Opened on New Year’ Day in 1986, the Ancient Culture Street in Tianjin city is 687 meters long, with its architecture imitating the folk style of the Qing Dynasty. Located on the west bank of Haihe River in Nankai District, it is a commercial pedestrian street which is worth visiting. Furthermore, this street is known as the Cradle of Tianjin, and is the first cultural, religious and business centre of the city. In its centre is the famous Tianhou (Heavenly Queen) Temple, more popularly known as Mazu. Antiques, ancient books, traditional handicrafts and folk products are sold here. Additionally, the traditional folk-art Yangliuqing New Year paintings, Niren Zhang’s Colour-Clay Figurines, Wei Kites and Liu Carvings all have their shops there. There are also local snacks such as Chatang Soup, Guobacai, Earhole Fried Cake, etc.

　　【翻譯詞匯】

　　古文化街 the Ancient Culture Street

　　模仿 imitate

　　商業步行街 commercial pedestrian street

　　天津市的發祥地 the Cradle of Tianjin

　　天后宮 Tianhou Temple

　　媽祖廟 Mazu Temple

　　古玩 antique

　　手工藝制品 handicraft

　　民俗用品 folk product

　　楊柳青年畫 Yangliuqing New Year painting

　　泥人張彩塑 Niren Zhang’s Colour-Clay Figurine

　　劉氏磚刻Liu Carving

　　風味小吃 snack

　　茶湯 Chatang Soup

　　鍋巴菜 Guobacai

　　耳朵眼炸糕 Earhole Fried Cake

　　中國通過了第一部物權法，下令對北京的幾百座四合院進行保護。然而，批評家們指出，所謂“保存”常常只是拆掉老房子，然后依照傳統樣式蓋一座新的來代替。馬巖松曾經說過：“現在的做法就是在假造古董，這不好。胡同吸引了很多旅游者，但這里貧困的老住戶要么就像主題公園里的演員，要么就被踢出去，以便富人們可以購買這些房子。老北京的精神正在消亡。”

　　【翻譯詞匯】

　　物權法 property law

　　四合院 courtyard

　　拆掉 knock down

　　代替 replace

　　假古董 fake antique

　　胡同 hutong

　　主題公園 theme park

　　踢出去 kick out

　　消亡 die away

　　China has passed the first property law, ordering to protect Beijing’s hundreds of courtyards. But critics say, so-called “conservation” just means knocking down an old building and replacing it with a structure in a traditional style. For this, Ma Yansong’s opinion is “The way is just to build fake antiques, it is not nice. These hutongs attract many tourists. The poor, old residents are either like actors in a theme park or they are kicked out so that the rich can buy these houses. The spirits of old Beijing are now dying away.”

　　近十年來出現了一個值得深思的現象，人們越來越關注中國的傳統文化，書架上擺滿了詮釋中國古老智慧、講述中華燦爛歷史和傳奇人物的書籍。有些人甚至建議，將國學典籍列為學校必修課程。人們興趣高漲的原因主要有兩方面。首先，那些百年甚至千年未決的歷史懸案勾起了人們極大的好奇心。再者，人們逐漸意識到，古老的中華文化是一座取之不盡的金礦，從中可以發掘很多經驗教訓以應用到實踐中來解決現在的問題。

　　The last decade has witnessed an intriguing phenomenon that people are paying more and more attention to traditional Chinese culture. Their bookshelves are packed with books interpreting ancient Chinese wisdom, depicting its brilliant history and fascinating historic figures. What’s more, suggestions that Chinese classics be made a compulsory course have been made. Two factors may account for people’s up-surging interest. To begin with, tremendous curiosity is aroused by those pending history mysteries of hundreds or even thousands of years. Furthermore, people come to realise that ancient Chinese culture serves as a gold mine from which inexhaustible lessons can be learned and put into practice to solve the current problems.

　　【重點詞匯】

　　值得深思的 intriguing

　　擺滿 be packed with

　　詮釋 interpret

　　講述 depict

　　燦爛歷史 brilliant history

　　傳奇人物 fascinating historic figure

　　國學典籍 Chinese classics

　　必修課程 compulsory course

　　歷史懸案 pending history mystery

　　再者 furthermore

　　金礦 gold mine

　　將…應用到實踐中 put...into practice