VOA慢速英语2019--Travel, Trip or Journey?

 

In today’s Ask a Teacher, our reader Leopoldo asks about three commonly confused travel words. Here is the question:

Question:

Hi! Can you explain when it is correct to use "trip," "journey" or "travel"? Thank you for your answer. – Leopoldo

Answer:

Hello, Leopoldo!

Are you traveling anytime soon? If so, where are you going on your trip? I hope the journey goes smoothly¹ and that you have a great time.

Did you note how I used the words? I used “travel” as a verb and the other two words as nouns³. That is how we use them most often.

Now, we will explore each word, beginning with “travel.”

Travel

“Travel” is a verb that means “to go to a place and especially one that is far away.” Far can mean long distances within the same country or to other countries.

For instance⁴:

I have a friend who travels abroad a lot for work.

“Travel” can also be a noun² that relates to the act or activity of traveling in general. For instance:

The future of U.S. travel is not likely to include high-speed rail.

A common mistake with “travel” is confusing it with “trip,” like this:

I bought this souvenir on my travel to California.

We rarely use “travel” with “my,” “your,” “a” or other determiners.

Trip

The word “trip” is a noun that means “the act of going to another place and returning.” For example:

I bought this souvenir on my trip to California.

We also often use the verbs “go on” or “take” with “trip,” like this:

I took a long trip to California last year.

And, we say things like “day trip,” “business trip,” and “road trip” to describe different kinds of trips.

We do not use the word as a verb for travel.

Journey

The word “journey” is a noun that means “the act of going from one place to another.”

But, we use it in two specific ways:

One is to talk about a trip that takes a long time, especially if there are either difficulties or discoveries in transit⁵. For instance:

I hope to take a journey across America by car one day.

The other is to talk about a trip that does not involve physical distance, but instead is a process of learning⁶ or self-discovery, as in this:

A 10-day vipassana is a kind of spiritual journey.

We rarely use “journey” as a verb except in some styles of writing.

And that’s Ask a Teacher.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

abroad – adv. in or to a foreign country

souvenir – n. something that is kept as a reminder⁷ of a place you have visited or an event you have been to

determiner – n. a word that comes before a noun and is used to show which thing is being referred to

vipassana – n. meditation involving concentration on the body or its sensations, or the insight which this provides

1 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

2 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

3 nouns   

n.名词；名词( noun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns. 法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Nouns join to form compounds. 名词和名词结合构成复合词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

5 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

6 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

7 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。