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Unit Twenty
Camping 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.
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 traveler is often a man who dislikes the Splendide and the Bellavista, not because he cannot afford or shun their material comforts, but because he is afraid of them. 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 motorcar 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 nasty ) are there, outside – or, as likely, part of – the tent.
Idealists have objected to the practice of camping, as to the packaged tour, that the traveler 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 odor 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. 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. initial a.开始的,最初的
initiate vt.1.开始,创造,发起 2.使初步了解 3.接纳 n.新加入组织的人 outlay n.1.花费 2.费用 vt.花费,花钱 paradox n.1.似乎矛盾而正确的说法 2.自相矛盾的人或事物 cynical a.1.愤世嫉俗的,悲观的 2.挑剔挖苦的
cynic n.愤世嫉俗者 thesis n.1.论文,毕业论文 2.论题,论点 sociology n.社会学
sociologist n.社会学家 shun vt.回避,避免 hierarchy n.1.等级制度 2.统治集团,领导层 entail vt.使承担,使成为必要,需要
necessitate vt.使成为必要,需要 exquisite a.1.精美的,精致的 2.敏锐的,有高度鉴赏力的 3.剧烈的,感觉强烈的 paradise n.天堂,乐园 nasty a.1.令人讨厌的,令人厌恶的 2.难弄的,困难的 3.严重的,恶劣的,险恶的 4.下流的 insularity n.1.岛国性质 2.偏狭性,僵化 cater vi.1.满足需要,迎合 2.承办酒席 exclusive a.1.奢华的,高级的 2.独有的,独享的 3.排斥的,排他的 4.不包括…的,不把…计算在内的
[联想词] inclusive a.1.包括一切的 2.所有数目包括在内的 cosmopolitan a.1.世界性的,全球的 2.世界主义的,四海为家的 n.世界主义者,四海为家 overwhelm vt.使受不了,使不知所措
overwhelming a.1.势不可挡的 2.巨大的 patron n.1.资助人,赞助人 2.老主顾 patronage n.资助,赞助,惠顾,光顾 odor n.气味
[联想词] fragrance n.芳香,香气,香味
perfume n.香水,香料
sniff v.1.嗅,闻 2.以鼻吸气,用力吸入 n.1.嗅;闻 2.吸气 sauerkraut n.泡菜 vie vi.竞争,相争 municipal a.市的,市政的 municipality n.市政当局 heath n.灌木
[联想词] shrub n.灌木
bamboo n.竹子
cane n.1.茎 2.手杖 litter n.1.废弃物 2.一窝 3.杂乱的东西 vt.乱扔东西于 alienate vt.1.使疏远,使不友好 2.转让 | 
