美国国家公共电台 NPR Surrounded By Military Barracks, Skiers Shred The Himalayan Slopes Of Indian Kashmir

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Let's go now to Kashmir. That's a valley high in the Himalayas that's been the subject of conflict for generations just as it is now. The region is split between India and Pakistan. Separatists are fighting for independence. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are stationed there. But most winters, when the valley fills with snow, the fighting subsides¹. And the area becomes a winter playground. Here's NPR's Lauren Frayer.

(SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

LAUERN FRAYER, BYLINE²: A helicopter takes off near military barracks in one of the world's longest-running conflict zones. Artillery³ often rings out across these peaks.

BILLA MAJEED BAKSHI: It sounds like big blasts, and what else? (Laughter). We need to get air defense⁴ clearance⁵.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Foreign language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: OK, copy.

FRAYER: But Billa Bakshi's helicopter is not part of the conflict.

BAKSHI: My name Billa Majeed Bakshi, and I run Kashmir Heliski. We have clients from different parts of the world. We take people to 4,500 meter. And they enjoy it. And it's...

FRAYER: You heard that right. He choppers skiers more than 14,000 feet up into the Himalayas in Indian-administered Kashmir. Jimmy Hands from Toronto is snowboarding within view of Pakistani troops on the disputed border.

JIMMY HANDS: I think it's fantastic. I just wish we could get over their mountain ranges and shred⁷ with them, too. Look. Nothing brings peace like a little bit of snow. And everybody's been magical here, like, really. Like, it is magic.

FRAYER: The powder this high up may be magical, but it also avalanches⁹ a whole lot.

BRIAN NEWMAN: When I arrived here in 2007, 2008, we had none of the tools to deal with the problem.

FRAYER: Brian Newman, originally from Colorado, is the snow safety officer for Gulmarg, a Kashmiri government-run ski resort with two giant gondola¹⁰ lifts. He got explosives from the Indian military to blast off excess snow. He imposed rules requiring skiers to carry avalanche⁸ beacons¹¹, shovels¹² and probes. And he learned the Kashmiri language.

How do you say, like, the conditions are epic¹³ today?

NEWMAN: (Laughter) (foreign language spoken).

FRAYER: Epic conditions draw a small but devoted¹⁴ group of foreign ski bums¹⁵. But as India's middle class grows, domestic tourists are now coming. Nikita Kapoor is from tropical Kolkata, where it never snows.

NIKITA KAPOOR: It's almost like a different world. You're sort of like - you're cocooned¹⁶ in this little space between the sky and the snow. And I'm learning how to snowboard for the first time, so it's really exciting.

FRAYER: Tourism brings much-needed revenue to Kashmir, home to a decades-long separatist insurgency¹⁷. There are violent protests. Authorities respond with curfews. Unemployment is triple that of the rest of India.

So what kind of jobs are there here?

ALTAF KHANDAY: Nothing. You know the guys who are going with the stones outside in the valleys? They are well-educated guys. They are busy in militancy¹⁸ now.

FRAYER: Because there's no other opportunities.

KHANDAY: Yeah.

FRAYER: Yeah.

KHANDAY: Yeah, it's so sad.

FRAYER: That's my ski guide, Altaf Khanday. For him, becoming an expert skier⁶ was an economic decision. Working two months at Gulmarg, he can support seven members of his family all year.

Hello.

Young men huddle¹⁹ around a wood stove in a mountain hut, listening to Indian pop music. Raja Wasim Khan was 15 when his father moved the family to the mountains.

RAJA WASIM KHAN: Actually, he was a terrorist. He fight for Kashmir. Five, six year, he went to jail. Then he start a new life, and he teach us snowboarding.

FRAYER: Raja says his father, a renowned²⁰ Kashmiri militant²¹ known as the Tiger, wanted him and his brother to pour their energy into snowboarding rather than violence.

KHAN: Sometimes, if I'm so angry, I have to take my snowboard on my shoulder and go for a ride - make myself relax. Like, when you put your strips on and go for, like, powder run, it makes you like you are flying. You didn't think anything, I mean, just flying in the air.

FRAYER: Flying in the air, skimming through snow, distracted from Kashmir's conflict if only for two months a year. Lauren Frayer, NPR News in Gulmarg, Kashmir.

(SOUNDBITE OF BJOLLUKOR TONLISTARSKOLI REYKJANESBAEJAR'S "HOPPIPOLLA")

1 subsides   

v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的第三人称单数 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上

参考例句：

• Emotion swells and subsides. 情绪忽高忽低。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His emotion swells and subsides. 他的情绪忽高忽低。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

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 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

6 skier   

n.滑雪运动员

参考例句：

• She is a skier who is unafraid of danger.她是一名敢于冒险的滑雪者。
• The skier skimmed across the snow.滑雪者飞快地滑过雪地。

7 shred   

v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少

参考例句：

• There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
• The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。

8 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

9 avalanches   

n.雪崩( avalanche的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest dangers of pyroclastic avalanches are probably heat and suffocation. 火成碎屑崩落的最大危害可能是炽热和窒息作用。 来自辞典例句
• Avalanches poured down on the tracks and rails were spread. 雪崩压满了轨道，铁轨被弄得四分五裂。 来自辞典例句

10 gondola   

n.威尼斯的平底轻舟；飞船的吊船

参考例句：

• The road is too narrow to allow the passage of gondola.这条街太窄大型货车不能通过。
• I have a gondola here.我开来了一条平底船。

11 beacons   

灯塔( beacon的名词复数 )； 烽火； 指路明灯； 无线电台或发射台

参考例句：

• A chain of beacons was lit across the region. 整个地区点起了一系列灯塔。
• Lighthouse and beacons flash at night. 晚上灯塔与信号台闪着光。

12 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

13 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

14 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。

15 bums   

n. 游荡者，流浪汉，懒鬼，闹饮，屁股 adj. 没有价值的，不灵光的，不合理的 vt. 令人失望，乞讨 vi. 混日子，以乞讨为生

参考例句：

• The other guys are considered'sick" or "bums". 其他的人则被看成是“病态”或“废物”。
• You'll never amount to anything, you good-for-nothing bums! 这班没出息的东西，一辈子也不会成器。

16 cocooned   

v.茧，蚕茧( cocoon的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The doctors cocooned the patient in blankets. 医生们将病人紧包在毯子里。 来自辞典例句
• I cocooned in my own kingdom. 我完全沉迷在我自己的王国中。 来自辞典例句

17 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

18 militancy   

n.warlike behavior or tendency

参考例句：

• Full of militancy and revolutionary ardour, the people of all nationalities in the country are working hard for the realization of the four modernizations. 全国各族人民意气风发， 斗志昂扬，为实现四个现代化而奋战。
• The seniority system is another factor that leads to union militancy. 排资论辈制度也是导致工会好斗争的另一因素。

19 huddle   

vi.挤作一团；蜷缩；vt.聚集；n.挤在一起的人

参考例句：

• They like living in a huddle.他们喜欢杂居在一起。
• The cold wind made the boy huddle inside his coat.寒风使这个男孩卷缩在他的外衣里。

20 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

21 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。