TWE写作素材(1)-Travelling_托福指导
travelling
what is traveling?
traveling is setting out for several months with little money and an open
mind,
use local transportation, eat mostly local food, meeting the locals – and
fellow
travelers. traveling is meeting people. at the bottom of it all, traveling
is living.
traveling is also self-reflection. an empty pharmacy in western zambia and
a minefield
in cambodia can make you change your mind about your own little problems
experience of one student
during our business trip in the new jersey, we visited quite a lot of places. i was always the guide whose responsibility is to provide our driver with the most time-saving route and plan the travel itinerancy.
every time one day before our trip, i will search on the internet for the information about the place we will visit. usually, the local government or some travel agencies have their own web sites which can provides us plenty information ,such as the famous sites, special scenes , interesting food or some quaint custom. for example, on the thanksgiving of 1999, we went to the washington dc, baltimore and annapolis. i learned before hand that in baltimore, there is a aquarium that ranks second in us; in annapolis, there is a navy academic from which many famous generals graduated; in washington, we can visit the place where forest gump cried ' jenny' and held his lover.
another tool internet can provide us is the online map. if we want to go to a place that we have never been to, all that i need to do is to input the start point's zip code and the end point's zip code. the web site will provide me with several choices,some is most time-saving, some can help us avoid the possible traffic, some can save us the toll fee we have to pay otherwise.
beijing people enjoy travelling abroad
li hong and her husband are still enjoying happy memories of their honeymoon in singapore, malaysia, thailand, hong kong and macao over spring festival.
it is the first time for the young couple to spend the chinese lunar new year abroad.
"i think the happy tour will be unforgettable in our memory because of the exotic atmosphere and good service provided by the travel service," li said.
li, an employee in a joint venture and her husband, who works in an exhibition company in beijing, spent 16,400 yuan (us$2,000) for the 15-day tour.
like the young couple, many residents of beijing choose to travel abroad or visit other provinces in the country during their holidays, instead of staying at home for the traditional family reunion.
although nearly all the travel agencies in the capital had prepared for the peak season for overseas travels, the limited capacity of the airlines could not meet the demands of so many tourists, according to wang suqi, deputy general manager of the outbound travel department of china international travel service (cits).
wang estimated that there were nearly 30,000 beijingers participating in various tours to thailand, singapore, malaysia, hong kong and macao during the holidays. this was twice as many as last year's holiday.
"it is usual now for ordinary people to travel abroad or make a trip to well-known scenic spots in other provinces, because their living standard has changed," wang said.
in the past years, people regarded spring festival as an important occasion for family reunion; but now, many people consider it an ideal time for rest and relaxation.
"most of them have a desire to go abroad for the holidays. because they have already bought the domestic appliances, such as colour tv sets, refrigerators, washing machines and air-conditioners, they need and have money to spare," wang added.
the country's tourism administration has negotiated agreements with australia, new zealand and some southeast asian countries so that chinese citizens can enjoy more reasonably charged holidays there.
however, some small and low-quality travel agencies have tried to seek exorbitant fees and profits.
the malpractices have seriously violated the rights and interests of the tourists. as a result, more and more potential tourists will turn to the large-size state-owned travel agencies, such as the cits, china travel service and china youth travel service, wang said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
date: 03/11/99
author: cao min
copyright? by china daily
survey: travel gains popularity as income rises
guangzhou _ with incomes rising, a growing number of guangzhou families are taking to travelling for recreation.
a recent survey indicated that a large number of local citizens plan to travel in the coming year, and that most of the potential tourists will travel within china.
the survey, conducted recently by the guangzhou municipal gov
ernment, will help the authorities formulate policy.
the survey interviewed 10,000 families of various income levels on issues including investment, housing, social concerns, purchasing power, and car ownership.
according to the survey, 36.35 per cent of the respondents expressed a desire to travel.
the survey suggests that a family's income decides whether people will travel in the coming year.
more than half of the families with higher incomes will travel in 1999, whereas less than 20 per cent of those with lower incomes will do so, the survey reported.
travel plans were closely related to professions, according to the survey.
among those families with plans to travel, private business owners expect to spend 10,571 yuan (us$1,273) on travelling on average, while those engaged in primary industries expect to spend 3,667 yuan (us$441), or 6,904 yuan (us$831) less.
