"Real" new Millennium approaches

　　NEW YORK(AP)—For calendar purists, it's a one-in-a- thousand chance to get things right. For cities whose p arties flopped a year ago, it's a chance for redemption .

　　The year 2001 is the undisputed 100th birthday of P hiladelphia's City Hall; there will be a parade, fire-w orks and a tribute to the 695-room edifice—the nation's largest municipal building. The 650 couples who wed in a millennium ceremony are invited back for a first-anni versary toast.

　　In China, four cities hungry for tourist dollars ar e skirmishing over who sees the earliest sunrise of Jan .1.

　　Wenling, on the coast south of Shanghai, did good b usiness last year with its claim to have China's first sunrise of 2000, reporting 460, 000 visitors and revenu es of $36 million.

　　That prompted similar claims by nearby Wenzhou and Linhai, plus Huichun in China's remote northeast. Proje ctions by government astronomers favor Wenling, but the others are proceeding with preparations.

　　Elsewhere, little or no commotion is expected at pl aces that drew throngs of visitors a year ago to see va rious "first" sunrises. Communities in eastern Maine, f or example, plan only modest celebrations.

　　Britain, which billed itself world millennium headq uarters by virtue of having the prime meridian at Green wich, has also scaled back its celebration. Last year, there were fireworks along the Thames, and there was th e Millennium Dome, the government's big idea for celebr ating the new age.

　　The dome opened last Dec. 31 with a party attended by Queen Elizabeth II. Since then, it has struggled to attract visitors, required infusions of cash and is set to close after this New Year's Eve.

　　For the Chatham Islands, the first inhabited land t o witness the New Year, frenzied millennial celebration s are a thing of the past.

　　by David Crary

　　Notes:

　　1．edifice: 大厦

　　2．skirmish: 争论

　　3．commotion: 混乱

　　4．throng: 群集

　　5．bill: 宣布

　　6．meridian: 子午线

　　7．Greenwich: 格林威治

　　8．Thames: 泰晤士河

　　9．dome: 圆屋顶

　　10．Chatham Islands 查塔姆群岛(新西兰东部)