[ti:Ancient Mexican City Threatened by New Building] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]An illegal building project [00:02.88]is threatening one of North America's greatest treasures: [00:08.60]the ancient pyramids in central Mexico. [00:12.68]The project may harm the remains of temples [00:16.88]and about 24 other ancient buildings. [00:22.40]The illegal project is next to the Teotihuacan archeological area. [00:30.00]Building anything new there is illegal. [00:34.20]The owner of the land, however, has ignored orders [00:38.80]from Mexico's antiquities organization (INAH) [00:44.32]to stop for the past two months. [00:47.40]Many Mexicans are angry [00:50.00]that officials are failing to protect the ruins of Teotihuacan, [00:56.08]a place visited every year by large numbers of people. [01:00.80]Reuters news agency was unable to find or question the owner, [01:07.20]whose name has not been made public. [01:11.16]Rogelio Rivero Chong is the director of Teotihuacan's archeological area. [01:20.04]He said the failure by police to stop the project [01:23.96]showed the property owner's "total impunity." [01:29.44]In late April, the INAH brought a complaint to the government. [01:35.92]Federal prosecutors charged the owner [01:39.32]with "damage to archeological patrimony." [01:43.24]In recent weeks, the INAH documented [01:47.84]ongoing building in the area by 60 workers. [01:52.64]That information came from Mexico's Cultural Ministry. [01:57.52]However, the prosecutors' office [02:00.16]did not answer Reuters' questions about the case. [02:04.96]Teotihuacan is about 50 kilometers northeast of Mexico City. [02:11.28]It once was home to about 100,000 people [02:15.88]who mostly lived in colorful stone houses. [02:20.12]People lived in that city at about the same time that Mayan culture [02:25.84]had reached a high level to the south. [02:29.20]But Teotihuacan is known for its own art and architecture. [02:35.68]It grew rich for a period of 600 years until about 550 [02:42.60]because of trading with other cities. [02:46.00]It had an economy built on creating goods [02:49.80]such as clothing and metal blades, or knives. [02:54.00]Rivero Chong said officials have struggled [02:58.04]for years to stop illegal building. [03:00.84]The building is often done at night [03:03.68]and local government officials often arrive too late, he said. [03:08.68]A tall wall surrounds the illegal building area. [03:13.20]It is in what is believed to be one of the ancient city's oldest parts. [03:19.52]A past archeological report said the area held [03:23.96]at least three temples and 25 other ancient buildings. [03:30.00]Teotihuacan was named a world heritage site [03:34.88]by the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, in 1987. [03:41.20]The naming requires government protection [03:44.80]of the area, said Rivero Chong. [03:48.44]In recent days, a number of leading archeological experts [03:53.36]have asked the government to act. [03:56.08]"For me, this really hurts," said Linda Manzanilla. [04:01.44]She is a Teotihuacan archeologist [04:05.64]with Mexico's National Autonomous University. [04:10.04]During one of her projects there in the 1980s, [04:14.68]she found a housing complex in Oztoyahualco [04:19.72]where workers once lived. [04:21.88]It was next to a workshop [04:24.08]near the three temples that are now under threat. [04:28.08]She said the latest illegal building is in an area [04:32.16]just west of the Moon Pyramid. [04:35.52]Near the illegal work, [04:37.20]other research has found beautifully colored ancient buildings [04:41.48]that were created around the central spaces of the city. [04:47.00]"It's very likely that there are very large complexes there," she said. [04:53.64]I'm Susan Shand. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM