People travel for a lot of reasons. Some tourists go to see battlefields or religious shrines1. Others are looking for culture, or simply want to have their pictures taken2 in front of famous places. But most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on3.
Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money and put up with a lot of inconveniences for the sun because they have so little of it4. Residents of cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam spend a lot of their winter in the dark because the days are so short, and much of the rest of the year in the rain5. This is the reason the Mediterranean6 has always attracted them. Every summer, more than 25 million people travel to Mediterranean resorts7 and beaches for their vacation. They all come for the same reason: sun!
The huge crowds mean lots of money for the economies of Mediterranean countries. Italy's 30,000 hotels are booked solid8 every summer. And 13 million people camp out on French beaches, parks, and roadsides. Spain's long sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else. 37 million tourists visit yearly, or one tourist for every person living in Spain9.
But there are signs that the area is getting more tourism than it can handle. The Mediterranean is already one of the most polluted seas on earth. And with increased tourism ,it's getting worse. The French can't figure out10 what to do with all the garbage left by campers around St. Tropez. And in many places, swimming is dangerous because of pollution.
None of this, however, is spoiling11 anyone's fun. The Mediterranean gets more popular every year with tourists. Obviously, they don't go there for clean water and solitude12. They tolerate traffic jams13 and seem to like crowded beaches. They don't even mind the pollution. No matter how dirty the water is, the coastline still looks beautiful. And as long as14 the sun shines, it's still better thanin the cold rain in Berlin, London, or Oslo.
注釋：
1 religious shrine：宗教圣殿
2. have their pictures taken：請別人為他們照相
3. But most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on.但大多數(shù)歐洲游客愿意尋找陽光充足的海灘曬日光浴。注意look for和fmd的區(qū)別。look for是“找”的過程，常解釋為“尋找”,find是“找”的結(jié)果，所以常解釋為“找到”。不妨體會一下它們的差別：I've been looking for my lost watch and haven't found it yet.
4. Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money and put up with a lot of inconveniences for the sun because they have so little of it.北歐人心甘情愿花大筆金錢，容忍諸多不便去獲得陽光，因為陽光對他們來說太難得了。
5. Residents of cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam spend a lot of their winter in the dark because the days are so short, and much of the rest of the year in the rain.由于白天很短，像倫敦、哥本哈根和阿姆斯特丹的居民在冬季的大部分時間里，都是在昏暗中度過的，而其余的季節(jié)又都是陰雨連綿。這句點出了北歐陰冷潮濕，日短夜長的氣候特征，也就解釋了歐洲游客執(zhí)著追求溫暖明媚陽光的原因。
6. the Mediterranean：地中海地區(qū)
7. resorts：指常去的地方，勝地
8. be booked solid：全部客滿
9. 37 million tourists visit yearly ,or one tourist for every person living in Spain.每年有3 700多萬游客，換句話說，旅游者與西班牙居民人數(shù)相當(dāng)，即為1:1。
10. figure out：此處指“想出”，它還有“算出;明白;斷定”等意。
11. spoil：原意為“損壞;寵壞”，此處指“破壞興致”。
12. solitude：意為“獨居，獨處”，文中指清靜自在。
13. traffic jams：交通堵塞
14. as long as：意為“只要;在……情況下”，引導(dǎo)條件狀語從句。又如：I'm happy as long as you are happy.
練習(xí)：
1. The writer seems to imply that Europeans travel mostly for the reason that________.
A) they want to see historic remains or religious spots
B) they are interested in different cultural traditions and social customs
C) they would like to take pictures in front of famous sites
D) they wish to escape from the cold, dark and rainy days back at home
2. In paragraph 2, cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam are mentioned________.
A) to show that they are not good cities in terms of geography and climate
B) to tell us how wealthy their residents are
C) to suggest that these cities lack places of historic interest and scenic beauty
D) to prove that they have got more tourism than they can handle
3. According to the passage, which of the following countries attracts more tourists than the others?
A) Italy.
B) Spain.
C) France.
D) Greece.
4. The latter half of the last sentence in paragraph 3, i. e.,"or one tourist for every person living in Spain" means________.
A) all the 37 million people living in Spain are tourists
B) every year almost as many tourists visit Spain as there are people living in that country
C) every person living in Spain has to take care of a tourist
D) every Spanish is visited by a tourist every year
5. According to the passage, which of the following factors might spoil the tourists' fun at Mediterranean resorts and beaches?
A) Polluted water.
B) Crowded buses.
C) Traffic jams.
D) Rainy weather.
答案與題解：
1. D 第一段首先在主題句中指出人們外出旅行的原因是多種多樣的，然后以some和others 舉出一些例子，最后以轉(zhuǎn)折連詞but點出作者要著重描述的歐洲游客對陽光特殊的追求及其原因。選項A、B、C均屬于作者列舉的一般游客感興趣的事物，只有 D項才是歐洲游客旅行的動機，所以選D。
2. A 第二段中所舉的三個城市都具有陰冷日短的氣候特點，這些不利的地理氣候條件使得當(dāng)?shù)鼐用裣蛲柟獬渥愕牡胤�。四個選項中，選項A最接近題意。
3. B 第三段中的第四句話是這么說的：Spain's long, sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else.西班牙那漫長的海岸線更成了眾多旅游者慕名前往的地方。因此選B。
4. B 去西班牙旅行的游客人數(shù)與西班牙人口的比例達(dá)1:1，所以選B
5. D 最后一段中已說明：只要陽光普照，就比陰冷多雨的北歐強，因此只有D項“多雨的天氣”才會破壞游客們的興致。
