Tourism (旅游业) today is much more important than before. In the past, only people with lots of money could travel on holidays to other countries. More people travel today than in the past because there is a growing middle class in many parts of the world; that is to say, people now have more money for travel. Special plane fares (特价机票) for tourists make travel less expensive and more attractive (吸引人) than ever before. One person doesn’t travel for the same reason as another. But most people enjoy seeing countries that are different from their own. They also like to meet new people and to taste new food.

Tourism causes many changes in a country and in people’s lives. People build new hotels and restaurants and train in the natives as guides to show visitors around places of interest. There’re new night clubs and other activities. International tourism is clearly a big business.

I was on a train in Switzerland（瑞士）. Thirty minutes later, the train came to a stop and the conductor’s（乘务员）voice over the loudspeaker delivered a message in German, Italian and French. I’d made the mistake of not learning any of those languages before my vacation. Everyone started getting off the train and an old woman saw that I was confused and stressed. (I had to catch an overnight train to Rome, and I was flying home from there). She could speak some English and told me that an accident had happened on the tracks（轨道）. She asked me where I was trying to get to, then went and talked to some workers, and came back to tell me that we’d have to hop（换乘）trains three or four times to get there.

I was really glad she was heading the same way because it would have been impossible for me to figure it out on my own（自己弄清楚）. So we went from one train station to the next, getting to know each other along the way. She was really the sweetest woman. It was a 2.5-hour journey in total, and when we made it to the final destination（目的地）, we got off and said our goodbyes. I had made it just in time to catch my train to Rome. She told me she had a train to catch as well. I asked her how much farther she had to go and it turned out（结果是）that her home was two hours back the other way. She had jumped from train to train and travelled the whole just to make sure that I made it. I was in shock. A woman spent her whole day sitting on trains and taking her hours away from her home just to help out a confused（迷惑的）tourist visiting her country.

No matter how many countries I visit, I’ll always say the most beautiful country in the world is Switzerland.

Joe had a holiday, so he decided to go to the seashore for a few days. He got on a train one morning, and an hour later he was in a small town. He got off the train and left the station. A few minutes later, he saw a small hotel and went in. He asked the owner how much it would cost for one night there.

"Fifteen dollars," the owner answered. "That's more than I can really afford (支付)," Joe said sadly. "All right," the owner answered. "If you make your bed yourself, you can have the room for ten dollars. " Joe was very happy because he always made his own bed at home.   "Okay," he said, "I'll do that. "

The owner went into a room at the back, opened a closet, took some things out and came back to Joe. "Here you are," he said, and gave him a hammer(铁锤) and some nails(钉子).