JERUSALEM(1)   

Enduring faith marks this holy city

A river of people flooded the narrow street in front of my hotel. Filipinos carrying wooden crosses marched singing a hymn in Tagalog , some in tears. A troupe of Germans in red baseball caps walked by carrying palm fronds. Shopkeepers shouted the praises of their goods, kids screamed, men shoving handcarts yelled: "Make way! Make way!" Shoulder to shoulder, they streamed through Jerusalem's OldCity doing business, running errands .

   Every time I stepped into the daily fray, I had a moment like this: going from the quietness of my hotel with its rooftop terrace and polite clerks into the hectic flow of the ancient city.

History everywhere

In Jerusalem, every square inch of the stony ground is covered in history. For each traveler and every resident, the history is different. And those differences often collide, putting Jerusalem at the center of dozens of wars during the past 3000 years.

Yet, in the face of every heart-rending dispute, the idea of this city's holiness has endured. It doesn't matter how arduous the journey, how daunting the violence, or how hot the anger-the pilgrims come. For as long as there has been a Jerusalem, there have been people intent on getting there.

The OldCity

The OldCity is a maze: Three- and four- story buildings line the narrow streets, which seldom run straight for more than a few hundred yards. There are no cars; there is no room for them. About 35,000 people live inside the stone walls that right the OldCity; walls completely intact and about a half-mile long on a side. Seventy percent of the people inside the OldCity are Muslim, 20 percent are Christian and 10 percent are Jewish. All of them rely on pilgrims, tourists and travelers to keep the neighborhood's economy buzzing.

Vocabulary Focus
River (n) a large flow or stream of something

Stream(v) to move  continuously in one direction

Collide(v) to come into conflict with someone or something

Heart-rending (adj) causing great sympathy or sadness

Arduous(adj) difficult, tiring and needing a lot of effor t

Daunting(adj) making you feel slightly frightened or worried about your ability to achieve something

Specialized Terms
Tagalog(n) ( 菲律宾 ) 他加禄语 the principal language spoken in Philippines

Pilgrim(n) 朝圣者 a person who makes a journey, which is often long and difficult, to a special place for religious reasons