“You want to sail on an Arab 1）dhow？ Then today’s your lucky day！ Talk to him！” Abdallah bin Jassim， a Dubaian historian， pointed to an elderly man sitting beside me.
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“He was for years a captain of a 2）pearl-diving dhow―the best 3）skipper in the Arabian Gulf.”Abdullah appeared to be proud of the 4）former dhow skipper.
After introductions， I asked the soft-spoken captain to tell me about his 5）seafaring life and if pearl-diving in dhows was continuing in our times.
“Pearl-diving in dhows？ Of course not！ The youth today are 6）spoiled！ All they look for are the pleasures of life. It wasn’t like this when I was young.” Ubayd al-Muhayri the former dhow captain smiled.
“你想乘坐阿拉伯独桅帆船吗？今天你很走运！和他谈谈吧！”迪拜历史学家阿卜杜拉・本・贾西姆指着坐在我旁边的一位老人对我说道。
“他当了很多年采珠帆船的船长，是阿拉伯海湾最好的船长。”阿卜杜拉似乎颇为这位帆船船长感到骄傲。
一番介绍之后，我向这位说话温和的船长问起他的航海生活，以及在我们现在这个时代，人们是否仍用独桅帆船采集珍珠。
“用独桅帆船潜水采集珍珠？当然没有了！现在的年轻人都被惯坏了，他们要的是享受。我年轻的时候可不是这样的。”以前当过帆船船长的奥贝德・阿穆哈利笑道。
When I asked him if he 7）yearned to sail the Arab dhows again， he seemed 8）amused.
“Sail again！ I am 75 years old. Do you know that pearl-diving was a part of hell？”He continued， 9）misty-eyed， “Yet， for me the old days are 10）preferable. In those days， we did not worry about material wealth. We were 11）content to live on dates and coffee.”
A tear came to his eye as he recalled his youthful years， “I was eight years old when my father first took me with him on a dhow. When I turned 15， he took me down some 15 meters to the bottom of the sea and taught me how to find the pearl-carrying 12）oysters in the deep. For a hundred days every year we worked the oyster 13）beds. Until I became a skipper of a dhow， it was a harsh life but I was content.”
Putting his hand over mine， he went on，“It was not like now！ In my younger days， the father was the head of the 14）household. Every member of the family obeyed him until he died.
我问他是否渴望再开一次阿拉伯独桅帆船，他好像被逗乐了。
“再开一次啊？我已经75岁了。你知道吗？采珠简直就是地狱的一角。”他眼眶湿润起来，继续说道：“不过，对我而言，以前的日子更美好。那时候，我们不需要为物质财富发愁，只要有椰枣和咖啡就心满意足了。”
回忆起青春岁月，他的眼里泛起了泪光。“我8岁的时候，父亲第一次带我坐上独桅帆船。15岁的时候，他带我潜入水下15米左右的海底，教我如何在水底寻找珍珠贝。每年我们都要在贝床上工作一百天。在我成为独桅帆船的船长之前，生活虽然艰苦，但我很满足。”
他把手搭在我的手上，接着说：“今非昔比啊！我年轻的时候，父亲是一家之主，家里所有人都要服从他，直到他去世。
“Today， the young men want to live in 15）luxury and own fast cars. Fathers to them do not mean a thing. It’s only the daughters who still think of their parents.” As I 16）bade Abdallah Jassim and the former captain adieu， I thought of my fantasy to one day sail on an Arab dhow. Ubayd al-Muhayri had somewhat 17）dampened my yearning to sail on these 18）crafts， but not entirely. I had waited too many years to be so easily 19）defeated.
From the adventure stories that I read in my youth， none impressed me more than Alan Villiers’注1 book， Sons of Sinbad， in which he describes his journey on an Arab dhow from the Arabian Gulf to the East African coast. Sailing in his footsteps and capturing a bit of the ancient Arab spirit of adventure became one of my burning 20）ambitions. For years， I dreamt that one day I would sail on one of these ships across the Arabian Sea to 21）exotic lands.
The years rolled by and now I found myself in Dubai， the United Arab Emirates’ economic heart. Along the shores of its Creek， which divides the city into two parts， there were hundreds of dhows loading and unloading goods. However， their sails and gear had been replaced by motors and the other 22）gadgets of our modern age.
