TOEFL iBT Independent Writing The best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide. - revised -

 

Writing Topic

Consider the following statement. The best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide. Do you agree with this idea? Support your response by including specific reasons and examples.

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1)     How do the following sentences differ? (Hint: Which one needs comparison in discussion?)

a.     The best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide.

b.     A best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide.

                                                                       

2)     How are the following sentences different? 

a.     What change is the most important in the last century?

b.     What change is most important in the last century?

 

Note:

There are many topics in the TOEFL independent writing section that have a superlative, such as most or best. Let’s be careful of whether the superlative is preceded by an article or not, and, if so, which article (a/the) it is: What invention do you think is most important in the last one hundred years? “The” and superlative as in “the best” means that the thing is second to none. Superlative without an article or superlative with the article “a” as in “What change is most important in the last century?” or “Name a most important invention in the last 100 years” mean that the thing is of its utmost level in a particular quality and there are others comparable to it.

 

3)     In what other ways do people travel?

4)     Which way to travel in 3) is the best in each point? Complete the table below.

Ways to Travel Points	Group Tour with a Guide	Solo Travel without a guide	Others (                  )
Expenses
Safety
Freedom
Enjoyment
Others (       )

 

5)     Tell others whether you agree or disagree with the statement of the writing topic.

 

☆Hints for Points

Agree:

1.     inexpensive

2.     safer

3.     efficient (The travel agency does the arrangements and booking; the guide knows everything.)

 

Disagree:

1.     not enough freedom and flexibility

2.     less interaction with the locals

3.     unnatural…places and things set aside exclusively for group tourists

 

 

☆Sample Essay Structure

A

【Introduction = Outline】I agree with the idea that the best way to travel is in a group led by a tour guide.

【Point 1】A group tour is inexpensive.  e.g. popular sightseeing spots for reasonable charges

【Point 2】A guided tour ensures safety and satisfaction.  e.g. the guide’s recommendation and lecture

【Counterargument-treatment】A group tour led by a tour guide allows little freedom, but it helps avoid a disaster.  e.g. getting lost  Also, if you want freedom, you can choose not to join others on a certain day.

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Considering risks and disadvantages associated with traveling alone without a guide, I do not have much problem in saying that the guided group tour is the best way to travel.

 

B

【Introduction = Outline】A guided tour must be a best, but may not be the best.

【What is Traveling?】Traveling is an action driven by various reasons.

【Group Tour with Guide】A guided group tour is an attraction which is a win-win product of the tour industry in the developed world.

【Solo Tour】Taking a solo trip is in fact very popular.

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】The best way to travel varies depending on what the traveler wants, and I believe we all like a solo trip deep in our heart.

 

Your Sample Essay Structure

【Introduction = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】

 

☆Essay for Ideas and Expressions

The traveler in one of Dave Mason’s beautiful songs, Mystic Traveler, would not join a guided group tour because the lyrics goes “He is an unraveler”, which connotes anti-establishment. The song is said to be about Jesus Christ probably because of the title and such phrase as “when he takes your heart, you are not alone”, but it also seems to hint that there is some deep experience that we expect in traveling. Whether this traveler is Jesus or Jack in the street, he is not a consumer but the stranger and outsider, and the interaction with him reveals the secret of life and merges the souls of those involved with him in eternity. Few travelers in guided group tours would manage to do the same. A guided tour may well be a best, but may not be the best.

デイヴ・メイソンの美しい曲のひとつであるミスティック・トラベラーの中の旅人はガイド付き団体旅行には加わらないだろう。というのは歌詞に「彼は解体する人」とあり、反体制を含意しているからだ。この曲は、恐らくその題名と「彼があなたの心に触れるとあなたは一人ではなくなる」のような文句からイエス。キリストについての曲だと言われているが、また、私たちが旅に期待する何か深い経験が存在するということを暗示しているようにも思える。この旅人がイエスであろうが普通の人であろうが彼は消費者ではなく見知らぬよその人であり、その人との交流により人生の秘密が暴かれ彼と関わったものの魂は永遠と合一する。ガイド付き団体旅行の旅行者で同じ事をやってのける者はほとんどいないだろう。ガイド付き団体旅行は恐らく最高だろうが一番ではないかもしれない。

 

Traveling is an action driven by various reasons. People have traveled for various reasons since ancient times. We may travel to find something new: a new land, a new friend, or a new self. We may travel to see the world, to visit the places of our ancestors, or to test ourselves. We might also travel for fun. The word travel seems to me to connote an action driven by a dire need for something essential in one’s inner life. Depending on the need, we choose the best form of traveling that fits the need. For example, a man who wants to see the world may want to travel alone so that he can directly have a feel of the place he is visiting, and a woman who feels that she is losing herself will visit her hometown without her friends to listen to the voices in her memory she recalls at the sites she visits and people she meets there. Friends who want to make their bond stronger may try not to join in group tours, and a group of insect collectors may be disappointed if they are taken to a famous café in downtown Paris instead of the forest nearby, where there are indigenous bugs. Traveling means much more than merely taking a sightseeing tour. When I hear the word traveler, I think of an explorer of reality seeking meaningful interactions with people or nature outside the person’s daily life. For this matter, traveling alone seems to be most natural because a group tour with a tour guide is an extension of daily life.

