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157 穆沙拉夫将拜访祖屋
Musharraf to Visit his Ancestral Home
Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
13 Jul 2001 16:52 UTC
It's being billed as a trip down memory lane for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. During his visit to India July 14-16, General Musharraf will stop by the 1)ancestral 2)mansion in New Delhi where he lived as a child before his family migrated to Pakistan. Residents of the area were excitedly 3)awaiting Mr. Musharraf's arrival.
It was once a 4)sprawling mansion owned by General Musharraf's relatives. Today it is a maze of 5)dilapidated homes, offices and tiny shops 6)tucked in the narrow bylanes of a crowded market in Muslim-dominated Old Delhi.
General Musharraf lived in the Neharwali Haveli (mansion) with his grandfather, mother and younger brother until he was four years old. The family left before the 1947 partition of the Asian 7)subcontinent into mostly Muslim Pakistan and Hindu-8)dominated India.
After the Musharraf family departed, the mansion was 9)split into separate properties and sold. The present 10)occupants had no idea this was General Musharraf's childhood home until after he took power in Pakistan two years ago.
The residents and shopkeepers in the one-time mansion are 11)bubbling with enthusiasm about the general's planned half-hour stop. They want to greet him with gifts, flowers and a grand feast, although security concerns will probably make that impossible. Here in this crowded 12)lane, there is no trace of the 13)hostility or 14)bitterness that characterize the bitter India/Pakistan 15)rivalry, only the warmth and 16)hospitality typical of the subcontinent.
Madan Lal Jain is a cloth trader and owns one part of the former mansion. He was giving his house a fresh coat of paint in case the general steps inside. "Our family is very excited," he said. "It's a one-time opportunity in a life that we are host to a president of a country who is a national guest also."
A wrinkled old woman sat outside a shop where the mansion stood. Anaro Kashmiro, who said she is around 80 years old, is the only resident who remembers the Pakistani leader as a child. She said she worked as a cleaning woman in the Musharraf household. Kashmiro said she is very pleased because a lost son is coming home. She said she prays that the two countries should unite.
Fifty-year-old Nayyar Ul-Islam owns a publishing business in the area. He shared in the enthusiasm that infected the area. "We are feeling great because he is a very 17)dignified person," he said, "and because he is coming over here at our invitation. So he has shown a gesture of friendship."
Not everyone was happy with the visit. A teenaged brother and sister lost their home when a 18)municipal demolition team knocked down a portion of their house, saying it was a security hazard for General Musharraf.
But for most others in the 19)bustling area, the visit had come as a blessing. In the past week, an army of municipal workers had repaired and cleaned the roads, cleared the garbage and installed new street lights. The market was likely to be shut for two days for security reasons, but shopkeepers said they were willing to lose business for the sake of their star guest.
(1) ancestral[An5sestr(E)l]adj.祖先的, 祖传的
(2) mansion[5mAnF(E)n]n.大厦, 官邸
(3) await[E5weIt]vt.等候
(4) sprawl[sprC:l]n. v.四肢伸开的躺卧姿势, 蔓生
(5) tuck[tQk]n.缝摺, 活力vt.打摺, 卷起, 挤进vi.折成摺子, 缩拢
(6) dilapidated[dI5lApIdeItId]adj.毁坏的, 要塌似的, 荒废的
(7) subcontinent[sQb5kRntInEnt]n.次大陆
(8) dominate[5dRmIneIt]v.支配, 占优势
(9) split[spli:t]v.劈开, (使)裂开, 分裂, 分离n.裂开, 裂口, 裂痕
(10) occupant[5RkjJpEnt]n.占有者, 居住者
(11) bubble[5bQb(E)l]n.泡沫, 幻想的计划vi.起泡, 潺潺的流
(12) lane[leIn]n.（乡间）小路, 巷,航线
(13) hostility[hR5stIlItI]n.敌意, 恶意, 不友善, 敌对, 对抗, 反对
(14) bitterness[5bItEnIs]n.苦味, 辛酸, 苦难
(15) rivalry[5raIvElrI]n.竞争, 竞赛, 敌对, 敌对状态
(16) hospitality[9hCspI`tAlEtI]n.好客, 宜人, 盛情
(17) dignified[5dI^nIfaId]adj.有威严的, 有品格的
(18) municipal[mju:5nIsIp(E)l]adj.市政的, 市立的, 地方性的, 地方自治的
(19) bustling[`bQslIN]adj.熙熙攘攘的, 忙乱的
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