A
The prospect of a holiday is liable to persuade even the most 1____________ (CAST) that life is worth living. Few events are anticipated more 2_____________ (EAGER), nor form the subject of more complex and 3__________ (RICH) daydreams than holidays. They offer us perhaps our finest chance to achieve 4___________ (HAPPY) - outside of the constraints of work, of our struggle for 5_____________ (SURVIVE) and for status. The way we choose to spend them 6___________ (BODY), if only 7___________ (KNOW), an 8____________ (UNDERSTAND) of what life might ideally be about. However, holidays almost always go wrong. The tragicomic 9___________ (APPOINT) of travel are a staple of office chat; the half-built hotel, the sense of 10___________ (ORIENT), the mid-afternoon despair, the dreary fellow travellers, the lethargy before ancient ruins.
B
I remember a trip to Barbados a few years ago. I looked forward to it for months. But on my first morning on the island, I realised something at once obvious and surprising; that my body proved a 11__________ (TEMPER) partner. Asked to sit on a 12__________ (DECK) so that the mind could savour the beach, the trees and the sun, it collapsed into difficulties; the ears complained of an 13___________ (ENERVATE) wind, the skin of 14___________ (STICK) and the toes of sand 15_________ (LODGE) between them. Unfortunately, I had brought something else that risked 16___________ (CLOUD) my 17___________ (APPRECIATE) of my 18__________ (SURROUND); my entire mind - not only the part that had planned the journey and agreed to pay for it, but also the part committed to anxiety, boredom, self-disgust and 19_________ (FINANCE) alarm. At home, as I had pored over the photographs of Barbados, I had felt 20_________ (OBLIVION) to anything besides their contents. I had simply been in the pictures; alone with their elements. But melancholy and regrets were my 21___________ (BED) on that Caribbean isle, acting like panes of 22____________ (DISTORT) glass between myself and the world.
C
There was a trip to a hotel in France a friend took with his wife. The 23________ (SET) was sublime, the room 24___________ (FLAW) - and yet they managed to have a row which, for all the good the room and place did them, meant that they might as well have stayed at home. The row (it started with who had forgotten the key in the room and extended to cover the whole of the relationship) was a 25_________ (REMIND) of the rigid, 26__________ (FORGIVE) logic to which human moods seem subject - and which we ignore at our peril. Our capacity to draw happiness from aesthetic or material goods seems critically dependent on first satisfying a more important range of emotional or psychological needs, among them the need for understanding, for love, expression and respect.
D
It may be necessary to accept that the 27_____________ (ANTICIPATE) of travel is perhaps the best part about it. Our holidays are never as satisfying as they are when they exist in an as-yet 28___________ (REALISE) form; in the shape of an airline ticket and a brochure. In the great 19th-century novel, Against Nature, by JK Huysmans, the narrator goes on a few holidays which go wrong and then decides never to leave home again. He has the itineraries of the major shipping companies framed and lines his bedroom with them. He fills an aquarium with seaweed, buys a sail, some rigging and a pot of tar and, with these aids is able to experience the most pleasant sides of a long sea voyage without the 29__________ (CONVENIENT) such as sea-sickness, storms or 30________________ (CONGENIAL) fellow passengers.
I continue to travel myself but there are times when I too feel there might be no finer journeys than those provoked in the imagination by remaining at home slowly turning the pages of an airline timetable.
Alain de Botton is the author of The Art of Travel, Penguin.
The prospect of a holiday is liable to persuade even the most 1____________ (CAST) that life is worth living. Few events are anticipated more 2_____________ (EAGER), nor form the subject of more complex and 3__________ (RICH) daydreams than holidays. They offer us perhaps our finest chance to achieve 4___________ (HAPPY) - outside of the constraints of work, of our struggle for 5_____________ (SURVIVE) and for status. The way we choose to spend them 6___________ (BODY), if only 7___________ (KNOW), an 8____________ (UNDERSTAND) of what life might ideally be about. However, holidays almost always go wrong. The tragicomic 9___________ (APPOINT) of travel are a staple of office chat; the half-built hotel, the sense of 10___________ (ORIENT), the mid-afternoon despair, the dreary fellow travellers, the lethargy before ancient ruins.
