英式新闻英语第 81 课： Hawar Islands 哈瓦群岛-1

Strung out along the west coast of the Gulf state of Qatar, the Hawar Islands have long been the subject of disputed sovereignty with neighbouring Bahrain, which controls them. 分布在沿海湾国家卡塔尔西部海岸的哈瓦群岛早就成了卡塔尔与邻国巴林(巴林控制着这些岛屿)主权争议的主题。

But the territorial row created some unexpected beneficiaries, as Jonathan Fryer has been discovering. 但是，领土争端带来了一些意想不到的好处。这正是乔纳森·弗雷尔正在探讨的。

The sixteen islets of the Hawar archipelago used to be a favoured base for pearl-fishing. In the days before oil, pearls were the major source of wealth for Bahrain and its near neighbour Qatar. 哈瓦群岛的十六个小岛过去一直是倍受青睐的珍珠捕捞基地。在石油出现之前，珍珠是巴林和其邻国卡塔尔的主要财富来源。

But the natural pearl trade collapsed in the 1930s, in the face of competition from cheaper cultured pearls from Japan. These days, the bitter life of the divers who would plunge into the sea at the height of summer, in search of pearl-bearing oysters, is just a distant memory. .但是，在来自日本的较便宜的养殖珍珠的冲击下，自然珍珠贸易在二十世纪三十年代陷入低谷。潜入海中打捞珍珠牡蛎的那些人的苦难生活现在已经成为回忆，他们当时要在盛夏潜入海中寻找珍珠牡蛎。

But Bahrain's ruler, King Hamad, likes to talk of the Hawar Islands as the "Priceless Pearls of Bahrain". That's not just because Bahrain has consistently rebuffed efforts by Qatar to gain sovereignty of the islands. 但是，巴林的统治者哈迈德国王在谈到哈瓦群岛时总是喜欢把它称作“巴林无价的珍珠”。这不仅仅是因为巴林始终坚持拒绝卡塔尔对这个群岛的主权要求。

Since 1996, Hawar has been Bahrain's most important nature reserve. And the archipelago offers both naturalists and eco-tourists a rich diversity of birds, animals and sea-creatures that is most unusual for the region. 自从1996年以来，哈瓦群岛一直是巴林最重要的自然保护区。这个群岛为自然科学工作者和生态旅游人员提供了丰富的鸟类、兽类和海洋生物种群，这些种群在当地是非常罕见的。

Indeed, the flora and fauna of Hawar have been the main beneficiaries of the stand-off between Bahrain and Qatar over the islands' ownership. Oil and gas exploration has been kept at bay, and the wildlife has been allowed to thrive. 事实上，哈瓦群岛上的动植物种群已经成为巴林和卡塔尔两国因群岛所有权问题而造成的紧张关系的受益者。石油和天然气出口受到牵制，而野生动植物得以茁壮成长。

This includes a spectacular colony of Socotra cormorants, estimated to be 200,000-strong, which cover the sea like a vast rain-cloud when they take off. Herds of dugongs or sea cows -- some of which can reach three metres long -- ply the coastal waters, grazing on sea-grass. 这包括一个非常壮观的索克特拉鸬鹚群落，估计有20万只以上，当它们起飞时，就像一大片乌云一样覆盖在海面上空。嚼着海草的儒艮(又叫海牛)群在海边的水里层层叠叠，它们有的可达三米长。

There are even Arabian oryx, the twin-horned antelope that had become extinct in the wild, but which have been reintroduced in various sanctuaries in the Gulf region, including Hawar. 甚至还有阿拉伯羚羊，这是一种濒临灭绝的野生双角羚羊，但又被海湾国家的一些保护区(包括哈瓦群岛)重新引入。

Officially, the Hawar Islands are uninhabited, so far as humans are concerned. But that's not strictly true. 按照正式的说法，哈瓦群岛还没有人类居住。但这并不一定真实。

The Bahrain Defence Force maintains a garrison there, just to make sure that the Qataris don't suddenly get frisky. Or that some individual or group doesn't settle on the islands and declare them independent. 巴林国防部队在那里有一支卫戍部队，目的是确保卡塔尔人不会突然入侵。或许应该说，没有个人或组织驻留在这些岛屿上并宣布他们独立。

That's not as fanciful a notion as it might sound, as one can find a putative Hawar Islands separatist flag posted on internet websites. So the soldiers run around the spectacularly barren landscape, keeping their eyes out for any intruder. 这种稀奇的想法可不是听起来那么有趣，也不像那些在国际互联网上看到的哈瓦岛屿那样好玩，那是分裂分子用小旗标注的假想岛屿。因此，士兵们只是在非常荒凉的地方巡逻，以防有人入侵。