《國家骨干高職院校旅游類規(guī)劃教材：旅游與酒店類崗位職業(yè)英語》：
　　1.In ancient times, people traveled on foot, on beasts of burden, on wheeled vehicles, and by boat. As humans first began to navigate inland waters and coastal sea routes, the boat or the ship can be said to be one of the oldest means of transport. However, compared with modern mass transportation that is, the movement oflarge numbers of people at relatively low prices,merely a limited number of people in the old days could afford the above-mentioned means of transport. Yet, only with the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution and the advancement of modern technology, especially the development of the railroads in the 19th century was mass travel made possible. The tourists on Thomas Cook's first organized tour in 1841 traveled by railroad. Steamslups were developed at about the same time as railroads, but during the first half of the 19th century, they were used for the most part on inland waterways. In the second half of the century, steamships that could cover longer distances were developed.
　　2.In the first half of the 20th century, travel by train dominated many countries, especially the Westem Europe and North America. But, in the second half of the century, as the construction of highways was booming and the number of private cars and coach buses was ever increasing,fewer and fewer people took trains. Also, for those who preferred leisurely travel, both railroads and steamships began to lose much of their business. Eventually, the automobile replaced the railroad for most local travel. In China, however, even though highway traffic has been improving year by year, railroad travel is by far playing a major role in public transportation.
　　3.The real dramatic changes in transportation are attributed to the rise of civil aviation. For long-distance travel, above all, transcontinental travel, the airplane has replaced the railroad and the ship as the principle carrier. Yet, even so, as far as tourism is concerned, travel by train or ship or bus is still a fashion. There are deluxe cruisers, pleasure-boats, luxurious ocean-liners,tour trains and buses designed for those passengers who can afford time and prefer leisurely sightseeing or have the fiight-phobia. Compared with other means of transport, the automobile is convenient for the traveler to reach his/her destination without transferring baggage. In Europe,where the distance from one national boundary to another may be very short, automobiles are also used extensively for internationaljoumeys. Even in such large countries as Canada and the United States, automobiles like Greyhound co-buses and private cars used for long-distance travel are common and popular, too.
　　4. The car rental agency is another travel phenomenon of recent times that has grown up as a result of the prevalence of the automobile. If you do not want to take your own car with you, you can rent one for local travel at just about any tourist terminus in the world today. Of course, because of its speed, comfort and safety, air travel has become the leading mode of public transportation today. However, the September 11th Terrorist Event may have, more or less,changed people's views on the safety of air travel, at least for the temporary moment. Anyway,one thing is certain : no matter how human transportation develops, travel by land and by water will never vanish from the earth .
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