世博英语札记【33】1999年12月11日札记

1999年12月11日

The only way to travel is on foot
(续昨日)

When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time lookiong forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival,when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. By travelling like this, you suspend all experience; the present ceased to be a reality: you might just as well be dead. The traveller on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him travelling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound, satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travellers.(全文完)