In loving memory of Samar Al Ansari: a loving daughter, wonderful sister, and great friend.
Name and Date of Magazine: National Geographic, December 1998.
Title of Article: Petra,
Ancient City of Stone.
Author of Article: Don
Belt
Summary
of Article: The author described Petra in several
aspects such as : historical, geographical, the thoughts of all the people of
Petra, and Petra today. The author tells us about the history of Petra across
the years. Some of what he talked about is that Petra was built in the year
2000 B.C., and the first people to live there were called the Nabteans. He also
talked about the geography of Petra, Petra's location was a very important
trade center in the past. The people of Petra who are the Bedouins, who are
Nabatean originated, feel that tourism is very important, because they are
vendors and work as tourist guides in Petra. Without the tourists, the Bedouins
couldn't earn livings and provide their families. The article also talks about
how pretty Petra is, and how today the Jordanian government has taken a loan
from the World Bank to preserve it's beauty by fixing it's ruined landmarks.
Petra, also became more organized, because of the demand on tourism. The
government took major interest in Petra, because it bought a lot of income.
Photographs/Illustrations/Maps: The phtographs complimented the article very much, by showing us Petra's
everlasting beauty. They also gave me a
better understanding of the article. The amount of photographs was just right,
because too many phtographs distract the reader from the writing. The phtographs were also just right, because the
pictures were what the author was writing about.
Comment: I enjoyed the
article a lot, because it was very interesting, and it persuaded me to go to
Petra one time. The author wrote every minor point, and that made me happy,
because it gives me a better understanding of the article. It provided me with
a lot of new information such as, Petra is a very important city to the
Jordanians, and that the Bedouins depend on Petra tourists to earn livings.
This article was a good article because it provided me with a lot of useful
information and it was very interesting;
it was a joy to read. The language of this article was more for adults, but it
wasn't so hard that I didn't understand a word. The author was using very
sophisticated words that most of my age
group wouldn't understand. I would like to learn what would happen to the
Bedouins in Petra, if Petra didn't exist anymore, and what would the Jordanian government
do about it? The best parts of the article are when the author talked about the
Bedouin and Arabic people; saying how nice they were. Another good part is when
the author describes Petra. I liked those parts, because I thought they were interesting and enjoyable. Parts of
the article that could've been omitted are the parts when the author talked about
Arabs. He talked about them in a mocking sort of way, and I didn't like it. He
mentioned that a small Bedouin boy urinated infront of him. Also in the dialogue
between the Bedouins and himself, he wrote bad English when the Bedouins were talking. If these things were
true, he shouldn't mention them, because that is degrading to Arabs. So, I
think he should've taken these parts of the article out. So, I think he
should've taken these parts of the article out. When I read the article I
couln't help but feel a little hatred towards the author. Despite that, I
really enjoyed the article and thought it was very useful and interesting.
By:
Samar Al Ansari
7C
