英语文摘欣赏：游客还是旅行家？其实都是匆匆过客

英语文摘欣赏：游客还是旅行家？其实都是匆匆过客

　　摘要：什么让一个流浪者成为流浪者?或又是什么让背包旅行者成为背包旅行者?你怎样去定义穷游族呢?

　　What makes a nomad a nomad? Or a backpacker a backpacker? How do you define a budget traveler?

　　Am I a nomad because I move around a lot or did I give up the rights to call myself that when I got an apartment? Am I a luxury traveler because I stay in a hotels or a budget one because I use points to stay in them for free?

　　什么让一个流浪者成为流浪者?或又是什么让背包旅行者成为背包旅行者?你怎样去定义穷游族呢?

　　因我四处游荡，我便是一名流浪者吗?那当我有了一间公寓，我是否就不能再那样称呼我自己了?我因旅游时住酒店，就被看做是一位奢华的旅游家?那要是我利用积分免费入住，我便是穷游族了?

游客还是旅行家？其实都是匆匆过客

　　I was faced with these questions last month when asked how it felt to no longer be a nomad. I responded by saying I didn’t feel any different nor did I think the label had any special meaning. Once a traveler, always a traveler!

　　上个月当我被问及不再是一名流浪者的感受如何时，我便思考了上面这些问题。我当时的问答是，我既没有感到任何不同，也不认为这些标签词有任何特殊的含义。一旦你成为一名旅行者，你便一直是旅行者!

　　There are a lot of names for people who travel the world – backpackers, nomads,vagabonds, tourists, explorers, travelers.

　　环游世界的人们有好几种称号：背包旅行者、流浪者、游牧者、游客、探索者和旅行家。

　　Labels are everywhere but seem especially prevalent among travelers seeking to differentiate their style of travel. For many travelers, these labels make them feel superior over another.

　　标签词随处可见，可似乎它们在旅行者中尤为普遍。旅行者们找标签词来区分彼此的旅游风格。对他们中很多人来说，这些词使他们感觉高人一等。

　　Andrew Zimmerman from Bizarre Foods once said “Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.”

　　安德鲁·席莫曾在旅游美食节目《古怪食物》中说过，“请成为一位旅行家，而不要做一名游客。尝试新事物，遇见陌生人，并且要从眼前的一切看到更远。这些在理解这个我们居住的奇妙世界这个方面很关键。

　　This quote is symbolic of the mindset that travelers are better at exploring the world than tourists. They dig deep into the culture, drink it up, and get to know a place whereas a tourist takes pictures and claims to have “done Paris.”

　　这段话显然传达出旅行家比游客更擅长探索世界的固有思想。旅行家被认为能深入挖掘并享受当地文化，能了解一方土地。然而游客去拍拍照，表明自己到此一游。

　　But that mindset is elitist travel crap.

　　但这是精英旅游的糟糕思想。

　　We are all tourists.

　　我们都是游客。

　　Out on the road, backpackers love to talk about how authentic their travels are and how inauthentic tourists are. “Look at those tourists over there,” they say. They scoff at others who travel too quickly or to places they deem not off-the-beaten-path enough. And they do so from hostels while eating hamburgers and drinking beers with other travelers. An irony often lost on them.

　　在旅途中，背包旅游客喜欢讲述他们的旅游是多么的真实、贴合内心，而游客是怎样走马观花地旅游。他们会说：“看看那边的那些游客。”他们瞧不起其他游得太快或是游览那些他们认为还不够与众不同的景点。然而他们恰恰也做着这样的事，他们住宾馆，和其他旅行客一起吃汉堡、喝啤酒。这是一个他们往往没能意识到的讽刺。

　　The only way to really get to know a place deeply is to live there. If you want to live like a local, find an apartment, get a job, commute to work, and do the same things you did back home.

　　要真正去彻底了解一方水土的唯一方式是居住在那儿。如果你想像一个当地人那样生活，就去找一间公寓，寻一份工作，通勤上班，并返程回家后，仍做你在那会做的事。

　　We are all merely passing through a culture, getting a small taste of it before moving on to the next place. Even if we stay weeks or months, we’re just grazing the surface. In reality, we are all really just tourists.

　　我们都只是当地文化的过客，在前往下一处旅游景点前，体会到其文化的一小部分。即使我们在那停留几周或是几个月，我们都只能触碰到表面。实际上，我们都真的仅仅是游客。

　　Or travelers.

　　或旅行者，

　　Or nomads.

　　或流浪汉，

　　Call yourself whatever you want – it’s all the same.

　　你可以随便用哪个标签称呼自己，因为它们本质一样。