迪拜-乘阿拉伯帆船暢游奇幻世界

精品文檔-下載后可編輯迪拜:乘阿拉伯帆船暢游奇幻世界“YouwanttosailonanArab1）dhow？Thentoday’syourluckyday！Talktohim！”AbdallahbinJassim，aDubaianhistorian，pointedtoanelderlymansittingbesideme.

“Hewasforyearsacaptainofa2）pearl-divingdhow―thebest3）skipperintheArabianGulf.”Abdullahappearedtobeproudofthe4）formerdhowskipper.

Afterintroductions，Iaskedthesoft-spokencaptaintotellmeabouthis5）seafaringlifeandifpearl-divingindhowswascontinuinginourtimes.

“Pearl-divingindhows？Ofcoursenot！Theyouthtodayare6）spoiled！Alltheylookforarethepleasuresoflife.Itwasn’tlikethiswhenIwasyoung.”Ubaydal-Muhayritheformerdhowcaptainsmiled.

“你想乘坐阿拉伯獨桅帆船嗎？今天你很走運！和他談談吧！”迪拜歷史學家阿卜杜拉?本?賈西姆指著坐在我旁邊的一位老人對我說道。

“他當了很多年采珠帆船的船長，是阿拉伯海灣最好的船長?！卑⒉范爬坪躅H為這位帆船船長感到驕傲。

一番介紹之后，我向這位說話溫和的船長問起他的航海生活，以及在我們現(xiàn)在這個時代，人們是否仍用獨桅帆船采集珍珠。

“用獨桅帆船潛水采集珍珠？當然沒有了！現(xiàn)在的年輕人都被慣壞了，他們要的是享受。我年輕的時候可不是這樣的?！币郧爱斶^帆船船長的奧貝德?阿穆哈利笑道。

WhenIaskedhimifhe7）yearnedtosailtheArabdhowsagain，heseemed8）amused.

“Sailagain！Iam75yearsold.Doyouknowthatpearl-divingwasapartofhell？”Hecontinued，9）misty-eyed，“Yet，formetheolddaysare10）preferable.Inthosedays，wedidnotworryaboutmaterialwealth.Wewere11）contenttoliveondatesandcoffee.”

Atearcametohiseyeasherecalledhisyouthfulyears，“Iwaseightyearsoldwhenmyfatherfirsttookmewithhimonadhow.WhenIturned15，hetookmedownsome15meterstothebottomoftheseaandtaughtmehowtofindthepearl-carrying12）oystersinthedeep.Forahundreddayseveryyearweworkedtheoyster13）beds.UntilIbecameaskipperofadhow，itwasaharshlifebutIwascontent.”

Puttinghishandovermine，hewenton，“Itwasnotlikenow！Inmyyoungerdays，thefatherwastheheadofthe14）household.Everymemberofthefamilyobeyedhimuntilhedied.

我問他是否渴望再開一次阿拉伯獨桅帆船，他好像被逗樂了。

“再開一次啊？我已經75歲了。你知道嗎？采珠簡直就是地獄的一角。”他眼眶濕潤起來，繼續(xù)說道：“不過，對我而言，以前的日子更美好。那時候，我們不需要為物質財富發(fā)愁，只要有椰棗和咖啡就心滿意足了。”

回憶起青春歲月，他的眼里泛起了淚光。“我8歲的時候，父親第一次帶我坐上獨桅帆船。15歲的時候，他帶我潛入水下15米左右的海底，教我如何在水底尋找珍珠貝。每年我們都要在貝床上工作一百天。在我成為獨桅帆船的船長之前，生活雖然艱苦，但我很滿足。”

他把手搭在我的手上，接著說：“今非昔比??！我年輕的時候，父親是一家之主，家里所有人都要服從他，直到他去世。

“Today，theyoungmenwanttolivein15）luxuryandownfastcars.Fatherstothemdonotmeanathing.It’sonlythedaughterswhostillthinkoftheirparents.”

AsI16）badeAbdallahJassimandtheformercaptainadieu，IthoughtofmyfantasytoonedaysailonanArabdhow.Ubaydal-Muhayrihadsomewhat17）dampenedmyyearningtosailonthese18）crafts，butnotentirely.Ihadwaitedtoomanyyearstobesoeasily19）defeated.

FromtheadventurestoriesthatIreadinmyyouth，noneimpressedmemorethanAlanVilliers’注1book，SonsofSinbad，inwhichhedescribeshisjourneyonanArabdhowfromtheArabianGulftotheEastAfricancoast.SailinginhisfootstepsandcapturingabitoftheancientArabspiritofadventurebecameoneofmyburning20）ambitions.Foryears，IdreamtthatonedayIwouldsailononeoftheseshipsacrosstheArabianSeato21）exoticlands.

