Once a year most English families take an extended① holiday. Until air travel became more common these family holidays were almost always spent in one of the coastal② seaside resorts.
Shops in the seaside towns sold buckets， spades， postcards， candyfloss， toffee apples， sticks of rock， and fish and chips.
Pitching③ their camps of brightly coloured canvas wind-breaks on the beach， English families spent days on end appearing to enjoy melting ice creams， leaking thermos flasks④ and sand in everything.
Nowadays the English start their holidays at Gatwick， Stansted， Luton， Manchester， Birmingham or Heathrow airports and fly over those winding English lanes， bound for⑤ Spain， Greece， Cyprus， Florida or anywhere sunny where they can still be guaranteed amusement arcades⑥ ， postcards to send home， and the reassuring smell of fried food.
There many carry on just as if they were still in Bognor， Blackpool or Brighton. They stick together， ignoring⑦ the existence of the natives， and spend most of the day lying in the sun. At night they drink， dance， and throw up in discotheques⑧ thoughtfully provided for the purpose by the locals.
① extendedadj. 伸出的，延长的，长期的
② coastaladj. 海岸的，沿海的
③ pitchingn. 铺地石，俯仰
④ flaskn. 烧瓶，长颈瓶，携带瓶
⑤ bound for驶往
⑥ arcaden. 长廊商场
⑦ ignorev. 不顾，不理会，忽视
⑧ discothequen. 迪斯科舞厅
英国的年假
大多数的英国家庭一年要休一次长假。在航空旅行比较普及之前，这些家庭几乎总是在某个海边旅游胜地度假。
在海边镇上的商店里卖各种各样的东西，有桶、铲子、明信片、棉花糖、太妃糖苹果、彩色硬棒糖，还有炸鱼加炸土豆条。
他们在海滩搭起颜色鲜艳的挡风帆布帐篷，一连几天高兴地吃着在融化冰激凌、用漏水的热水瓶、体验到处都是沙子的生活。
如今的英国人度假从盖特威克、斯坦斯特德、卢顿，曼彻斯特、伯明翰或希思罗机场开始，飞越英国那些弯弯曲曲的小路，飞向西班牙、希腊、塞浦路斯、佛罗里达或者任何阳光充足的地方，只要那儿能有游乐中心可玩，有明信片可寄回家，有油炸食物香味的慰藉。
许多人在那儿的生活，就仿佛自己还是在英国的博格诺、布莱克浦或布赖顿等城市那样。他们自己聚在一起，无视当地人的存在，一天中大多数时间都躺着晒太阳。晚上他们到迪斯科舞厅去喝酒、跳舞，把吃的喝的吐出来。这些迪斯科舞厅是当地人为让他们这样玩而精心为他们提供的。