恤衫的正面印有一句毛泽东主席的名言，我们把它改了一下。毛主席说：“不到长城非好汉，”我们把它改成了“不爱长城非好汉”。