讀《FT·金融時報》學英語：九大熱門目的地02.Uzbekistan/烏茲別克斯坦

“With time-rich baby-boomers driving growth in adventure travel, we're increasingly seeing our clients take longer, once-in-a-lifetime trips, and nowhere is hotter right now than the countries of the Silk Road,” says Jonny Bealby of Wild Frontiers.
“隨著有充裕時間的嬰兒潮一代成為冒險游主力軍，歷時更長、一生一次的旅游甚囂塵上，而絲路沿線國家如今成為最熱門的旅游目的地。”Wild Frontiers旅行社創(chuàng)始人Jonny Bealby說。

He says demand has been boosted by recent books and television programmes, including Peter Frankopan's best-selling historical epic, The Silk Roads, Sam Willis' BBC series The Silk Road and comedian David Baddiel's Discovery Channel documentary, On the Silk Road.
他說絲路沿線國家旅游需求大幅增長，推波助瀾者是新近出版的旅游圖書與相關電視節(jié)目，其中就有Peter Frankopan的歷史巨著《絲綢之路》、Sam Willis主持的BBC紀錄片《絲綢之路》以及喜劇明星David Baddiel的探索頻道紀錄片《On the Silk Road》。

For those without the months needed to make a full journey along the route, Uzbekistan offers a convenient taste of some of the highlights — including the mosques, mausoleums, mosaics and minarets of the ancient trading cities of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand.However, the allure of such sites has always been tempered by the difficulties of getting a visa (until recently, for example, the London embassy would only accept payment by postal order, while travellers arriving overland have occasionally found the borders unexpectedly closed to mark public holidays).
對于那些因時間所限無法游覽絲路全程的旅客來說，烏茲別克可讓他們飽覽絲路文化的精華部分——其中包括清真寺、各種陵墓、馬賽克工藝以及希瓦、布哈拉、撒馬爾罕等古絲路沿線的貿易城市；而飽覽這些絲路遺跡總是因獲取簽證的繁文縟節(jié)而作罷（比方說在以前，烏茲別克駐倫敦大使館只接受匯票付款，而陸路抵達烏國的游客偶爾也會遭遇邊境會毫無征兆地關閉，原因竟是休公假）。

With the passing in September of Islam Karimov, the strongman president who had ruled since 1990, there are signs the country may now open up.Shavkat Mirziyoyev was sworn in as Karimov's successor at the start of this month and already his government has announced a desire to see the “intensive development of tourism”.
自1990年一直統(tǒng)治烏國的強人總統(tǒng)伊斯蘭·卡里莫夫去年九月撒手人寰后，種種跡象表明該國可能會對外開放。不久前，沙夫卡特·米爾濟約耶夫正式成為卡里莫夫的繼任者，其政府已公開表達“大力發(fā)展旅游業(yè)”的意愿。

To that end, from April 2017 citizens of 15 countries (including the UK, Australia, Canada and several European nations) will no longer require any sort of visa (though there's still a $50 entry fee).Citizens of a further 12 countries will also not need visas, but only if they are over 55 — presumably because Mirziyoyev, like Bealby, has identified wealthy baby-boomers as an important target market.
為此，從今年4月起，15個國家（其中包括英國、澳大利亞、加拿大以及幾個歐盟國家）的公民來烏國旅游無需簽證（盡管仍需50美元入境費），另外12國公民來烏國旅游也無需簽證，但須年滿55歲——原因可能是米爾濟約耶夫與卡里莫夫一樣，認定不差錢的嬰兒潮一代游客是至關重要的消費群體。