New Meaning of Travel

　　one often hears it said that travel broadens the mind: if you stay in your own country the whole time , your ideas remain narrow; whereas if you travel abroad you see new customs, eat new foods, do new things, and come back home with a broader mind.

　　but does this always — or even usually — happen? an acquaintance of mine who lives in england and had never been outside it until last summer, decided to go over to france for a trip. when he returned, i asked him how he liked it.“terrible, ”was his answer.“ i couldn’t get a nice cup of tea anywhere . thank goodness i’m back. ”i asked him whether he hadn’t had any good food while he was there .“oh, the dinners were all right, ”he said.“i found a little place where they made quite good fish and chips. not as good as ours, mind you, but they were passable. but the breakfasts were terrible: no bacon or kippers. i had fried eggs and chips, but it was quite a business getting them to make them. they expected me to eat rolls. and when i asked for marmalade , they brought strawberry jam. and do you know, they insisted that it was marmalade? the trouble is they don’t know english. ”

　　i thought it useless to explain that we borrowed the word‘marmalade ’from french, and that it means, in that language, any kind of jam. so i said,“but didn’t you eat any of the famous french food?”“what? me?”he said.“of course not! give me good old english food every time! none of these fancy bits for me! ”obviously travel had not broadened his mind.

　　this does not, of course, happen only to englishmen in france: all nationalities, in all foreign countries, can be found judging what they see, hear, taste and smell according to their own habits and customs. people who are better educated and who have read a lot about foreign countries tend to be more adaptable and tolerant, but this is because their minds have already been broadened before they start travelling. in fact, it is easier to be broad-minded about foreign habits and customs, if one’s acquaintance with these things is limited to books and films. the american smiles tolerantly over the absence of central heating in most english homes when he is himself comfortably seated in his armchair in his centrally heated house in chicago; the english man reads about the sanitary arrangements in a certain tropical country, and the inhabitants of the latter read about london fogs, and each side manages to be detached and broad-minded. but actual physical contact with things one is unaccustomed to is much more difficult to bear philosophically.

　　perhaps the ideal would be if travel could succeed in making people tolerant of the habits and customs of others without abandoning their own. the criterion for judging a foreigner could be: does he try to be polite and considerate to others? instead of: is he like me?

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. true or false :

　　1. it is often said that if you travel abroad to see many new things, your mind will be broadened.

　　2. the englishman had a happy life when he travelled to france .

　　3. the word‘marmalade’is originally a french word, which means any kind of jam.

　　4. in the view of the author, people often judge things according to their own habits and customs.

　　5. the author thinks that people who are better educated and read a lot are easily to be tolerant.

　　6. tea , bacon, kippers, chips are all typical english food.

　　参考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. t 2. f 3 . t 4 . t 5 . t 6 . t

　参考译文

　　旅游新解

　　经常听人说旅游使人心胸开阔: 如果人们一直呆在本国, 思维就会很狭隘; 可要是人们 到国外旅游一番, 见识新的风俗, 品尝新的食物, 有过新的经历, 回来后心胸就开阔多了。

　　可是事情总是——— 或者说通常是这样的吗? 我认识一个住在英格兰的朋友。在去年 夏天之前他从没出过国, 就决定去法国旅游一番。回来后, 我问他感觉如何。“ 糟糕透 了, ”他说,“ 哪儿都弄不到一杯好茶喝。谢天谢地, 我回来了。”我问他在法国有没有品尝 什么美味佳肴。“ 噢, 食物还不错, ”他说,“ 我发现了一个小地方, 那里的鱼和薯条做得非 常好。说真的, 虽不如我们的那么美味, 可还算说得过去。但是早餐太糟糕了。既没有熏 咸肉也没有腌干鱼。我吃煎蛋和薯条, 可要他们去做这些食物实在是件大难事。他们希望 我能吃点面包卷。可我问他们要橘子酱( marmalade ) 时, 他们却给我拿来草莓酱。你知道 吗? 他们竟还坚持说那就是橘子酱。问题在于他们不懂英语。”

　　其实marmalade 一词来自法语, 它在法语中的意思是任何口味的果酱, 但我觉得给他解 释这些无济于事, 所以我说:“ 可是, 你没有尝尝法国名菜吗? ”“ 什么? 我? ”他问,“ 当然没 有! 每次我都点美味的英式食物! 可那些食物没一样能让我满意! ”很显然, 旅游并没有让 他心胸开阔。

