沙特举行骆驼选美赛：12只骆驼“整容”出镜（图）

　　Some pageant contestants hit a hump in the road this week. That is, a camel beauty contest in Saudi Arabia disqualified a dozen camels for receiving Botox injections to make them more attractive.

　　本周，一些选美比赛的选手遇到了烦恼。事情是这样的，沙特阿拉伯的骆驼选美比赛中，有12头骆驼为了更具吸引力而注射肉毒杆菌，被取消参赛资格。

　　Saudi media reported that a veterinarian was caught performing plastic surgery on the camels a few days before the pageant, according to UAE’s The National. In addition to the injections, the clinic was surgically reducing the size of the animals’ ears to make them appear more delicate.

　　据阿联酋国家电视台消息，沙特媒体报道称，在选美比赛开始前几天，一名兽医在骆驼身上做了整容手术。除了注射，该诊所还通过外科手术缩小了骆驼的耳朵，使它们看起来更精致。

　　“They use Botox for the lips, the nose, the upper lips, the lower lips and even the jaw,” Ali Al Mazrouei, a regular at such festivals and the son of a prominent Emirati breeder, told the newspaper. “It makes the head more inflated so when the camel comes it’s like, ‘Oh look at how big that head is. It has big lips, a big nose.’ ”

　　这类比赛的常客、一位知名阿联酋骆驼饲养员的儿子Ali Al Mazrouei告诉记者“他们在嘴唇、鼻子、上唇、下唇、甚至下巴上都注射了肉毒杆菌素”。“当骆驼走过来时就会显得头很大，看看吧，它们的大头、大嘴巴、大鼻子。’”

　　Real money is at stake: About $57 million is awarded to winners of the contests and camel races, The National reports, with more than $31.8 million in prizes for just the pageants.

　　获胜了可是有奖金的：国家电视台报道称，这场选美比赛以及骆驼赛跑的获胜者将获得5,700万美元的奖金。仅选美比赛的奖金就达3,180万。

　　The festival provides a number of informative graphics about camels, including a diagram titled Standards of Camel Beauty. It is sadly unspecific about what makes for handsome nostrils and withers, though it does mention a “leathery mouth.”

　　这个节日提供了许多有关骆驼的信息图表，包括一个名为《骆驼选美标准》的图表。令人遗憾的是，尽管它提到了“坚韧的嘴”，但对于什么样的鼻孔和驼峰是漂亮的并未提及。

　　The beauty contest, launched in 2000, is a centerpiece of the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. Last year, authorities moved the festival from a remote location in the desert to a site an hour and a half from Riyadh, and this year attendance has increased by a third, according to Reuters.

　　自2000年发起的骆驼选美比赛是“阿卜杜勒-阿齐兹国王骆驼节”的核心。据路透社报道，去年，政府将这个节日从沙漠中的偏远地区转移到距利雅得仅一个半小时的地点举行，今年的游客人数增加了三分之一。

　　“The camel,” the chief judge of the show, Fawzan al-Madi, told the newswire, “is a symbol of Saudi Arabia. We used to preserve it out of necessity, now we preserve it as a pastime.”

　　该节目的裁判Fawzan al-Madi告诉记者：“骆驼是沙特阿拉伯的象征。过去，人们养骆驼是为了生计，现在，人们养骆驼是为了消遣。”

　　Camel owner Ali Obaid told The National that cheaters will get creative to get an edge and will alter an animal’s appearance for months before it’s sold to a buyer.

　　骆驼饲养员Ali Obaid告诉国家电视台，作弊者得更有创造性才能取胜，在卖给买家之前的几个月里就已开始给动物整形。

　　“For example they start to pull the lips of the camel, they pull it by hand like this every day to make it longer,” he explained to the newspaper. “Secondly, they use hormones to make it more muscular and Botox makes the head bigger and bigger. Everyone wants to be a winner.”

　　他向媒体解释说：“例如，他们开始拉扯骆驼的嘴唇，这样久而久之骆驼的嘴唇会变得更丰满;接着，他们给骆驼注射荷尔蒙制剂，让它们的肌肉更加发达;再就是注射肉毒杆菌使其头部变大。每个人都想成为赢家。”