TheyearsrolledbyandnowIfoundmyselfinDubai，theUnitedArabEmirates’economicheart.AlongtheshoresofitsCreek，whichdividesthecityintotwoparts，therewerehundredsofdhowsloadingandunloadinggoods.However，theirsailsandgearhadbeenreplacedbymotorsandtheother22）gadgetsofourmodernage.

“但是到了今天，年輕人追求奢華富貴的生活，想擁有自己的跑車。父親在他們眼里什么也不是。如今，只有做女兒的還會想到父母?！?/p>

我告別了阿卜杜拉?賈西姆和這位老船長，想起了我盼望有朝一日能乘坐阿拉伯獨桅帆船的夢想。奧貝德?阿穆哈利的話多多少少沖淡了我坐船的興致，但還不至于完全熄滅。我已經等了好多年，所以不會輕易被嚇到。

在我年輕時讀過的冒險故事里，沒有哪一本書像艾倫?維利爾斯的《辛巴達之子》那樣讓我印象深刻。他在書中描述了他駕駛阿拉伯獨桅帆船從阿拉伯海灣航行到非洲東海岸的旅程。追隨著他的腳步航行，體驗一把古代阿拉伯的冒險精神，就成為了我熊熊燃燒的雄心壯志。多年來我一直夢想著，有一天能乘坐獨桅帆船橫跨阿拉伯海，到達異域他鄉(xiāng)的土地。

此去經年，我現(xiàn)在來到了迪拜――阿聯(lián)酋的經濟中心。迪拜灣把整個城市一分為二，此處沿岸有數(shù)百艘單桅帆船在裝卸貨物，只不過它們的風帆和齒輪都已經換成了馬達和其他現(xiàn)代配件。

Alas！Thedaysweregonewhenthesightofhuge23）fleetsofdhows，withtheirsails24）bendingtothewind，coveredthe25）horizonoftheArabianGulf.Today，onecanseetheseshipsonlysailingforsportorforthepleasureoftourists.

Likemostofthevisitorswhoyearntosailintheseonce-cherishedcrafts，Iknewtimehadpassedmeby.Yet，Istillwantedtotastethepleasureoftravellingtheseasonadhowevenifithadtobetouriststyle.

Thatevening，myyearningsweretobe26）fulfilled.Aswe27）boardedourtouristcraft，Ilookedaround.

Thedhowofthe28）bygoneyearshadbeentransformedintoatouristshipofexcellence.Everythingwasneatandtidyfromthewhitetableclothstotheclean29）uniformsofthecrew.Itwas30）apparentthattheoldhadbeen31）overpoweredbythenew.

ThewavesofDubaiCreekgently32）lappedand33）swayedtheship，as，withArabicmusicinthebackground，weenjoyedthetastyArabfood.

Asthecool34）breezes35）soothedourbodies，wesmoothlymovedalongtheCreekpastdhowsloadingandunloadinggoods，astheyhavedoneforcenturies.Thesoundofthemotorsandthegentlewindcalmedoursensesaswesailedintheshadowsof36）sky-scrapingstructures.

Thepassengersonthedhow，themajorityEuropean37）expatriatesandtourists，seemedhappyandcontent.None，Idaresay，caredaboutthehistoryofships.Pleasure，notdhowsandtheirhistory，wasontheirminds.

Satisfied，Isatbackand38）fantasizedaboutthepastwhilewatchingan39）orientaldancer40）entrancingthepassengers.The41）heritageand42）atmosphereofthedhowtookmebacktotheeraofTheArabianNightsandSindbadtheSailor注2.

Intwohours―tomeitseemedminutes―aswenearedtheendofourjourney，Akbar，ourIndianwaiter，biddingmeadieu，smilinglyenquired，“Didyouenjoythetour？”

“Ofcourse！ButitwasnotlikeoneofSindbad’sjourneys，”I43）grinned.Helookedatmestrangely.ApparentlyhehadnoideawhatImeant.Tohim，Sindbadandhistaleswereofnointerest.HehadcomefromIndiatoworkandmakehisfortune，thenreturnhomeandenjoythe44）offeringsofthe21stcentury.Unlikeme，hewaslivinginreality.

?。〕扇航Y隊的單桅帆船，揚著迎風鼓起的帆，遮住了阿拉伯海灣的海平線――這樣的壯景已經一去不復返了。今天，人們只能看到這些帆船被用