圣誕地最渴望的圣誕禮物英語美文
以色列首都耶路撒冷以南6公里的伯利恒城是傳說中耶穌誕生的地方。今年，這個約旦河西岸城市的人們最渴望得到的圣誕禮物是絡繹不絕的游客。
據美聯社12月6日報道，由于傳說中耶穌降臨于此，伯利恒每年都會迎來各國眾多朝拜者和游客，旅游業是當地主要的經濟收入來源。每年圣誕節前夕，數十萬人聚集在伯利恒的馬廄廣場高唱頌歌和舉行彌撒活動以迎接圣誕節的到來。而今年，伯利恒城中的商鋪主人、旅館店主甚至普通老百姓都希望有更多的游客到來，哪怕只是待上短短的一夜，這成了他們最渴望的圣誕禮物。伯利恒主誕堂的一名導游說：“我們每天都在祈禱游客能夠繼續到這兒觀光。但由于最近4年巴以兩國沖突不斷，游客都害怕到這兒來旅游。”
在2002年9月發生一系列自殺爆炸事件發生后，以色列軍隊4萬人進駐伯利恒。當時，巴勒斯坦武裝人員躲進伯利恒主誕堂，以色列軍隊封鎖教堂5周。現在，這座始建于公元4世紀的教堂里還殘留著當時留下的槍眼。
上月，巴勒斯坦領袖阿拉法特的逝世使巴以兩國間的武裝沖突稍有停息，這也使伯利恒當地政府急于在圣誕節前恢復旅游業。伯利恒市長納賽爾表示，以往每年都有數十萬的.游客來到這里慶祝圣誕節，每月平均有12萬游客，而如今每月只有大約1萬人。據納賽爾估計，今年平安夜和圣誕節可能只有1500人前來觀光。
正在當地旅游的一名美國人表示，盡管各種媒體把約旦河西岸描述成一個極不安全的地方，但我們在伯利恒感覺很安全。
報道說，為了促進旅游業的復興，巴以兩國旅游部門已達成了一項旨在減少兩國旅游限制的協議，并向游客承諾，圣地是安全的。
West bank Bethlehem knows what it wants for Christmas: tourists.
All over Manger Square and the rest of town, shopkeepers, hotel owners and just plain folks are hoping that visitors come and stay -- if only for a night.
Pilgrims are the primary source of income in Jesus Christ"s traditional birthplace, and town leaders, while mourning Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, are encouraged by a lull in Israeli-Palestinian fighting since his death last month.
"We hope things will get better and pray every day for tourists to come back," said Nidal Dar El-Qurneh, a guide at the Church of the Nativity. "It"s been so hard recently, especially the last four years of the intifada."
The intifada, or Palestinian uprising, has devastated tourism throughout the Holy Land, and occasionally the violence spilled into Bethlehem.
At formerly bustling Manger Square, just outside the church, the town"s troubles are evident.
Some of the bullet holes in the church are still visible, and the turquoise blue doors of the stores lining the streets are bolted. Those that are open, to sell baby Jesus figures and glow-in-the-dark statues of the Virgin Mary, say they"re lucky to get a few customers a week.
Christmas celebrations here once attracted tens of thousands of tourists, but that was before the violence. Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser said that 120,000 tourists once visited every month. Now it"s about 10,000. And on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when tens of thousands of people would normally pour in, Nasser doubts even 1,500 will come to attend services.
In a sign of renewed cooperation, the Israeli and Palestinian tourism ministers announced an agreement to ease travel restrictions and promised all visitors that the Holy Land was safe. (：夏根建)
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