美国国家公共电台 NPR Where Camels Become Beauty Queens: Inside Mongolia's Biggest Camel Festival

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The two-humped Bactrian camel was domesticated¹ thousands of years ago to carry goods and people across Asia. NPR's Above the Fray² fellow Emily Kwong sent us this audio postcard from a festival in Mongolia that celebrates this gentle giant.

EMILY KWONG, BYLINE³: Humps and hair.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAMEL GRUNTING)

KWONG: That's the scene in Bulgan Soum, a tiny Mongolian town in the middle of the Gobi Desert - about 160 miles north of the Chinese border. Herders have come from all over the region for the two-day festival, which begins with a camel beauty pageant⁵.

ENKHBAATAR DASHNYAM: (Through interpreter) Mostly young people participate in the Beautiful Couple Contest. But we wanted to represent the older generation of herders.

KWONG: That's contestant⁶ Enkhbaatar Dashnyam. The 59-year-old has been a herder all his life. He's brought two of his best Bactrian camels with him - Mashan Huren and Hos Yagaan.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAMEL GRUNTING)

KWONG: Their Chewbacca-colored hair, which hangs like a beard, is brushed. Their humps are draped in gold fringe. The camels kneel down...

DULAMSUREN YUNDEN: (Foreign language spoken).

DASHNYAM: (Foreign language spoken).

KWONG: ...So Enkhbaatar and his wife, 47-year-old Dulamsuren Yunden, can climb atop.

(CHEERING)

KWONG: Pretty soon, it's pageant time.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KWONG: The couple rides proudly across the festival grounds.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Vocalizing).

KWONG: And they look spectacular. Dulamsuren has a fur hat on her head. Enkhbaatar's belt is slung⁷ with a silver bowl, a snuff bottle, a knife with a holster for chopsticks - all the trappings of a traditional herder. Everyone is taking their picture, which matters more to the couple than winning. Enkhbaatar wants future generations - his grandchildren included - to have photographic proof of their lifestyle.

DASHNYAM: (Through interpreter) Since no one lives forever, I wanted to leave our pictures behind for my descendants. That's what we were thinking when we decided⁸ to participate in this contest.

KWONG: The judges won't announce the winners until tomorrow. But there's plenty to do at the thousand-camel festival until then. You can take in a match of camel polo, buy fermented⁹ camel milk. In 2016, the festival assembled over 1,100 camels and broke a Guinness World Record for largest camel race.

(SOUNDBITE OF POPPING NOISE)

KWONG: So why this regional craze for the two-humped creature? Festival organiser Ariunsanaa Narantuya and I meet after dark at the local community center. Men have gathered to play ankle bone shooting - knocking over sheep bones with tablets. The 35-year-old's face is covered with sweat. It's been a long day. His friend, 38-year-old Bolortuya Sainkhuu, interprets.

ARIUNSANAA NARANTUYA: (Foreign language spoken).

BOLORTUYA SAINKHUU: He's saying the first reason is number of the camels were decreasing.

KWONG: Together, they explained that under socialism, herders primarily sold their animal products to the state. With the democratization of Mongolia in 1990, herders lost that customer and had to embrace the free market economy.

NARANTUYA: (Through interpreter) Camel men couldn't get a good amount of money from selling the milk products and camel wool.

KWONG: Camel milk and wool wouldn't sell. But camel meat would. So some herders began slaughtering¹⁰ their camels. The festival was created a few years later, in 1997, by the local Camel Protection Association to reverse that trend and protect the desert creature.

(SOUNDBITE OF FESTIVAL AMBIENCE)

KWONG: And now Bulgan Soum is distinguished¹¹ by its love and stewardship¹² of Bactrian camels. After the pageant, Dulamsuren, the competitor with the fur hat, tells me that she and her husband have 200 camels in their herd⁴. The birthing season is coming. While most baby camels make it, some don't or are stillborn. When that happens, she says, the mother camel will mourn.

YUNDEN: (Through interpreter) The mother camel literally¹³ weeps with tears in their eyes. The camel has a big body. But they have very soft heart.

KWONG: Dulamsuren has a song for moments like these, one herders have used for generations to soothe¹⁴ camels over heartbreak.

YUNDEN: (Singing in foreign language).

KWONG: This bond between herder and camel is hard to put into words. But you know it when you see it. And the judges definitely noticed. The next day, Dulamsuren and her husband were declared the winners of the 2019 Camel Beauty Pageant. For NPR News, I'm Emily Kwong.

SIMON: What a wonderful story. Emily Kwong is NPR's Above the Fray fellow, which supports foreign reporting in under-covered parts of the world.

1 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

5 pageant   

n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧

参考例句：

• Our pageant represented scenes from history.我们的露天历史剧上演一幕幕的历史事件。
• The inauguration ceremony of the new President was a splendid pageant.新主席的就职典礼的开始是极其壮观的。

6 contestant   

n.竞争者，参加竞赛者

参考例句：

• The company will furnish each contestant with a free ticket.公司将为每个参赛者免费提供一张票。
• The personal appearance and interview of the contestant is another count.参加比赛者的个人仪表和谈话也是一项。

7 slung   

抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往

参考例句：

• He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩，挎在肩上。
• He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 fermented   

v.（使）发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰

参考例句：

• When wine is fermented, it gives off gas. 酒发酵时发出气泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His speeches fermented trouble among the workers. 他的演讲在工人中引起骚动。 来自辞典例句

10 slaughtering   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The Revolutionary Tribunal went to work, and a steady slaughtering began. 革命法庭投入工作，持续不断的大屠杀开始了。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• \"Isn't it terrific slaughtering pigs? “宰猪的！ 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

11 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

12 stewardship   

n. n. 管理工作；管事人的职位及职责

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Last, but certainly not least, are the issues of stewardship and ethics. 最后，但当然不是微不足道的，是工作和道德规范的问题。

13 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

14 soothe   

v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承

参考例句：

• I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
• This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。