《经济学家》读译参考：到阳光明媚的哥伦比亚来吧－旅游不再冒险

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2007:09:06 13:08:46
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

Come to sunny Colombia
到阳光明媚的哥伦比亚来吧！

MENTION Colombia, and most people think of cocaine, kidnappings and guerrilla violence. （1）These have served to keep all but the most danger-loving tourists away for decades. But under Á.lvaro Uribe, Colombias president since 2002, violence has fallen steadily and many parts of the country have become safe. Now the government is trying to r_______① conventional images of Colombia with different ones: white-sand beaches, colonial cities, jungle-clad mountains and placid coffee farms.

一说起哥伦比亚，大多数人都会想到可卡因、绑架案和游击队。几十年来，除了那些特别喜欢冒险的人之外，几乎所有游客都对这里望而却步。不过，在2002年上任至今的哥伦比亚总统阿尔瓦罗·乌里韦治下，暴力事件已经稳步减少，大部分地区都已变得安全。政府现在正努力改变哥伦比亚的传统形象，给人们呈现一派迥然不同的景象：洁白的沙滩，殖民时代风格的都市，丛林密布的山岳，还有那静谧的咖啡庄园。

The tourism campaign has begun at home. This month, during the mid-year school holidays, thousands of Colombians have enjoyed the newly-recovered freedom to travel, using specially policed routes from major cities to favourite holiday spots.________________________（就现在来看，此举旨在打消外国游客的顾虑。）With a promotional b_______② of just $4m this year, the tourism agency is concentrating its efforts on tour operators and cruise[1] and airline executives. This spring, it invited 130 of them to see the countrys beaches, its coffee farms and the Amazon region.

旅游发展计划已率先在国内实施。本月正值学校年中假期，成千上万的哥伦比亚人沿着警方专门指定的路线，从大都市走向他们最喜爱的度假胜地，享受着新近恢复的旅游自由。就现在来看，此举旨在打消外国游客的顾虑。今年政府预拨了400万美元用以发展旅游业，有了这笔款项，旅游局得以把主要精力集中到旅行社以及游船和航空公司的管理人员身上。今春，它邀请其中的130位参观了哥伦比亚海滩、咖啡庄园以及亚马逊河流域。

Mr Uribe has himself l_______③ bosses of cruise-ship firms. （2）This seems to have paid off. In May, Royal Caribbean announced that from next year some of its ships would call at Cartagena, a colonial walled port on the north coast. The Florida Caribbean Cruise Association held its annual meeting in the city last week.

乌利比总统本人也已游说了游船公司的老板，结果看来是一帆风顺。（译者注：根据LONGMAN，“if something you do pays off, it is successful or has a good result”，因此文中的“pay off”是指游说成功，因为其与船有关，故引申为“一帆风顺”。）今年5月，皇家加勒比海公司宣布，明年起其部分船只将停靠卡塔赫纳（位于哥伦比亚北海岸、殖民时期建造的港口城市）。佛罗里达加勒比海游船协会上周还在该市召开了年会。

Tourism officials expect 1.5m foreign visitors this year, more than 50% up from the 925,000 in 2005. (Mexico, Latin Americas top tourist destination, a_______④ 20m foreigners a year.) Lonely Planet, a travel publisher, has chosen Colombia as one of its top ten travel hotspots for 2006, in large part because of the improvement in safety.

旅游官员预计今年将有150万名外国游客前来观光，比2005年的92.5万多出50％以上。（拉丁美洲地区最大的旅游目的地墨西哥平均每年吸引2000万游客。）“孤独行星”旅游出版公司已将哥伦比亚评为2006年度“十大旅游热点地区”之一，这主要得益于其安全状况的改善。

But care is still needed. Lonely Planet advises tourists to steer clear of[2] Chocó on the Pacific coast, Putumayo in the far south and “anywhere east of the Andes”, where there are still guerrillas. Americas State Department and the British Foreign Office also w________⑤ travellers against wandering into rural areas.

不过还是要留点神。“孤独行星”公司建议游客避开太平洋沿岸的乔格、最南端的普土马由河地区以及“安第斯山脉东部各地区”，因为这些地方仍有游击队出没。美国国务院和英国外交部也提醒游客不要到乡下去。

Even so, groups of foreign h________⑥ have recently taken to visiting Ciudad Perdida, one of the largest and oldest pre-Columbian settlements in the Americas, in the jungles of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The area is still home to leftist[3] guerrillas and remnants of their arch-enemies[4], the right-wing paramilitary militias. （3）But the fact that many other parts of what is a large and physically beautiful country are now safe to visit amounts to progress.

即便如此，成群结队的外国徒步旅行者最近还是纷纷前往位于内华达山脉圣马尔塔的丛林中的，美洲地区最大、最古老的早期土著定居地丘达特－佩尔地达。该地区至今仍是左翼游击队和右翼民兵残余势力（左翼的死敌）的大本营。但是，在这个疆域辽阔、风景秀丽的大国，其它大部分地区都是可以放心游览的，而且实际状况仍在不断改善之中。（译者注：physically是指“按自然性质地”。）

[QUIZ]

1. 根据首字母以及括号内的词性提示和英文释义填入单词（注意复数、时态形式变化等）：

①r________（v. to put something new in the place of something old, damaged, or broken）

②b________（n. the money that is available to an organization or person）

③l________（v. to try to persuade the government or someone with political power）

④a________（v.to make someone interested in something, or make them want to take part in something）

⑤w________ （v.to tell someone about something before it happens so that they are not worried or surprised by it）

⑥h_________ （n. someone who walks long distances in the mountains or country for pleasure）

2．汉译英（根据译文提示和上下文，在空白处填入相应英文）：

[NOTES](LONGMAN)

1. cruise n. 乘船游览；（在大船上度过的）假期

2. steer clear of 避开，绕开

3. leftist n.&.adj. 左翼（的）；左派（的）；左撇子（的）

4. archenemyn.主要敌人

[KEY TO QUIZ]

1. ①replace 替换，替代（近义词：renew，change）

②budget 预算；

③lobbied 游说（lobby for/against；lobby sb. to do sth.）

④attracts 吸引；

〔附注〕

（1）“使某人喜欢或想要做某事”可用：attract, tempt, seduce

（2）“使某人想去某地”可用：attract, draw, bring in, lure

（3）“两性之间有吸引力”，“迷人、魅惑”可用：be attracted to, fancy, be interested in, want, lust after

⑤warn 提醒

〔附注〕“提醒（警告）某人某事”可用：warn •. give somebody a warning •. warn off •. caution •. tip off •. alert •. sound/raise the alarm •. forewarn •. I told you!/I told you so!

⑥hikers 远足者；徒步旅行者