　　当然, 这种事并不只是发生在身处法国的英国人身上: 所有到国外去的人都是以他们 自己的习惯和风俗去评价所见所闻及所品尝的异国风味。那些受过良好教育并熟知外国 国情的人更易于适应新环境并比较宽容, 不过这是因为他们在旅游之前心胸就已经开阔 了。事实上, 对异国的习惯和风俗的了解如果仅限于书本和电影的话, 人们的心胸更易开 阔。当一个美国人舒舒服服地坐在他在芝加哥的装有中央取暖设施的房间中的扶手椅里 的时候, 他会对英国大部分住房没有中央取暖设施报以宽容的一笑。英国人通过阅读了解 到某一热带国家的卫生设施, 而这一热带国家的人也从书面上了解了伦敦的雾。双方都力 图保持公正和宽容。而人们在亲身接触自己不习惯的事物时, 要做到达观容忍就难多了。

　　也许, 理想的情况应该是这样的: 旅游既让人们容忍异域的习惯和风俗而又不放弃自 己的传统, 要是这样就好了。评价外国人的标准就可能是: 看他是否礼貌待人, 是否体谅别 人, 而不是看他是否和自己一样?

　　阅读导评

　　人为何要旅游? 有人是为了开阔心胸, 为了增长见识, 为了实现“ 读万卷书, 行万里路”的理想。但也有很多人去旅游似乎只为追逐时尚。他们名为“ 旅游使人心胸开阔”, 实 为日后的吹虚积攒谈资。深居城市并受商业气息侵蚀的人容易变得越来越浅薄, 偶尔发现 不一样的事物就大惊小怪, 进而“排除异己”。他们算是“ 少见多怪”之人。真正有学问有 文化的人一般更具有包容性, 他们常常“ 见怪不怪”。这是两种不同的境界。

　　阅读导释

　　1. 题目的字面意思是“旅游能让人心胸开阔吗?”一说到旅游, 大家的反应就是旅游可以使 人心胸开阔。渐渐地, 这似乎成了公认的标准。而这篇文章恰恰唱起了反调, 从一个反 面例子巧妙地论述作者自己的见解: 旅游和心胸开阔不成因果关系。

　　2 - 3. acquaintance 是指“相识的人, 熟人”, 如: a nodding acquaintance ( 点头之交或肤浅的知 识, 皮毛) ; a speaking acquaintance ( 见了面谈几句的朋友, 泛泛之交) ; make the acquaintance of somebody ( 或make somebody’s acquaintance) ( 结识某人) ; he has a wide acquaintance. ( 他交游甚广。) go over 在这里指“走过去, 走访, 离家远行, 旅行”, 如: he has gone over to the coast for a few days. ( 他已去沿海一带, 要过几天才回来。)

　　4. 这句话给了大家一个很好的关于英国饮食文化的暗示: 饮茶。英国的茶分为上午茶和下 午茶。一般喝上午茶的时间是10 点到11 点之间; 下午3 点到5 点称下午茶( afternoon tea time) , 5 点到6 点之间的则称为傍晚茶( high tea) 。19 世纪, 英国上流社会的绅士名 媛开始盛行喝下午茶, 冬天时就在温暖的炉火边, 夏天则是在繁花盛开的花园里。它最 重要的功能是让上流社会的人联络感情, 交换信息。下文出现的fried fish and chips ( 煎 鱼和薯条) ; bacon ( 熏咸肉) ; kipper ( 腌干鱼) 都是典型的英式食物。

　　5. mind you, 用作插入语, 意思是“说真的或请注意, 请听清楚”, 如: he is a very nice fellow, mind you, but i wouldn’t want to marry him. ( 说真的, 他是个很好的人, 但我不想嫁给 他。) 和mind 连用的词语还有很多, 如谚语: many men, many minds. ( 十个人, 十条心。 或译: 人多心不齐。) out of sight, out of mind. ( 眼不见, 心不烦。)

　　6. quite a 是个非常有用的搭配用法, 作“ 异常的, 出众的, 相当大或多的”解, 如: quite a hero ( 了不起的英雄) ; quite a girl ( 不寻常的姑娘) ; it was quite a sight. ( 那是很特别的景象。) 和quite 连用的词语还有: quite a bit ( 相当数量, 相当程度) ; quite a few ( 相当多, 不少) ; quite another ( 一个完全不同的) ; quite other ( 完全不同的) 。

　　7 - 8. 这个句子中的adaptable 指“ 能适应新环境的, 适应性强的”, tolerant 则是“ 宽容的, 容 忍的, 忍受的”。

　　9. 这一句比较长, 阅读时要注意断句。分号之前是由when 引导的状语从句, 带有对比的含义; 分号后是由and 连接的三个简单句。句中的central heating 是指“ 集中取暖法, 集 中供暖法”; sanitary 的意思是“公共卫生的”; detached 在这里是指“ 不带感情的, 公正的, 超然的”, 如: a detached air ( 超然的神态) ; a detached view ( 不偏不倚的观点) 。