B
I remember a trip to Barbados a few years ago. I looked forward to it for months. But on my first morning on the island, I realised something at once obvious and surprising; that my body proved a 11__________ (TEMPER) partner. Asked to sit on a 12__________ (DECK) so that the mind could savour the beach, the trees and the sun, it collapsed into difficulties; the ears complained of an 13___________ (ENERVATE) wind, the skin of 14___________ (STICK) and the toes of sand 15_________ (LODGE) between them. Unfortunately, I had brought something else that risked 16___________ (CLOUD) my 17___________ (APPRECIATE) of my 18__________ (SURROUND); my entire mind - not only the part that had planned the journey and agreed to pay for it, but also the part committed to anxiety, boredom, self-disgust and 19_________ (FINANCE) alarm. At home, as I had pored over the photographs of Barbados, I had felt 20_________ (OBLIVION) to anything besides their contents. I had simply been in the pictures; alone with their elements. But melancholy and regrets were my 21___________ (BED) on that Caribbean isle, acting like panes of 22____________ (DISTORT) glass between myself and the world.
C
There was a trip to a hotel in France a friend took with his wife. The 23________ (SET) was sublime, the room 24___________ (FLAW) - and yet they managed to have a row which, for all the good the room and place did them, meant that they might as well have stayed at home. The row (it started with who had forgotten the key in the room and extended to cover the whole of the relationship) was a 25_________ (REMIND) of the rigid, 26__________ (FORGIVE) logic to which human moods seem subject - and which we ignore at our peril. Our capacity to draw happiness from aesthetic or material goods seems critically dependent on first satisfying a more important range of emotional or psychological needs, among them the need for understanding, for love, expression and respect.
D
It may be necessary to accept that the 27_____________ (ANTICIPATE) of travel is perhaps the best part about it. Our holidays are never as satisfying as they are when they exist in an as-yet 28___________ (REALISE) form; in the shape of an airline ticket and a brochure. In the great 19th-century novel, Against Nature, by JK Huysmans, the narrator goes on a few holidays which go wrong and then decides never to leave home again. He has the itineraries of the major shipping companies framed and lines his bedroom with them. He fills an aquarium with seaweed, buys a sail, some rigging and a pot of tar and, with these aids is able to experience the most pleasant sides of a long sea voyage without the 29__________ (CONVENIENT) such as sea-sickness, storms or 30________________ (CONGENIAL) fellow passengers.
I continue to travel myself but there are times when I too feel there might be no finer journeys than those provoked in the imagination by remaining at home slowly turning the pages of an airline timetable.
Alain de Botton is the author of The Art of Travel, Penguin.
Read the article on The Guardian Website
KEY
A
prospect: an idea of what might or will happen in the future. Sp. posibilidad. E.g. an exciting prospect. Travelling alone around the world is a daunting prospect. Prospect (of something/ of doing something) E.g. The prospect of becoming a father filled him with alarm.
liable to do something: likely to do something. E.g. We're all liable to make mistakes when we're tired. The bridge is liable to collapse at any moment.
1. downcast
downcast: sad or depressed. Dejected. E.g. A group of downcast men stood waiting for food.
anticipate (doing) something| anticipate (something doing) something to think with pleasure and excitement about something that is going to happen. E.g. We eagerly anticipated the day we would leave school. The more I anticipated arriving somewhere, the more disappointed I was.
2. eagerly
eagerly: in a very interested and excited way. E.g. the band's eagerly awaited new CD. They eagerly accepted my offer of hospitality.
3. enriching
4. happiness
constraint: /kənˈstreɪnt/ a thing that limits or restricts something, or your freedom to do something. E.g. constraints of time/ money/ space. Financial/ economic/ legal/ political constraints. Constraint on something This decision will impose serious constraints on all schools.
5. survival
6. embodies
embody: to express or represent an idea or a quality. E.g. embody something a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth. Be embodied in something the principles embodied in the Declaration of Human Rights.
7. unknowingly
unknowingly: not aware of what you are doing or what is happening. E.g. She had unknowingly broken the rules.
8. understanding
9. disappointments
staple (of something) a large or important part of something. E.g. Royal gossip is a staple of the tabloid press.
10. disorientation
dreary: /ˈdrɪəri/ that makes you feel sad; dull and not interesting. E.g. a dreary winter's day. A dreary film. A long and dreary journey on the train.
lethargy: /ˈleθədʒi/ the state of not having any energy or enthusiasm for doing things. E.g. The report criticizes the lethargy shown by employers when it comes to job creation.
