假如你应“馄饨皮小王子”的邀请去卡塔尔，会如何证明自己去过？肯定会拍照打卡发朋友圈吧，其中估计少不了去当地沙漠体验骑骆驼的乐趣。
这不，世界杯期间，超过百万的游客涌入卡塔尔。为了满足游客，当地的骆驼也开始加班加点，比平常的工作量爆涨了50倍......
MESAIEED, Qatar (AP) — Shaheen stretched out on the sand and closed his eyes, but there was little time to rest for thecamel. World Cup fans coming in droves to the desert outside Doha were ready for their perfect Instagram moment: riding a camel on the rolling dunes.
卡塔尔（美联社）——沙欣在沙地上伸了个懒腰，闭上了眼睛，但骆驼没有多少时间休息。成群结队的球迷来到多哈郊外沙漠，准备好拍照发ins：他们骑着骆驼走在起伏的沙丘上。
As Qatar welcomes more than a million fans for the monthlong World Cup, even its camels are working overtime. Visitors in numbers the tiny emirate has never before seen are rushing to finish a bucket list of Gulf tourist experiences between games: ride on a camel’s back, take pictures with falcons and wander through the alleyways of traditional markets.
卡塔尔在为期一个月的世界杯期间迎来100多万名球迷，就连骆驼也在加班加点工作。这个小酋长国从未见过的这么多的游客，正在赶快加制球迷可以在比赛期间的海湾旅游清单：骑在骆驼背上，与猎鹰拍照，在传统市场的小巷中漫步。
On a recent Friday afternoon, hundreds of visitors in soccer uniforms or draped in flags waited for their turn to mount thehumpbackedanimals. Camels that did not rise were forced up by their handlers. When one camel let out a loud grunt, a woman from Australia shrieked, “it sounds like they’re being violated!” Nearby, a group of men from Mexico dressed in white Qatari thobes and headdresses took selfies.
上星期五下午，数百名身穿足球服或披着国旗的游客等待着骑骆驼。没有站起来的骆驼被它们的饲养员强行拉起来。当一只骆驼发出响亮的咕噜声时，一位来自澳大利亚的妇女尖叫道："这听起来好像它们被侵犯了！" 在附近，一群来自墨西哥的男子身穿白色的卡塔尔长袍和头巾，自拍留念。
“It’s really an amazing feeling because you feel so tall,” 28-year-old Juan Gaul said after his ride. The Argentine fan was visiting Qatar for a week from Australia.
28岁的胡安·高尔(Juan Gaul)在骑乘后说：“这真的是一种神奇的感觉，感觉自己变高了。”这位阿根廷球迷从澳大利亚到卡塔尔旅游了一周。
Cashing in on the opportunity are the animals’ handlers who, thanks to the World Cup, are making several times more than they normally would.
趁着这个机会，骆驼饲养员们也赚到了钱，世界杯的举办让他们的收入比平时多了好几倍。
“There’s a lot of money coming in,” said Ali Jaber al Ali, a 49-year-old Bedouin camel herder from Sudan. “Thank god, but it’s a lot of pressure.”
"来自苏丹的49岁贝都因骆驼牧民阿里·贾比尔·阿里说："有很多钱入账。"感谢上帝，但我们压力也很大。"
Al Ali came to Qatar 15 years ago but has worked with camels since he was a child. On an average weekday before the World Cup, Al Ali said his company would offer around 20 rides per day and 50 on weekends. Since the World Cup started, Al Ali and the men he works with are providing 500 rides in the morning and another 500 in the evening. The company went from having 15 camels to 60, he said.
阿尔·阿里15年前才来到卡塔尔，但他从小就与骆驼打交道。阿尔·阿里说，在世界杯前，他饲养的骆驼每天会提供大约20次骑行，周末则是50次。自世界杯开始以来，骆驼们需要在早上提供500次骑行，晚上500次。他还表示已经从15头骆驼增加到了60头。
As crowds formed around them, many camels sat statue-like with cloth muzzles covering their mouths and bright saddles on their bodies. The smell of dung filled the air.
被人群团团围住时，许多骆驼像雕像一样坐在那里，布套套住了它们的嘴，身上戴着明亮的鞍子。空气中弥漫着粪便的气味。
Al Ali said he knows when an animal is tired — usually, if it refuses to get up or sits back down after rising to its feet. He can identify each camel by its facial features.
阿里说，他知道动物什么时候累了——通常情况下，如果它拒绝站起来或在站起来后又坐了下去，就说明它没力气了。他可以根据每头骆驼的面部表情来判断。
But the sudden rise in tourists means there’s less time to rest between rides, he said. A short ride lasts just 10 minutes while longer ones run 20 to 30 minutes long.
