Five Facts About Qatar You Might Not Know

The sovereign state of Qatar is currently at the centre of a storm1at the centre of the storm直譯為“處在風暴中心”，這里意譯為“處在風口浪尖”。,with its neighbours cutting off diplomatic relations. But this is not a country which often finds itself dominating the headlines.

[2] So what do people actually know about Qatar, apart from it hosting the football World Cup in 2022?

Here are five facts to get you started.

Men outnumber women—hugely

[3] In a country of about 2.5 million people, there are fewer than 700,000 women.

This imbalance can be attributed to Qatar’s sudden population explosion:this is a state built by immigrants, who are overwhelmingly young and male.

[4] The promise2promise前景；指望。of a job has meant people have flooded into Qatar—which is about the same size as Yorkshire—in recent years, taking its population from less than 700,000 in 2003, to an estimated 2.5 million in 2016.

隨著鄰國紛紛與其斷交，卡塔爾被推到了輿論的風口浪尖。其實這個國家并不經(jīng)常上頭條。

[2]那么，關于卡塔爾，除了它將主辦2022年的世界杯之外，我們對它又了解多少呢？

讓我們通過以下五個事實開始了解這個國家。

男女比例嚴重失調(diào)

[3]卡塔爾的總?cè)丝诩s為250萬，女性人口不足70萬。

性別失衡的原因在于突然的人口激增：卡塔爾是一個由移民構(gòu)成的國家，而移民中青年男性占絕大多數(shù)。

[4] 2003年，卡塔爾人口不到70萬。近幾年，這個只有英國約克郡大小的國家因工作機會多，吸引了大量的移民涌入。2016年，卡塔爾總?cè)丝跀?shù)已達250萬左右。

[5] While there are female migrants,the vast majority are men building the infrastructure needed for the upcoming World Cup. They come from all over the world, although the largest numbers come from India and Nepal, making Hindus3Hindu印度教教徒。the third largest religious group in the country, after Muslims and Christians, according to the CIA’s World Factbook4《世界各國紀實年鑒》，由美國中央情報局出版，每年一期，內(nèi)容主要包括國家社會、地理、政治、軍事、人口、交通等概況。.

London’s biggest landlords?

[6] Qatar has been busy over the last decade or so buying up large swathes of London. Its portfolio includes, but is not limited to, the Shard5碎片大廈，位于倫敦泰晤士河南岸，高達1017英尺（309.6米），是全歐洲第二高的大廈。, Harrods, Chelsea Barracks6切爾西營，原為倫敦威斯敏斯特市一軍事營地，近年來被重建開發(fā)成豪宅區(qū)。and the Olympic Village, as well having a stake in Canary Wharf7金絲雀碼頭位于倫敦市中心的東部，倫敦的主要金融中心之一。.

[7] In 2017, Ali Shareef al-Emadi, the country’s finance minister, estimated the country had “more than ￡35bn to￡40bn ($45bn to $51bn) of investments already in the UK”. What’s more, Mr Emadi said the country was planning to invest another ￡5bn in the UK over the next three to five years—including more property.

[5]雖然移民中也有女性，但絕大部分是興建世界杯場館及配套設施的男建筑工人。他們來自世界各地，但大部分是印度人及尼泊爾人。據(jù)中情局《世界各國紀實年鑒》所載，在卡塔爾，印度教教眾已成為該國繼穆斯林和基督徒之后第三大宗教團體。

倫敦最大的“地主”？

[6]過去十年間，卡塔爾一直大量購入倫敦的土地，其投資包括但不限于碎片大廈、哈羅德百貨、切爾西營以及奧運村，同時還持有金絲雀碼頭的地產(chǎn)股份。

[7]據(jù)卡塔爾財政部長阿里·謝里夫·埃馬迪估計，2017年卡塔爾在英國的投資已超過350億到400億英鎊（約合450億到510億美元）。此外，埃馬迪先生還表示，未來三到五年間，該國將在英國再投資50億英鎊，包括收購更多房產(chǎn)。

Qatar really loves art

[8] Qatar is known as a conservative country, yet, in the last few years it has sponsored a number of exhibitions—including hosting the somewhat controversial artist Damien Hirst8英國最具影響力的藝術(shù)家，爭議在于其作品：《母親與孩子分離》是浸泡在甲醛中的奶牛和小牛；《脫離羊群》是甲醛溶液中的綿羊；《看在上帝的份上》采用嬰兒頭顱作為藝術(shù)品的模子，并在表面鑲滿8000顆粉色和白色的鉆石。’s first solo retrospective9soloretrospective個人回顧展。in the Middle East,in 2013.

