英语新闻丨US youths' visit refreshes ties of several decades

At many tourist attractions in China, red ribbons that bear visitors' signatures and auspicious phrases, such as wishes for career success or a healthy family, are tied to trees, handrails and other objects for good luck.在中国的许多旅游景点，人们会把带有游客签名和吉祥语(如对事业成功或家庭健康的祝愿)的红丝带系在树木、扶手和其他物品上，以求好运。The red ribbons proved popular on Saturday among a United States delegation of students from Muscatine High School in the US state of Iowa and their Chinese peers from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School in Hebei province.红丝带在美国爱荷华州马斯卡廷高中和河北省石家庄外国语学校的美国学生代表团中很受欢迎。While gathering around a kiosk selling the red ribbons at Longxing Temple in Zhengding county, Hebei, the high-spirited students could be heard exclaiming "Look what I've got","Put it here", or "I love this one!"在河北正定县龙兴寺，兴致勃勃的学生们聚集在一个卖红丝带的小摊旁，大声喊着“看我得到了什么”、“放在这里”或“我喜欢这个!”Known for its outstanding architecture, frescoes and stone sculptures, the famous Buddhist temple is a national-level cultural heritage protection site.这座著名的佛教寺庙以其杰出的建筑、壁画和石雕而闻名，是国家级文化遗产保护单位。It has been well preserved, thanks to the efforts of people including President Xi Jinping when he was deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China's Zhengding county committee in 1982-83 and secretary from 1983 to 1985.由于习近平总书记在1982-83年担任正定县委副书记和1983 - 1985年担任正定县委书记期间的努力，龙兴寺得到了很好的保护。At that time, Xi spent a great deal of time and energy to get a special fund allocated to the county for the restoration of ancient buildings and sites, including Longxing Temple.当时，总书记花费了大量的时间和精力，为正定县争取到了一笔专项资金，用于修复古建筑和遗址，其中就包括龙兴寺。Xi was also among those who worked on building the bonds between Zhengding and the Iowa city of Muscatine, as he led a five-person delegation to places including Muscatine during a visit to the US in 1985.总书记致力于建立正定和爱荷华州马斯卡廷市之间关系，他在1985年访问美国期间率领一个五人代表团访问了马斯卡廷等地。During the students' short stay at the serene temple before dinnertime on Saturday, the young people from China and the US were able to leave a mark of their new friendship.晚饭前，学生们在这座宁静的寺庙短暂停留期间，来自中美两国的年轻人留下了他们新友谊的印记。Three of the US students partnered with three Chinese girls to buy a red ribbon.三个美国学生和三个中国女孩共同买了一条红丝带。Yuan Yifan, one of the three third-year high school girls from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School, paid for the red ribbon, which cost her 10 yuan ($1.38).来自石家庄外国语学校的三名高三女生袁一凡花了10元(1.38美元)买了这条红丝带。Printed in yellow on the ribbon were two phrases in Chinese -"splendid future" and "accomplishments in career". Red and yellow are auspicious colors that are frequently used in Chinese art.丝带上用黄色印着两句中文——“锦绣前程”和“事业有成”。红色和黄色是中国艺术中经常使用的吉祥色。The six girls got along well during their trip in recent days, so they all signed their names on the same red ribbon and used their phones to take some photos, and then Yuan tied the ribbon to one of the large trees in the temple's courtyard.这6个女孩在最近几天的旅行中相处得很好，所以她们都在同一条红丝带上签名，并用手机拍了一些照片，然后袁一凡把丝带绑在寺庙院子里的一棵大树上。"I just made a wish for health and good luck and to be happy in future college years for every one of us," said Yuan.袁一凡说：“我许愿大家在未来的大学生活中健康、好运、快乐。”The three girls from the US knew one another before the visit, as did their three Chinese peers.这六个中美的孩子在访问前就相互认识了。"