2022年12月16日 VOA慢速英语：伯利恒自 2019 年以来首次迎来圣诞节游客

 
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 而缺席两年后，游客们将在今年圣诞节返回约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.
去年这个时候，中东城市伯利恒的大部分商店和旅游景点都关闭了。以色列占领的约旦河西岸的小镇是基督徒的圣地。大多数人认为耶稣大约在两千多年前的 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.上一次圣诞季游客涌入伯利恒街头是在 2019 年。由于 COVID-19 大流行，他们在 2020 年和 2021 年离开了。
 
But this year, visitors are coming back. The city's hotels are fully booked.
但今年，游客又回来了。城里的旅馆都订满了。
 
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.
几天前，几乎来自各大洲的游客都在圣诞教堂前合影留念。这座拥有 1 500 年历史的教堂矗立在基督徒相信耶稣诞生的地方。
 
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，也是当地酒店老板业务组的负责人。他说，他认为生意会持续到 2023 年，因为“尤其是基督教游客，他们都想回到圣地。”
 
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.
圣诞教堂旁边是一个叫做马槽广场的区域。在那里，一棵巨大的圣诞树正闪耀着数百盏彩灯。游客们走进商店购买宗教物品，例如橄榄木制成的十字架。
 
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 在他和他兄弟拥有的木工厂里制作十字架。他说，由于大流行，“这座城市变成了一座鬼城”。
 
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，预计圣诞节期间将有 120,000 名基督徒前来。2019 年有创纪录的 150,000 名游客到访。
 
Bethlehem's mayor is Hanna Hanania. "God willing," he said, "we will go back this year to where things were before coronavirus."
伯利恒的市长是汉娜·哈纳尼亚 (Hanna Hanania)。“上帝保佑，”他说，“今年我们将回到冠状病毒爆发之前的状态。”
 
He said about 150,000 people came to the recent Christmas tree-lighting. "Recovery has begun," he added.
他说大约有 15 万人参加了最近的圣诞树点灯活动。“恢复已经开始，”他补充道。
 
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.在经历了更大范围的暴乱一年之后，游客们又回到了伯利恒。据报道，以色列人和巴勒斯坦人之间的战斗导致约旦河西岸和东耶路撒冷有 150 名巴勒斯坦人和 31 名以色列人死亡。这使得 2022 年成为自 2006 年以来冲突中死亡人数最多的一年。
 
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样令企业主担忧。
 
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.
他们指出，自 1967 年以色列在战争期间接管该地区以来，战斗一直在继续。他们说，战斗有时会加剧，有时会放缓。
 
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 年以来一直拥有 Blessing Gift Shop。他说，没有一场战斗比大流行病更糟糕。他曾经有 10 个人为他工作，现在是五个，有时甚至更少。
 
"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."
“政治局势，”他说，“确实有影响，但没什么大不了的。我们已经经历了 60、70 年，它持续了一个月，然后停止了，游客又回来了。”