Colombia: The Next Tourist Hotspot

by Sarah Richard

翻译：寒星

Colombia: The Next Tourist Hotspot

哥伦比亚：旅游热点下一站

by Sarah Richard

翻译：寒星

Track 6

位于南美洲的哥伦比亚共和国是一个资源丰富的发展中国家。在那里，你会看到一些具有殖民地色彩的小城，感受不一样的异域风情。这个国家的名胜古迹名扬世界，公元16、17世纪所建的大学、博物馆、天文台及教堂等古老建筑迄今仍保存完好。当你来到哥伦比亚，你定会折服于当地人那悠闲的生活和友好的态度。而如若你是名咖啡爱好者，那么你就更不应该错过这个以生产咖啡为主的农业国。

I arrived in Cali, the second largest city in Colombia. The sun was truly shining. Cali was great, the people there were friendly and helpful.

One thing I knew about Colombia before I came was the coffee. I drank it every day while dreaming about South American adventures in my cold, wet hometown of England.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the beauty there. Even the bus ride was a pleasure, which is a sentence I never thought I would say in South America. The scene was so unexpected, I didn’t1)imagineColombia to have this much beauty. There lay fresh mountain2)waterfallsas well as3)luminous greenhills at every turn, it was so amazing!

1) imagine [ɪ,mædʒɪn] v. 想象

2) waterfall [,wɔːtəfɔːl] n. 瀑布

3) luminous green 亮绿色

Bogota was my next stop.On arrivalit was a dull city with nothing different from any other.

Then I opened my eyes and my heart. Bogota has4)capturedme, I belonged to the city now.

The smiles from the locals were5)infectious, love was poured from their hearts.

At frst, I was6)warywhen people7)approachedme on the street. But eventually, I realized how kind these people were, and how much they cared about the tourists.

Asking for directions was different from other countries in South America, you would get the directions and a warming smile.

For me, Bogota and the Colombian people changed my view on everything. I took a walk alone one night to pick up some8)groceries, it was dark, and I was in an unkown neighborhood. Yet, all I could think about was how safe I felt, I almost felt like I was in my local town. People smiled andcarried onwith their own business. I walked slower and stayed for longer, that moment, I knew I had to change foreigners’opinion on Colombia.

The only disadvantage to the city, however, was the weather. I needed to get some sun on my9)paleskin, so along with two amazing Colombian friends I had made in Bogota, we headed to the sunshine coast ofCartagena注注：卡塔赫纳（Cartagena），哥伦比亚北部的主要港口之一。它是一座历史名城，也是闻名遐迩的游览胜地。. The beaches were not ones of10)exoticpictures, but as I knew by now, it was all about the people who you meet along the way, not the scenery anymore.

Thinking about the last month in Colombia, I couldn’t believe how much I had fallen in love with it. I’ve done 7 countries in 7 months and over 25 in my lifetime, and Colombia isright up thereat number one! It was kind of like a holiday romance. I will always love Colombia and anyone that tells you it is dangerous has11)obviouslynever been there before.

词组加油站

on arrival抵达时，一到那里

carry on继续

right up there几乎成功

4) capture [,kæptʃə] v. 吸引（注意），俘获

5) infectious [ɪn,fekʃəs] adj. 有感染力的

6) wary [,weərɪ] adj. 小心翼翼的，警惕的

7) approach [ə,prəʊtʃ] v. 走近，靠近

8) grocery [,grəʊsərɪ] n.（复）食品，杂货

9) pale [peɪl] adj. 苍白的

10) exotic [ɪg,zɒtɪk] adj. 异国情调的，异常美丽的

11) obviously [,ɒbvɪəslɪ] adv. 明显地

我来到了哥伦比亚的第二大城市—卡利。当时的太阳火辣辣的。卡利真是棒极了，那儿的人们既友善又乐于助人。

在来到以前，我唯一知道的有关哥伦比亚的东西是这里的咖啡。在阴冷潮湿的伦敦老家，我每天一边喝着用哥伦比亚咖啡豆冲出来的咖啡，一边幻想着在南美洲上的奇遇。

让我毫无心理准备的，是当地的美。即便是坐公交车出行也是一件乐事，而我从没想过我会在踏足南美洲时说出这样一句话。那里的景致实在出乎意料，我不曾想象哥伦比亚会有这般美景。每一处转角都能看见清新的山间瀑布和鲜亮翠绿的山峰，简直妙极了！

波哥大是我的第二站。刚来到的时候，我感觉它就是一座枯燥无趣的城市，与其他地方并无区别。

可后来我敞开了眼界和心扉。波哥大把我俘获了，如今我已心归此处。

当地人脸上的笑容极具感染力，他们对别人的关爱也是发自内心。

起初，当大街上的人们向我靠近时，我是警惕着的。不过到最后，我意识到这些当地人真的十分友善，他们真的十分关照游客。

在哥伦比亚问路跟在其他南美洲国家问路不太一样，你所得到的不仅是方向的指引，还有温暖的笑容。

对于我来说，波哥大和哥伦比亚人改变了我对所有事情的看法。有天晚上，我独自走去采购一些日用品，天已经很黑，而我正走在一个并不熟悉的街区里。但是，我的总体感觉是自己非常安全，感觉几乎就像是在家乡的镇上一样。人们一边对着我微笑，一边继续忙着自己的事情。我开始放慢脚步，还多待了一会儿。在那个时候，我认为我应该要改变外国人对哥伦比亚的既定印象。

尽管如此，这座城市唯一的缺点便是天气。我想要给我那苍白的肤色加上一点太阳的色调，于是我和两个在波哥大结交的非常棒的哥伦比亚朋友，一起来到了卡塔赫纳的阳光海岸。这里的沙滩并不像照片中看到的那些异国沙滩，但现在在我看来，它所关乎的全是你在路上遇到的人，而不再是景色了。

回想起在哥伦比亚的最后一个月，我无法相信自己有多么深爱这个国家。七个月内，我去了七个国家，而且我到现在已去了超过25个国家。在这些国家之中，哥伦比亚几乎在我心里排第一位！这有点儿像是一段发生在假期中的浪漫故事。我会一直热爱哥伦比亚这个国家，如果有人告诉你它是一个危险的国度，那么显然他之前从未到过那里。