2006年VOA标准英语-Afghanistan Struggles to Rebuild Tourism I

By Benjamin Sand
Kabul
30 March 2006

Afghan woman walks past a ravaged¹ building destroyed during the civil war in Kabul   
  
After more than three decades of war and civil unrest, Afghanistan remains² one of the world's poorest and most dangerous countries. But this month, officials in Kabul have initiated³ a new five-year campaign to revitalize the country's tourism industry.

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Nasrullah Stanekzai is Afghanistan's deputy minister of tourism.

It is, he acknowledges, not always the easiest job and certainly not the most popular.

The first tourism minister installed after the end of the old Taleban government was beaten to death in 2002.

The second was killed last year when his car was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

There is, Stanekzai says, still a lot to do before Afghanistan is really tourist-friendly.

"We have some challenges for the tourism, first I think is the security, second we haven't capacity for the hospitality," the minister said. "We haven't yet the tourism culture, we haven't capacity for services for tourism."

But he says, slowly things are getting better.

Just a few months ago Kabul celebrated⁴ the opening of its first five-star hotel, the chic⁵ Kabul Serena.

The $30 million project was paid for by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, which hopes the hotel will help revitalize Kabul's economy.
 

Vendor⁶ holds rooster on Kabul street   
  
Chicken Street, a dusty stretch of small stores and outdoor vendors⁷ is Kabul's best-known shopping area.

In 2004 a suicide bomber⁸ attacked the street, killing⁹ an American woman and an 11-year-old girl.

Today, shop owners such as Karim Azam say tourists are beginning to trickle¹⁰ back.

"As long as we have better security tourists will come. They used to come, lots of people would come. If they come we already have our stuff that shows Afghan culture," he said.

Stanekzai's office is helping¹¹ kick off a five-year campaign to revitalize the tourism industry.

He says Afghanistan boasts world class tourist sites, including what is left of giant third-century Buddhist¹² statues. The strict Islamist Taleban government destroyed the famed statues in 2001.

With Indian and Japanese funding, Stanekzai says, a new visitors' center is being built near the remains of the statues, and four other national parks are being established elsewhere in the country.

The country's other attractions include the 12th-century Minaret¹³ of Jam, which is on the UNESCO world heritage list, several fourth-century Buddhist ruins, and in Herat, 11th-century building complexes that are rich in Islamic art. And, in the past, many tourists came just to enjoy the country's stunning¹⁴ natural beauty, including the Hindu Kush mountains.

To get the tourism campaign rolling, Stanekzai says his office is coordinating¹⁵ a cultural festival in India. Many of the country's visitors come from India and Pakistan.

He says the exhibition, which opens this month in New Delhi, will have a little bit of everything.

"Afghan food festival, a fashion show, dance, Afghan national music and also handicrafts and films," he explains.

Ideally, he would like to see Afghanistan recapture some of the tourist traffic it enjoyed during the 1960s and '70s. In those days, before the Soviet¹⁶ Union invaded, hundreds of thousands of tourists visited Afghanistan every year.

At one point, according to the ministry's old data, tourism generated more than $40 million for local businesses.

Last year, 2,000 tourists came.

But even that is a step in the right direction, up from around 500 the year before.

In 2006, Stanekzai says there could be three, four, maybe even five times as many visitors.

Just around the corner from his office is Royal Limited, one of Afghanistan's first locally owned and operated travel agencies.

Proprietor¹⁷ Naveed Wardak says business already is pretty good and getting better every day.

"Business is wonderful. I am advising that everyone wants to come here if they can," he said. "Everyone wants to come … we have daily two flights and all (the) time it is full."

Wardak opened his office, by himself, two years ago. Now he has more than six employees and plans to hire more in the next few weeks.

But he insists he is interested in more than just expanding his business or making money. 

Afghan children play on swing in Kabul  
  
He says really what he wants is to help people see his country and see how much it has changed since the Taleban were kicked out of power in 2001.

"Look, whenever I am going to the airport, whenever I am seeing the flight is full it is proud (pride) and happiness for me," he said.

Of course, he says the challenge is making sure that once people get here they have a good time and stay safe.

And obviously, he says, Afghanistan has a long way to go. But for the first time in decades, he says he thinks the country is headed in the right direction.

1 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 chic   

n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的

参考例句：

• She bought a chic little hat.她买了一顶别致的小帽子。
• The chic restaurant is patronized by many celebrities.这家时髦的饭店常有名人光顾。

6 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

7 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

13 minaret   

n.（回教寺院的）尖塔

参考例句：

• The minaret is 65 meters high,the second highest in the world.光塔高65米，高度位居世界第二。
• It stands on a high marble plinth with a minaret at each corner.整个建筑建立在一个高大的大理石底座上，每个角上都有一个尖塔。

14 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

15 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

16 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

17 proprietor   

n.所有人；业主；经营者

参考例句：

• The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
• The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。