the survey indicates that most guangzhou citizens will travel around either the nation or the province.
among potential tourists, those who want to travel around the nation accounted for 43.81 per cent and those staying in the province made up 28.91 per cent.
ouyang fei, an official with the municipal statistics bureau, which conducted the survey, said that the nation's promotional campaign for "1999 ecotour china" and its rich tourism resources have helped lure many guangzhou tourists to domestic natural attractions.
he said that the income of local families also plays a significant role in their final decisions.
of those preferring overseas destinations, families with high incomes amounted to 38.84 per cent of the total and those with low income made up 8.33 per cent.
the gap is much narrower among those choosing domestic destinations: high-income families accounted for 26.98 per cent and low-income families made up 15.1 per cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
date: 01/04/99
author: zhan lisheng
copyright? by china daily
travelling globe on a shoestring
alain bezard, a slim, middle-aged frenchman, had been travelling for 15 months by walking, bicycling, hitchhiking and any other cost-free means before reaching beijing late last month. without hearing the details of his story, it would be difficult to believe this scraggy body could contain so much energy. the trip is part of a project whose final objective is to cross the bering strait on december 31, 1999 to celebrate the coming new millennium.
bezard's project, named "travelling the blue planet," was inspired by a british tv programme in which rich and eccentric people were invited to talk about their luxury travel plans to celebrate the new millennium. although homeless and dependent on social welfare, bezard contrived his brave idea: to celebrate the new millennium by any means possible _ but without money.
bezard set out from london, went through france and central europe, then crossed turkey, iran, india and pakistan, from where he and a partner entered china.
"our aim is to travel around the globe by the simplest means to discover different cultures and meet different people _ who are welcome to join us at anytime," said bezard. he even created a website at www.geocities.com/the tropics/lagoon/4390/. he has already attracted seven other persons interested in participating in the adventure. one of them has joined him and the others will gather in beijing and ulan bator, capital of mongolia.
"during this journey, i have received and am receiving all kinds of help from individuals, organizations and governments, which shows that communication between different people is not too difficult," he said. the frenchman pointed out that room and board in beijing is being provided by waleys green bay at jinghua hotel.
his comments were supported by those of his partner, ismael ruiz, a young spaniard from barcelona, who went to india to look for bezard and eventually caught up with him in pakistan.
"people provided us with food, resting places, and help in getting visas and internet access so that we could travel to every country on our route legally," said ruiz. "some of these people didn't have enough money for their own basic needs."
bezard is no stranger to travelling in ways that most people would consider torturous. in 1978, when he was 22, bezard made his first major trip by bicycling from france to greece. this encouraged him to make more trips, and he soon covered europe, asia and africa. "i have never fallen sick except for a little cold, which requires no medicine," boasted bezard.
in 1988 he came to china for the first time when he travelled by bicycle from hong kong to kunming, capital of yunnan province. from kunming he continued his journey on foot and by hitchhiking to lhasa, capital of the tibet autonomous region
. he later entered india. "chinese people are very kind and are always ready to help others," said bezard. "before entering china, we had to cross a 4,700-metre-high mountain. it was very cold, but the hospitality of chinese police at a frontier defence station warmed us, and an officer accompanied us on foot for more than 15 kilometres."
when they reached taxkorgan, a little town in the western part of the xinjiang uygur autonomous region, the local police chief drove them more than 200 kilometres.
on this trip, the first sizable chinese city they arrived at was kashi in southern xinjiang. "here we got help from a student, who translated our sign into chinese and made copies of it," said bezard, who always displays the sign in china when seeking help from local people.
after kashi, their travels became more difficult. "we did not take money and food with us. we stopped to ask help from local residents when hungry, tried to find passing vehicles to hitchhike when we were too tired to walk and in most cases stayed overnight with local families."
things got more difficult on the southern edge of the taklimakan desert. "on two occasions we did not meet anyone or see a home for a whole day," said bezard. "we had to travel step by step in the deep sand and through strong sand storms."
but he claimed that the experience did not make his partner and him desperate. "after all, we are here in beijing and are accepting an interview. the memories are always interesting and leave no place for desperation."
there were also misunderstandings, but bezard said the purpose of their travel was precisely to overcome them. "one day we hitchhiked with a truck somewhere in xinjiang and showed the uygur driver our sign in chinese. after the long drive, the driver stopped to ask for a fee, but we did not have a cent. we explained this to him but the driver understood neither english nor chinese and became very angry. he pushed us around and wanted to beat us, but finally brought us to the police station. fortunately, a policeman understood english and supported our travels. he even sent us some kilometres with a car," said bezard.
in lanzhou, capital of the western province gansu, they were aided by a local friend who bought them train tickets to beijing.
in big cities, however, money seems more important than during travelling.
