【课文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
听录音,然后回答以下问题。
What is one of the features of modern camping where nationality is concerned?
Economy is one powerful motive for camping, since after the initial outlay upon equipment, or through hiring it, the total expense can be far less than the cost of hotels. But, contrary to a popular assumption, it is far from being the only one, or even the greatest. The man who manoeuvres carelessly into his twenty pounds' worth of space at one of Europe's myriad permanent sites may find himself bumping a Bentley. More likely, Ford Escort will be hub to hub with Renault or Mercedes, but rarely with bicycles made for two.
That the equipment of modern camping becomes yearly more sophisticated is an entertaining paradox for the cynic, a brighter promise for the hopeful traveler who has sworn to get away from it all. It also provides and some student sociologist might care to base his thesis upon the phenomenon -- an escape of another kind. The modern traveller is often a man who dislikes the Splendide and the Bellavista, not because he cannot afford, or shuns their material comforts. but because he is afraid of them. Affluent he may be, but he is by no means sure what to tip the doorman or the chambermaid. Master in his own house, he has little idea of when to say boo to a maitre d'hotel.
From all such fears camping releases him. Granted, a snobbery of camping itself, based upon equipment and techniques, already exists; but it is of a kind that, if he meets it, he can readily understand and deal with. There is no superior 'they' in the shape of managements and hotel hierarchies to darken his holiday days.
To such motives, yet another must be added. The contemporary phenomenon of car worship is to be explained not least by the sense of independence and freedom that ownership entails. To this pleasure camping gives an exquisite refinement.
From one's own front door to home or foreign hills or sands and back again, everything is to hand. Not only are the means of arriving at the holiday paradise entirely within one's own command and keeping, but the means of escape from holiday hell (if the beach proves too crowded, the local weather too inclement) are there, outside -- or, as likely, part of -- the tent.
Idealists have objected to the practice of camping, as to package tour, that the traveller abroad thereby denies himself the opportunity of getting to know the people of the country visited. Insularity and self-containment, it is argued, go hand in hand. The opinion does not survive experience of a popular Continental camping place. Holiday hotels tend to cater for one nationality of visitors especially, sometimes exclusively. Camping sites, by contrast, are highly cosmopolitan. Granted, a preponderance of Germans is a characteristic that seems common to most Mediterranean sites; but as yet there is no overwhelmingly specialized patronage. Notices forbidding the open-air drying of clothes, or the use of water points for car washing, or those inviting 'our camping friends' to a dance or a boat trip are printed not only in French or Italian or Spanish, but also in English, German and Dutch. At meal times the odour of sauerkraut vies with that of garlic. The Frenchman's breakfast coffee competes with the Englishman's bacon and eggs.
Whether the remarkable growth of organized camping means the eventual death of the more independent kind is hard to say. Municipalities naturally want to secure the campers' site fees and other custom. Police are wary of itinerants who cannot be traced to a recognized camp boundary or to four walls. But most probably it will all depend upon campers themselves: how many heath fires they cause; how much litter they leave; in short, whether or not they wholly alienate landowners and those who live in the countryside. Only good scouting is likely to preserve the freedoms so dear to the heart of the eternal Boy Scout.
NIGEL BUXTON The Great Escape from The Weekend Telegraph
【New words and expressions 生词和短语】
assumption n. 假定
manoeuvre v. (驱车)移动
myriad adj. 无数的
paradox n. 自相矛盾的事
cynic n. 愤世嫉俗者
sociologist n. 社会学家
shun v. 避开
affluent adj. 富有的
chambermaid n. 女招待员
boo b. 呸的一声
maitre d'hotel n. [法语]总管
snobbery n. 势利
hierarchy n. 等级制度
entail v. 便成为必要
inclement adj. 险恶的
package tour 由旅行社安排一切的一揽子旅游
insularity n. 偏狭
cater v. 迎合
exclusively adv. 排他地
cosmopolitan adj. 世界的
preponderance n. 优势
overwhelmingly adv. 以压倒优势地,清一色地
patronage n. 恩惠,惠顾
sauerkraut n. 泡菜
vie v. 竞争
municipality n. 市政*
itinerant n. 巡回者
heath v. 荒地
alienate v. 便疏远
eternal adj. 永久的
【课文注释】
1.it is far from 远不是
be far from 毫不, 一点也不, 远非, 几乎相反
例句:His explanation was far from satisfactory.
他的解释一点也不令人满意。
What he said was far from the truth.
他所说的远非事实。
2.twenty pounds' worth of space 价值20镑的空地,其中worth是名词。
3.myriad permanent sites 无数的常年营地
4.hub to hub with 轮毂与……轮毂相接
5.bicycles made for two 双人自行车
6.the Splendide and the Bellavista 两大酒店的名字
7.shun 避开,避免
例句:They shun personal fame and gains.
他们不计个人名利。
This recluse shunned all company.
这位隐士不与任何人来往。
Wise men love truth, whereas fools shun it.
智者热爱真理,愚者回避真理。
He shunned meeting any of his friends.
他避免与他的任何朋友碰面。
8.affluent adj.富有的
例句:We live in an affluent society .
我们生活在一个富裕的社会中。
He was born to an affluent family.
他生在富裕人家。
A car and a house are considered as necessities in an affluent society.
