VOA新闻杂志2022--伯利恒自2019年以来首次迎来圣诞游客

Bethlehem Filled With Christmas Tourists for First Time Since 2019

Visitors are returning to the West Bank city of Bethlehem this Christmas season, after a two-year absence because of COVID-19.

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 Christians². Most believe Jesus was born there about two thousand years ago on December 25.

Christmas season visitors last filled the streets of Bethlehem in 2019. They stayed away in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But this year, visitors are coming back. The city's hotels are fully³ booked.

Days ago, visitors from almost every continent posed⁵ 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.

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 "Christian¹ religious tourists especially, they all want to return to the Holy Land."

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 olive⁶ wood.

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."

The Israeli Tourism Ministry⁷ said it expects 120,000 Christians to come during the Christmas week. A record-setting 150,000 tourists visited in 2019.

Bethlehem's mayor⁸ is Hanna Hanania. "God willing," he said, "we will go back this year to where things were before coronavirus."

He said about 150,000 people came to the recent Christmas tree-lighting. "Recovery⁹ has begun," he added.

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.

However, the year's violence does not concern business owners as much as the pandemic does.

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.

Bassem Giacamen's family has owned the Blessing¹⁰ 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.

"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."

Words in This Story

absence –n. the state where something that is expected does not exist

tourist –n. a visitor who comes to see a place from another country

book –v. to ask for a room or reservation¹¹ at hotel or restaurant

pose⁴ –v. to present yourself for a photo

ghost –n. something that is thought to be the soul of a dead person in the world of the living; a way of saying something is no longer busy or active

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 pose   

vt.造成，陈述；vi.摆姿势，装腔作势；n.姿势

参考例句：

• He sat in a relaxed pose.他轻松自如地坐着。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend.他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

5 posed   

使摆姿势( pose的过去式和过去分词 )； 以…身份出现； 招摇； 炫耀

参考例句：

• The players strutted and posed for the cameras. 运动员昂首阔步，摆好姿势让记者拍照。
• After the wedding we all posed for a photograph. 婚礼之后，我们全体排好拍了一张照片。

6 olive   

n.橄榄，橄榄树，橄榄色；adj.黄绿色的，黄褐色的，橄榄色的

参考例句：

• Have you eaten a kind of fruit called olive?你吃过橄榄这种水果吗？
• She likes olive because It'symbolizes peace.她喜欢橄榄色因为它象征着和平。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 mayor   

n.市长

参考例句：

• The new mayor said he would clean the city up.新市长说，他要整顿本市。
• The mayor hurried into his office,brushing off the reporters.市长赶快走进办公室，拒不接见记者。

9 recovery   

n.恢复，痊愈；追回，寻回，收复

参考例句：

• The doctors said that his recovery was a miracle. 医生们说他的复原是件奇事。
• The quick recovery was truly in response to medication.这次迅速康复确实是对药物治疗的反应。

10 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

11 reservation   

n.保留条件，限制条件；预订座位

参考例句：

• The instruction should be carried out without any reservation.应当不折不扣地执行这个指示。
• I accept your statement without reservation.我完全相信你的话。