When we travel somewhere new, there is always a list of landmarks that we HAVE to go see. Often because the building looks cool or has some historic value.
In some cases, it’s easy to understand the value. The Pyramids and Great Wall of China are just pure wonders and marvels of impossibility.
Others are less clear to me. The Eiffel Tower, for example, was constructed for a World Faire. In the same city, there are ancient buildings, castles, and incredibly complex structures, yet none get the same fanfare as the Eiffel Tower.
What makes a landmark so interesting to visit? Can anything become a landmark? Could mundane things have mini-landmarks within them? Can I buy a custom statue of a Target dog, make it look shiny, have a graffiti artist tag it, hide it somewhere in a local target and call it a landmark?
当我们去一个全新的地方旅行时，总会有一份“必须去看”的地标清单。通常是因为这些建筑看起来很酷，或者有一定的历史价值。
在某些情况下，我们很容易理解它们的价值。比如中国的长城和埃及的金字塔——它们简直就是奇迹与不可思议的杰作，令人惊叹。
但也有一些地标的意义对我来说就没那么直观。比如埃菲尔铁塔：它是为世界博览会建造的。可是在同一个城市里，还有古老的建筑、城堡，以及非常复杂的工程结构，但它们获得的关注度却从来没有埃菲尔铁塔那么高。
那么，到底是什么让一个地标值得去参观？任何地方都能成为地标吗？日常生活中普通的东西里，会不会也藏着“小小的地标”？
比如，我能不能买一尊定制的“雕像狗狗”，把它做得更闪亮，找一位涂鸦艺术家在上面签名，然后把它藏到当地某个地方里，再把这件事称为“一个地标”？
