都是咖啡惹的祸－星巴克“故宫事件”
TV Host Urges Starbucks to Leave Ancient City
A host of China Central Television urged Starbucks to withdraw its outlet from the Forbidden City because its existence spoils Chinese culture.
The Seattle-based world's largest coffee chain opened an outlet six years ago in the Forbidden City, the largest and most complete imperial palace and ancient building complex in Chinese capital Beijing.
Rui Chenggang, a host of an English program on CCTV, said in his blog that the outlet humiliates Chinese culture and he has protested to Starbuck's chief executive and president to withdraw the outlet.
Many netizens followed his post and supported his idea, while Starbucks hasn't given a response.
Rui said the Starbucks in the Forbidden City has been a laughingstock of upper classes of western society, because in western people's opinion, Starbucks is not suitable to exist in upper-class places.
Rui said he met the CEO of Starbucks Jim Donald in a summit in Yale University, and suggested he withdraw the outlet in the Forbidden City, however, Donald said the decision was made by the former president.
Donald told Rui in a letter later that the Forbidden City invited Starbucks to open an outlet there six year ago, and the company will try its best to merge with the surroundings to protect Chinese culture.
Rui said he planned to write another letter to Donald, telling him that the company's withdrawal would win more respect and more money from the Chinese.
词汇：
urge: vt. 催促, 力劝
withdraw: vt. 收回, 撤消
spoil: vt. 损坏, 搞糟
imperial: adj. 皇帝的
humiliate: v. 羞辱, 使丢脸
laughingstock：n.笑柄, 受人嘲笑者
merge: v. 合并, 并入
相关链接：
故宫博物院星巴克去留上半年确定
一个在中国原明清皇城所在地——北京紫禁城内营业多年的洋咖啡店品牌近日引起了网民的关注，这就是位于故宫博物院内的星巴克咖啡店。央视主持人芮成钢在博客中“请星巴克从故宫里出去”一文已经得到了数十万人的点击，围绕该话题产生的评论如潮，但结果却有两个，支持者有之，反对者也不在少数。就此问题，故宫博物院昨天接受本报记者独家专访，就“故宫星巴克”问题首次发表看法——关于星巴克的去留问题，已经开始进行研讨。最快在今年上半年内，将会有一个结论性结果，这也是故宫博物院官方公开的唯一最新表态。
新闻分析星巴克事件是冷饭热炒？
实际上，关于故宫星巴克的存在，已经不是一两年的事情了。而关于它的报道，也不是今年开始的，早在三年前就已出现，但当时在国内的反映强烈程度要弱于国外。记者曾经采访过几位带欧美旅游团的导游，他们告诉记者，许多美国人确实很不满意，但不满意的理由有两个，一是故宫这座古老的皇家建筑属于世界文化遗产，它不应该出现星巴克这类的经营摊点。其次是星巴克在国外属于一种快餐性质的营业机构，它与故宫的身份是不同的。
最近一两年间，同样属于世界文化遗产的长城上出现了“青年人聚会”，这一话题再次让人们联想到故宫，当时也有评论批评了故宫星巴克。而当年设在北海公园内的一家快餐店被迁出时，也有请星巴克迁出故宫的声音出现。
因此，需要指出的是，这是一条旧新闻。今天被炒得如此热闹是因为：它几年来岿然不动，依然在坚持经营。(浙江在线)
