第七章 Acquired Taste描繪了一張蕓蕓眾生相。作者報團和三十多位中國人一起開啟了一次歐洲境外游，通過細致入微的旅游經歷和體驗，刻畫了中國人開眼看世界的情形，展現了中國人對于西方文化和西方世界的看法。
中國人的出游夢經歷了太多的曲折，古時，父母在不遠行“while your parents are alive ,it is better not to travel far away ”, 封閉鎖國，戰爭戰亂，直到九十年代才逐步放開出國游的腳步 the government cleared the way for travelers to venture to other countries in a “planned ,organized and controlled manner ”
中國的出游團有太多的中國特色，為了打折機票，行程路線曲折蜿蜒，猶如北斗七星“wherever the cheapest flights were on a given day , Chinese tours saw opportunity ....that was why our route resembled the Big Dipper ”; 十國游比一國游更具吸引力 in china ,if you can get ten things for a hundred dollars ,that’s still better than getting one thing for a hundred dollars ; 中國人出游的文明出行指南讓作者啞然失笑 I wonder if the authors of the Guide to Civilized Behavior Abroad hadn’ been outclassed by the citizens ;紅色旅游也未嘗不可，去德國一定要去參觀下馬克思故居 our group had lingered in the Mecca of the Chinese People for eleven minutes ；所去之處也是到處中國人，一次也沒吃上西餐... .rooms jammed with Chinese diners ；以及買東西總要換算人民幣的精打細算 ... They kept an eye on every cent and tell me exactly how much we‘d spent on each bottle of water in five countries.
本章直到結尾，作者才袒露自己對于當前中國的看法 The China that I inhabited now was , by turns , inspiring and maddening ,home to both Bare-Handed Fortunes and black jails ,a fierce curiosity about the world and a defensive pride in China’s new place in it . My busmates had answered the call to go west, but if they struggled to make sense of what they found, I could sympathize; I was struggling to make sense of a land “unfettered”but subject to the Party in Power. 他不能理解中國人這種束手束腳的 “自由”。Modern Chinese travel, like the modern Chinese state, was predicated on the fragile promise that it would impose order on a chaotic world, by shepherding its citizens and keeping them safe from threats that could include western thieves, western cuisine, and western culture. 他不認同中國“心懷戒備”的開放和中國當前的執政管理方式。On this first trip, there was much they would never see, but mile by mile, they were discovering how to see it at all. 在作者眼中，中國人出國所見也只是浮光掠影，驚鴻一瞥Behind the prosperity gospel about Chinese one-party efficiency, my busmates caught unredacted flickers of insight, glimpses of humaneness and openness and the world once forbidden.
看完這章內心有所觸動，在外國人眼中，中國原來是這樣的，這就是有時候當我們聽到別人對自己的評價時的那種詫異。作者對于中國“自由”的不理解，亦如中國人對于西方世界的諸多不解，例如文中提到，意大利因為地方反對，幾十年才修起一條路， if this were china , it would be done in six months! 這或許是中國一黨執政的效率，或許在外界看來是不民主的極權。但不管怎樣，中國發展到今天，摸著石頭過河，探尋發展之路的經歷實屬不易。正如文中所稱，中國人對于西方文化是一種復雜而糾結的情愫“Chinese attitudes toward Western culture were a mix of pity ,envy ,and resentment ;pity for the barbarians outside the Middle Kingdom ,envy for their strength ,and resentment for their incursions into China”，而反過來講，西方人對中國不也是幾番滋味在心頭？我將以上句子改寫一下，作為本章讀后的結語吧Western attitudes toward Chinese culture are a mix of pity, envy and resentment; pity for the “unfettered” freedom under One Party; envy for its rise, and resentment for its growing presence.
【表達】
1、 they lived hand to mouth 勉強度日
2、 a trunkful of books 大量、多
3、 the crowd bursts into applause 爆發掌聲
4、 Local newspaper grew dense with ads for exotic holiday travel. 到處是
5、 photogenic上鏡的（He is photogenic）
6、 payment was due up front 預先
7、 put up a bond 繳納押金
8、 assorted charges 雜費
9、 Don’t travel with knockoffs of European goods. 冒牌貨
10、 Who can work twenty-four hours straight 連續
11、 A bowl of congee (or conjee) 粥/ a deep-fried cruller 油餅
12、 We headed for our first stop / we descended from the bus
13、 My daughter is grown 長大了
14、 Our group had lingered in the Mecca of the Chinese People 逗留 / Mecca：眾人渴望去的地方
15、 The Big Dipper 北斗七星
16、 Guide to Civilized Behavior Abroad 文明出行指南
17、 He had the build of an American football player 身材體格
