2007年VOA标准英语-Egyptian Workers Let Loose on Floating Party Bo

By Karem Sa'id
Cairo
25 February 2007

Tourists to Egypt are no doubt familiar with the felucca, a timeless sailboat. Egyptians, however, use the word felucca for another kind of boat on the Nile - a motorboat that blares popular music. Karem Said reports for VOA from Cairo these modern feluccas are a fixture¹ for less-privileged Egyptians who navigate² the river by night.

Someone brought a boom box. The popular music sonically lights up this downtown spot along the Nile, where scores of Egyptian youth tread by night. Couples hold hands. Some sit out of sight in wooden gazebos.

A nearby staircase takes couples down to a series of open-air boats, louder than the boombox and brighter than any vessels³ on the Nile. Multi-colored bulbs blink along metal ribs⁴ above the boats, creating a disco space.

Mostly young, unmarried Egyptians ride the boats, but small families come too. A visitor named Wael came with his wife and baby boy.

He says the boats themselves are nothing special. They are really primitive⁵. They cannot make more than these short trips.

He says people come out to the Nile, especially on holidays, the whole Egyptian nation. The Egyptian people are known for this: to stay up the whole night by the Nile and sleep in the morning - the youth. He says people who work come on a Friday, they take their family for an outing.

For many Egyptians, the Nile River is a national treasure. Cairo bridges are lined with the fishing rods of patient hobbyists and families in plastic chairs, eating vendor⁶ food like grilled⁷ sweet potato, pumpkin⁸ seeds, and peanuts.

But unlike other river activities, the boats are controversial amongst Islamists, because women and men often get up to dance for other riders, who clap in unison⁹ and shout encouraging phrases.

On a Friday night, three young women, all of them veiled and in tight jeans, got up to dance after the boat left shore. Their hips¹⁰ movements were sensual at times and percussive¹¹ at others.

One of the women dancing, Shaimaa said she goes on boat rides up to three times a week. She brings different friends with her, and they will go for about four rounds in a night.

She said I really love boats. We come for a change in atmosphere. We make noise, we dance, we listen to music - nice things.

But not everyone on the boat appreciated the spectacle. Wafaa and her cousin May sat, hands folded, with disapproving¹² looks. Wafaa, a law student from the neighborhood of Nasr City, said different kinds of people come to the boats.

She says good people and bad people come to these boats. There are some who come for an outing and there are others who come for dancing. The girl who dances is not respectable. She says the respectable girl comes to sit and watch, but does not come to let people watch her dancing.

Most Egyptians drawn¹³ to the Nile are middle-class or low-income. Upper-class Egyptians prefer to frequent exclusive social clubs, cafes and pubs, ironically leaving the most picturesque¹⁴ outings to what is known as the shaab, the popular classes.

The 20-minute boat rides cost about 35 cents a trip, which is affordable¹⁵ for most Cairo residents. A trip in a closed ferry-boat costs slightly less.

A rider named Ahmed, a tourist driver from the low-income neighborhood of Shoubra, said he also rides the ferry-boats for fun.

He says we go to those boats, and we go to a casino, and we like to come here so we can be amongst the poor people, like us, because Egypt has lots of poor people. America also has its own poor people. Every country in the world has its own poor people. 

Workers face high inflation and chronic¹⁶ unemployment, even as they see foreign goods flood the country. Wealthy Egyptians easily imitate the fashions found on satellite television. A growing gap between rich and poor has brought with it temptations that most Egyptians cannot afford. They commonly work more than one job just to make ends meet.

A boat worker named Mohsen said the boats give people a chance to let loose.

He says the people of Egypt are fed up, so they want to change their mood through noise. He adds, I like to work here, because there is no work in Egypt. When I started the work, I started liking¹⁷ it. The atmosphere is good.

Later in the boat ride, teenage boys also got up to dance. With closed eyes, one feverishly¹⁸ thrust and rolled his torso in time to the music, jumping up and stomping¹⁹ down, with movements very different from traditional Egyptian dancing. 

A plain-clothed police officer named Ahmed Mahdi, from the neighborhood of Haday-il-ooba, said the people who dance are depressed²⁰. He does not dance, he said, because he is not depressed.

He emphasized that the beauty of the Nile draws people for different activities.

He says there are people who come from Maadi, from Heliopolis, they come from different parts of Cairo. They fish in the Nile. It is a wealth. It is a wealth in itself. All of the Nile brings goodness. He says it has everything.

1 fixture   

n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款

参考例句：

• Lighting fixture must be installed at once.必须立即安装照明设备。
• The cordless kettle may now be a fixture in most kitchens.无绳电热水壶现在可能是多数厨房的固定设备。

2 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

3 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

5 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

6 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

7 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

8 pumpkin   

n.南瓜

参考例句：

• They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
• It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你！

9 unison   

n.步调一致，行动一致

参考例句：

• The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism.这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。
• My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。

10 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 percussive   

adj.敲击的

参考例句：

• When it is dragged over pliant areas, an additional percussive tap could indicate this collision. 当它被拖到受范区域时，一个附加的敲击声提示这种碰触。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Pneumatic DTH (Down-The-Hole) hammer is one of main pneumatic percussive-rotary drilling equipments. 风动冲击器是气动冲击回转钻进的主要设备之一。 来自互联网

12 disapproving   

adj.不满的，反对的v.不赞成( disapprove的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Mother gave me a disapproving look. 母亲的眼神告诉我她是不赞成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her father threw a disapproving glance at her. 她父亲不满地瞥了她一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

14 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

15 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

16 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

17 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

18 feverishly   

adv. 兴奋地

参考例句：

• Feverishly he collected his data. 他拼命收集资料。
• The company is having to cast around feverishly for ways to cut its costs. 公司迫切须要想出各种降低成本的办法。

19 stomping   

v.跺脚，践踏，重踏( stomp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He looked funny stomping round the dance floor. 他在舞池里跺着舞步，样子很可笑。 来自辞典例句
• Chelsea substitution Wright-Phillips for Robben. Wrighty back on his old stomping to a mixed reception. 77分–切尔西换人：赖特．菲利普斯入替罗本。小赖特在主场球迷混杂的欢迎下，重返他的老地方。 来自互联网

20 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。