"here we have to pay our room and board, and more urgently, we have to pay the fee for visas."
in new delhi, india, bezard got the necessary money and visas for pakistan, and in china he got money partly by sponsorships from local residents and partly from his work as a french conversation partner with alliance francaise. "this is not the first time i have tried to obtain money for travelling by working. some years ago i bicycled across the middle east and down to southern sudan by playing flute and even as a construction worker."
ruiz said they could do a lot of things to earn what was urgently needed for the next phases of their project, heading towards the bering strait. "we only need some money to maintain our life in beijing, where we will have to stay for the visas of mongolia and russia, the gathering of our friends, the necessary preparations for the following travels and maybe attracting some chinese members," said ruiz. bezard added they also hoped to be provided one small room in beijing for 20 days, internet access and were looking for help to get visas for entering mongolia.
they are now staying in a friend's room because they could not afford 25 yuan (us$3) for a room in the basement of jinghua hotel, and are waiting for assistance and can be contacted at 64030204 or alain_bezard@-hotmail.com.
but the difficulties in no way reduce their optimism. bezard and ruiz said they try to visit noted natural wonders and historical sites on the road, and to understand different peoples by direct communication. "it is a different experience from those obtained from books. here you meet the persons in their real lives," said ruiz.
"travelling and communication could promote peace in the world," said bezard. "those who launch wars do not have real experience... people should stop the wars. after all, all of us are citizens of the world."
when asked how his friends and neighbours evaluate his life as a ceaseless traveller, bezard pointed out a young man nearby: "ask him!" his self-confidence seemed justified after the latter, jan-willem hollenman, a dutch traveller, said: "i wish i could join them if possible."
what is traveling?
traveling is setting out for several months with little money and an open
mind,
use local transportation, eat mostly local food, meeting the locals – and
fellow
travelers. traveling is meeting people. at the bottom of it all, traveling
is living.
traveling is also self-reflection. an empty pharmacy in western zambia and
a minefield
in cambodia can make you change your mind about your own little problems
experience of one student
during our business trip in the new jersey, we visited quite a lot of places. i was always the guide whose responsibility is to provide our driver with the most time-saving route and plan the travel itinerancy.
every time one day before our trip, i will search on the internet for the information about the place we will visit. usually, the local government or some travel agencies have their own web sites which can provides us plenty information ,such as the famous sites, special scenes , interesting food or some quaint custom. for example, on the thanksgiving of 1999, we went to the washington dc, baltimore and annapolis. i learned before hand that in baltimore, there is a aquarium that ranks second in us; in annapolis, there is a navy academic from which many famous generals graduated; in washington, we can visit the place where forest gump cried ' jenny' and held his lover.
another tool internet can provide us is the online map. if we want to go to a place that we have never been to, all that i need to do is to input the start point's zip code and the end point's zip code. the web site will provide me with several choices,some is most time-saving, some can help us avoid the possible traffic, some can save us the toll fee we have to pay otherwise.
beijing people enjoy travelling abroad
li hong and her husband are still enjoying happy memories of their honeymoon in singapore, malaysia, thailand, hong kong and macao over spring festival.
it is the first time for the young couple to spend the chinese lunar new year abroad.
"i think the happy tour will be unforgettable in our memory because of the exotic atmosphere and good service provided by the travel service," li said.
li, an employee in a joint venture and her husband, who works in an exhibition company in beijing, spent 16,400 yuan (us$2,000) for the 15-day tour.
like the young couple, many residents of beijing choose to travel abroad or visit other provinces in the country during their holidays, instead of staying at home for the traditional family reunion.
although nearly all the travel agencies in the capital had prepared for the peak season for overseas travels, the limited capacity of the airlines could not meet the demands of so many tourists, according to wang suqi, deputy general manager of the outbound travel department of china international travel service (cits).
wang estimated that there were nearly 30,000 beijingers participating in various tours to thailand, singapore, malaysia, hong kong and macao during the holidays. this was twice as many as last year's holiday.
