2015年CRI 前克罗地亚大使回忆崇礼县滑雪助中国申奥

前克罗地亚大使回忆崇礼县滑雪助中国申奥

Ante Simonic is the former vice-prime minister of Croatia, and the former Croatian ambassador¹ to China from 2008 to 2013. The 66 year old remembers Chongli well.

"As you see, I'm very old. I used to ski in so many European countries. But with my wife I chose to ski in Chongli. 8 years ago, I started as a tourist, coming for 1 or 2 weeks per year. Then we used to spend at least 2 or 3 months per year in Chongli. So we witnessed the development of Chongli and the ski industry."

Ante speaks very highly of the skiing facilities in Slovenia and the neighboring countries of Croatia. But the reason why he eventually chose Chongli is because the resort has so much to offer including the service, local people and equipment.

"The quality of snow, the climate, and the service in the ski resorts are great! The restaurants and the drinks are really nice. Chinese don't drink only tea! Security, hospitality² of the locals and their ability to communicate with others are excellent. There are shops in Chongli with the best equipment you can imagine. These are the reasons we are not skiing in other countries"

It's obvious that Ante is very fond of the facilities in Chongli. At the same time, he said he has faith in the ability of the Chinese people to organize large events after the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

"The Chinese planned to organize Winter Olympics in Chongli. Beijing had organized one Olympics so good. People don't know about Zhangjiakou, but it's a city where a couple of millions live, and it has the size of a medium European country. It's a beautiful city with high capacity to do the job."

Ante hopes that skiing enthusiasts³ and athletes from all over the world can see and feel Chongli by themselves. In fact, Chinese people have already started to show interest in winter sports.

That was Liu Xiangwei Reporting.

1 ambassador   

n.大使，特使，（派驻国际组织的）代表

参考例句：

• He took up office as an ambassador for ten years continuously.他连任十年大使。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

2 hospitality   

n.好客，殷勤；adj.（气候等）宜人，适宜

参考例句：

• He welcomed you to enjoy his hospitality.他欢迎你去做客。
• Thank you for your kind hospitality.谢谢你的盛情款待。

3 enthusiasts   

n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A group of enthusiasts have undertaken the reconstruction of a steam locomotive. 一群火车迷已担负起重造蒸汽机车的任务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. 一群热心人计划修复这架飞机。 来自新概念英语第二册