|
|
Lesson 47
The great escape
大逃亡
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 20
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 the 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 生词与短语
assumption
n. 假定
manoeuvre
v. (驱车)移动
myriad
adj. 无数的
paradox
n. 自相矛盾的呈
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
|
|
发表于 2016-7-11 22:48:02