"it is usual now for ordinary people to travel abroad or make a trip to well-known scenic spots in other provinces, because their living standard has changed," wang said.
in the past years, people regarded spring festival as an important occasion for family reunion; but now, many people consider it an ideal time for rest and relaxation.
"most of them have a desire to go abroad for the holidays. because they have already bought the domestic appliances, such as colour tv sets, refrigerators, washing machines and air-conditioners, they need and have money to spare," wang added.
the country's tourism administration has negotiated agreements with australia, new zealand and some southeast asian countries so that chinese citizens can enjoy more reasonably charged holidays there.
however, some small and low-quality travel agencies have tried to seek exorbitant fees and profits.
the malpractices have seriously violated the rights and interests of the tourists. as a result, more and more potential tourists will turn to the large-size state-owned travel agencies, such as the cits, china travel service and china youth travel service, wang said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
date: 03/11/99
author: cao min
copyright? by china daily
survey: travel gains popularity as income rises
guangzhou _ with incomes rising, a growing number of guangzhou families are taking to travelling for recreation.
a recent survey indicated that a large number of local citizens plan to travel in the coming year, and that most of the potential tourists will travel within china.
the survey, conducted recently by the guangzhou municipal gov
ernment, will help the authorities formulate policy.
the survey interviewed 10,000 families of various income levels on issues including investment, housing, social concerns, purchasing power, and car ownership.
according to the survey, 36.35 per cent of the respondents expressed a desire to travel.
the survey suggests that a family's income decides whether people will travel in the coming year.
more than half of the families with higher incomes will travel in 1999, whereas less than 20 per cent of those with lower incomes will do so, the survey reported.
travel plans were closely related to professions, according to the survey.
among those families with plans to travel, private business owners expect to spend 10,571 yuan (us$1,273) on travelling on average, while those engaged in primary industries expect to spend 3,667 yuan (us$441), or 6,904 yuan (us$831) less.
the survey indicates that most guangzhou citizens will travel around either the nation or the province.
among potential tourists, those who want to travel around the nation accounted for 43.81 per cent and those staying in the province made up 28.91 per cent.
ouyang fei, an official with the municipal statistics bureau, which conducted the survey, said that the nation's promotional campaign for "1999 ecotour china" and its rich tourism resources have helped lure many guangzhou tourists to domestic natural attractions.
he said that the income of local families also plays a significant role in their final decisions.
of those preferring overseas destinations, families with high incomes amounted to 38.84 per cent of the total and those with low income made up 8.33 per cent.
the gap is much narrower among those choosing domestic destinations: high-income families accounted for 26.98 per cent and low-income families made up 15.1 per cent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
date: 01/04/99
author: zhan lisheng
copyright? by china daily
travelling globe on a shoestring
alain bezard, a slim, middle-aged frenchman, had been travelling for 15 months by walking, bicycling, hitchhiking and any other cost-free means before reaching beijing late last month. without hearing the details of his story, it would be difficult to believe this scraggy body could contain so much energy. the trip is part of a project whose final objective is to cross the bering strait on december 31, 1999 to celebrate the coming new millennium.
bezard's project, named "travelling the blue planet," was inspired by a british tv programme in which rich and eccentric people were invited to talk about their luxury travel plans to celebrate the new millennium. although homeless and dependent on social welfare, bezard contrived his brave idea: to celebrate the new millennium by any means possible _ but without money.
bezard set out from london, went through france and central europe, then crossed turkey, iran, india and pakistan, from where he and a partner entered china.
"our aim is to travel around the globe by the simplest means to discover different cultures and meet different people _ who are welcome to join us at anytime," said bezard. he even created a website at www.geocities.com/the tropics/lagoon/4390/. he has already attracted seven other persons interested in participating in the adventure. one of them has joined him and the others will gather in beijing and ulan bator, capital of mongolia.
"during this journey, i have received and am receiving all kinds of help from individuals, organizations and governments, which shows that communication between different people is not too difficult," he said. the frenchman pointed out that room and board in beijing is being provided by waleys green bay at jinghua hotel.
his comments were supported by those of his partner, ismael ruiz, a young spaniard from barcelona, who went to india to look for bezard and eventually caught up with him in pakistan.