在一个富裕的社会里,汽车和洋房都被当作是必需品。
9.say boo to a maitre d'hotel 对酒店的经理表示不满。say boo to a maitre d'hotel , 是从 not say boo to a goose(非常胆小,不敢得罪)演变而来的。在这个成语中, a goose 常被人们幽默地换成其他字眼。
10.Granted...but "虽然……但是……"这种句型中的Granted总放在句首,意思是Yes,相当于一个连接副词的作用。
11.in the shape of 以……形式出现的
12.entail vt.
①使必需
例句:This job entails a lot of hard work.
这项工作需要十分努力。
It will entail driving a long distance every day.
这意味着每天都要长途开车。
②带来
例句:The alteration would entail an expenditure of 50 pounds.
此项改变将带来为数五十英磅的花费。
③限定继承
例句:He would have sold the property long ago had it not been entailed.
这些财产若非限定继承的话,他早就卖掉了。
13.be to hand 垂手可得
14.cater for 迎合……
例句:TV must cater for many different tastes.
电视节目必须迎合各种人的爱好。
Our politicians should learn to cater for the man in the street.
我们的政治家要学会投合广大普通群众的需要。
Unfortunately, these firms rarely cater for retail customers, the supposed
beneficiaries of the crusade.
不幸的是,这些公司很少去投合中小投资者的需要,而中小投资者才是这项改革运
动预期中的受益者。
15.be wary of 提防
例句:She was wary of strangers.
她对陌生人很警惕。
I would advise you to be wary of Kevin; he's been gunning for you since you stole
his girlfriend.
我想劝告你提防克文,自从你抢走了他的女朋友以来,他一直在寻找机会报复
你。
16.alienate vt.
①使疏远
例句:We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.
我们还是不要与同事们疏远。
The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers.
首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。
②离间
例句:His attempts to alienate the two friends failed.
他离间那一对朋友的企图失败了。
She tried to alienate him from his brother
她企图离间他和他的兄弟。
③让与
例句:The law required all citizens to alienate their property to the government.
这部法律要求所有的公民都要把他们的财产转让给政府。
The executive could not alienate any part of our territory.
行政官员不能将我们领土的任何部分让给他人。
④麻木
例句:The numbing labor tended to alienate workers.
枯燥的工作可以使工人变得麻木
17.Boy Scout 童子军
【参考译文】
图省钱是露营的一个主要动机,因为除了开始时购置或是租借一套露营装备外,总费用算起来要比住旅馆开支少得多。但是,和一般的看法相反,这决非是仅有的,甚至不是最主要的动机。如果一位游客漫不经心地驾车驶入欧洲无数常年营地之一,花20镑租用一个空位,那么他可能会碰见一辆本特利汽车,更可能会望见一辆福特.康索尔或一辆雷诺或一辆梅塞迪斯并排停放着,不过双人自行车则不容易看到。
现代露营装备一年比一年讲究,这对那些厌世嫉俗者来说是一件有趣的自相矛盾的事情。而对于发誓用露营来摆脱烦恼的人来说,却带来了更光明的前景。学社会学的大学生来露营是另一种形式的摆脱现实,他们的目的很可能是根据观察到的露营现象去写论文。现代露营旅游的人往往讨厌在“斯普兰迪德”和“贝拉维斯塔”这样的大酒店,这并不是因为他们付不起钱,也不是为了躲避物质享受,而是因为他们害怕酒店。他们可能很富有,但给看门人和房间女服务多少小费,心中却根本没有数;他们在家可能是主人,但不知道什么时候才能对酒店的经理表示不满。
露营使人们免除了这些忧虑。诚然,露营地本身也存在以露营装备和方式取人的势利现象,但如果有这种情况,露营者也容易理解,知道如何对付,但在露营地里根本不会有管人的“人上人”和酒店里的等级制度来使露营者的假日过得阴郁低沉。
除以上动机外,还应加上一个。当前崇拜汽车现象可以用与所有权相伴的独立和自由意识来解释。因此开车去露营会给这种快乐意识增加一种优雅意境。
从自己的家门出发到国内国外的山区或沙滩上露营然后返回,一切都很便利。完全在自己掌握之中的私人汽车不仅是到达假日天堂的工具,而且也是逃离假日地狱(如海滩太挤,当地天气恶劣)方便工具,因为汽车就停在帐篷外面,或者汽车本身可能就是露营帐篷的一个组成部分。
理想主义者像反对旅行社安排一切的一揽子旅游一样反对露营的作法,说这种封闭的作法使到国外旅游者失去了了解所去国家人民的机会。他们争论说,心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。但这种说法在受人欢迎的欧洲露营地是站不住脚的。假日旅馆有只接待来自一个国家的旅游者的倾向,有时会达到排他的程度。而露营驻地则相反,是高度世界性的。在大多数地中海露营地里,德国人占优势似乎是个普遍现象,确实如此,但并没有特别的优待。禁止露天晒衣服、禁止用水龙头冲洗汽车的布告和邀请露营朋友参加舞会、乘船观光的招贴不仅印志法语、意大利语、西班牙语,而且也印成英语、德语、荷兰语。用饭的时候,德国泡菜味和大蒜味争相散发,法国人的早点咖啡和英国人的咸肉煎蛋竞相比美。
有组织的露营活动的明显发展是否意味着较独立的自我封闭式露营的最终消失,还很难说。市政*当然希望获得露营者的场地费和其他光临的好处,警察则对那些查不出有固定营地或住处的游荡者保持警惕。但最重要的或许是露营者自己,即他们引起了多少场野火,留下了多少垃圾。总之,他们是否弄得土地的主人和乡间的居民同他们反目。只有优良的童子军活动才能保持不朽的童子军所衷心热爱的各项自由。
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