B
11. temperamental
temperamental: /ˌtemprəˈmentl/ having a tendency to become angry, excited or upset easily, and to behave in an unreasonable way. E.g. You never know what to expect with her. She's so temperamental. (Figurative) The printer's being temperamental this morning. He's a temperamental player (= he plays well or badly according to his mood).
12. deckchair
deckchair: a folding chair with a seat made from a long strip of material on a wooden or metal frame, used for example on a beach.
13 enervating
enervate somebody /ˈenəveɪtɪŋ/ (formal) to make somebody feel weak and tired. E.g. an enervating disease/ climate.
14. stickiness
15. lodged
lodge: to become fixed or stuck somewhere; to make something become fixed or stuck somewhere. Lodge in something One of the bullets lodged in his chest. Lodge something in something She lodged the number firmly in her mind.
16. clouding
cloud something: to make something less pleasant or enjoyable. E.g. His last years were clouded by financial worries. Her political future was clouded by allegations of misconduct.
17. appreciation
18. surroundings
self-disgust: shame resulting from strong dislike of yourself or your actions.
19. financial
pore over something: to look at or read something very carefully. Examine. E.g. His lawyers are poring over the small print in the contract.
20. oblivious
oblivious: /əˈblɪviəs/ not aware of something.
oblivious (of something) He drove off, oblivious of the damage he had caused.
oblivious (to something) You eventually become oblivious to the noise. The couple seemed oblivious to what was going on around them.
oblivion: a state in which you are not aware of what is happening around you, usually because you are unconscious or asleep. E.g. He often drinks himself into oblivion. Sam longed for the oblivion of sleep.
21. bedfellows
bedfellow: /ˈbedfeləʊ/ a person or thing that is connected with or related to another, often in a way that you would not expect. E.g. strange/ unlikely bedfellows. Politics can create some strange bedfellows.
pane: a single sheet of glass in a window. E.g. a pane of glass. A windowpane.
22. distorting
distort something to change the shape, appearance or sound of something so that it is strange or not clear. E.g. a fairground mirror that distorts your shape. The loudspeaker seemed to distort his voice.
C
23. setting
setting: a set of surroundings; the place at which something happens. E.g. a rural/ an ideal/ a beautiful/ an idyllic, etc. setting.
sublime: /səˈblaɪm/ of very high quality and causing great admiration. E.g. sublime beauty. A sublime combination of flavours. The location of the hotel is sublime.
24. flawless
flawless: without flaws (mistakes) and therefore perfect. E.g. flawless complexion/ performance. Her English is almost flawless.
row: /raʊ/ A noisy acrimonious (angry and full of strong bitter feelings and words) quarrel. E.g. they had a row and she stormed out of the house.
may/might (just) as well do something used for saying that it would not make any difference if you did something else. E.g. The meeting was a complete waste of time. I might just as well have stayed at home.
25. reminder
26. unforgiving
unforgiving: /ˌʌnfəˈɡɪvɪŋ/ Not willing to forgive or excuse people’s faults or wrongdoings. E.g. he was always a proud and unforgiving man.
do something at your (own) peril: used to warn somebody that if they do something, it may be dangerous or cause them problems. E.g. Teachers ignore the importance of these results at their peril.
draw: to produce a reaction or response. E.g. draw something The plan has drawn a lot of criticism. Draw something from somebody The announcement drew loud applause from the audience. Our capacity to draw happiness from aesthetic or material goods.
D
27. anticipation
as yet: until now or until a particular time in the past. E.g. an as yet unpublished report. As yet little was known of the causes of the disease.
28. unrealised
itinerary: /aɪˈtɪnərəri/ a plan of a journey, including the route and the places that you visit. E.g. a detailed itinerary. Visits to four different countries are included in your itinerary.
frame: to put or make a frame or border around something. E.g. The photograph had been framed.
line something (with something) to cover the inside of something with a layer of another material to keep it clean, make it stronger, etc. E.g. Line the pan with greaseproof paper.
seaweed: a plant that grows in the sea or ocean, or on rocks at the edge of the sea or ocean. E.g. There are many different types of seaweed, some of which are eaten as food.
rigging: the ropes that support the masts and sails of a boat or ship.
tar: a thick black sticky liquid that becomes hard when cold. Tar is obtained from coal and is used especially in making roads.
29. inconveniences
30. uncongenial
uncongenial: /ˌʌnkənˈdʒiːniəl/ (of a person) not pleasant or friendly; not like yourself. E.g. uncongenial company
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