VOA文化艺术2023--Abandoned Village Is a Reminder of Fast-changing UAE

Abandoned Village Is a Reminder¹ of Fast-changing UAE

About an hour's drive from the tall buildings of Dubai is an empty village in the sands of the United Arab Emirates. It stands as a reminder of how fast the Middle Eastern country is changing.

Built in the 1970s, the village of al-Ghuraifa was left empty twenty years later. Oil wealth has turned the UAE, home to the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, into an international center of commerce and tourism.

In recent years, the empty village near the town of al-Madam in the Sharjah emirate has become more popular with visitors.

The village, made up of two rows of homes and a religious center, "can teach us a lot of the modern history of the UAE," said Ahmad Sukkar of the University of Sharjah. Sukkar is part of a team studying the area.

Al-Ghuraifa was built as part of a public housing project after the 1971 establishment of the United Arab Emirates, a group of seven sheikhdoms. The discovery of oil 13 years earlier was just starting to reshape the country.

The village housed around 100 members of the al-Ketbi tribe, Sukkar said. They were one of several Bedouin groups that until then had led a semi-nomadic² existence. They raised animals, traveled among the desert oases³ and visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi when they were small towns.

The modern cement houses were built with local details to ease the change to settled life. The inside walls were brightly colored, and some had mosaics⁵. The homes also had spaces where village leaders could gather locals for meetings. One house had special paper known as wallpaper showing a land with green plants and trees - a big difference from the sandy environment outside.

It is unclear what exactly caused people to leave just twenty years after the homes were built. Some say that they were driven away by evil spirits. But Sukkar says it is more likely that people left to seek a better life in the UAE's fast-growing cities.

The village had limited electricity and water, and was often hit by sandstorms. Families would have also had to deal with long traveling times across the desert to reach government jobs and schools in Dubai.

Now, the desert is slowly taking back the village. Sand has blown into the homes. Only the religious center, or mosque⁶, remains⁷ as it was, thanks to regular cleaning by workers from nearby al-Madam.

Some descendants of the camel-mounted Bedouin who once traveled the desert sands still live in the Emirates' rural areas. However, many now live in cities with tall buildings, large shopping centers, and modern roads.

Foreign nationals make up the majority of the UAE's population, and some have taken an interest in its history. It is also a place for them to record music videos and social media posts. On a recent day, groups of visitors walked through the abandoned village.

"I wonder why they left," said Nitin Panchal, an Indian living in the UAE. "Could it be a genie⁸," could it be "black magic?" Panchal asked. "We'll never know."

The local government recently installed fencing along with a security gate, waste containers and a parking lot. Officials made the changes because past visitors had caused damage to the village.

The new measures have taken some of the mystery from the village.

Danny Booth is from the Isle⁹ of Man, a British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea. He said he had decided¹⁰ to "come and have a look before things start to change here."

"Sometimes these places are better left undisturbed, as they lose their charm when they become crowded," he said.

Words in This Story

reminder -- n. something that causes you to remember or to think about something

tourism -- n. the activity of traveling to a place for pleasure

nomadic – adj. describes a member of a group of people who move from place to place

oasis¹¹ – n. an area in a desert where there is water and plants

mosaic⁴ – n. a decoration on a surface made by pressing small pieces of colored glass or stone into a soft material that then hardens to make pictures or patterns

descendant – n. someone who is related to a person or group of people who lived in the past

genie – n. a magic spirit that looks like a person and often lives in a lamp or bottle

undisturbed -- adj. not changed or touched by anyone or anything

charm -- n. an attractive quality

1 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

2 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

3 oases   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲( oasis的名词复数 )；（困苦中）令人快慰的地方（或时刻）；乐土；乐事

参考例句：

• There was a hundred miles between the two oases. 这两片绿洲间有一百英里。 来自辞典例句
• Where underground water comes to the surface, there are oases. 地下水流到地表的地方，就成为了绿洲。 来自互联网

4 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

5 mosaics   

n.马赛克( mosaic的名词复数 )；镶嵌；镶嵌工艺；镶嵌图案

参考例句：

• The panel shows marked similarities with mosaics found elsewhere. 这块嵌板和在其他地方找到的镶嵌图案有明显的相似之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The unsullied and shining floor was paved with white mosaics. 干净明亮的地上镶嵌着白色图案。 来自辞典例句

6 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 genie   

n.妖怪，神怪

参考例句：

• Now the genie of his darkest and weakest side was speaking.他心灵中最阴暗最软弱的部分有一个精灵在说话。
• He had to turn to the Genie of the Ring for help.他不得不向戒指神求助。

9 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。