The enjoyment of travel 汉译英 2

The first kind of fake travel is travel for improving one's mind. This method of improving one's mind has been overdone [good!] nowadays. I doubt whether one's mind could be easily improved in this way. In fact, clubs and lectures show little evidence of it. However, as we concentrate so much on improving our mind, we should at least take a day off and relax ourselves on a vacation.

The first type of fake travel is geared towards improving [?] one's mind. This concept of improving one's mind has been somewhat overdone in recent times, and I doubt whether one can really improve their mind much from travelling, in fact agencies and lectures provide little evidence to support it. If we do go to such efforts to improve our minds, then it would all be for nothing if we did not take at least a day off to relax afterwards as we would do on a typical vacation.

This misleading concept of travel generates modern agencies of tourist guides which are the most boring people that I can imagine. When we come across a square or a bronze statue, they force us to listen to the fact that someone was born on April 23, 1792, and died on December 2, 1852. Once I saw a group of children visiting a cemetery with convent sisters. When the convent sisters stood before a cemetery, one of them brought a book and read the dates of the deceased, the name and surname of his wife and lots of nonsense like these. I am sure that what they did spoiled the good mood of the children on their trip. Adults who are guiding by tourist guides have the same experience of those children. However, there are lots of studious people bring out their notebooks to record what the tourist guides say.

The distortion of the concept of travel has given rise to modern armies of tourist guides, who can be the most boring people imaginable. When encountering a square, or a bronze statue, they force us to listen to some facts about someone was born on April 23, 1792, and died on December 2, 1852. Once I noticed a group of children visiting a cemetary with some nuns [?]. As the nuns stood in front of the cemetary, one of them took out a book and began reading out the names of the deceased, the name of the wife, and other nonsense such as this. I am sure that this dampened the mood of the children on their trip. Adults being guided by a tourist guide go through the same kind of experience as theose children did, however, there are some studious people who get out their notebooks to record the information that the guides have told them.

Chinese people also encounter troubles when they travel to different places. But most of the Chinese tourists guide are not professional, they are people who sell fruits, donkey drivers and kids who live nearby. Their characteristics are lively but their words are not accurate. One day, I visited Huqiu. When I came back, my mind was full of a confusion of historical dates and sequence. The kid selling oranges told me that the stone bridge, which suspended 40 feet over the sword pool, was the dressing-table of Xishi, a beauty in ancient times. In fact, her dressing-table located 10 miles away from here. The kid simply wanted to sell a few oranges to me, but it turned out that I realized how a folklore gradually became a distortion of the truth.

Chinese people can also encounter additional problems with tourist guides when they travel. Most of the guides are in fact not professional tourist guides, but are people who sell fruits, donkey riders, and kids who live nearby. Though they can be very enthiusiastic, the information they give is usually not accurate. One day I visited Huqiu, and on returning I felt my mind was a mish-mash of historical dates and events. The kid selling oranges had told me that the stone bridge, which rises to 40ft over the sword pool, had been the dressing table of Xishi, a beauty in ancient times. In actual fact, her dressing table was located 10 miles away from that place. The kid had simply wanted to sell me some oranges, but what I got was a sense of how a folklore can become a gross distortion of the truth.