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　　Cambodia’s homegrown ‘Bamboo Train’ soon to be replaced

　　柬埔寨竹火车：将成绝响

　　导读：巴黎铁塔，慕尼黑啤酒，泰国人妖，柬埔寨竹火车。竹火车对柬埔寨的影响是独一无二的，甚至是广大游客慕名而来的唯一理由，可是这样一个由柬埔寨人民变废为宝的特色，马上就会成为绝响了。

　　With a wooden platform ?jerry-rigged to a small engine, Cambodia’s one-of-a-kind "Bamboo Train" delights tourists as it clatters through bucolic countryside - but its days are numbered as the Southeast Asian nation plans a railways overhaul.

　　柬埔寨独特的“竹火车”在一个小引擎的操纵下，让游客们享受到一种独特的出行方式，它可以在乡村里荡来荡去，但它存活的日子却屈指可数，因为这个东南亚国家正在计划进行一次铁路大修整。

　　The bamboo-lined flat trollies are a testament to Cambodian creativity and enterprise in an impoverished nation with little infrastructure. They were first invented as part of a homegrown, unofficial transport system to make use of the country’s abandoned colonial-era train tracks but later morphed into a popular tourist attraction.

　　在这个没有任何基础设施的贫穷国家，这些竹子排列的扁平的手推车证明了柬埔寨人的创造力和进取心。它们最初是作为一个本土的非官方运输系统的一部分发明的，利用该国废弃的殖民时代的火车轨道，后来演变成了一个受欢迎的旅游景点。

　　"It was good to finally have some breeze happening [on] my face," ?exclaimed 25-year-old Swedish ?tourist Josefin Strang, after completing a ride on the rickety cart under a blazing tropical sun. "I’m actually happy that it was the Bamboo Train and not an ordinary train, because that track was not in good shape," she laughed.

　　这位25岁的瑞典游客Josefin Strang在炎热的热带阳光下完成了这一趟摇摇晃晃的旅程，她说:“终于感觉脸上有点风了。”她又笑着说到:“我真的很庆幸这是一辆竹火车，而不是一辆普通的火车，因为这条铁轨的形状实在不太好。”

　　But the hallowed site in ?northwestern Battambang ?Province will soon be no more as a ?government project to refurbish the country’s dilapidated rail system inches closer. That is especially worrying news for the community of drivers, ?ticket-takers and snack vendors who live off the proceeds from the unique attraction that has become a fixture on the tourist circuit.

　　但是这个位于巴塔姆邦省的圣地将很快不再是政府的一个项目，它将使这个国家破败不堪的铁路系统重新变得更加紧密。这对于司机、票贩子和小吃商贩来说尤其令人担忧，因为他们的收入来自竹火车的独特的吸引力，而这种吸引力已经成为了旅游线路上约定俗成的东西。

　　"We are very worried about how we will make a daily income good enough to feed ourselves," said 49-year-old Soy Savuth. He is one of several drivers who spend their days shuttling a trolly up and down the seven-kilometer-long track, charging foreigners $5 a ride.

　　49岁的Soy Savuth说:“我们非常担心我们如何用我们的日常收入来养活自己。”他是几名司机之一，他们每天都在长达7公里的轨道上来回穿梭，向外国人收取5美元的费用。

　　Built under French colonial rule, Cambodia’s railroads once ran from the southwestern seaport of ?Sihanoukville, then known as Kompong Som, to the capital and up north to the Thai border. But decades of civil war and neglect left vast stretches of track in ruins or overgrown with weeds.

　　在法国的殖民统治下，柬埔寨的铁路曾经是西南的西哈努克维尔港，后来被称为“Kompong Som”，临近首都，北边是泰国边境。但是几十年的内战和忽视留下了大片的废墟，使其杂草丛生。

　　With cars a luxury of the rich and roads in similarly bad shape, ?Cambodians started building their own small bamboo trollies in the 1980s to ferry people and goods across the countryside. The earliest versions were hitched onto the railtracks and simply pushed along by a bamboo pole.

　　由于汽车是富人的奢侈品，道路也同样糟糕，柬埔寨人在20世纪80年代开始建造自己的小竹车，穿过乡村运送人与货物。最早的版本被拴在铁轨上，简单地用竹竿推着。

　　Then they started using small petrol engines that connected to a fan belt that spins one of two axles, propelling the carts along at about 15 kilometers/hour. As Cambodia’s roads improved, locals started moving away from using the bamboo carts - known in Khmer as "norries" - to transport goods.

　　然后，他们开始使用小型汽油引擎，这些发动机连接到一个由两个轴转的风扇皮带上，每辆车以大约15公里/小时的速度推动着。随着柬埔寨的道路得到改善，当地人开始不再使用被称为“北方人”的竹车来运输货物。

　　Tourists filled the demand gap, with savvy operators in Battambang charging backpackers to hitch a ride on a unique piece of Cambodian railway culture. On a recent Sunday the dusty site was billowing with foreign and local tourists, eager to pile on for the windy trip through rice fields and over small creeks.

　　游客填补了这一需求缺口，在巴塔邦邦，精明的经营者向背包客收取费用，让他们搭上一段独特的柬埔寨铁路文化之旅。在最近的一个星期天，外国游客和当地的游客一起在这个满是灰尘的地方，急切地想要越过稻田和小溪流进行一次追风之旅。

　　But Chan Samleng, director of the Railroad Department, said the Bamboo Train operators will soon need to clear the area so that builders can start restoring the line for a train service. "They have no right to run on the railroad anymore," he said of the drivers. "They can look for other jobs."

　　但是，铁路部门的主任Chan Samleng说，竹火车运营商很快就需要清理这个地区，这样建筑工人就可以开始恢复铁路服务的线路了。他对司机们说:“他们无权再在铁路上奔跑了，他们可以找找其他的工作。”

　　While Cambodia remains one of Asia’s poorest nations, it is also one of the continent’s fastest growing.

　　虽然柬埔寨仍是亚洲最贫穷的国家之一，但它也是亚洲大陆增长最快的国家之一。

　　In recent years the government has turned its attention to its railways. In April 2016, the line from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville was reopened to passenger trains, displacing dozens of bamboo trolley operators.

　　近年来，政府已将注意力转向铁路。2016年4月，从金边到西哈努克维尔的线路重新开放，乘客列车被重新启用，数十个竹车操作员被取代。

　　Previous deadlines to close down Battambang’s Bamboo Train ?operators have passed without ?consequence in a country where projects are routinely hampered by delays. But Soy Savuth and the other drivers are worried that the latest threat is real.

　　后来，在最后期限他们关闭了巴塔邦的竹火车运营商，但在这个国家，由于工期延误，项目通常会受到阻碍。但Soy Savuth和其他司机担心，最新的威胁是真实存在的。

　　"If there are no rails to drive on, it will be hard to find a job because this is the only skill I have," he said.

　　他说:“如果没有铁路可以开竹火车，那就很难找到工作，因为这是我唯一的技能。”