"people provided us with food, resting places, and help in getting visas and internet access so that we could travel to every country on our route legally," said ruiz. "some of these people didn't have enough money for their own basic needs."
bezard is no stranger to travelling in ways that most people would consider torturous. in 1978, when he was 22, bezard made his first major trip by bicycling from france to greece. this encouraged him to make more trips, and he soon covered europe, asia and africa. "i have never fallen sick except for a little cold, which requires no medicine," boasted bezard.
in 1988 he came to china for the first time when he travelled by bicycle from hong kong to kunming, capital of yunnan province. from kunming he continued his journey on foot and by hitchhiking to lhasa, capital of the tibet autonomous region
. he later entered india. "chinese people are very kind and are always ready to help others," said bezard. "before entering china, we had to cross a 4,700-metre-high mountain. it was very cold, but the hospitality of chinese police at a frontier defence station warmed us, and an officer accompanied us on foot for more than 15 kilometres."
when they reached taxkorgan, a little town in the western part of the xinjiang uygur autonomous region, the local police chief drove them more than 200 kilometres.
on this trip, the first sizable chinese city they arrived at was kashi in southern xinjiang. "here we got help from a student, who translated our sign into chinese and made copies of it," said bezard, who always displays the sign in china when seeking help from local people.
after kashi, their travels became more difficult. "we did not take money and food with us. we stopped to ask help from local residents when hungry, tried to find passing vehicles to hitchhike when we were too tired to walk and in most cases stayed overnight with local families."
things got more difficult on the southern edge of the taklimakan desert. "on two occasions we did not meet anyone or see a home for a whole day," said bezard. "we had to travel step by step in the deep sand and through strong sand storms."
but he claimed that the experience did not make his partner and him desperate. "after all, we are here in beijing and are accepting an interview. the memories are always interesting and leave no place for desperation."
there were also misunderstandings, but bezard said the purpose of their travel was precisely to overcome them. "one day we hitchhiked with a truck somewhere in xinjiang and showed the uygur driver our sign in chinese. after the long drive, the driver stopped to ask for a fee, but we did not have a cent. we explained this to him but the driver understood neither english nor chinese and became very angry. he pushed us around and wanted to beat us, but finally brought us to the police station. fortunately, a policeman understood english and supported our travels. he even sent us some kilometres with a car," said bezard.
in lanzhou, capital of the western province gansu, they were aided by a local friend who bought them train tickets to beijing.
in big cities, however, money seems more important than during travelling.
"here we have to pay our room and board, and more urgently, we have to pay the fee for visas."
in new delhi, india, bezard got the necessary money and visas for pakistan, and in china he got money partly by sponsorships from local residents and partly from his work as a french conversation partner with alliance francaise. "this is not the first time i have tried to obtain money for travelling by working. some years ago i bicycled across the middle east and down to southern sudan by playing flute and even as a construction worker."
ruiz said they could do a lot of things to earn what was urgently needed for the next phases of their project, heading towards the bering strait. "we only need some money to maintain our life in beijing, where we will have to stay for the visas of mongolia and russia, the gathering of our friends, the necessary preparations for the following travels and maybe attracting some chinese members," said ruiz. bezard added they also hoped to be provided one small room in beijing for 20 days, internet access and were looking for help to get visas for entering mongolia.
they are now staying in a friend's room because they could not afford 25 yuan (us$3) for a room in the basement of jinghua hotel, and are waiting for assistance and can be contacted at 64030204 or alain_bezard@-hotmail.com.
but the difficulties in no way reduce their optimism. bezard and ruiz said they try to visit noted natural wonders and historical sites on the road, and to understand different peoples by direct communication. "it is a different experience from those obtained from books. here you meet the persons in their real lives," said ruiz.
"travelling and communication could promote peace in the world," said bezard. "those who launch wars do not have real experience... people should stop the wars. after all, all of us are citizens of the world."
when asked how his friends and neighbours evaluate his life as a ceaseless traveller, bezard pointed out a young man nearby: "ask him!" his self-confidence seemed justified after the latter, jan-willem hollenman, a dutch traveller, said: "i wish i could join them if possible."