More Than One Way to Travel
There has long been a distinction between those who travel more to confirm what they already know than ________ new understanding of themselves and of others. One thinks of Mark Twain's 1860s satirical novel, “Innocents Abroad”, on American travellers who brought so much cultural (and other) baggage with them that they were only “In-a-Sense” Abroad.
The stereotypical tourist – whether of Twain's time or our own – doesn't so much abandon his own familiar environment for the sake of engaging with a new one as have himself transported to a foreign place, taking with him as much of his familiar environment as possible. He views unfamiliar people, places, and ________ through the windows or walls of the familiar and pretends that he is still at home.
The modern American traveller, on the other hand, is increasingly interested in ________new people, places, and cultures on their own terms and precisely because they are unfamiliar. The transition is not simply a passage from one place to another; it is a change in ________ and perception.
Alternative travel, or travel for ________, grew rapidly in the 1970-80s, partly because international air ________ became more affordable for many people. In 1989, “Travel & Leisure” magazine surveyed thousands of travelling Americans to find out why they took trips. To their surprise, three out of every four travellers took their last trip to ________ their minds, to gain new perspectives, and to meet new people.
Arthur Frommer, who has been writing standard international tour ________ for over 30 years, commented in 1991, “Travel in all price ranges is scarcely worth the effort unless it is associated with people, with learning and ideas. To have meaning at all, travel must involve an encounter with new and different ________ and beliefs.” Frommer continued, “Not to have met the people of other cultures in a non-touristic setting is not to have lived in this century.”
In reality, the experience of travel involves a continuum from the familiar to the new. At one extreme are the unadventurous package and mass tourists who spend most of their trip in a literal bubble being whisked along on a ________, usually in an air-conditioned bus. Making no decisions of their own, they are taken on a fixed schedule, from one ________ to another. They observe and photograph, but rarely actively experience their ________. At the other extreme, are those relatively few travellers who avoid the tourist scene altogether and strike out on their own. They are on no fixed schedule or itinerary and settle where they like for as long as they like, finding casual work when necessary to cover their modest ________ or to pay for moving on.
Between the two extremes are those of us in that growing group of travellers who like to go on our own, often to pursue a particular interest, but only after enough planning and preparation to insure that our limited time and money will be well-spent. We don't want to be bound to a group or have our experience spoiled by hordes of tourists; on the other hand, we want to be ________ and feel sufficiently ________ to accomplish our goals.
LISTENING
Understanding Spoken English 2004 “Away from Home” (p.4)
HAVE YOUR SAY
1. Read the extract below and then comment upon this quotation: “I should like to spend the whole of my time in travelling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home.” (William Hazlitt)
Adventure is necessary to us all. It keeps us from growing stale and old; it stimulates our imagination. It gives us that movement and change which are necessary to our well-being.
One of the objects of travel is to go in search of beauty. The beauty spots of the world are magnets which draw pilgrims year after year. Yet even more valuable to the traveller is the knowledge which he gets of his fellow men by going among people of different enthusiasms. It is the story of the stay-at-home who is always ready to call someone else “queer” because his ways are a little different; the much travelled man has sympathy to be able to understand another point of view than his own. Frequent travel to other countries by all sorts and conditions of men and women would be the best possible insurance against war.
And then there is for the traveller the great joy of coming home again. He who never leaves his home sees all its imperfection; but the voyager, when his lust for new scenes is satiated, turns his thoughts towards home with longing and affection. However humble his home may be, it contains all the things with which he is most familiar. He loves them, and being parted for a little while from them increases his desire for them. So the traveller, besides the delight of travel, has the additional satisfaction of a fuller appreciation of his home.
(From “Fifty Model Essays” by Joyce Miller)
2. Comment upon the following quotation:
“When we are young we travel to see the world, afterwards to make sure it is still here.”
(Cyril Connoly)
III
READING
1. 1). Read the passage from “Along the Road” by Aldous Huxley. Learn the new vocabulary.
2). Do you believe that some people really travel out of snobbery? Have you met such people? What do you think of them?
WHY NOT STAY AT HOME?
