你是旅行者还是旅游者?

旅行通常有两种方式：或是“上车睡觉、下车拍照”式的走马观花，或是全情投入、心灵洗礼式的文化探索。那么，你会选择当一名观光客，抑或是一名旅行者呢?

When you vacation, do you go as a tourist or as a traveler? I dare say that most people have never asked themselves the question. But for me, the two are different.

Webster’s Third New International Dictionarydefines a tourist as “one that makes a tour”, where “tour” is defined as “a journey where one returns to the starting point”. It defines a traveler as “one that goes on a trip or journey... specifically, one that travels to distant or unfamiliar places”. The emphasis in the definition of “tourist” is on the return to the origin, the return home. The emphasis in the definition of “traveler” is on the going, the venturing to a new or foreign place.

In my opinion (based on years of observing visitors to my adopted home, Paris), tourists are more likely to maintain a distance between themselves and the places that they visit. Their purpose in traveling is to “see the sights”, take photos, and eat a local dish or two. They often travel in tour groups, which offer information about the sights, but also discourage individual discovery. Thus, at travel destinations tourists behave as one would before department store window displays, viewing them but not venturing into the store to buy.

In contrast, travelers interact much more with the people and places found at their travel destinations. They enjoy not only the main sights, but also the back streets and hidden neighborhoods in and around their destinations. They observe the local culture and inhabitants, and seek to understand them. And in the process, they share information about their own culture.

When I first visited Paris at the age of 28, I was strictly in tourist mode. I traveled with several friends. We spent three days in Paris. While there, we partook of all the standard tourist activities—we rode the Bateaux Mouches, visited the Latin Quarter, climbed up to the gallery of Notre-Dame—I’ve got plenty of pictures to show for the trip.

As we dragged our bags through the 9th arrondissement looking for our hotel, I noticed that the people on the streets did not look like what I considered a French person to be. They were Arabs, or more precisely, North Africans. And they were everywhere! I vaguely wondered why they were there, but immediately became caught up in keeping up with my friends and trying to find the hotel.

I always had an interest in the French language. At that time, France represented a language for me, not a people. Certainly not a mix of peoples! My fantasy of moving to a French-speaking country was fueled by my visit, but my sense of Paris’ cultural diversity was not yet awakened. It was only after I sought a job in France that I began to learn more about the history and culture of the country. I remembered our trek through the 9tharrondissement, and began to realize that France’s population is as diverse as that of the United States.

So when I moved to France, I did so as a traveler. Not only was I determined to learn about the various peoples who reside there, why they came and how they live, but I also made up my mind to visit other countries with the same perspective. As a result, my voyages have been much fuller and richer, and my understanding of my own American culture has deepened.

当你度假时，你是想当一名旅游者还是一名旅行者呢?我敢说大多数人都没问过自己这个问题。但对我来说，这两者还是有所不同的。

《新韦氏国际英语大辞典》第三版将旅游者定义为“旅游的人”，而“旅游”则是“一段返回起点的旅程”;而将旅行者定义为“踏上旅途或旅程的人，特别是到遥远陌生的地方旅行的人”。“旅游者”的定义强调返回原点，返回家园;而“旅行者”则强调去上路，去一个崭新的异域探险。

在我看来(基于对来我的第二故乡——巴黎造访者多年的观察)，旅游者更愿意保持自己和参观地之间的距离，他们出行的目的是“观光”，照照相啦，吃吃当地的小吃啦。他们往往跟团旅游，这样可以获得关于景点的介绍，但却缺少了个人发现的乐趣。因此，在景点观光的旅游者就像是驻足于商场橱窗前的顾客，只在外面欣赏，却不敢进去买点什么。

相比之下，旅行者与旅行目的地的风土和人情之间有着更多的互动。他们不仅流连于主要的景点，还钟情于景点周边宁静的小巷，以及小巷深锁的民居。他们观察当地的文化和住民，试着理解他们，并在这一过程中，与当地人分享自己的文化。

28岁时我第一次游览巴黎，当时完全是以一名旅游者的方式。我跟几个朋友一起，在巴黎呆了三天，参加了所有的标准的旅游者才会参加的项目：如在塞纳河上坐游船，游览了拉丁区，还登上了巴黎圣母院的楼厢等等。我拍了很多关于这次旅游的照片。

当我们拖着行李，走在第九大区的街头，寻找我们的酒店时，我注意到街上的行人与我想象中的法国人看起来不太一样。他们是阿拉伯人，或者更确切地说是北非人。而且他们到处都是!我隐约间对他们为何在这里出现感到疑惑，但我忙于追赶朋友们继续找我们的酒店，这个念头一闪就过去了。

我一直对法语怀有兴趣，那时的法国对我而言代表了一种语言，而不是一个民族。当然，更不是若干民族的融合!那次旅行激起了我搬到一个讲法语的国度的幻想，而我尚未意识到巴黎文化的多样性。直到我在法国找到了一份工作，我才开始了解关于这个国家的历史和文化。我记起了我们那次穿过第九大区的长途跋涉，并且开始意识到法国的人口有着与美国一样的多样性。

因此，当我搬到法国居住时，就选择了旅行者一样的生活方式。我决心不但要了解那里形形色色的居民以及他们来法国的初衷，还要以同样的态度造访其他国家。结果，我的行程越来越紧凑，越来越丰富，并且对自身的美国文化也理解得越来越深入了。