单选题 When I was in my teens (十几岁) and 20s, hitchhiking was a main form of long-distance transport. The kindness or curiosity of strangers 1 me all over Europe, North America, Asia and southern Africa. Some of the lift-givers became friends, many provided hospitality 2 the road.
Not only did you find out much more about a country than 3 traveling by train or plane, but also there was that element of excitement about where you would finish up that night. Hitchhiking featured importantly in Western culture. It has books and songs about it. So what has happened to 4 ?
A few years ago, I asked the same question about hitchhiking in a column on a newspaper. 5 of people from all over the world responded with their view on the state of hitchhiking.
"If there is a hitchhiker"s 6 it must be Iran," came one reply. Rural Ireland was recommended as a friendly place for hitchhiking, 7 was Quebec, Canada—"if you don"t mind being berated (严厉指责) for not speaking French." But while hitchhiking was clearly still alive and well in many parts of the world, the 8 feeling was that throughout much of the west it was doomed (消亡).
With so much news about crime in the media, people assumed that anyone on the open road without the money for even a bus ticket must present a danger. But do we 9 to be so wary both to hitchhike and to give a lift?
In Poland in the 1960s, 10 a Polish woman who e-mailed me, "the authorities introduced the Hitchhiker" Booklet. The booklet contained coupons for drivers, so each time a driver 11 somebody, he or she received a coupon. At the end of the season, 12 who had picked up the most hikers were rewarded with various prizes. Everybody was hitchhiking then."
Surely this is a good idea for society. Hitchhiking would increase respect by breaking down 13 between strangers. It would help fight 14 warming by cutting down on fuel consumption as hitchhikers would be using existing fuels. It would also improve educational standards by delivering instant 15 in geography, history, politics and sociology.