旅行的唯一方法是步行(1)

　　The past ages of man have all been carefully labelled by anthropologists. Descriptions like "Palaeolithic Man". "Neolithic Man", etc., neatly sum up whole periods. When the time comes for anthropologists to turn their attention to the twentieth century, they will surely choose the label "Legless Man". Histories of the time will go something like this:" In the twentieth century, people forgot how to use their legs. Men and women moved about in cars, buses and trains from a very early age. There were lifts and escalators in all large building to prevent people from walking. This situation was forced upon earth-dwellers of that time because of their extraordinary way of life. In those days,people thought nothing of travelling hundreds of miles each day.But the surprising thing is that they didn't use their legs even when they went on holiday.They built cable railways, ski-lifts(滑雪索道) and roads to the top of every huge mountain.All the beauty spots on earth were marred by the presence of large car parks."

[注釋]

1.anthropologist：人類學家

2.palaeolithic：舊石器時代的

[譯文]

　　人類學家小心翼翼地將人類以往的每一個時代都貼上標簽。 例如，“舊石器時代人”、“新石器時代人”等說法就簡潔地概括了 一個個完整的時代。當人類學家把他們的目光投向20世紀的時 候，他們肯定會選擇“無腿人”這個標簽。這段時期的歷史大致會 這樣記載：“在20世紀，人類忘記了如何使用他們的腿。男子和 女子從很小的時候起就坐在小汽車、公共汽車和火車里來來去 去。所有的高層建筑里都裝有電梯和自動扶梯，以避免人們步行。 這種狀況強加在這個時期地球居民的身上，是由于他們非同尋常 的生活方式。那時，人們沒有想到每天旅行幾百英里這類事情。 但是，令人驚奇的是，他們即使去度假也不用他們的腿。他們建 造纜索鐵路，滑雪索道和道路通向每座大山的頂峰。地球上所有 的風景區都被大型停車場糟蹋了。”