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The tourist trade is booming. With all this coming and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the 'grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp? The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travelers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other?
Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own; and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitaire: are temporarily reestablished on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveler goes not to eat paella, but fish and chips.
The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, native. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the peoples just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. So when you set out on your travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, 'Anglo-Saxons are hypocrites' of that 'Latin peoples shout a lot'. You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalizations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic fact—how trite it sounds! – That all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique.
1. The best title for this passage is
[A] tourism contributes nothing to increasing understanding between nations.
[B] Tourism is tiresome.
[C] Conducted tour is dull.
[D] tourism really does something to one's country.
2. What is the author's attitude toward tourism?
[A] apprehensive.
[B] negative.
[C] critical.
[D] appreciative.
3. Which word in the following is the best to summarize Latin people shout a lot?
[A] silent.
[B] noisy.
[C] lively.
[D] active.
4. The purpose of the author's criticism is to point out
[A] conducted tour is disappointing.
[B] the way of touring should be changed.
[C] when traveling, you notice characteristics which confirm preconception.
[D] national stereotypes should be changed.
5. What is ‘grand tour’ now?
[A] moderate cost.
[B] local sight-seeing is investigated by the tourist organization.
[C] people enjoy the first-rate comforts.
[D] everybody can enjoy the ‘grand tour’.
Vocabulary
1. superb 卓越的，杰出的，第一流的
2. moderate 中庸的，中等的，适度的
3. grand tour 大旅行，指旧时英国富家子弟教育中，到欧洲大陆观光的旅行，为学业必经阶段。
4. package tour 由旅行社代办而费用与路线、日程固定的假日旅游。也可用package holiday。
5. chartered flight 包机航班
6. set out to do sth. = begin a job with a particular aim 开始做某事，决心/打算做……
7. cosset 宠爱，溺爱，纵容
8. conducted tour = guided tour 有人指导/引到下的参观，有导游的旅游
9. censor 检查
10. wander off 离开原处/正道，离群，漫步，漫游
11. quarters 住处，营
12. paella 西班牙什锦饭
13. chip 炸马铃薯条(土豆条)
14. amorous 多情的，色情的
15. pedantic 学究式的，卖弄学问的
16. generalization 归纳，概括
17. stir up 惹起，煽动，挑起
18. trite 陈腐的，老一套的
