Travelling
People on our planet can't live without travelling now. Tourism has become a highly developed business. There are express trains, cars and jet-air liners all of that provide you with comfort and security.
What choice to make? It's up to you to decide. There is a great variety of choice available for you.
Those who live in the country like going to a big city, visiting museums and art galleries, looking at shop windows and dining at exotic restaurants. City-dwellers usually like acquired holiday by the sea or in the mountains.
Most travellers carry a camera with them and take pictures of everything that interests them - the sights of a city, old churches, castles, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, forests, trees, flowers and plants, animals and birds.
If you travel for pleasure you would like all means to enjoy picturesque areas you are passing through, you would like to see the places of interest in the cities, towns and countries. Travelling gives us a good opportunity to see wonderful monuments, cultural and historical places, to learn a lot about the history of the country you visit, about the world around us, to meet people of different nationalities, to learn a lot about their traditions, customs, culture. In other words, you will broaden your mind.
There are a lot of means of travelling: by sea, by plane, by car, on foot. Tastes differ. That is why it is up to you to decide which means of travelling you would prefer. All means of travelling have their advantages and disadvantages. And people choose one according to their plans.
No wonder that one of the latest means of travelling is travelling by plane. It combines both comfort and speed and you will reach the place of destination very quickly.
When the plane is landing or taking off you have an opportunity to enjoy the wonderful scenery and landscapes. While travelling by plane you fly past various villages and cities at the sight of which realize how majestic and tremendous our planet is. No doubt, travelling by air is the most convenient and comfortable means of travelling.
With a train you have speed, comfort and pleasure combined. From the comfortable seat of a railway carriage you have a splendid view of the whole countryside. If you are hungry, you can have a meal in the dining-car; and if a journey is a long one you can have a wonderful bed in a sleeper.
Travelling by ship is also very popular now. It is very pleasant to feel the deck of the ship under the feet, to see the rise and fall of the waves, to feel the fresh sea wind blowing in the face and hear the cry of the seagulls.
Many people like to travel by car. It is interesting too, because you can see many sights in a short time, you can stop when and where you like, you do not have to buy tickets or carry your suitcases.
A very popular means of travelling is hiking. It is travelling on foot. Walking tours are very interesting. Hitch-hiking is a very popular method of travelling among young people. But it is not as popular in our country as abroad.
Exercise 8. Answer the questions.
Which forms of transport do you prefer?
Which journey do you think is…?
the quickest___ the most comfortable ___
the cheapest__ the most convenient ____
3 How do Americans usually spend their vacations?
4 What are the most popular places to spend vacation time?
5 What is the motto of American travelers?
6 Why do Americans like to visit their National Parks?
7 Did camping and hiking become extremely popular throughout the USA? Why?
8 Do all Americans prefer camping and hiking holidays?
Exercise 9 .Translate the texts with dictionary.
Exercise 10. Complete the sentences with the words from the list.
Rail … is very expensive in my country.
She’s going on a school … tomorrow.
They’ve just come back from Mediterranean….
My dream is to go on a space…
The … takes five hours by car.
Exercise 11. Write about a nightmare journey you’ve had(or invent) using active vocabulary of this lesson.
Plan what you’re going to talk using the paragraph summaries below:
Paragraph 1. When was the journey? Where were you going? Who with? Why?
Paragraph 2. What went wrong? What happened?
Paragraph 3. What happened in the end?