How to avoid travelling (after g. Mikes)

Travel is the name of a modern disease, which started in the mid-fifties and is still spreading. The patient grows restless in the early spring and starts rushing about from one travel agency to another, collecting useless information about the places he doesn’t intend to visit. Then, he or usually she, will do a round of shops* and spend much more than he or she can afford. Finally in August, the patient will board a plane, a train, a bus or a car and go to foreign countries along with thousands of his fellow-countrymen, not because he is interested in or attracted by some place, nor because he can afford to go but simply because he cannot afford not to. The result is that in the summer months (and in the last few years during the winter season too) everybody is on the move**.

What is the aim of traveling? Each nationality has its own different one. The Americans want to take photographs of themselves in different places. The idea is simply to collect documentary proof that they have been there. The German travels to check up on his guidebooks. Why do the English travel? First, because their neighbor does. Secondly, they were taught that travel broadens the mind***. But mainly they travel to avoid foreigners. I know many English people who travel in groups, stay in hotels where even the staff is English, eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding on Sunday and steak-and-kidney pies on weekdays, all over Europe. The main aim of the Englishman abroad is to meet people, I mean, of course, nice English people from the next door or from the next street. It is possible, however, that the mania for traveling is coming to an end. A Roman friend of mine told me: “I no longer travel at all. I stay here because I want to meet my friends from all over the world.” “What exactly do you mean?” I asked. “It is simple,” he explained. “Whenever I go to London my friend Smith is in Tokyo and Brown is in Sicily. If I go to Paris, my friends are either in London or in Spain. But if I stay in Rome all my friends, I’m sure, will turn up at one time or another****. The world means people to me. I stay here because I want to see the world. Besides, staying at home broadens the mind.”

Notes: *to do a round of shops – идти от одного магазина к другому, покупая что-либо

**to be on the move – путешествовать

***to broaden the mind – расширять кругозор

****at one time or another – раньше или позже

Ex.34. True or false? Correct the statements which do not correspond to the contents of the text C.

1) Travel is the name of a modern disease, which started in the mid-forties. 2) People begin thinking about traveling in the early spring. 3) Preparing for the trip, he or she spends more than he or she can afford. 4) In November people board planes, trains, buses, subway or cars and go to foreign countries. 5) In summer everybody stay at home. 6) Each nationality has its own aim of traveling. 7) The Americans travel because they want to check up on their guidebooks. 8) The English travel abroad to avoid foreigners and to meet nice English people. 9) The German travels all over Europe to eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. 10) Staying at home broadens the mind.

TEXT D

Have you ever read any English books in the original? The text given below is taken from the famous A. Christie’s story. Try to translate it, consulting the dictionary as little as possible.