美国国家公共电台 NPR As Tourists Crowd Out Locals, Venice Faces 'Endangered' List

As Tourists Crowd Out Locals, Venice Faces 'Endangered' List 

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Up to 90,000 tourists visit Venice, Italy, every day. There are more tourists in the city than permanent residents, and more residents are moving away. That's a problem. All this tourism is causing physical damage to the floating city. And as Christopher Livesay reports, neither the Italian government nor the United Nations Cultural Organization seemed to have solutions.

CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY, BYLINE²: This is what 1,000 Venetians sound like when they're fed up.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

LIVESAY: Locals are blocking the steps of one of the city's main tourist sites - the Rialto Bridge. And instead of waving picket³ signs...

GIOVANNI CLAUDIO DI GIORGIO: People are cheering and holding their carts in the air, which is - it was born as a joke.

LIVESAY: Giovanni Claudio Di Giorgio helped organize the march. The carts are shopping carts because Venetians say they can't even get to the market through the sea of tourists. And the joke...

DI GIORGIO: Put blades on the wheels, you know, like "Ben-Hur" - precisely⁴ like that. You'd just go around, and you'd mow⁵ people down.

LIVESAY: They didn't. But it's an illustration of how ticked off everyone was. Laura Chigi is a grandmother at the march. She says the local and national government are only interested in tourist dollars.

LAURA CHIGI: (Through interpreter) Venice is a cash cow, and everyone wants a piece.

LIVESAY: Just across St. Mark's Square, a cruise ship passes - one of hundreds every year. Their massive wake churns up the lagoon⁶ bottom, destabilizing the foundations of the buildings themselves.

CHIGI: (Through interpreter) Every time I see a cruise ship, I go into mourning. You see the mud it drags, the destruction it leaves in its wake? That hurts those ancient wooden pylons⁷ holding up the city underwater. One day we'll see Venice crumble⁸ down.

LIVESAY: UNESCO, the cultural wing of the U.N., seemed to agree. Two years ago, it put Italy on notice for failing to protect Venice. UNESCO considers it a world heritage site. That's a prestigious⁹ honor. That means Venice, at the cultural level, belongs to all of the world's people. UNESCO gave Italy two years to manage the tourism or Venice would be placed on another list, World Heritage in Danger, joining such sites as Aleppo and Palmyra in Syria.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Good morning, all.

LIVESAY: The deadline passed this summer, just as UNESCO was meeting. And only one representative, Jad Tabet from Lebanon, tried to raise the issue.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JAD TABET: Since several years, the situation of heritage in Venice has been worsening, and it has reached now a dramatic situation. We have now to act quickly.

LIVESAY: But UNESCO didn't even hold a vote.

ANNA SOMERS COCKS: It's been postponed¹⁰ until 2017, which might well mean it will then be postponed until 2018 or 2019 or 2020. Do you know what I mean? You just kick the thing into the long grass.

LIVESAY: Anna Somers Cocks says it may be postponed even longer. She's the founder¹¹ and editor of The Art Newspaper and the former head of Venice in Peril¹², a group devoted¹³ to restoring Venetian art. I asked why the U.N. cultural organization didn't vote to declare Venice a world heritage site in danger.

SOMERS COCKS: Because UNESCO is now intensely politicized.

LIVESAY: You think delegates were politically motivated not to say anything?

SOMERS COCKS: Yes, there would have been sort of back-room negotiations¹⁴.

LIVESAY: Italy boasts more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world. Adding Venice to the endangered list would be an international embarrassment¹⁵ and could even hurt Italy's lucrative¹⁶ tourism industry. The Italian Culture Ministry¹⁷ says it is unaware¹⁸ of any government efforts to pressure UNESCO. As for the organization itself, it declined a request for an interview. And as for Venetians, well, they're exasperated¹⁹.

DI GIORGIO: It’s a nightmare for me. Some situations are very difficult with tourists around.

LIVESAY: Like going to the market, says Giovanni Claudia Di Giorgio - then it hits him. This crowd of people isn't tourists. They're Venetians, and he says he's never experienced the Rialto Bridge this way.

DI GIORGIO: Because for once, we are the ones that are actually blocking the traffic - feels unreal. It does feel like we are some form of endangered species. I don't know. It's just nice. The feeling is just pure.

LIVESAY: Di Giorgio is 22, and he worries his generation might be the last to grow up as native Venetians. For NPR News, I'm Christopher Livesay in Venice.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 picket   

n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫

参考例句：

• They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
• Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。

4 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

5 mow   

v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆

参考例句：

• He hired a man to mow the lawn.他雇人割草。
• We shall have to mow down the tall grass in the big field.我们得把大田里的高草割掉。

6 lagoon   

n.泻湖，咸水湖

参考例句：

• The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。
• This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。

7 pylons   

n.（架高压输电线的）电缆塔( pylon的名词复数 )；挂架

参考例句：

• A-form pylons are designed to withstand earthquake forces. A型框架式塔架设计中考虑塔架能够经受地震力的作用。 来自辞典例句
• Who designed the arch bridge with granite-faced pylons at either end? 谁设计在拱桥两端镶有花岗岩的塔门？ 来自互联网

8 crumble   

vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁

参考例句：

• Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
• Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂，意志永不动摇。

9 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

10 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

11 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

12 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

13 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

14 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

15 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

16 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

17 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。

18 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

19 exasperated   

adj.恼怒的

参考例句：

• We were exasperated at his ill behaviour. 我们对他的恶劣行为感到非常恼怒。
• Constant interruption of his work exasperated him. 对他工作不断的干扰使他恼怒。