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I remember the exact project of making paper for people in the first grade. It was a hard project, but we had buddies or older kids to help us. The objective was to build teamwork among the younger kids, but for most, all it proved was frustration. Obviously, no one threw a temper tantrum, luckily. With a few grinding teeth and banging of hands, the entire class got through it without having a single crying student. We were proud of our great, ugly creation of a person, with its triangle eyes and the misshapen body. It was put up on display for weeks, showing the school our amazing accomplishments. And for once, it felt good to be a first-grader, to do something rewarding.

Then we were told to crumble the project up.

Germany has a bad history regarding the best of people's safety, to put it lightly. And the fact that the world agrees strongly with this idea makes things much, much worse for the citizens of Germany. Berlin is probably the most affected city by WWII, assuming the city is not the one that has been bombed to the ground. Well, I shouldn't say that, since Berlin nearly was bombed to ashes during the Second war. Most of the city was turned to rubble, and right after the war, the four major powers of the Allies, France, the US, Britain, and the former USSR, broke up Berlin, and the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961. According to my mom who has been here several times over the past two decades, the wall had impacted the sides so much that the map might be shown a political border. It may as well have been said that East and West Berlin were two different countries. Looking at things today, they are quite similar to one another. This was the first sign of unifying and rebuilding in the city. Another small sign was the digging up of bombs. At the local Allied Museum, our tour group viewed three bombs. Don't worry, and the gunpowder has been removed, as you are reading this entry right now. Two were from the war, but one bomb was dug up after the war in a nearby area. Even today, the bombs from the Nazis have continuously been found around Berlin, whether they were discovered by the detection or blown up, I have no idea.

The main theme of the city came during the final phase of the tour when we went around Berlin taking quick photo stops. During the Second war, most of the city's known landmarks were turned into craters. Since the division of the wall in the cold war, either side needed its own necessities. The opera house had two, as the east side lacked one after the wall and vice versa with many other buildings and public services. But after the wall came down, most of the doubles used the larger or more popular one, since the city has become one again.

Probably the largest change of all would be the decimation of the wall. When Mom was here soon after it was torn down in 1989, pieces of the wall were still furnished, and the border between the two old sections was very visible. Now, the Berlin Wall has been completely torn down, and the standing parts are rusted and falling apart. The city has also blended, mixing the two different cultures together, and breaking down the old international barriers that have been set ages ago. The city was recovering from the wounds of WWII, and it takes tremendous courage to be those who have forgiven the past.

Well, the paper people were mostly thrown in the trash after the project, but the topic was not to show how paper needed to be recycled. Although it is a good lesson, the real point was that after the paper was crumpled up, it could be smoothed out, yet the wrinkles could never be set to perfection. The city of Berlin is a paper man, and it has been crumbled up, leaving scars that cannot be taken away. People have begun to smooth it out, taking away what wrinkles can be removed, but there will always be the scars of the past into the future.

Berlin is a city of surprises, like Germany itself: a rich past, a hopeful future, and a delightful present.

【红霞译文】

我对小学一年级折叠纸人仍然记忆犹新，当时觉得手工很难，幸亏有师兄学姐及时相助，开设这项课题的目的在于培养师弟学妹们之间团队合作意识，不过对大多数年幼无知的新生而言，收获最大的莫过于直面挫折，好在无人乱发脾气，顶多牙齿磨得咯吱响，拳头手掌对击得噼里啪啦，没有一位同学哭过鼻子，最后总算完成了任务，我们无不为了不起的丑纸人而感到骄傲，它生有三角眼，长得奇形怪状，在学校展览数周，全校师生都看到了这件杰作，作为刚踏入校门的孩子，有生以来头一次获得认可，心里还是美滋滋的。

展览完毕，我们的作品被拆除扔掉。

婉转一点说德国历史上在保障人权自由方面可谓劣迹斑斑，因此而殃及日耳曼民族，并把他们推进恐怖的深渊，柏林大概是第二次世界大战中蒙受蹂躏最厉害的城市，暂且撇开被夷成平地的废墟不说。呃，我真不该哪壶不开提哪壶，二战期间柏林差一点就被炸成灰烬，到处满目疮痍；二战结束后，由法国，美国，英国，前苏联等四大获胜国组成的盟军把柏林一分为二，致使柏林墙于1961年拔地而起，预示着两大阵营的冷战正式拉开序幕。过去廿多年，妈妈曾几度专访柏林，深切意识到这个被东德人称之为反法西斯防卫墙的人造工事象征着德国政治分裂，那时东、西柏林俨若两个国家。廿六年后的今天，柏林已消除不同上层建筑所造成的意识形态差异，这是统一柏林重建家园的首要标志；其次要清除炸弹，在当地“盟军博物馆”里，导游带我们参观三个炸弹，别担心，你读到这里就会发现所有的弹药均被掏空，其中两个炸弹来自二战，第三个炸弹则是战后从附近发现的；即使当下，纳粹埋在柏林地区的炸弹始终不停地被挖掘出来，我搞不明白它们究竟是被探测器扫到的还是自爆的。

最后我们游览了柏林重要景点，趁机抓拍令人难忘的镜头。二战期间，全城多数著名的建筑物都付之一炬；随着冷战步步深入，柏林墙双边各起炉灶，东柏林为填充空缺而修建了自己的歌剧院，结果现在柏林光歌剧院就有两座，其它楼房和公共设施同样出现重复性问题。不过柏林墙拆除之后，只有气派大或者名声响的建筑才被继续使用，突出表现柏林一体化发展。

柏林墙从有到无也许是最反映时代意义的变化，1989年柏林墙倒塌后不久妈妈便来过这里，不仅清晰地看到原址上断垣残壁，而且对交界线东、西两地人文风貌自然景观之间的显著差异感触极深。多年来象征国际敌对政治堡垒的柏林墙如今早已退出历史舞台，用于抚今追昔的幸存部分内层钢筋生锈，外在水泥剥落，取而代之的是民族和谐文化交融的喜人景象，柏林逐渐从二战中走出创伤的阴影，人们鼓足勇气原谅过去。

没错，纸人在完成使命之后恐怕被扔进垃圾，但这里不是讨论如何回收废旧物资的地方，手工制作让我们明白一个道理，扭曲变形的纸张固然可以重新伸展拉平，然而因为使劲加力生成的皱褶永远无法彻底消除。柏林好比纸人，从战后废墟中重生，想必历史给这座城市留下了道道伤痕令人难以忘却，过去的事情不堪回首，但柏林人民努力释然过去，为的是放眼未来。

如同德国一样柏林以其悠久浩瀚的历史文化，充满希望的发展前景以及现阶段惬意自由的民生环境，无不给世人带来惊喜。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2016: Berlin the Grey City, Germany(德国柏林—灰色之城)

2016: Berlin the Capital of Prussia, Germany(德国柏林—普鲁士首府)

2015: Dardanelles Strait, Turkey(土耳其欧亚分界线陶堡海峡)

2012: Third Grade Drama Camp(三年级戏剧夏令营)