-
TEXT A
The surprising
purpose of travel
令人惊奇的旅行目的
1 It's 4:15 in the morning, and my
alarm clock has just stolen away a lovely dream. I
almost return
back to sleep before my
eye catches my packed suitcase and I groan,
remembering that I'm going
to the
airport. The taxi is late and then lost, and I'm
getting increasingly nervous that I'll miss my
flight. I run in when we arrive,
stagger through security and finally get to my
gate. After all the
trouble
of
this
morning,
my
flight
is
canceled
and
I'm
stuck
in
this
terminal
for
the
next
218
minutes,
and
my only consolation is a cup of
complimentary airport coffee. This is traveling, a
burdensome series of running and
waiting, and after countless hours, finally
getting there.
早晨四点一刻，
闹钟把我从美梦中惊醒，
要不是突然看见早已收拾好的行李箱，
我几乎又要
睡着。想起来还要去机场，我叹了口气。出租车来晚了，并且在途
中迷了路，我越来越担心
会赶不上飞机。
出租车一到机场我就冲
进去，
跌跌撞撞通过安检处，
终于，
我
来到了登机口。
经历这一早所有的麻烦事，
我乘坐的航班却被取
消了。
在接下来的
218
分钟里，
我被困在了
机场，
唯一觉得安慰的是机场提
供的一杯免费咖啡。这就是旅行，
让人心烦的跑跑停停。最
终，
在不知经过多少小时之后，终于到达要去的地方。
2 Why do we travel? I don't mind the
actual flying, the wonder of being airborne in a
dense metal
bird. The rest of the
journey, however, can feel like a tedious lesson
in the ills of modernity, from
the
predawn x
-
ray screening to
the sad airport malls selling clusters of
keepsakes. It's the result of
a
globalized world, and it sucks.
我们为什么要旅行？其实，
我并不介意飞行本身，
在这
样一个密实的金属大鸟中飞行，
让我
感到很奇妙。然而，旅程其
余的部分，从一大早
X
光检查到出售大堆纪念品的糟糕的机场<
/p>
商场，感觉就像是关于现代社会弊病的乏味课程。这是全球化的结果，它糟糕透了。
3 Sometimes, of
course, we travel because we need to. Because in
this digital age, there is still
something important about the handshake
at a business luncheon. Or eating mom's special
food on
Thanksgiving. Or seeing your
girlfriend on your 2
-
year
anniversary.
当然，
有
时候我们旅行是因为我们需要去旅行。
因为即使在这个数字化时代，
我们仍然有一
些很重要的事情要去做，
比如在商务午餐中与
生意伙伴握手，
或是在感恩节这天吃上妈妈特
别准备的食物，或
是在你和你女朋友的两周年纪念日这天去看她。
4 But most travel is decidedly
optional. Only corporate travel, about 30% of
trips over 50 miles, is
truly
compulsory. Instead, we travel because we want to,
because the annoyances of the airport are
offset by the thrill of being someplace
new. Because work is stressful and our blood
pressure is too
high and we need a
vacation somewhere tropical. Because home is
boring. Because the flights are
on
sale. Because Paris is Paris.
但是大多数旅行是可去可不去的，在超过
50
英里的旅行中
，只有
30%
属于真正必需的商务
旅行
。
我们旅行是因为我们想要去旅行，
因为到一个新地方的兴奋和
激动可以抵消在机场的
各种烦心事；因为工作压力太大，我们的血压太高，我们要去热带
地区度假；因为在家实在
太无聊；因为航班都在打折；因为巴黎毕竟是巴黎。
5 Thanks to modern
aviation, we can now move through space at an
inhuman speed. For the first
1
time
in
human
history,
we
can
outrun
the
sun
and
move
from
one
hemisphere
to
another
in
a
single day. Of course, it's not enough
to simply get on a plane. If we want to realize
the creative
benefits of travel, then
we have to re
-
think its
overall purpose. Most people, after all, escape to
Paris so they don't have to think about
those troubles they left behind. But here's the
irony: Our
mind is most likely to solve
our most stubborn problems while we are sitting in
luxury in a Left
Bank
café.
