佩特拉古城――小众独享炫目风景.doc

佩特拉古城――小众独享炫目风景圣经故事、《阿拉伯的劳伦斯》、《夺宝奇兵》……约旦总让人浮想联翩。这里本应是旅行者的天堂，但中东动荡的局势让人望而却步。不要被表象骗了――约旦大部分地区还是很平静的。 约旦人非常热情好客。据说，你把行李随便放在街上，几小时后回来会发现它们还是原封不动；当地人甚至会邀请素不相识的游客到家里作客――这样的事情你还能在其它地方遇到吗？ No matter what you know of Petra ? the Jordanian historical site famous for its deep pink rock 1)facades and (to some movie fans) as the setting for the final scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ? nothing quite prepares you for the experience of seeing it in person. There is no other way to say it: Petra is 2)dazzling. “This makes Machu Picchu注 look like a pile of stones,” my wife, Joan, said to me. We spent nearly seven hours walking among vast rock 3)formations and the facades, carved 4)exquisitely into canyon walls that have survived centuries of earthquakes and neglect. What was more amazing, perhaps, is that we practically had the place to ourselves. While airports in Amman (three hours away by car) and Aqaba (one hour) make Petra 5)accessible to visitors, the 6)unrest in the Middle East has discouraged more travelers from visiting, although there have been few 7)disturbances in Jordan. During our visit in March, we stayed at a modern hotel in the town of Wadi Musa, just steps away from the entry gate to Petra, but the hotel appeared half empty. “We have been a victim of 8)misperceptions,” said Malia Asfour, director of the Jordanian Tourism Board North America. “People think the Middle East is all bad news, but a shift is happening.” Certainly, Petra alone is worth a visit. Hidden away in the mountains of southern Jordan, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, Petra is a former trading city sitting among vast rock formations. Its builders were the Nabataeans. They recognized Petra?s 9)strategic location along early trade routes between the Middle East and northern Africa. As architects, 10)artisans and tradesmen, they lived in the valley from about the seventh century B.C. through the early years of the second century A.D.