Some people travel on business, some in search of health. But it is neither the sickly, nor the men of affairs who fill the Grand Hotels and the pockets of their proprietors. It is those who travel “for pleasure”, as the phrase goes.
And do they find their happiness?
I think not, for tourists are, in the main, a very gloomy-looking tribe. Only when they can band together and pretend, for a brief hour, that they are at home, do the majority of tourists abroad look really happy. One wonders why they come abroad.
The fact is that few travellers really like travelling. If they go to the trouble and expense of travelling, it is not so much from curiosity, for fun, or because they like to seethings beautiful and strange, as out of a kind of snobbery. People travel for the same reason as they collect works of art: because the best people do it. To have been to certain spots on the earth's surface is socially correct; and having been there, one is superior to those who have not. Moreover, travelling gives one something to talk about when one gets home. The subjects of conversation are not so numerous that one can neglect an opportunity of adding to one’s store.
NOTES
expense, n
1. spending (of money, time, energy, etc.); cost,
e.g. I want the best you can supply, you need spare no expenses.
ðat the expense of (= at the cost of)
e.g. He has become a brilliant scholar but only at the expense of his health.
2. (usu. pl) money used or needed
e.g. travelling expenses; Illness, holidays and other expenses reduced his bank balance to almost nothing.
expensive, a
causing expense; costing a great deal
expensively, adv
neglect, v
1. pay no attention to; give no or not enough care to
e.g. neglect one’s studies/ children/ health
2. omit or fail (to do sth)
e.g. He neglected to say “Thank you”.
neglect, n
neglecting or being neglected
e.g. neglect of duty; the garden was in a state of neglect
neglectful, a
in the habit of neglecting things
e.g. neglectful of his appearance
pretend, v
1. make oneself appear (to be (doing) sth), either in play or to deceive others
e.g.. pretend to be asleep; They pretended not to see us.
2. say falsely that one has (as an excuse or reason, or to avoid danger, difficulty, etc.)
e.g. pretend sickness
pretence, (AmE also pretense), n
1. pretending
e.g. under the pretence of friendship; It's all pretence.
2. pretext or excuse; false claim or reason
ðfalse pretenses
e.g. get money by/ on/ under false pretenses
pretender, n
person who has a claim (to a throne, etc.) that not everyone agrees to
pretension, n
1. (often pl) (statement of a) claim
e.g. He makes no pretensions to expert knowledge of the subject.
2. being pretentious
e.g. Pretension is his worst fault.
pretentious, a
claiming (without justification) great merit or importance
e.g. a pretentious student/ speech
snob, n
1. (derog) person who pays too much attention to social class, and dislikes or keeps away from people of a lower class
ðsnob appeal (= power to attract the interest of snobs)
2. person who is too proud of having special knowledge or judgement, and thinks that sth liked by many people is no good
e.g. a music snob who only likes Mozart. It's not really a very good make of car, but it does have a certain snob value (= is greatly admired by a particular set of people)
snobbery, n
the behaviour of snobs
snobbish, a (also snobby, a)
typical of a snob, esp. in being too proud about one’s social position
snobbishness, n
snobbishly, adv
Remember the pattern
N1 + -(e)ry → N2 “the art, employment, behaviour or condition of N1”: slavery, foolery
WRITING
Write a two-page essay “Why I Like/ Dislike Travelling”. Explain it to the class.
HAVE YOUR SAY
1. You know the proverbs “East or West, home is best” and “There is no place like home”. If that is so, why go on exhausting far-away trips? Why not stay at home? (Speak for 2-3 minutes.)
2. Suppose you hear someone say, “Why go to the trouble and expense of travelling? You can just as well sightsee at home with a set of full-colour slides and a guide-book or a map. Besides, you can read a travel book or see a travelogue.” You can agree or disagree with this. In groups of 5 or 6 develop arguments to support your position. Be prepared to present your arguments to the other group.
ACT IT OUT
Imagine that your friend (cousin, aunt, etc.) dislikes travelling while you enjoy it. Talk to her/ him about your winter vacation plans. You are going on a journey. Try to persuade your friend to join you. (Make up a dialogue and act it out in class.)