So,
instead
of
contemplating
that
buttery
dessert,
we
should
be
conscious
of
those
domestic issues we
just can't solve.
多亏了现代航空技术，
我们现在可以以非凡的速度在空中穿梭。
在人类历史中，
这是我们第
一次超过太阳
——
在短短一天中从一个半球到达另一个半球。
当然，
仅仅
往飞机上一坐是不
够的。
我们要想认识到旅行在提高创新力方面
的价值，还得再全面考虑其目的。毕竟，
大多
数人逃到巴黎，<
/p>
是因为这样他们就可以不必考虑家里的那些烦心事。
但是，
具有讽刺意味的
是，
当我们坐在豪华的左岸咖
啡馆时，
我们的脑子极有可能能解决那些最棘手的问题。
因此<
/p>
,
我们应该考虑那些在家里解决不了的问题，而不是琢磨那些奶油
甜点。
6
The
larger
lesson,
though,
is
that
our
thoughts
are
saturated
with
the
familiar.
The
brain
is
a
space of near infinite possibility,
which
means that it spends a
lot of time and energy choosing
what
not to notice. As a result, creativity is traded
away for efficiency; we think in finite, literal
prose,
not
symbolic
verse.
A
bit
of
distance,
however,
helps
loosen
the
cognitive
chains
that
imprison
us,
making
it
easier
to
mingle
the
new
with
the
old;
the
mundane
is
grasped
from
a
slightly
more
abstract
perspective.
According
to
research,
the
experience
of
an
exotic
culture
endows us with a valuable
open
-
mindedness, making it
easier to realize that even a trivial thing
can have multiple meanings. Consider
the act of leaving food on the plate: In China,
this is often
seen as a compliment, a
signal that the host has provided enough to eat.
But in America the same
act is a subtle
insult, an indication that the food wasn't good
enough to finish.
但更应该知道的是我们
的思想被熟悉的东西所充满。
大脑是一个几乎具有无限可能性的空间，
< br>这就意味着它花了大量的时间和精力选择不去注意什么。
因此
,
我们牺牲创造力来换取效率。
我们以字义明确的散文方式
思考，
而非以具有象征意义的诗歌方式思考。
然而，
一点的距离
就可以帮助我们放松禁锢我们认知的链条，
使新旧思想的结合更容易，
对平淡无奇的事情可
从更抽象的
角度加以认知。
有研究指出，
体验异国文化可以赋予我们宝贵的
开放性思维，
使
我们更容易明白即使是微不足道的事物也可以有
多种意义。
想一想把食物剩在盘子里这个行
为
< br>:
在中国，这通常被看成是一种赞美，说明主人提供了足够的食物。但是在美国，
同样的
行为却暗含侮辱，表明食物不够好，人们不愿意吃完。
7
Such
multicultural
contrasts
mean
that
seasoned
travelers
are
open
to
ambiguity,
willing
to
realize that there are
decidedly different (and equally valid) ways of
interpreting the world. This,
in turn,
allows them to expand the circumference of their
for their first answers and initial
guesses.
这种多元文化对比说明，
< br>经验丰富的旅行者会接受对事物的多样性解读，
他们欣然认识到对
这个世界可以有截然不同（但却同样有效）的方式进行解释。这也从而让他们扩大了
“
认知
输入
”
的范围，因为他们拒绝仅仅满足于他们的最初答案和先前的猜测。
8 Of course, this mental
flexibility doesn't come from mere distance, a
simple change in latitude
and
longitude. Instead, this renaissance of creativity
appears to be a side effect of difference: We
need
to
change
cultures,
to experience
the
disorienting diversity
of
human
traditions. The
same
2
facets of
foreign travel that are so confusing (Do I tip the
waiter? Where is this train taking me?)
turn
out
to
have
a
lasting
impact,
making
us
more
creative
because
we're
less
insular.
