VOA慢速英语2020--尼泊尔重新向登山徒步爱好者开放

Nepal says it is reopening to foreign visitors seeking to climb and trek¹ the country's famous mountains.

The country has been closed to foreign visitors for the past seven months because of the coronavirus crisis³. Nepal's tourism industry has suffered as a result of the restriction⁴. The industry employs an estimated⁵ 800,000 people.

Nepal is home to eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world -- including the tallest, Mount² Everest.

Rudra Singh Tamang is director general of Nepal's Department of Tourism. He told The Associated Press that only mountaineers and trekkers who have received a permit to take part in such activities would be let into the country. "We are opening to a sector⁶ of visitors who we know we can handle and manage."

The visitors will no longer be able to get a visa upon arrival to Nepal. They will be required to provide details of their trip before they arrive and receive government approval⁷. The visitors must employ local equipment companies and prove that they have health insurance that covers COVID-19 treatment.

Visitors will also be required to take a coronavirus test before leaving their home country. They must also stay for a week in quarantine at a hotel in Nepal. Visitors must then pass another coronavirus test before they are permitted to go up the mountains.

Local workers supporting mountaineering teams will also be required to take coronavirus tests and prove they have been living in areas with no infections for the past two weeks.

"We are trying to revive⁸ the tourism industry that was badly hit by the pandemic, but we are not taking any chances or any risks," Tamang said.

The spring season is when foreign mountain climbers come to Nepal to attempt to reach the highest peaks. The autumn season is a popular time for foreign visitors coming to trek mountain trails. This year's spring mountaineering season was canceled in March because of the pandemic.

Nepal has reported 176,500 coronavirus infections and 984 deaths. The nation is running short on hospital beds. The government has asked patients with less than life-threatening cases to stay at home in quarantine.

The pandemic hit as Nepal was preparing to double the number of tourist arrivals. A government campaign had declared 2020 as the "Visit Nepal" year.

People in the mountains have been hardest hit. Workers normally⁹ depend on the busy spring and fall seasons to make enough money to last them all year.

Earlier this fall season, a team of mountaineers from Bahrain was given special permission to climb Mount Lobuche and Mount Manaslu. The climbs were permitted as a test of the new visitor rules.

Tamang said the country's mountaineering community welcomed Nepal's decision to reopen to some visitors. "We need to give a small ray of hope to the people in the adventure tourism industry that there is still a future somewhere to look forward to," Tamang said.

Ang Tshering Sherpa heads local mountaineering company Asian Trekking¹⁰ in Kathmandu. He told The Associated Press, "We in the adventure tourism industry are very excited that the country is finally open."

He added that his company had already begun receiving calls from foreign visitors who would like to come to Nepal. He said there is great interest in the spring 2021 climbing season, especially for Mount Everest.

Words in This Story

trek – v. to make a journey by walking

sector – n. one part of a country's economy

manage – v. to deal with something successfully

quarantine – n. a period of time during which a person or animal that has a disease¹¹ or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading

revive – v. make something from the past exist again

trail – n. a path through the countryside, often where people walk

adventure – n. an exciting and sometimes dangerous experience

1 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

2 mount   

n.山峰，乘用马，框，衬纸；vi.增长，骑上（马）；vt.提升，爬上，装备

参考例句：

• Their debts continued to mount up.他们的债务不断增加。
• She is the first woman who steps on the top of Mount Jolmo Lungma.她是第一个登上珠穆朗玛峰的女人。

3 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

4 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

5 estimated   

adj．根据估计的

参考例句：

• She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
• The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 approval   

n.赞成，同意；批准，认可

参考例句：

• The audience has expressed its approval.观众已经认可。
• The teacher signed his approval.老师做了手势表示同意。

8 revive   

v.（使）复苏，（使）重振活力，恢复生机，复兴

参考例句：

• These flowers will revive in water.这些花在水中会再活。
• They managed to revive the injured driver with cardiac massage.他们通过心脏按压使受伤的司机苏醒了过来。

9 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

10 trekking   

v.艰苦跋涉，徒步旅行( trek的现在分词 )；（尤指在山中）远足，徒步旅行，游山玩水

参考例句：

• She can't come pony trekking after all because she's in a delicate condition. 她结果还是不能坐小马车旅行，因为她已怀孕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We spent the summer trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas. 我们整个夏天都在喜马拉雅山的山麓艰难跋涉。 来自互联网

11 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。