Who should pay for the preservation of historic buildings?

I think it’s primarily the government’s responsibility to fund the preservation of historic buildings because these buildings are considered state-owned properties and are managed by the local authorities, and conversely, if there’s any revenue generated from opening the place up for tourism, it goes to them as well, therefore, they should be the ones that pay for the maintenance of buildings of historical importance.

• to fund 提供资金
• state-owned properties 国有资产
• managed by 由……管理
• local authorities 当地政府
• revenue generated from 产生营收
• the maintenance of 保养和维护
• historical importance 历史重要性

Who should be responsible for protecting historic buildings?

In this sense, I think it is everybody’s responsibility as they are part of the cultural heritage, for which we all belong to, so, subsequently, the government, private entities, and regular citizens should all have some obligation to protect historic buildings, and I think this can even go as far as the public donating money to certain organizations that help with the upkeep of some of these buildings.

So, from the government side, they can fund, manage, and maintain such spots, but for us regular folk, we can help by not damaging these buildings, for instance, by not defacing the walls or damaging any part of the structure.

• cultural heritage 文化遗传
• private entities 私人机构
• regular citizens 普通公民
• donating money 捐款
• the upkeep of 保养
• regular folk 普通人
• defacing 损伤外貌

Is it difficult to protect and preserve historic buildings?

I’m not quite sure, but I would have to imagine that they are, yes, as most of these buildings were constructed with stone and wood at least one hundred or even hundreds, or maybe even thousands of years ago, and even though they’ve survived throughout the ages, they are more vulnerable than modern concrete structures from the elements. Other than the buildings themselves, many historic drawings are found in some of these structures, making it even more challenging to protect and preserve them.

As a result, preserving buildings of historic importance demands efforts in both monetary form and in expertise, so, come to think of it, I believe it’s probably quite a monumental task to fund, manage, preserve, maintain, and protect these historical sites.

• constructed 建造
• stone and wood 石头和木料
• survived 存活
• throughout the ages 千秋万代；在过去的岁月里
• vulnerable 脆弱的
• modern 现代的
• concrete structures 混凝土结构
• historic drawings 历史图案
• challenging 挑战的
• in monetary form 钱财的形式
• expertise 专业知识/技能
• a monumental task 艰巨的任务

What are the differences between learning history from books and videos?

Hmmm, that’s an interesting question, but I think the differences lie in two aspects in my opinion.

One huge contrast is, of course, the degree of interest. Compared with books, videos are equipped with visual and sound effects, and therefore, for many people, make them more engaging.

On the other hand, and especially if one actually has some sort of interest in history, then books are probably more fascinating as they can contain details that one probably won’t come across in a short video. So I would say those are two of the main differences, one is visual and perhaps ‘fun’, one can say, and the other is more detailed and allows one to have moments of clarity, or perhaps, realizations about the past.

• degree of interest 感兴趣的程度
• equipped with 含有
• sound effects 音效
• engaging 吸引人的
• interest in 对……的兴趣
• fascinating 迷人的
• come across 遇到
• moments of clarity 清醒的时刻
• realizations 领会；领悟