The Happy Traveler

Chinese: Mr. Brown, you’ll be leaving for home tomorrow. As I won’t be able to see you off, I’ll say goodbye to you now. I hope you enjoyed your stay here.

Foreigner: Oh thank you. I certainly did enjoy my stay here, and I can’t thank you enough for making my trip such a success.

Chinese: Not at all. I enjoyed being with you. You were such a wonderful traveler, so happy and easygoing, and so appreciative, not at all like some others who whine and complain all the time. Nothing we do can satisfy that kind of people, it seems.

Foreigner: I know only too well that kind of people. I used to wonder why they come out to travel at all since everything foreign seems to make them so miserable. There are bound to be people like that in every tourist group, and even as an ordinary member of tourist groups, my experiences with them were most unpleasant. They not only make unreasonable demands on the guides, but also quarrel with their fellow travelers. How do you deal with people like that?

Chinese: Well, it depends on in what capacity I meet with such people. If I am working as an official guide I’ll have to be very patient and make as much allowance for them as possible, but even then there is a limit to what we can allow. Of course we have to watch our attitude all the time and try to stand our ground without quarreling with them. But as a private individual, I just ignore such people.

Foreigner: Well, I can’t blame you, and I too try to avoid such people ordinarily, but once I was landed with such people when I joined a tourist group set out for China. It was going to be my first trip to China, and it was almost spoilt by those people even before the trip started. When the group first gathered together they started to spread very damaging and insulting stories about China. Actually they had never been to China themselves either, so what they told us was what they gathered from heresy, or even from their own imagination.

Chinese: Well, how did the trip turn out in the end, with such people in your group?

Foreigner: As I said, they nearly spoilt the trip, but not quite. I just took no more notice and stayed clear of them in the course of the whole trip. But the trouble was they did not stop at complaining and grumbling, but sowed discord and formed factions in the group. As can be imagined, the whole otherwise most enjoyable trip suffered. I really admired our Chinese guides who on the one hand had to use all their wits and tact to deal with those unreasonable people, but at the same time they never forgot their main duty of looking after the needs and interest of the whole group.

Chinese: You know I never could understand those people. If they don’t enjoy traveling in foreign countries, why do they spend money to make life miserable for themselves as well as for others?

Foreigner: That’s what puzzled me too at first. Now after observing those people in so many trips, I’ve come to the conclusion that they don’t feel miserable at all. In fact I think they really enjoy complaining and grumbling and making trouble for other people. Another important reason is these people have an ingrained superiority complex in them. They regard anything foreign as inferior, and it’s sheer ignorance and narrow minded bigotry that make them so smug and intolerant.

做一个愉快的旅游者

中国人：布朗先生，你明天就要回国了。我恐怕没法送你了，就现在跟你道别吧。希望你在这儿过得还满意。

外国人：谢谢你。我确实玩儿得不错。我这次旅行很愉快，真不知怎么感谢你。


中：别客气，陪同你旅游我感到很愉快。你这样的旅游者最好了，愉快、随和、通情达理。一点不像有些人，总是在那儿发牢骚、抱怨。不管我们如何努力，好像都不能使他们满意似的。

外：这种人我太了解了。我常常奇怪，既然一切外国的事物都使他们难受，他们为什么要出国旅游呢？每个旅游团里总会有这样的人。即使我这样一个普通的旅游者，和他们在一起都感到很不愉快。他们不仅对导游提出种种不合理的要求，还跟同团的游伴吵嘴。你们都是怎样对付这些人的？


中：这要看我是以什么身份接待他们了。如果我是官方的导游，那我就得非常耐心，尽可能地满足他们的要求。但即便如此，总还是有个容忍限度。当然我们要随时注意自己的态度，坚持原则，同时尽量避免同他们争吵。但如果我是作为个人，对这种人我就根本不予理睬。


外：哎，这不能怪你，我一般也是尽量避开这些人。但是有一次，我参加了一个来中国的旅游团，不得不和这样的一伙人同行。那是我第一次来中国，旅游还没开始就差一点被这些人给搞砸了。旅游团的人刚聚到一起，他们就开始讲一些强烈攻击和侮辱中国的话。其实，他们也从来没到过中国。因此，他们给我们讲的就都是些道听途说的东西，甚至是他们自己胡编出来的。


中：你们团里有了这么些人，那次旅游最后怎么样了呢？

外：我刚才说过，他们差一点就把那次旅游给搞砸了。我干脆不理他们，整个旅途中都离他们远远的。讨厌的是他们就是不停地抱怨啊，发牢骚啊，还在团里挑拨离间，拉帮结派。可想而知，本来应该是很愉快的旅行，结果变得令人难受了。我真佩服我们的那些中国导游。他们一方面要很技巧、很艺术地跟那些不讲理的人周旋，同时，他们一刻也没忘记他们的主要任务是照顾整团人的需求和兴趣。


中：我真不明白这种人是怎么回事。如果他们不喜欢出国旅游，那他们干吗花钱给自己找罪受，还让别人受罪呢？


外：起初我也弄不懂。经过多次旅游，仔细观察之后，我已经得出结论了。他们自己其实一点也不难受。实际上我觉得他们真的很喜欢抱怨，喜欢发牢骚，喜欢给别人制造点麻烦。还有很重要的一点，就是这些人有一种根深蒂固的优越感。他们认为一切外国的东西都是差的。这种彻头彻尾的无知、狭隘和偏执使得他们如此沾沾自喜、如此缺乏宽容之心。

责任编辑： lance