GRE作文范文 Issue-15

　　"Because of television and worldwide computer connections, people can now become familiar with a great many places that they have never visited. As a result, tourism will soon become obsolete."

　　嘉文博譯Sample Essay

　　In any society, there are people that are born to travel and there are homebodies who are happy with where they are at, with no desire to go anywhere else at all. Most people probably fall somewhere in between the two extremes. As television channels have become more numerous and computer connections have become faster and more easily available, there is more information on hand to the average person than ever before in history. But rather than making tourism obsolete, the Internet and television will spur more people to travel to places that they otherwise would never have known.

　　In years past, people could read about different places in newspapers and magazines or possibly hear about them on the radio. In the earlier days of television, an inability to take television equipment to some of the more remote spots of the world kept people from learning about many places. Even when another country or continent was described or televised, it would seem to be a far away, exotic place that was unreachable to all but the hardiest and most adventurous travelers. Airplanes were still thought of as more of a novelty or for domestic travel only. Ships could take people to far away places but weeks or months were needed to reach the destination. Normal people did not have the time or the money to spend on such foreign travel.

　　Incredible changes in vehicles for transportation have made travel not only safer but faster and more comfortable as well. High-speed magnetic levitation (mag-lev) trains can transport people safely at speeds of up to three hundred miles an hour in parts of Europe and Japan. The Concorde jet can transport people from New York to London in less than four hours in luxurious comfort. Gigantic cruise ships that can sail to almost any ocean ports have been built that rival any five star land-based hotels anywhere in the world. There have even been space tourists who have traveled into outer space to the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth. Not only have the transportation vehicles themselves been greatly enhanced, but the highways and railways that the vehicles use have also been tremendously improved. More places than ever before are now accessible by rapid and reliable transportation.

　　The information technology age will likely also drive more people to tourism through the sheer increase in information available to the average person. Access to knowledge about any country is as close as an individual's desktop computer. The more countries and regions that an individual can become familiar with, the greater the likelihood that he or she will find a place that he or she would like to visit in person. Previously unknown island paradises and countries are now making themselves famous through the use of television and the World Wide Web, trying to cash in on the billions of dollars that are spent every year on tourism. Global incomes have also increased, allowing more and more people in more countries to afford traveling for a vacation.

　　While it is likely that there are people that will do their traveling "virtually" through television or the computer, it is equally likely that even without the availability of such a wealth of information, they would not have traveled anyway. Hiking the Grand Canyon in the United States or scuba diving around the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is not the same as watching it on television or the Internet. Snow skiing in the Swiss Alps or breathing in the fresh air of the Scottish Highlands must be personally experienced to be enjoyed. Shaking hands with a local Chinese villager in his own home or tasting the cooking of a friendly tribesman along the Amazon River simply cannot be done without traveling. Technology only increases the knowledge that is easily available; it cannot dampen the enthusiasm for tourism in those that love to travel.

　　(684 words)

　　參考譯文

　　由于電視和全球性的電腦聯(lián)網(wǎng)，人們現(xiàn)在可以了解從前沒有見到的眾多地方，其結(jié)果是旅游業(yè)會(huì)很快變得蕭條

　　在任何一個(gè)社會(huì)里，總有一些人天生愛旅游，也有一些戀家的人喜歡他們所在的地方，根本沒有到別處去游山玩水的愿望。大多數(shù)人們可能處于兩個(gè)極端之間。由于電視頻道更多了，電腦聯(lián)絡(luò)更快更方便了，普通人所能掌握的信息比歷史上任何時(shí)候都多。但是，網(wǎng)絡(luò)和電視不僅不會(huì)使旅游業(yè)蕭條，反而會(huì)促使更多的人到更多的地方旅游。假如沒有網(wǎng)絡(luò)和電視，他們會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)都不知道這些地方。

　　在過去的年代里，人們能在報(bào)紙和雜志上了解到不同的地方，或者可能從收音機(jī)里聽說一些。在電視發(fā)展的早期，電視設(shè)備不能被運(yùn)到世界上某些更偏遠(yuǎn)的地區(qū)，這使得人們無從了解許多地方。即使當(dāng)一個(gè)國(guó)家或某個(gè)大陸被描述或在電視上播放時(shí)，它似乎還是那些堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的、敢于冒險(xiǎn)的旅行者以外的人們所無法接近的遙遠(yuǎn)而又神秘的地方。飛機(jī)更是被看作一種新奇的事物或者只是為國(guó)內(nèi)旅行所用。輪船能把人們帶到遙遠(yuǎn)的地方，但要到達(dá)目的地，還需要幾周或幾個(gè)月的時(shí)間。普通人沒有時(shí)間和金錢用于這樣的境外旅游。

　　交通工具的令人難以置信的改進(jìn)使得旅行不僅安全快捷，也更加舒適。歐洲和日本的一些地區(qū)的高速磁懸浮火車能以每小時(shí)高達(dá)三百公里的速度安全運(yùn)送旅客;協(xié)和客機(jī)能在不到四小時(shí)的時(shí)間內(nèi)把人們極其舒服地由紐約送到倫敦;能遠(yuǎn)航到幾乎所有海港的大型巡游船已經(jīng)被建設(shè)得能和世界上任意一處的五星級(jí)陸地酒店相媲美;甚至還有一些宇宙空間游客到外層的國(guó)際空間站旅行并安全返回地球。不僅是交通工具本身被大大地改善，這些工具所利用的高速公路和鐵路也被大幅度地改進(jìn)。迅速而可靠的交通工具使得人們可以到達(dá)前所未有的更多地方。

　　信息技術(shù)時(shí)代很可能也會(huì)因?yàn)槠胀ㄈ说目捎眯畔⒌难杆僭鲩L(zhǎng)而促使更多的人去旅游。了解一個(gè)國(guó)家正如同接近一臺(tái)個(gè)人桌面電腦那樣容易，一個(gè)人所熟悉的國(guó)家和地區(qū)越多，他或她發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)自己想親自旅游的地方的可能性就越大。以前所不為人知的島上樂園和國(guó)家現(xiàn)在正通過電視和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)使自己揚(yáng)名并試圖從每年消費(fèi)于旅游的數(shù)十億美元中贏得利潤(rùn)。全球的收入也增加了，這使得更多的人能夠支付假期旅游的費(fèi)用。

　　雖然可能會(huì)有一些人通過電視或電腦進(jìn)行"虛擬"旅行，但也同樣有可能在沒有這樣大量的信息可用的情況下，他們還是哪也不去。在美國(guó)的大峽谷游玩或在澳大利亞的大堡礁周圍戴水肺跳水和在電視上或網(wǎng)絡(luò)上觀看并不是一回事;在阿爾卑斯山滑雪或是在蘇格蘭高地上呼吸新鮮空氣必定是親身經(jīng)歷的快樂;到一個(gè)中國(guó)本地的村民家中與他握手或品嘗亞馬遜河岸邊友好的部落成員的烹調(diào)手藝都離不開旅行。技術(shù)只是增加了容易獲取的知識(shí);它并不能打消那些愛好旅行的人們的熱情。