“但是到了今天，年轻人追求奢华富贵的生活，想拥有自己的跑车。父亲在他们眼里什么也不是。如今，只有做女儿的还会想到父母。”
我告别了阿卜杜拉・贾西姆和这位老船长，想起了我盼望有朝一日能乘坐阿拉伯独桅帆船的梦想。奥贝德・阿穆哈利的话多多少少冲淡了我坐船的兴致，但还不至于完全熄灭。我已经等了好多年，所以不会轻易被吓到。
在我年轻时读过的冒险故事里，没有哪一本书像艾伦・维利尔斯的《辛巴达之子》那样让我印象深刻。他在书中描述了他驾驶阿拉伯独桅帆船从阿拉伯海湾航行到非洲东海岸的旅程。追随着他的脚步航行，体验一把古代阿拉伯的冒险精神，就成为了我熊熊燃烧的雄心壮志。多年来我一直梦想着，有一天能乘坐独桅帆船横跨阿拉伯海，到达异域他乡的土地。
此去经年，我现在来到了迪拜――阿联酋的经济中心。迪拜湾把整个城市一分为二，此处沿岸有数百艘单桅帆船在装卸货物，只不过它们的风帆和齿轮都已经换成了马达和其他现代配件。
Alas！ The days were gone when the sight of huge 23）fleets of dhows，阿拉伯语论文题目， with their sails 24）bending to the wind， covered the 25）horizon of the Arabian Gulf. Today， one can see these ships only sailing for sport or for the pleasure of tourists.
Like most of the visitors who yearn to sail in these once-cherished crafts， I knew time had passed me by. Yet， I still wanted to taste the pleasure of travelling the seas on a dhow even if it had to be tourist style.
That evening， my yearnings were to be 26）fulfilled. As we 27）boarded our tourist craft， I looked around.
The dhow of the 28）bygone years had been transformed into a tourist ship of excellence. Everything was neat and tidy from the white tablecloths to the clean 29）uniforms of the crew. It was 30）apparent that the old had been 31）overpowered by the new.
The waves of Dubai Creek gently 32）lapped and 33）swayed the ship， as， with Arabic music in the background， we enjoyed the tasty Arab food. As the cool 34）breezes 35）soothed our bodies， we smoothly moved along the Creek past dhows loading and unloading goods， as they have done for centuries. The sound of the motors and the gentle wind calmed our senses as we sailed in the shadows of 36）sky-scraping structures.
The passengers on the dhow， the majority European 37）expatriates and tourists， seemed happy and content. None， I dare say， cared about the history of ships. Pleasure， not dhows and their history， was on their minds.
Satisfied， I sat back and 38）fantasized about the past while watching an 39）oriental dancer 40）entrancing the passengers. The 41）heritage and 42）atmosphere of the dhow took me back to the era of The Arabian Nights and Sindbad the Sailor注2.
In two hours―to me it seemed minutes―as we neared the end of our journey， Akbar， our Indian waiter， bidding me adieu， smilingly enquired， “Did you enjoy the tour？”
“Of course！ But it was not like one of Sindbad’s journeys，” I 43）grinned. He looked at me strangely. Apparently he had no idea what I meant. To him， Sindbad and his tales were of no interest. He had come from India to work and make his fortune， then return home and enjoy the 44）offerings of the 21st century. Unlike me， he was living in reality.
啊！成群结队的单桅帆船，扬着迎风鼓起的帆，遮住了阿拉伯海湾的海平线――这样的壮景已经一去不复返了。今天，人们只能看到这些帆船被用于体育运动或是游客观光。
我和大多数渴望乘坐这些曾经很珍贵的帆船的游客一样，都知道属于它的黄金时代已经过去了。不过，我还是想尝尝乘坐独桅帆船航行的乐趣，即便是作为游客也好。
那天晚上，我的渴望就要得到满足了。在我们登上装饰一新的游船之时，我环顾四周。
旧日的单桅帆船已被改造成一艘精致的游船。从白色的桌布，到船员干净的制服，一切都整洁利索。显然，旧貌难掩新容。
迪拜湾的波浪轻轻拍打摇晃着船身，我们伴着阿拉伯音乐，享用起了美味的阿拉伯美食。
在习习凉风的抚慰之中，我们沿着迪拜湾徐徐前行，越过那些数百年如一日、正在这里装卸货物的单桅帆船。我们在摩天大楼的暗影中穿行，听着马达的声音，吹着温柔的风，阿拉伯语论文，恬静而陶醉。
独桅帆船上的乘客――多数是欧洲侨民和游客――都显得愉快而满足。我敢说，此时此刻，没有人关心船的历史；他们心中有的只是惬意，而不是独桅三角帆船及其历史。
我心满意足地靠背坐着，欣赏着一名东方舞女令人目眩神迷的表演，想象着从前的景象。独桅帆船的底蕴和氛围把我带回了《一千零一夜》和航海家辛巴达的年代。
两个小时后――对我而言似乎只过了几分钟――我们的旅程接近尾声。我们的服务员――印度人阿克巴向我告别，他笑着问我：“你喜欢这趟旅程吗？”
“当然喜欢！不过和辛巴达的那些旅程不同，”我笑道。他用奇怪的眼光看着我。显然，他不知道我在说什么。对他而言，辛巴达和他的故事无关紧要。他只是从印度来到这里工作，发家致富，然后就要回家，去享受21世纪所能提供的各种享受。与我不同，他生活在现实之中。 | 