[9] The country also boasts the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, which opened in 2008. It is said to house one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in the world, exhibiting works from across three continents and 1,400 years.

A rather large teddy bear

[10瑞士藝術(shù)家，其作品平衡失調(diào)，無論是創(chuàng)作手法還是創(chuàng)作目的都流露出模糊感和殘缺美。] Qatar’s love of art has spilled over from the museums and into its public spaces. Indeed, anyone who has ever been through Doha’s Hamad International Airport could not have missed the 23-foot yellow teddy sitting in the middle of the terminal.

[11] Lamp/Bear was created by Swiss artist Urs Fischer10瑞士藝術(shù)家，其作品平衡失調(diào)，無論是創(chuàng)作手法還是創(chuàng)作目的都流露出模糊感和殘缺美。more than a decade ago, is cast from bronze and weighs almost 20 tonnes. According to Hamad International Airport’s official description, the bear is a “playful piece that humanises the space around it and reminds travellers of childhood or precious objects from home”.

卡塔爾人著實熱愛藝術(shù)

[8]眾所周知，卡塔爾是一個相對保守的國家。然而，過去幾年，它贊助了許多展覽，其中包括2013年頗具爭議的藝術(shù)家達明·赫斯特在中東舉辦的首個個人回顧展。

[9]卡塔爾還擁有2008年開館的多哈伊斯蘭藝術(shù)博物館。據(jù)說，該館收藏了世界上最全面的伊斯蘭藝術(shù)作品，展品來自三大洲的不同文化，橫跨1400年的歷史長河。

超大泰迪熊坐鎮(zhèn)機場

[10]卡塔爾人對藝術(shù)的熱愛已不止于博物館，公共地域也有所體現(xiàn)。事實上，任何來過多哈哈馬德國際機場的人，都不會看不到那只坐在航站樓中央、高達23英尺的泰迪熊。

[11]這個名為“燈下泰迪熊”的雕塑是十多年前瑞士藝術(shù)家烏爾斯·費舍爾創(chuàng)造的作品，它由青銅鑄造，重達20噸。據(jù)哈馬德國際機場官方描述，這只巨型泰迪熊“童趣滿滿，賦予周圍濃濃的人情味，也讓旅客憶起童年或是家里的珍貴之物”。

[12] The cast bronze sculpture was bought at auction in New York for $6.8m(￡5.3m) back in 2011.

Qatar has record riches—for some

[13] How does such a small country pay for all this? Well, thanks to its oil and gas reserves, as well as some good investments, Qatar has the highest GDP per capita in the world.

[14] In 2016, it was $129,700(￡100,500)—more than $20,000 higher than the next closest country, Luxembourg, the CIA’s World Factbook said.

At the other end of the scale, Somalia’s GDP was estimated to be just $400 per head.

[15] However, Qatar’s wealth is in no way equally spread. The former Emir11埃米爾，某些穆斯林國家的酋長或王子、長官。,Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, is reportedly worth $2.4bn. But migrants interviewed by the BBC in 2015 revealed they were earning as little as$350 a month. ■

[12]這座銅鑄的雕塑是2011年以680萬美元（約合530萬英鎊）從紐約拍賣會上購得。

卡塔爾富得流油——但貧富懸殊

[13]如此小的一個國家如何付得起這筆巨款呢？這得歸功于其豐富的石油和天然氣儲量，以及一些優(yōu)質(zhì)投資。卡塔爾的人均GDP（國民生產(chǎn)總值）是世界上最高的。

[14]據(jù)中情局《世界各國紀實年鑒》描述，2016年，該國人均GDP為129700美元（約合100500英鎊），比排名第二的盧森堡高出2萬多美元。

排在最后的是索馬里，據(jù)估計，其人均GDP只有400美元。

[15]然而，卡塔爾的財富分配極不均衡。前元首謝赫·哈馬德·本·哈利法·阿勒薩尼據(jù)稱坐擁24億美元身家。但2015年BBC采訪的移民們透露，他們每月收入少得可憐，僅350美元。 □