45. DoesTravelBroadenTheMind? 1
Oneoftenhearsitsaidthattravelbroadensthemind: ifyoustayinyourowncountrythewholetime , yourideasremainnarrow; whereasifyoutravelabroadyouseenewcustoms, eatnewfoods, donewthings, andcomebackhomewithabroadermind.
Butdoesthisalways — orevenusually — happen? Anacquaintance2 ofminewholivesinEnglandandhadneverbeenoutsideituntillastsummer, decidedtogoover3 toFranceforatrip. Whenhereturned, Iaskedhimhowhelikedit.“Terrible, ”washisanswer.“ Icouldn’tgetanicecupofteaanywhere . 4 ThankgoodnessI’mback. ”Iaskedhimwhetherhehadn’thadanygoodfoodwhilehewasthere .“Oh, thedinnerswereallright, ”hesaid.“Ifoundalittleplacewheretheymadequitegoodfishandchips. Notasgoodasours, mindyou5, buttheywerepassable. Butthebreakfastswereterrible: nobaconorkippers. Ihadfriedeggsandchips, butitwasquitea 6 businessgettingthemtomakethem. Theyexpectedmetoeatrolls. AndwhenIaskedformarmalade , theybroughtstrawberryjam. Anddoyouknow, theyinsistedthatitwasmarmalade? Thetroubleistheydon’tknowEnglish. ”
Ithoughtituselesstoexplainthatweborrowedtheword‘marmalade ’fromFrench, andthatitmeans, inthatlanguage, anykindofjam. SoIsaid,“Butdidn’tyoueatanyofthefamousFrenchfood?”“What? Me?”hesaid.“Ofcoursenot! GivemegoodoldEnglishfoodeverytime! Noneofthesefancybitsforme! ”Obviouslytravelhadnotbroadenedhismind.
Thisdoesnot, ofcourse, happenonlytoEnglishmeninFrance: allnationalities, inallforeigncountries, canbefoundjudgingwhattheysee, hear, tasteandsmellaccordingtotheirownhabitsandcustoms. Peoplewhoarebettereducatedandwhohavereadalotaboutforeigncountriestendtobemoreadaptable7 andtolerant8, butthisisbecausetheirmindshavealreadybeenbroadenedbeforetheystarttravelling. Infact, itiseasiertobebroad-mindedaboutforeignhabitsandcustoms, ifone’sacquaintancewiththesethingsislimitedtobooksandfilms. TheAmericansmilestolerantlyovertheabsenceofcentralheatinginmostEnglishhomeswhenheishimselfcomfortablyseatedinhisarmchairinhiscentrallyheatedhouseinChicago; theEnglishmanreadsaboutthesanitaryarrangementsinacertaintropicalcountry, andtheinhabitantsofthelatterreadaboutLondonfogs, andeachsidemanagestobedetachedandbroad-minded. 9 Butactualphysicalcontactwiththingsoneisunaccustomedtoismuchmoredifficulttobearphilosophically.
Perhapstheidealwouldbeiftravelcouldsucceedinmakingpeopletolerantofthehabitsandcustomsofotherswithoutabandoningtheirown. Thecriterionforjudgingaforeignercouldbe: Doeshetrytobepoliteandconsideratetoothers? Insteadof: Ishelike
阅读自测
Ⅰ. TrueorFalse :
1. Itisoftensaidthatifyoutravelabroadtoseemanynewthings, yourmindwillbebroadened.
2. TheEnglishmanhadahappylifewhenhetravelledtoFrance .
3. Theword‘marmalade’isoriginallyaFrenchword, whichmeansanykindofjam.
4. Intheviewoftheauthor, peopleoftenjudgethingsaccordingtotheirownhabitsandcustoms.
5. Theauthorthinksthatpeoplewhoarebettereducatedandreadalotareeasilytobetolerant.
6. Tea , bacon, kippers, chipsarealltypicalEnglishfood.