Traveling. Mass Media

There are different ways of learning about the world. Actually I think traveling broadens our minds, enlarges our knowledge and understanding of our world. There are many things that make traveling a fascinating thing for me, and there are various means of traveling: by plane, by train, by ship or by boat, and finally we can travel on foot.

Should you ask me what kind of transport I like best I’d speak in support of the plane. With an airplane you have speed, comfort and pleasure combined. It is very convenient to travel by air. It is the quickest means of communication but very expensive. It is comfortable because the air hostess (stewardess) offers you drinks, meals, sweets and newspapers. There is none of the dust and dirt of a railway or car journey; none of the trouble of changing from train to steamer, hushing your way through crowds to get from the boat to the Customs (if you travel abroad) and then to another train. When the formalities of registering yourself and weighing your baggage are over, you get up the gangway and board the plane. You strap your belt and adjust your seat. But it is not only on account of the convenience, comfort and speed that I like air travel. The whole experience is a spiritually thrilling to me. I enjoy greatly the feeling of flying. As you leave the earth behind you, you seem to belong to another world, a bigger, wider, freer world than the one you left. What loveliness there is on earth when you see it from above; the rapid changing scenes below are of indescribable beauty. The bird-like machine is flying to greet the sun. On you fly past villages and cities, hills and valleys, each following the other in quick succession. On and on you fly with the ever-changing scenes below till you safely land at the airport.

I am sure that it is also very convenient to travel by car – a good, fast car I mean. When you are in an airplane, you have to be driven by someone else; travel by car is a more personal experience, for there you can drive yourself. You can stop at any place where you like. You can put up a tent, make a fire and cook dinner. Besides you needn’t carry your luggage in your arms. It is quite true that driving a car has some disadvantages. I town it is rather a nuisance with all these traffic “jams” or “hold-ups”, round-abouts, detours and so on. It is not altogether pleasant when you ride on a bumpy road or get a flat tyre, or still worse, when you get stuck in the mud. But what a thrill it is to feel the car rush forward at a touch of your foot, to feel the wind in your face, to see houses, trees, and people flash past, to feel the real joy of speed.

There is also no travel so fine as by sea. Though I am not much of a sailor I love the sight of a ship with many decks, cabins and state-rooms. The pier is crowded with cars, trucks loaded with luggage, passengers arriving and hurrying on board, and well-wishes seeing them off. It is really thrilling going up the gangway. Up and up you go until you reach the main deck. And there from high above you look at the people that seem to tiny down below, crowding on the pier. The ship looks like a huge white floating city. It is delightful to be out at sea too, and promenade the desk or sit in a deck-chair and take the sun. And what can be compared with the excitement you experience when you sight land! The narrow strip of land on the horizon seems slowly coming towards you. Gradually the outlines of the shore become more distinct, and on coming nearer you get a full view of the city, the harbor, and of the big ships coming in from and leaving for distant lands.

It is very interesting to travel by train too. Out of the window you can see different landscapes, big cities, small towns and villages. During the travel you can talk with interesting people. There is the movement of big stations, the excitement, the gaiety of the people going away and sorrow of those who are seeing others off. There are the shouts of porters as they pull luggage along the platforms to the waiting train, the crowd at the booking-office getting tickets, the children tightly holding on to the skirts of their mothers, and passengers hurrying to board the train. You have scarcely time to kiss and hug your friends when the station-master on duty signals the train. You hear no shrill whistle of the engine – the train pulls out of the station noiselessly and without a jerk. You feel tired now and decide to turn in. You get into the upper berth and begin to absorb the beauty of the changing scenes that fly past you – the cheerful fields of wheat and corn, the meadows under a mantle of flowers, grass and green moss, the rivers that run through woodland countries, the forests with their delicious sense of peace and mountains ribbed with sharp steep ridges. You close your eyes and soon drift away into that vast mysterious void which men call sleep.

When people travel, they can learn a lot of new information about different countries, their people, holidays, customs and traditions. They can visit the museums of these countries, places of interest. Tourists can see many historical documents, national clothes of this or that nationality. In the picture and art galleries tourists can see pictures of famous painters, sculptures of outstanding sculptors.

A lot of foreign travellers want to visit Russia. Arriving in Moscow people can see many places of interest: Red Square, different monuments. All the guests of Moscow visit The Tretyakov Gallery. It is a symbol of Russian art. The founder of the Gallery was Pavel Tretyakov, a merchant. He had a hobby of collecting works by Russian artists of his time. Later he created a museum. His brother Sergei Tretyakov collected western European paintings. But the Tretyakov Gallery specialized in Russian art only. Today 55 thousand art works are kept there.

The Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London are also well-known places which people like to visit..

As for me I prefer travelling as a way of learning about the world. I have travelled much yet. I have been to one far away foreign country already - Bulgaria. Every summer I go to some place – the sea, the Ukraine, St. Petersburg or others – to see the sights and spend about a month there. Usually I go there by train or by airplane. It takes me two days and nights or two hours to get to the place. On the way the train passes many small towns and big cities, the landscape changes quickly: rivers and lakes, mountains and hills, valleys and plains. The road is very beautiful. In this way I learn about the world I live in.

TV and the press are also the ways of learning about the world. Telecasts and newspapers present the news. They play an important role in informing people of current events. They describe local news as well as the international events. There are daily and weekly programmes and newspapers. They have special sections, such as finance and travel, art and sport, politics and entertainments. The main newspapers of the USA are “New-York Times”, “Washington Post”. The most popular newspapers in Great Britain are “The Guardian”, “Daily Express”, “Daily Mirror”.

Magazine is one of the main informer. It is a collection of articles and stories. They usually have illustrations. They give the information on business, culture, medicine, religion, science, sports. Some magazines inform the readers of fiction, poetry, publish articles about film and theatre stars. There are children’s, hobby, men’s, women’s magazines.

Many things attract foreign tourists in Russia. The historical places in St. Petersburg and in Moscow where great writers, painters, actors, political leaders lived and worked, our cities and towns, Moscow Metro, the most beautiful in the world, theatres, art galleries, achievements of science, new technologies, Russian holidays, customs and traditions, and of course, Russian people, the so called mysterious Russian character.

If I were a guide, I would show the guests of Ekaterinburg many places of interest. First of all I’d like to invite the foreign guests to my school and show them our classrooms, the library, the Assembly hall, the Gym hall and my teachers and friends. I would show them Nineteen O Five Square, the Dam, the Historical Square, the Eternal Flame, the Lake Shartash, Kamennye Palatki – the unique geological and archeological monument. Ekaterinburg and its environments are rich in archeological and geological and nature monuments. The beauty and picturesque landscape of the Natura Park “Olenye Ruchey” (Deer Stream), situated in 100 km to the South-West of Ekaterinburg in the valley of the river Sergi, attract tourists. In the park there is the largest cave – ‘Druzhba” (Friendship).

I’d also show the Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Academic Drama Theatre, the Young Spectator’s Theatre, Musical Comedy Theatre, the State Academic Philharmonic Society, Theater Center “Volkhonka”, Ekaterinburg Municipal Puppet Theater, Mayakovsky Park of Culture and Rest, the Museum of Fine Arts and Architecture, the Regional Museum of Local Lore, the Urals State Conservatory, the Cathedrals and Churches, the Memorial – Temple-on-Blood.

Modern life is impossible without traveling. Thousands of people travel every day either on business or for pleasure. Time passes quickly and soon we have to make our way back. We return home sunburnt and full of impressions.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1242