白领英语晨读-140 True Traveling 真正的旅行

True Traveling

The future history books might record that we were deprived of the use of our eyes. In our hurry to get from one place to another, we failed to see anything on the way. Air travel gives you a bird’s-eye view of the world – or even less if the wing of the aircraft happens to get in your way. When you travel by car or train a blurred¹ image of the countryside constantly smears² the windows. Car drivers, in particular, are forever obsessed³ with the urge to go on and on: they never want to stop. Is it the lure⁴ of the great motorways⁵, or what? And as for sea travel, it hardly deserves mention. It is perfectly⁶ summed up in the words of the old song: ‘I joined the navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea.’ The typical twentieth-century traveler is the man who always says ‘I’ve been there. ’ You mention the remotest, most evocative place-names in the world like El Dorado, Kabul, Irkutsk and someone is bound to say ‘I’ve been there’ meaning, ‘I drove through it at 100 miles an hour on the way to somewhere else. ’

　　When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time looking forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival, when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. By traveling like this, you suspend all experience; the present ceases to be a reality: you might just as well be dead. The traveler on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him traveling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound. Satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travellers.

未来的历史书还会记载说，我们的眼睛也弃置不用了。在急 急忙忙从一个地方赶往另一个地方的路上，我们什么都没看到。 航空旅行可以使你鸟瞰世界——要是机翼恰好挡住了你的视线， 你就看得更少了。当你乘汽车或火车旅行的时候，模糊不清的乡 村景象不停地映在车窗玻璃上。尤其是汽车司机，他们的头脑永 远都被“向前，向前”的冲动占据着：他们从来都不要停下来。到 底是由于漂亮车道的诱惑，还是别的什么？至于海上旅行，简直 不值一提。有一首老歌的歌词对海上旅行是一个完美的概括：‘哦 加入海军去看世界，我看到了什么？我看见了大海。”最典型的 四世纪旅行者总是说“我已经去过那儿了”。你提到世界上最遥 远、最引人遇思的地名，比如埃尔多拉多、喀布尔、伊尔库茨克， 准有人说“我去过那儿”——意思是：“我在去另外一个地方的路 上，以100英里的时速路过那儿。”

当你以很高的速度旅行时，“现在”就什么都不是：你主要生 活在未来，因为你多半时间在盼望赶到别的一个地方去。但是当 你真的到达了目的地，你的到达也没有什么意义。你还要继续前 行。像这样子旅行，你什么也没有经历；你的现在并不是现实：跟 死亡没有什么两样。另一方面，徒步旅行者却总是生活在现在。 对他来说，旅行和到达是同一件事情：他是一步一步走着来到某 地的。他在用自己的眼睛、耳朵和整个身体体验现在。在他旅途 的终点，他感到一种愉悦的生理疲惫。他知道他会享受深沉而甜 蜜的睡眠：这是对一切真正旅行者的酬报。

1 blurred   

v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离

参考例句：

• She suffered from dizziness and blurred vision. 她饱受头晕目眩之苦。
• Their lazy, blurred voices fell pleasantly on his ears. 他们那种慢吞吞、含糊不清的声音在他听起来却很悦耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 smears   

污迹( smear的名词复数 )； 污斑； （显微镜的）涂片； 诽谤

参考例句：

• His evidence was a blend of smears, half truths and downright lies. 他的证词里掺杂着诽谤、部份的事实和彻头彻尾的谎言。
• Anything written with a soft pencil smears easily. 用软铅笔写成的东西容易污成一片。

3 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

4 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

5 motorways   

n.高速公路( motorway的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most of Britain's motorways radiated from London. 英国的大多数公路从伦敦向四方延伸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cuba is well served by motorways. 古巴的高速公路四通八达。 来自辞典例句

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。