一啸天

China is not so much a travel destination as a mind-boggling phenomenon. It's home to one of the world's longest continuous civilizations, with an impressing heritage of art, architecture, language and cuisine. It's a country of great contrast: picturesque rural landscapes and congested cityscapes; and natural beauty that ranges from the untamed to the idyllic - from the windswept plains of the Gobi Desert and the notorious northern face of Mt Everest to Yangshuo's gorgeous karst scenery.

mind-boggling      难以置信的

heritage             遗产

picturesque         独特的      

congested          拥挤的

untamed            未驯服的

idyllic                 田园的

notorious           臭名昭著的

karst                 石灰岩地形

与其说中国是一个旅行目的地，不如说她是一个令人难以置信的现象。她是世界上文明史最长的国家之一，她的文化遗产、建筑、语言和饮食，无不令人印象深刻。这是一个有着天壤之别的国度：独特的乡村景色和拥挤的城市风景；从尚未开发的原始风光到田园景色——从风沙肆虐的戈壁平原、众所周知的珠穆朗玛北坡到阳朔壮丽的溶洞。

China is huge and wild enough to satisfy your explorer instinct, but criss-crossed with an extensive transportation network so you won't be left high and dry.

high and dry   一个人面对困境（被抛弃）

crisscross      十字形的

中国的巨大和狂野足以满足你探险者本能，而她的交通网络纵横交错，遍布全国，因此你不用担心被抛弃。

Whatever China does to you - entertains, stimulates, appeals or bemuses - you will come away with priceless memories of a country in the throes of reinventing itself. The last decades of the 20th century saw China open up to an eager world that was gazing through the portcullis, visa application in hand.

bemuse     （使）迷茫，困惑

throe         剧痛，阵痛

gaze          凝视

portcullis    铁闸门

不论中国给你带来什么——乐趣、刺激、吸引或者困惑——你将带走对一个正在经历自我重塑的阵痛中的国家的无价的记忆。在上个世纪的最后几十年中，人们看到中国向世界展开的怀抱，而不再从铁闸门中凝望。

These past years have been a ceaseless drama of energetic development, economic contortions, and invasion of Western culture and the resurgence of mass inequality. China has never been so transformed, except perhaps when the Mongols passed through with their own blueprints for change.

contortion     扭曲

resurgence    苏醒

过去的纪念就像一出关于积极发展、经济扭曲、西方文化入侵以及出现不平等的戏剧。中国从来没有经历过这样的变化，除了蒙古人带着他们的蓝图进入中国的时候。

A light-headedness lingers from the rejection of the austerities and craziness of the Mao era and the effects of that new opiate, carefully named 'socialism with Chinese characteristics'. The currents of change run deep. See for yourself while sipping cappuccinos from Starbucks in Beijing or perusing the lastest fashions in Shanghai.

light-headedness    头晕的，轻浮的

linger                   徘徊，逗留

austerities            节俭、苦行

opiate                  安眠，缓和

sip                      吮吸

peruse                 细读

对毛泽东时代艰苦朴素和疯狂的拒绝以及“中国特色社会主义”的成效都会让人头晕。变革的潮流正在深入的进行。你在北京的星巴克品尝卡布奇诺咖啡、在上海品味最新潮流的时候就会看到这一点。

An increasingly confident China knows the importance of engagement with the world. A gold rush of rewards in 2001 has yielded a feel-good factor: China joined the World Trade Organization, Beijing will stage the 2008 Olympics and the national football team made it to the World cup for the first time ever.

不断自信的中国知道了与世界接轨的重要性。

Domestic tourism is in a state of supernova, showering sights around the land with much-needed investment, and less-needed noise pollution and litter. Sadly, some destinations have been disfigured as the tourist industry swamps them with garish sideshows and commerce, and some previously idyllic locations have perhaps irreversibly lost their magic. Massive investment has brought transport quality a long way over the last 10 years. and routes have become steadily speedier and more comfortable.

The coercive nature of the Chinese State remains, however - placeing serious limits on freedoms, China has chosen to embrace modernity without allowing political evolution; dissent is brutally expunged, debate stifled and information carefully controlled. This may not be of great interest to short-term travellers, but will explain why the BBC Web site is blocked (both in English and Chinese), why foreign newspapers are occasionally trimmed of opinion and why there are no demonstrations or political debates on TV.

coercive             强制的

expunged           擦去

stifled                窒息

trimmed              修剪

demonstration     示威

dissent              不同意，异议

中国仍然维持了她强制性的特点，并且严重的限制了自由，中国选择拥抱现代化，但同时又不允许政治上的变革；异议被抹去，争论被扼杀，信息被控制。尽管短期的旅客对这些没有多少兴趣，但是它可以用来解释为什么BBC的网站被阻止，为什么外国报纸的观点偶尔被去除，以及电视上为什么没有示威和政治辩论。

Also be aware that travel in China can present many difficulties, with language the single most difficult barrier. This guidebook has undertaken to facilitate the ease with which you master some basic Chinese by providing tonal marks to aid pronounciation, Chinese script is also provided where it can come in handy (on maps, to show to taxi drivers, for example). Familiarising yourself with the Chinese words for hotel, restaurant, park, temple, station and so on will make getting around a little easier and, hopefully, will lead to greater interaction with Chinese people.

你也要知道在中国旅游也有许多困难，语言就是一个最大的障碍。在这本旅行指南中提供了音调标记来帮助发音，这样你可以比较容易的掌握一些基本的中文，里面的中文字也可以在需要的时候有所帮助（比如地图上的中文可以给出租车司机看）。熟悉一些诸如旅馆、饭店、公园、寺庙以及车站等等中文单词可以让你更加方便，还可能借此增进与中国人的交流。

Chinese is a great rollercoaster ride for anyone with a little time and an instinct for travel. So take a deep breath, plunge in and have a great trip!

rollercoaster    过山车

plunge            投入，跳入

instinct           本能

中国对于每一个有点时间和冲动旅游的人来说就是一辆很棒的过山车。深呼吸，开始我们的旅行！