2022年12月16日 VOA慢速英語：伯利恒自 2019 年以來首次迎來圣誕節(jié)游客

 
Visitors are returning to the West Bank city of Bethlehem this Christmas season, after a two-year absence because of COVID-19.
在因 COVID-19 而缺席兩年后，游客們將在今年圣誕節(jié)返回約旦河西岸城市伯利恒。
 
At this time last year, most stores and tourist places in the Middle Eastern city of Bethlehem were closed. The town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is holy to Christians. Most believe Jesus was born there about two thousand years ago on December 25.
去年這個時候，中東城市伯利恒的大部分商店和旅游景點都關閉了。以色列占領的約旦河西岸的小鎮(zhèn)是基督徒的圣地。大多數(shù)人認為耶穌大約在兩千多年前的 12 月 25 日出生在那里。
 
Christmas season visitors last filled the streets of Bethlehem in 2019. They stayed away in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.上一次圣誕季游客涌入伯利恒街頭是在 2019 年。由于 COVID-19 大流行，他們在 2020 年和 2021 年離開了。
 
But this year, visitors are coming back. The city's hotels are fully booked.
但今年，游客又回來了。城里的旅館都訂滿了。
 
Days ago, visitors from almost every continent posed for photos in front of the Church of the Nativity. The 1, 500-year-old church stands on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born.
幾天前，幾乎來自各大洲的游客都在圣誕教堂前合影留念。這座擁有 1 500 年歷史的教堂矗立在基督徒相信耶穌誕生的地方。
 
Elias Arja is a hotel owner and head of the local hotel owner's business group. He said he thinks business will continue to be good into 2023 because "Christian religious tourists especially, they all want to return to the Holy Land."
Elias Arja 是一家酒店老板，也是當?shù)鼐频昀习鍢I(yè)務組的負責人。他說，他認為生意會持續(xù)到 2023 年，因為“尤其是基督教游客，他們都想回到圣地。”
 
Next to the Church of the Nativity is an area called Manger Square. There, a large Christmas is tree is shining brightly with hundreds of colored lights. Visitors went into stores to buy religious objects, such as crosses made from olive wood.
圣誕教堂旁邊是一個叫做馬槽廣場的區(qū)域。在那里，一棵巨大的圣誕樹正閃耀著數(shù)百盞彩燈。游客們走進商店購買宗教物品，例如橄欖木制成的十字架。
 
Saliba Nissan makes the crosses in the wood factory he owns with his brother. Because of the pandemic, he said, "the city became a city of ghosts."
Saliba Nissan 在他和他兄弟擁有的木工廠里制作十字架。他說，由于大流行，“這座城市變成了一座鬼城”。
 
The Israeli Tourism Ministry said it expects 120,000 Christians to come during the Christmas week. A record-setting 150,000 tourists visited in 2019.
以色列旅游部表示，預計圣誕節(jié)期間將有 120,000 名基督徒前來。2019 年有創(chuàng)紀錄的 150,000 名游客到訪。
 
Bethlehem's mayor is Hanna Hanania. "God willing," he said, "we will go back this year to where things were before coronavirus."
伯利恒的市長是漢娜·哈納尼亞 (Hanna Hanania)。“上帝保佑，”他說，“今年我們將回到冠狀病毒爆發(fā)之前的狀態(tài)。”
 
He said about 150,000 people came to the recent Christmas tree-lighting. "Recovery has begun," he added.
他說大約有 15 萬人參加了最近的圣誕樹點燈活動。“恢復已經開始，”他補充道。
 
Visitors are coming back to Bethlehem at the end of a violent year in the larger area. Fighting between Israelis and Palestinians left a reported 150 Palestinians and 31 Israelis dead in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. That makes 2022 the deadliest year in the conflict since 2006.在經歷了更大范圍的暴亂一年之后，游客們又回到了伯利恒。據報道，以色列人和巴勒斯坦人之間的戰(zhàn)斗導致約旦河西岸和東耶路撒冷有 150 名巴勒斯坦人和 31 名以色列人死亡。這使得 2022 年成為自 2006 年以來沖突中死亡人數(shù)最多的一年。
 
However, the year's violence does not concern business owners as much as the pandemic does.然而，今年的暴力事件并不像大流行病那樣令企業(yè)主擔憂。
 
They note that the fighting has continued since Israel took over the area during a war in 1967. Sometimes the fighting increases, they say, sometimes it slows down.
他們指出，自 1967 年以色列在戰(zhàn)爭期間接管該地區(qū)以來，戰(zhàn)斗一直在繼續(xù)。他們說，戰(zhàn)斗有時會加劇，有時會放緩。
 
Bassem Giacamen's family has owned the Blessing Gift Shop since 1925. He said none of the fighting was as bad as the pandemic. He once had 10 people working for him, now it is five, and sometimes fewer.
Bassem Giacamen 的家族自 1925 年以來一直擁有 Blessing Gift Shop。他說，沒有一場戰(zhàn)斗比大流行病更糟糕。他曾經有 10 個人為他工作，現(xiàn)在是五個，有時甚至更少。
 
"The political situation," he said, "does affect, but nothing major. We've had it for 60, 70 years, and it goes on for a month, then it stops, and tourists come back again."
“政治局勢，”他說，“確實有影響，但沒什么大不了的。我們已經經歷了 60、70 年，它持續(xù)了一個月，然后停止了，游客又回來了。”