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Inside the hotel, female guests are encouraged to wear business attire.
酒店內提倡女嘉賓著商務套裝。
But outside, they stick to the more typical Saudi dress, known as an abaya, keeping their arms and legs covered.
但出了酒店，她們還是會換上典型的沙特服飾，也即所謂的“長袍”，遮住她們的手臂以及腿部。
Last year, some women were redirected to side entrances of the hotel’s conference center, rather than the main entrance to the building.
去年，一些女嘉賓還被要求從酒店會議中心的側門而不是大樓的主大門入場。
Much of the conference was a familiar mix of speeches and panel discussions.
會議期間大部分時間都是熟悉的演講和小組討論。
But some recalled the hallway chatter after Crown Prince Mohammed’s presentation on Neom: They joked that it was a giant sand castle.
有人回憶起了王儲穆罕默德在演講完他的Neom暢想之后走廊里喋喋不休的討論之聲：嘉賓們開玩笑說他的倡議不過是一座巨型的沙雕。
Even stranger were the large robots that the organizers placed in the lobby, where they engaged in conversations with the bemused guests.
更奇怪的是組織者放置在大廳里的大型機器人，那些機器人竟然還在大廳里與困惑的客人們進行了對話。
In retrospect, clouds were gathering on the horizon.
回想起來，烏云已經開始在地平線上集結了。
A few days after the foreigners checked out of the Ritz-Carlton,
外國嘉賓離開麗思卡爾頓酒店的幾天后，
Crown Prince Mohammed converted it into a high-end prison for hundreds of wealthy Saudis.
王儲穆罕默德便將酒店變成了囚禁數百名沙特富豪的高端監獄。
For weeks, guards kept them locked up — roughing up some — until they handed over billions of dollars in what the prince insisted were ill-gotten gains.
警衛們將他們囚禁了數周——還對部分囚犯動了粗——直到他們交出了數十億美元被王子堅稱為不義之財的資金。
Steven A. Cook, an expert on Saudi Arabia at the Council on Foreign Relations,
沙特外交關系委員會專家史蒂文·A. 庫克說，
said the conference, like Crown Prince Mohammed's decision to allow women to drive,
這次會議，如同王儲穆罕默德決定允許女性開車一樣，
was calculated to put an appealing face on what is a ruthless attempt to transform his society.
都是設計來給無情的社會改革措施帶上一副動人的面具的。
“These were ways of building constituencies that would be a cushion against opposition from vested interests in the royal family,” Mr. Cook said.
“這些舉措都是為了發展支持者，以便緩解王室中既得利益者的反對態度。”庫克說。
“This was all a way of signaling to this small elite that he’s got the support of all these people around the world.”
“這完全就是他向這一小部分精英人士釋放訊號，讓他們知道他有世界各地的所有這些人的支持。”
“Now,” he said, “we’re coming to grips with the fact that he’s the big dog.”
“現在，”他說，“我們已經逐漸認識到，他才是那條大魚。”
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