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Modern technology has tamed the wilderness. Camping is now aluminum-covered, propane-heated, bugproof, and transistorized. Hardship is having the batteries peter out on your portable television.
Only a couple of decades ago people went camping expecting to be miserable. When they got back home, they prolonged their enjoyment by telling all their friends how miserable they had been.
A source of much misery was the campfire, an ancient contrivance since replaced by propane stoves and heaters. The camp cook was frequently romanticized as a tranquil person turning plump trout in the frying pan with the blade of a hunting knife. In reality, he or she was a wildly distraught individual who charged through waves of heat and speared recklessly with a long, sharp stick at a burning hunk of meat tossed on the grill from a distance of twenty feet. Meat roasted over a campfire was either raw or very well done, but the cook usually came out medium rare.
Smoke always blew directly into the eyes of the campers regardless of wind direction. They didn't mind much since it prevented them from seeing what they were eating. If a bite of food showed no signs of struggle, they considered this a reasonable indication that it had come from the cook pot and was not something just passing through.
● Vocabulary
prolong [ prJ'lQN ] 延长
V to make last a long time
contrivance [ kJn'traIvJns ] 专用工具
N a tool, machine or plan designed for a specific purpose
tranquil [ 'tr&NkwIl ] 平静的
ADJ quiet and peaceful
recklessly [ 'reklJslI ] 鲁莽地
ADV marked by lack of proper caution; careless of consequences
indication [ %IndI'keISn ] 象征
N something that points out something else; a sign
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