2篇英语阅读练习.docVIP

4 The World Heritage Hustle The historic center of Hoi An looks just how Vietnam is supposed to look：narrow laneswooden shop houses, a charming covered bridge．Hoi An’S wellpreserved architecture--from the 16th century onward, the port attracted traders from as far away as Portugal and Persia----1ed UNESCO to deem it a World Heritage site in l999, praising it as an “outstanding material manifestation of the fusion of cultures over time in an international commercial port．” Last monthI took a family holiday there, if not to enjoy an “outstanding material manifestation,” then simply to visit a historic place．1 was not the only one．Thirteen years ago, when Hoi An was first inscribed on the World Heritage list, the city welcomed 160,300 visitors．In 20111.5million tourists arrived．Today, tour buses crowd the edge of Hoi An’ old town，disgorging sunburned foreigners．Hundreds of nearly identical storefrontscatering to tourists and selling the same tailored clothes, shoes and lanterns---colonize the 1,254 heritage structures．Cyclosprowl the perimeter of the historic center, even as locals complain they can no longer afford the bicycle rickshaws because tourists have driven up the prices．In the rush to squeeze tourism revenue from the areaa hospital has been evicted．The building now houses a tailoring business． There are 725 World Heritage cultural sites in the world today, an eclectic list that ranges from the old quarters of Istanbul and Rome to the less-heralded town center of Giirokastra, Albania and the walled city of Shibam, Yemen．UNESCO says these sites boast “outstanding universalalue,” and descriptions of them often employ the same adjectives：uniqueauthentic, well preserved． It’s true that a World Heritage designation can save a historic urban center from becoming yet another undifferentiated, concrete-and-glass dystopia．But many cashpoor countries are fixated on World Heritage because they believe that making the 1ist will unlock tourism riches．A 2008 UNES