The six of us got acquainted with and knew one another better in a natural process," Yuan said.袁一凡说：“我们六个人顺其自然地了解和熟悉彼此。” Leiah Marie Lobdell, one of the girls from Muscatine, said,"We have grown close in little time. They are all amazing people."来自马斯卡廷的女孩莉亚·玛丽·洛德尔说：“我们在很短的时间内变得很亲密。她们都是优秀的人。”Lin Yihang, another Chinese girl in the group of six friends, noted that she had visited the temple when she was younger.另一位中国女孩林毅航说，她小时候曾参观过这座寺庙。"We have gained a brand-new understanding of this place by traveling alongside our American friends and being their tour guides. We want to bring them closer to our culture, including the religious culture," Lin said.“通过和我们的美国朋友一起旅行和做她们的导游，我们对这个地方有了全新的了解。我们想让她们更了解我们的文化，包括宗教文化。”"We had not anticipated that we could be such great friends as facilitated by this tour," she added.她补充说：“我们没有预料到这次旅行会让我们成为这么好的朋友。”Caydn Alexys Caliger, another girl from Muscatine High School, said the Buddhist statues and frescoes in the temple were a little strange to her.另一名来自马斯卡廷高中的女孩卡丹·阿列克谢斯·卡利格说，寺庙里的佛像和壁画对她来说有点陌生。"It (the temple) was very beautiful. I saw a lot of interesting things and I wanted to learn more about the culture here," Caliger added.“寺庙非常漂亮。我看到了很多有趣的细节，我想更多地了解这里的文化。”The US student delegation is the second one sent by Muscatine High School this year. The first delegation visited in January.美国学生代表团是马斯卡廷高中今年派出的第二个代表团。第一个代表团于1月份访问。The visits are part of a program announced by President Xi in November in San Francisco to invite 50,000 young people from the US to China over the following five years for exchange and study.此次访问是习近平总书记去年11月在旧金山宣布的邀请5万名美国青年在未来5年内来华交流和学习的计划的一部分。Xi wrote a reply letter to the first Muscatine High School delegation in February and sent them a Chinese New Year greeting card.习近平总书记在2月份给马斯卡廷高中第一届代表团写了一封回信，并寄给他们一张中国新年贺卡。The second delegation arrived in Beijing on Wednesday before going to Hebei, and the trip will also take them to Shanghai on Monday, the last leg of their China tour.第二批代表团于4月17日抵达北京，然后前往河北，他们还将于4月22日抵达上海——中国之行的最后一站。Culture, nature and friendship were among the highlights of their visit to Hebei from Friday to Monday.文化、自然和友谊是他们本次访问河北的亮点。They went to the Shijiazhuang Zoo to see the giant pandas, toured the Hebei Museum to experience ancient Chinese culture and watched the China Impression multimedia musical performance presented by teachers and students from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School.他们去了石家庄动物园看大熊猫，参观了河北博物馆，体验了中国古代文化，观看了石家庄外国语学校师生的“中国印象”多媒体音乐演出。Students from both nations witnessed the inauguration of the China-US Friendship Youth Woods on Saturday at a park in Zhengding and planted trees, including American red maples.20日，来自两国的学生在正定的一个公园见证了中美友谊青年森林的落成典礼，并种植了包括美国红枫在内的树木。"I was greatly amazed by the creative idea of planting the woods. The trees will grow, and so will the kids," said William Zhang, a professor of English language studies at Des Moines Area Community College in Iowa and chair of the Iowa Sister States Hebei Committee.爱荷华州得梅因地区社区学院的英语语言研究教授、爱荷华州姐妹州河北委员会主席威廉·张表示：“我对种植树木的创意感到非常惊讶。树会长大，孩子们也会长大。”"I told the American students,'Don't forget to travel back here after you grow up and have another look at the trees you planted'," he added.“我告诉美国孩子们，‘别忘了长大后再来这里看看你们种的树’。” auspicious吉祥的，吉利的religious culture宗教文化