旅は様々な理由に突き動かされた行動だ。人は古代から様々な理由で旅をしてきた。何か新しいもの、新しい土地、新しい友達、あるいは新しい自分を見つけるために旅をするかもしれない。世界を見るために、祖先の土地を訪ねるために、あるいは自分を試すために旅するかもしれない。また楽しみのために旅するかもしれない。自分にとって旅という言葉は人の内面生活において必須の何かを求める切羽詰まった必要性に駆られた行動を暗に意味するように思える。必要性によって、人はその必要に合う旅の形態を選ぶ。例えば世界を見たい人は訪れた場所を直接感じられるように一人で旅をしたいかもしれないし、自分を見失いかけていると感じる人は友達なしで故郷の街を訪れ、訪れた場所とそこで会う人々によって回想した記憶の中の声に耳を傾けるかもしれない。絆を強めたい友達同士は団体ツアーに加わろうとはしないかもしれないし、昆虫収集家の団体はその土地の虫がいる近くの森の代わりパリの繁華街の有名なカフェに連れて行かれたらがっかりするかもしれない。旅は単に観光旅行をする以上の意味がある。旅人という言葉を聞くと日常生活の外で人や自然と意味のある交流を求めている現実の探索者を思い浮かべる。この点では一人で旅するのが最も自然に思える。なぜならガイド付き団体旅行は日常生活の延長だからだ。

 

A guided group tour is an attraction which is a win-win product of the tour industry in the developed world. Tourists who want to enjoy themselves away from home and work, experience something exotic, and make some good memories choose a guided tour for convenience and safety, and they usually go in a group because of the spirit of “The more, the merrier.” The tourism follows the rule of the economy of scale. Booking for transportation, accommodation, and attractions such as local theaters and restaurants in large numbers lowers the costs. The tour guide entertains the tourists and safely takes them back home. It is probably the most popular style of travel as a leisure activity, although it is not certain that people think it the best way to travel because it usually provides no more than it promises like other mass products.

ガイド付き団体旅行はアトラクションであり、関係者皆が得をする先進国の観光業界の産物だ。故郷と仕事から離れて楽しみ、異国情緒あふれるものを経験し、良い思い出作りをしたい旅行者は便利さと安全のためにガイド付きツアーを選ぶ。そして通常「多ければ多いほど楽しい」という精神から団体で行く。観光業は大量生産の法則に従う。交通、宿泊施設、そして地元の劇教やレストランのような呼び物の予約を多数で行うと経費が下がる。ガイドは旅行者を接待し安全に故郷に連れて帰る。恐らく娯楽としては最も人気のある旅行方法だろう。しかし、他の大量生産品同様、ガイド付き団体旅行は通常約束したことしか提供しないので、旅行の最善の方法だと人が思っているかは確かではない。

 

Perhaps I might be too romantic, believing that people want more than a package tour out of traveling, some special experience on their own. However, solo travel is in fact very popular. About half a century ago, Makoto Oda, a Japanese student from Tokyo University who was then at Harvard, traveled around the world alone with a return air ticket and 200 dollars, and wrote a travelogue, Nandemo Miteyaro, I’ll Go and See Everything, which became the bestseller in Japan. Many people travel without a guide across the world every year. Travel agencies have started providing various kinds of tours to meet various demands of both experienced travelers who are fed up with package tours and people who are from the beginning interested in specific destinations which happen to be out of the tourism network. For many people, a guided group tour is not the best choice.

人は旅からパッケージツアー以上の何か自分だけの特別な経験を欲しがっていると信じる私はたぶん空想主義的過ぎるかもしれない。しかし、一人旅は実はとても人気がある。約半世紀前、東京大学の学生で当時ハーバード大学にいた小田実は帰路の飛行機の切符一枚と200ドルをもって一人で世界旅行をして旅行記「なんでも見てやろう」を書いた。この本は日本でベストセラーになった。毎年ガイドなしで世界を旅する人が多数いる。旅行代理店はパッケージツアーに飽きた経験豊富な旅行者と観光業界網外にたまたまある特定の目的地に最初から興味がある人達両方の多様な要求を満たすために多種多様なツアーを始めている。多くの人々にとってガイド付き団体旅行は最善の選択肢ではないのだ。

 

The word travel encompasses a broad range of activities related, either directly or indirectly, to our existence, while a guided group tour is a relatively new activity for fun. The best way to travel efficiently for sport can be in a group led by a tour guide. However, the best way to travel varies depending on what the traveler is in search of, and I believe we all want to be a mystic traveler deep in our heart when we say, “I’ve got to hit the road.”

旅という言葉は直接的にであれ間接的にであれ経験に関連した幅広い行動を含んでる一方でガイド付き団体旅行は比較的新しい娯楽だ。楽しみのために効率よく旅する最善の方法はガイドに率いられた集団でかもしれない。しかし、旅する最善の方法は旅行者が何を探し求めているかによって様々なのであり、「旅に出なくちゃ。」と言う時、私たちは皆、心の深いところでミスティック・トラベラーになりたいと思っていると信じている。