VOA慢速英语--莱昂纳多电影中网红的泰国海滩闭门谢客

Thai Beach Made Famous in DiCaprio Film Closes to Tourists

The Thailand beach made famous in the Leonardo DiCaprio film “The Beach” is being closed to give it a break from tourists.

The beach sits on Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh island, off the coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. The government ordered that no visitors will be permitted to go to the bay from June through September 2018.

Thai officials say the decision is aimed at giving the area’s coral reefs² and sea life a chance to recover. Tourism officials say up to 5,000 visitors travel to the beach every day.

Thon Thamrongnawasawat is an ocean scientist and member of a government committee on environmental development. He told the Associated Press the closure is needed to help the beach heal³.

“It’s like someone who has been working for decades and has never stopped,” he said. “Overworked and tired, all the beauty of the beach is gone. We need a timeout for the beach.”

Maya Bay was used as the main filming area for the 2000 movie “The Beach.” It starred Leonardo DiCaprio as an American traveling through Asia with friends. The group is given a map that promises to lead them to paradise⁴ on earth.

The film showed the world the bay’s beautiful white sandy beaches and bright blue waters.

Many of Thailand’s ocean national parks are closed from mid-May to mid-October. But high tourist demand led officials to keep Maya Bay open the whole year.

Recent studies by ocean biologists found a large part of coral reefs in the area had disappeared. Most sea life was also gone.

Thon had urged the government to close the area to visitors for many years. He said he thinks the action should have been taken at least 10 years ago. “But you know in Thailand we are a tourism industry country, and we need a lot of money, so before not so many people listened.”

A Thai official in the tourist area of Phuket told Reuters the closing of Maya Bay was one way to protect part of the country’s natural beauty, which will be important for tourism in the future.

But some local people are not completely happy. The head of the Phi Phi Tourist Business Association⁵, Watrapol Jantharo, said he was surprised when the closure was announced.

He said he and others in the area thought Maya Bay would only be closed to boats, while visitors would still be permitted to walk to the beach from the other side of the island.

“We are not against protecting our environment,” Watrapol said. “We know full well that Maya Bay is our important resource, like a rice field to a farmer. But we wish there were more communications about the government’s plan before the decision was made.”

Other Southeast Asian beach resorts⁶ have also come under threat because of continued increases in the number of visitors.

?In the Philippines, the government began in late April a six-month closure of its popular tourist island of Boracay. The island is known for its soft, white sand beaches and lively nightlife.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had called the area around Boracay a “cesspool” because of large amounts of waste going directly into the ocean. “The germ⁷ content is already very high there. It only looks good because of the white coastline,” Duterte said.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

tourist – n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure

coral reef¹ – n. a long line of coral that lies in warm, shallow⁸ water (coral: a hard material formed on the bottom of the sea by the skeletons⁹ of small creatures)

paradise – n. a perfect place or situation

resource – n. natural substances such as water and wood that are valuable in supporting life

cesspool – n. large, underground hole or container used for collecting and storing human waste and dirty water

germ – n. a very small organism that causes disease

1 reef   

n.礁，礁石，暗礁

参考例句：

• The ship and its crew were lost on the reef.那条船及船员都触礁遇难了。
• The ship was wrecked on a coral reef.这条船在珊瑚暗礁上撞毁了。

2 reefs   

礁体

参考例句：

• The motorboat cut across swift currents and skirted dangerous reefs. 汽艇穿过激流，绕过险滩。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Fish are abundant about the reefs. 暗礁附近鱼很多。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 heal   

v.使愈合，治愈，使康复；平息(争吵等)；消除，解决(分支等)

参考例句：

• Time helped heal the old wounds.时间有助于治愈旧创伤。
• This wound will soon heal if yon keep it clean.如果你保持伤口清洁，它很快就会痊愈。

4 paradise   

n.伊甸乐园，天堂

参考例句：

• My house had a small backyard,the paradise of children.我那幢房子有一个小后院，那是孩子们玩耍的乐园。
• On a hot day a dip in the sea is sheer paradise.热天洗个海水澡是十分令人惬意的事。

5 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

6 resorts   

n.求助，凭借，诉诸( resort的名词复数 )；求助[凭借]的对象；采用的办法；度假胜地v.求助于或诉诸某事物，采取某手段或方法应急或作为对策( resort的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Ferry boats ply regularly between all the resorts on the lake. 渡船定时往返于湖的各旅游景点。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Other resorts could benefit from the spillover of tourists. 其他度假胜地可以从游客带来的影响中间受益。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 germ   

n.细菌，病菌，微生物；(想法等的)起源

参考例句：

• I have the germ of an idea.我有一个初步的想法。
• This was the germ of a book.这是一本书的源起。

8 shallow   

adj.浅的，肤浅的，浅显易懂的；n.(pl.)浅滩，浅处；v.变浅

参考例句：

• The dish is too shallow to serve soup in.盘子太浅，盛不了汤。
• His analysis was always shallow.他的分析总是很肤浅的。

9 skeletons   

n.（建筑物等的）骨架( skeleton的名词复数 )；骨骼；梗概；骨瘦如柴的人（或动物）

参考例句：

• Only skeletons of buildings remained. 只剩下了建筑物的框架。 来自辞典例句
• It looks like six skeletons in front of that stone door! 在这石头门前看上去就象有六副骨骼！ 来自辞典例句