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The lights are blazing from the world's largest
floating Christmas tree -- a gigantic metal structure as tall as a
27-storey tower block set on a lagoon in Rio de Janeiro.
With the mountain-top Christ the Redeemer statue looking down on it,
the 82-meter tree stands as a brightly flashing symbol of peace in one of
the world's most violent cities.
"We're competing with all the violent news from Rio to show the world
what a marvelous city it is," Roberto Medina, the project's creator, told
reporters during a boat tour on the Rodrigo Freitas lagoon on Tuesday
night.
The tree features moving images of church bells and doves flickering
from nearly 3 million lights.
The Christmas tree, first erected in 1996, constitutes Rio de Janeiro's
third biggest tourist event after the pre-lenten Carnival and New Year's
Eve on Copacabana and other beaches.
Some 100,000 people came to watch on Saturday night when the lights
were switched on and more than a million are expected to view the
structure before the lights are turned off on Jan. 6.
"It's beautiful. Rio isn't just shootings and killings," said Sandra
Gomes de Faria, a 51-year-old retired telephone operator.
Around 1,300 workers were hired to assemble the tree, constructed from
410 tons of metal scaffolding
supported by 11 barges.
Bradesco Seguros e Previdencia, Brazil's largest insurance company,
spent 2 million reais on the project.
The Guinness Book of Records lists it as the world's largest floating
Christmas tree.
In comparison, the Christmas tree in New York's Rockefeller Center is
71 feet tall and has 30,000 lights, although it is a real Norwegian
spruce.
Rio, which has one of the world's highest murder rates, was rocked by
violence last week as rival drug gangs fought for control of drug
distribution points in city slums.
(Agencies) |
世界上最大的“水上圣誕樹(shù)”上燈火閃耀——這棵金屬結(jié)構(gòu)的巨大圣誕樹(shù)有27層樓那么高，聳立在巴西里約熱內(nèi)盧市環(huán)礁湖的湖面上。
在坐落于基督山頂上的耶穌神像的俯視下，這棵82米高的大樹(shù)矗立著，成為里約熱內(nèi)盧市——世界上最不安定的城市之一——里一個(gè)熠熠生輝的和平符號(hào)。
“我們正在和里約熱內(nèi)盧的一切暴力消息做斗爭(zhēng)，向世界展示這是一個(gè)多么神奇和偉大的城市。”周二晚，這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的策劃人羅伯托·梅迪納泛舟羅德里戈湖（Rodrigo
Freitas）時(shí)對(duì)記者說(shuō)。
這棵“樹(shù)”用將近300萬(wàn)顆燈泡設(shè)計(jì)出變化生動(dòng)的景象，如忽隱忽現(xiàn)的教堂風(fēng)鈴和揮動(dòng)翅膀的鴿子。
這棵圣誕樹(shù)始建于1996年，成為里約熱內(nèi)盧繼大齋戒前的狂歡節(jié)、新年前夕盛會(huì)（在科帕卡巴納等海灘上舉辦的煙火表演）之后的第三大旅游盛事。
約有10萬(wàn)人觀看了星期六晚上的亮燈儀式，預(yù)計(jì)1月6日滅燈之前，還將有100多萬(wàn)人前來(lái)觀賞這座建筑物。
“它很美麗。里約熱內(nèi)盧并不僅僅意味著槍擊和殺戮。”51歲的退休話務(wù)員桑德拉·戈梅斯·德法里婭說(shuō)。
這棵圣誕樹(shù)是用410噸重的金屬臺(tái)架搭成的，整個(gè)組裝工程動(dòng)用了11艘駁船（來(lái)運(yùn)輸材料），雇傭了大約1300名工人。
巴西最大的保險(xiǎn)公司Bradesco Seguros e Previdencia為這個(gè)項(xiàng)目投保200萬(wàn)雷亞爾（巴西貨幣單位）。
《吉尼斯世界紀(jì)錄大全》將它收錄為世界上最大的“水上圣誕樹(shù)”。
相比之下，紐約洛克非勒中心的圣誕樹(shù)只有71英尺高，上面點(diǎn)綴著3萬(wàn)只燈泡，盡管那是一棵真正的挪威云杉。
里約熱內(nèi)盧市擁有世界上最高的謀殺率，上個(gè)周又遭到了暴力行為的震撼——兩幫販毒團(tuán)伙在城市的貧民區(qū)為爭(zhēng)奪對(duì)毒品分散據(jù)點(diǎn)的控制權(quán)展開(kāi)械斗。
（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2004-12-06 10:12
