People travel for a lot of reasons. Some tourists go to see battlefields or religious shrines1. Others are looking for culture, or simply want to have their pictures taken2 in front of famous places. But most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on3.
Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money and put up with a lot of inconveniences for the sun because they have so little of it4. Residents of cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam spend a lot of their winter in the dark because the days are so short, and much of the rest of the year in the rain5. This is the reason the Mediterranean6 has always attracted them. Every summer, more than 25 million people travel to Mediterranean resorts7 and beaches for their vacation. They all come for the same reason: sun!
The huge crowds mean lots of money for the economies of Mediterranean countries. Italy's 30,000 hotels are booked solid8 every summer. And 13 million people camp out on French beaches, parks, and roadsides. Spain's long sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else. 37 million tourists visit yearly, or one tourist for every person living in Spain9.
But there are signs that the area is getting more tourism than it can handle. The Mediterranean is already one of the most polluted seas on earth. And with increased tourism ,it's getting worse. The French can't figure out10 what to do with all the garbage left by campers around St. Tropez. And in many places, swimming is dangerous because of pollution.
None of this, however, is spoiling11 anyone's fun. The Mediterranean gets more popular every year with tourists. Obviously, they don't go there for clean water and solitude12. They tolerate traffic jams13 and seem to like crowded beaches. They don't even mind the pollution. No matter how dirty the water is, the coastline still looks beautiful. And as long as14 the sun shines, it's still better thanin the cold rain in Berlin, London, or Oslo.
注释：
1 religious shrine：宗教圣殿
2. have their pictures taken：请别人为他们照相
3. But most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on.但大多数欧洲游客愿意寻找阳光充足的海滩晒日光浴。注意look for和fmd的区别。look for是“找”的过程，常解释为“寻找”,find是“找”的结果，所以常解释为“找到”。不妨体会一下它们的差别：I've been looking for my lost watch and haven't found it yet.
4. Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money and put up with a lot of inconveniences for the sun because they have so little of it.北欧人心甘情愿花大笔金钱，容忍诸多不便去获得阳光，因为阳光对他们来说太难得了。
5. Residents of cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam spend a lot of their winter in the dark because the days are so short, and much of the rest of the year in the rain.由于白天很短，像伦敦、哥本哈根和阿姆斯特丹的居民在冬季的大部分时间里，都是在昏暗中度过的，而其余的季节又都是阴雨连绵。这句点出了北欧阴冷潮湿，日短夜长的气候特征，也就解释了欧洲游客执着追求温暖明媚阳光的原因。
6. the Mediterranean：地中海地区
7. resorts：指常去的地方，胜地
8. be booked solid：全部客满
9. 37 million tourists visit yearly ,or one tourist for every person living in Spain.每年有3 700多万游客，换句话说，旅游者与西班牙居民人数相当，即为1:1。
10. figure out：此处指“想出”，它还有“算出;明白;断定”等意。
11. spoil：原意为“损坏;宠坏”，此处指“破坏兴致”。
12. solitude：意为“独居，独处”，文中指清静自在。
13. traffic jams：交通堵塞
14. as long as：意为“只要;在……情况下”，引导条件状语从句。又如：I'm happy as long as you are happy.
练习：
1. The writer seems to imply that Europeans travel mostly for the reason that________.
A) they want to see historic remains or religious spots
B) they are interested in different cultural traditions and social customs
C) they would like to take pictures in front of famous sites
D) they wish to escape from the cold, dark and rainy days back at home
2. In paragraph 2, cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam are mentioned________.
A) to show that they are not good cities in terms of geography and climate
B) to tell us how wealthy their residents are
C) to suggest that these cities lack places of historic interest and scenic beauty
D) to prove that they have got more tourism than they can handle
3. According to the passage, which of the following countries attracts more tourists than the others?
A) Italy.
B) Spain.
C) France.
D) Greece.
4. The latter half of the last sentence in paragraph 3, i. e.,"or one tourist for every person living in Spain" means________.
A) all the 37 million people living in Spain are tourists
B) every year almost as many tourists visit Spain as there are people living in that country
C) every person living in Spain has to take care of a tourist
D) every Spanish is visited by a tourist every year
5. According to the passage, which of the following factors might spoil the tourists' fun at Mediterranean resorts and beaches?
A) Polluted water.
B) Crowded buses.
C) Traffic jams.
D) Rainy weather.
答案与题解：
1. D 第一段首先在主题句中指出人们外出旅行的原因是多种多样的，然后以some和others 举出一些例子，最后以转折连词but点出作者要着重描述的欧洲游客对阳光特殊的追求及其原因。选项A、B、C均属于作者列举的一般游客感兴趣的事物，只有 D项才是欧洲游客旅行的动机，所以选D。
2. A 第二段中所举的三个城市都具有阴冷日短的气候特点，这些不利的地理气候条件使得当地居民向往阳光充足的地方。四个选项中，选项A最接近题意。
3. B 第三段中的第四句话是这么说的：Spain's long, sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else.西班牙那漫长的海岸线更成了众多旅游者慕名前往的地方。因此选B。
4. B 去西班牙旅行的游客人数与西班牙人口的比例达1:1，所以选B
5. D 最后一段中已说明：只要阳光普照，就比阴冷多雨的北欧强，因此只有D项“多雨的天气”才会破坏游客们的兴致。
