nomads, pilgrims, merchants, traders, rafts, channel, camel, steamship, explorer, glory, treasure, speedy, space tourism
Assignment 2.1 Read and translate the text:
Tourism as a travel developed together with the development of the major means of transportation. The first travelers were nomads, pilgrims, merchants and traders who went to different countries and even continents to sell all sorts of goods.
The people who traveled in the earliest centuries used the earliest means of transport such as boats, canoes, sometimes rafts, as they have to travel on rivers, lakes, channels and seas. Besides these early means of water modes of transportation people used camels, dogs and very often horses for traveling on land.
Then steamships and ferries appeared which carried passengers on the oceans and seas. They helped people to get from one continent to another. People of different countries learned about the greatest explorers of the past who were not tourists in the direct meaning of this word but they were the greatest lovers of travel. They discovered new lands in the far away places and brought not only fame and recognition to their countries but gold, too.
It is well known that people at those times traveled for the three “G-s”: God, Glory and Gold. In the name of God they discovered new lands, their travellings and discoveries brought them Glory in their own countries and very often they found Gold and other treasures in the discovered lands.
At the beginning of the 19th century trains appeared. They became a new inexpensive but very comfortable and speedy way of transportation not only of goods but of people too. The first trains carried people along the country showing the scenes of everyday life of humble people, the spectacular views of the countryside. Very soon trains became the most popular modes of transportation not only in Great Britain but also in the whole Europe.
It was James Cook who took the advantage of the train and organized the first package tours by train.
At the end of the 19th century the first motorcars appeared which replaced trains in most places, especially between towns and cities. People became more flexible traveling by car.
But the plane brought the greatest change in the world of traveling. Planes appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. They became the fastest, the most comfortable and convenient mode of transportation. One of the quickest among all planes was Concord, which helped to produce the traveling between North America and Europe to 4 hours instead of 9.
Nowadays space tourism is becoming quite popular.
Assignment 2.2 Answer the following questions:
1. How did tourism develop?
2. Who were the first travelers in the history of mankind?
3. What were the first means of transportation?
4. Where did people travel by ship?
5. What did the first travelers do?
6. Why did they travel?
7. Whom of the first travelers of the past can you mention?
8. What are the three “G-s”?
9. Which mode of traveling came into being at the beginning of the 19th century?
10. What kind of transportation emerged in the 20th century?
11. Which is your favourite method of traveling?
Assignment 2.3 Use the appropriate words from the list:
flexible, motorcars, discoveries, the advantage, modes of transportation, carried, inexpensive, century, discovered, Glory, treasures
1. In the name of God they … new lands, their travellings and … brought them … in their own countries and very often they found Gold and other … in the discovered lands.
2. At the beginning of the 19th … trains appeared.
3. They became a new … but very comfortable and speedy way of transportation not only of goods but of people too.
4. The first trains … people along the country showing the scenes of everyday life of humble people, the spectacular views of the countryside.
5. Very soon trains became the most popular … not only in Great Britain but also in the whole Europe.
6. It was James Cook who took … of the train and organized the first package tours by train.
7. At the end of the 19th century the first … appeared which replaced trains in most places.
8. People became more … traveling by car.
Assignment 2.4 Translate the following sentences from Russian into English:
1. Туризм как путешествие развивался вместе с развитием основных средств передвижения. Первыми путешественниками были кочевники, пилигримы, купцы и торговцы, которые ездили в разные страны и даже на другие континенты, чтобы продавать различные товары.
2. Люди, путешествовавшие в ранние века, использовали старинные средства передвижения, такие как лодки, каноэ, иногда плоты, так как им приходилось путешествовать по рекам, озерам, каналам и морям. Люди в разных странах узнавали о великих путешественниках прошлого, которые не были туристами в прямом смысле этого слова, но любили путешествовать.
3. Поезда стали новым, недорогим, но очень удобным и быстрым средством перевозки не только груза, но и людей.
4. Самолеты появились в начале XX века. Они стали самым быстрым, самым удобным и приятным средством передвижения.
Assignment 2.5 Write an essay on the travel of one of the greatest explorers of the world:
Marco Polo (the 13th century)
Afanasy Nikitin, Christopher Columbus, Vasco de Gamma (the 15th century)
Amerigo Vespucci, Magellan (the 16th century)
James Cook (the 18th century)
Assignment 2.6 Comment on the following quotations:
1. When we travel we learn about ourselves as well as the places we visit.
2. Home is where the heart is.
3. He who travels west, travels not only with the sun but with history. (Hal Borland – US journalist)
4. The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page. (Saint Augustine – Roman philosopher)
5. A rolling stone gothers no moss, (traditional)
6. A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it. (George Moor – Irish author/poet)