但他说，游客的激增意味着骑行之间的休息时间减少了。一次短途骑行只持续10分钟，而长途骑行则需要20至30分钟。
Normally, Al Ali said a camel can rest after five rides. “Now, people are saying we can’t wait ... because they have other plans they need to go to in the middle of the desert,” he said.
阿里说，通常情况下，一头骆驼在骑行五次后可以休息，“现在，人们说我们不能再等了......因为他们在沙漠中还有其他的旅游计划”。
Since the World Cup started, the animals are taken for 15 to 20 — sometimes even 40 rides — without a break.
自从世界杯开始以来，这些动物被带去骑行15到20次——有时甚至是40次——都没有休息。
Al Ali’s day starts around 4:30 a.m., when he feeds the animals and gets them ready for customers. Some tourists have been arriving atdawn, he said, hoping to get the perfect sunrise shot, “so we have to work with them and take photos for them.”
阿尔·阿里的一天大约从凌晨4点半开始，他给动物喂食、套鞍。他说，一些游客在黎明时分就来到这里，希望能拍到完美的日出，“所以我们必须和他们一同工作，为他们拍照。”
From midday until 2 p.m, both handlers and camels rest, he said. “Then we start getting ready for the afternoon battle.”
从中午到下午2点，饲养员和骆驼都要休息，他说。“然后我们开始为下午的战斗做准备。”
作为“沙漠之舟”，骆驼是古代阿拉伯人的主要交通工具。赛骆驼是卡塔尔人喜爱的传统体育赛事，也是源远流长的农业文化遗产。
Like other Gulf cultures, camels once provided Qatar is a vital form of transport and helped in the exploration and development of trade routes.
与其他海湾城市一样，骆驼曾经是卡塔尔人重要的运输方式之一，并帮助探索和发展贸易路线。
Today, the ungulates figure into cultural pastimes: camel racing is a popular sport that takes place on old-school tracks outside the city.
今天，这种蹄类动物成为文化消费的一部分：骆驼赛跑是一项流行的运动，在城外的老式赛道上进行。
但骆驼奔跑速度快，野生骆驼时速甚至可达80公里/小时，人骑上去安全难保障。随着时代科技的发展，包括卡塔尔在内，不少阿拉伯国家的赛骆驼便出现了由机器人代替人的场景。
每个骆驼身上都有一个机器人骑手，每个机器人大约30厘米高，它们稳稳当当地“骑”在骆驼背上，挥着鞭子。参赛者则在平行于跑道的汽车上用语音向机器人发出指令，由机器人引导骆驼奔跑。
更令人匪夷所思的是，阿拉伯国家竟然还有骆驼选美比赛（beauty pageants for camels）。
这......它们长得难道有区别吗？
While most sets of eyes are on the Fifa World Cup, camels from across the Gulf are competing at the Qatar Camel Mzayen Club’s beauty festival in Ash-Shahaniyah.
当大多数人都在关注国际足联世界杯的时候，来自海湾地区的骆驼正在参加卡塔尔骆驼俱乐部在阿什-沙哈尼耶举办的骆驼选美大赛。
The competition between camels is fierce with different categories according to age and type.
骆驼之间的竞争是激烈的，根据年龄和品种的不同，有不同的评判标准。
Ahead of declaring the winner of the day’s competingcategory, other female camels were milked and the owner of the one producing the most was rewarded 20,000 Qatari riyals (about $5,500).
在宣布当天比赛类别的冠军之前，会先给其他雌骆驼挤奶，产出最多的那头的主人会得到2万卡塔尔里亚尔(约合5500美元)的奖励。
But all eyes were on the competition between Maghateer-type camels over the age of four, the day’s competing category, the winner of which received a sum 10 times higher.
但所有人的目光都集中在4岁以上的马哈提尔型骆驼之间的比赛上，这是当天的比赛品种，获胜者的奖金是前者的10倍。
奖金如此丰厚，这也难怪不少人动起了歪脑筋......竟然给骆驼打针整容！驼驼好可怜……好在如今，这一“骚操作”是被严令禁止的！
The committee president said owners sometimes used fillers,Botoxor silicon to increase their camel’s chances of winning — foul play that results in disqualification.
该委员会主席说，骆驼的主人有时会使用填充物、肉毒杆菌或硅胶来增加骆驼获胜的机会，这样做是犯规的，会被取消参赛资格。
不得不说，卡塔尔的骆驼们也太卷了吧......
今日词汇
camel/ˈkæm(ə)l/ n. 骆驼
humpbacked/ˈhʌmpbækt/ adj. 驼背的
dawn/dɔːn/n. 黎明
category/ˈkætəɡəri/ n. 种类，范畴
Botox/ˈbəʊtɒks/ n. 肉毒杆菌
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英文部分摘自：AP News：World Cup frenzy puts strain on Qatar’s camels
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