We're
reminded of all that
we don't know, which is nearly everything; we're
surprised by the constant
stream of
surprises. Even in this globalized age, we can
still be amazed at all the earthly things
that weren't included in the Let's Go
guidebook and that certainly don't exist back
home.
当然，
这种思维的灵活性
不仅仅来自纯粹的距离变化，即简单的经纬度的变化。相反，
这种
创造力的复兴似乎是差异所带来的副产品
:
我们需要处于不
同的文化中，
体验人类传统中纷
繁复杂的多样性。
在国外旅行中让人迷惑的同一个方面的问题
（如我该给服务生小费吗？火
车要把我带到哪里？
)
，
< br>产生了一种持久的影响
,
使我们更加具有创造性
,
因为我们不再那么视
野狭隘了。
我们了解了我们不知道的东西，
而这些东西几乎涵盖了一切；
我们对接连不断的
惊喜感到惊奇。即使在这个全球化的时代，我们仍然会对所有
未包括在《旅行指南》中的、
平常的东西感到惊奇，而这些东西在自己家中也不存在。<
/p>
9 So, let's not
pretend that travel doesn't have its drawbacks, or
that we endure jet lag for pleasure.
We
don't spend 10 hours lost in the Louvre because we
like it, and the view from the top of Machu
Picchu probably doesn't make up for the
trouble of lost luggage. (More often than not, I
need a
vacation after my vacation.) We
travel because we need to, because distance and
difference are the
secret cornerstones
of creativity. When we get home, home is still the
same. But something in our
mind has
been changed, and that changes everything.
当然，我们也并不是假装旅行没有缺点，或是说我们忍受飞行
时差综合反应只是为了消遣。
在卢浮宫我们迷路十个小时，
那不
是因为我们喜欢迷路。
我们站在马丘比丘古城遗址顶端俯
瞰的风
景可能也并不能弥补我们丢失行李的麻烦。
（
通常，
我在假期结束后还需要一个休假。
）
我们旅行是因
为我们需要旅行，
因为距离与差异是创造力的秘密基石。
我们回
家后，
家还是
那个家，但是我们的思维已经有所改变，而这就可
以改变一切。
TEXT B
Traveling solo — A blessing
overall!
独自旅行
——
总体来说是好事
1 So you're ready to travel. Pick a
place, any place. Let's say you've always wanted
to go to China.
You've
seen
pictures
of
the
Great
Wall,
the
Forbidden
City,
Tian'anmen
Square.
You've
always
been
fascinated
with
Chinese
aesthetics
and
culture,
with
red,
fragrant
temples
and
venerable
statues. You have
a chunk of money saved and extra vacation time
earned. Now is the time to go!
< br>现在你准备去旅行，
挑一个地方，任何地方都可以。比如你一直想去中国，
你已经看过了长
城、紫禁城、天安门广场的照片。你一直被中国的美学
艺术和文化所深深吸引，那里有香烟
缭绕的红色寺庙，有庄严的塑像。你早就省下了一笔
钱，挤出了点时间，现在，该出发了！
2
But
maybe
you
haven't
traveled
much.
You've
never
been
to
an
exotic
place
where
you
can't
speak the language or
read the signs. A place where you'll have to do
all the research for yourself,
find
hotels, get yourself around, buy locomotive or bus
tickets, order your own food. You must
figure all of this out while looking at
the unfamiliar notation which you see wherever you
look or
go.
但也许你以
前旅行不多。你从来没去过异国他乡，你不会讲当地语言，也看不懂任何标志。
在这里，
你得亲自研究所有的事情，自己找旅店，自己到处逛，自己买火车票或汽车票，自
己点餐
。所有这一切，无论你身处何处，你都得盯着那些不熟悉的符号自己搞定。
3