Characters in Meet Yourself show the charms of volunteering while traveling in Yunnan province. HUACE FILM & TV

Did you watch the popular TV series Meet Yourself during your winter vacation? In the TV series, the heroine Xu Hongdou travels to a village in Yunnan province and volunteers at a local cafe. She gets free meals in return. As the show finds a growing audience, volunteer travel ‑an old-yet-modern form of travel similar to Xu’s type of work ‑has attracted more attention.

寒假期间，你看热播电视剧《去有风的地方》了吗？在剧中，女主角许红豆来到云南的一座村庄，在当地的一家咖啡馆做义工，以此换得免费的餐食。许红豆的经历近乎于“义工旅行”，随着越来越多的观众收看这部电视剧，这种古老而现代的旅行方式也吸引了更多关注。

Volunteer travel refers to taking a trip where all or part of the purpose of the trip is to participate in an arranged service opportunity to help others, according to Wise Tour, an online provider of tourist information.

根据线上文旅信息平台智胜慧旅的解释，义工旅行指旅行的全部或部分目的，在于参与安排好的、帮助他人的志愿服务。

During the trip, volunteer travelers often provide services like teaching, cooking, animal caring, and cultural activities. In exchange for their help, the volunteers may get free or discounted accommodation, meals and laundry, activities, or classes.

在旅途中，义工往往提供教学、烹饪、照看动物、组织文化活动等服务。而作为对志愿服务的回报，在食宿、洗衣、参加活动或课程等方面，义工可以得到费用减免。

It seems as if these long journeys could only be made possible in recent years by modern transportation. Nevertheless, volunteer travel dates back to the 1960s, when Alec Dickson and his wife Mora from the UK founded Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), an international volunteer organization.

似乎只因现代交通发展，这些长途旅行才在近些年成为了可能。然而，义工旅行可以追溯到20世纪60年代，当时来自英国的亚力克·迪克森和妻子莫拉成立了一个国际义工组织——海外志愿服务(VSO)。

Traditionally, the volunteer activities take place in a foreign country. However, just as what Meet Yourself depicts, more volunteer trips have taken place within the same countries or regions the volunteers originate from in recent years. Sanlian Lifeweek magazine commented that volunteer projects in rural areas are now attracting more urban visitors as a break from the fast and stressful pace of urban living. Yang Yan, a founder of a volunteer platform, told the magazine that it has indeed been a growing trend for urban residents to volunteer in rural areas.

传统的义工活动在国外进行，然而，正如《去有风的地方》里所展现的那样，近年来，越来越多的义工旅行发生在旅行者自身的国家或地区。《三联生活周刊》评论称，农村义工项目正在吸引越来越多城市游客的注意，令其从快速而紧张的城市生活节奏中解脱出来。一家义工平台的创始人杨燕在接受该杂志采访时表示，城市居民到农村做义工的确成了一种趋势。

People try volunteer travel for several reasons. By working voluntarily while traveling, travelers may make a real, positive impact on the world. The services volunteers provide can be through charities with lower costs for the communities they serve. Another benefit of volunteer travel is that it helps urban dwellers to get a taste of rural life. For those who are sick of urban pressure but can’t make up their minds whether to move permanently to the countryside, volunteer travel can be a solution. In this way, as Yang comments, travelers can catch some relief from their busy lives, while rural communities also benefit by receiving more customers for local tourism industries and temporary high-quality labor.

人们会出于多种原因尝试义工旅行。通过在旅行中从事志愿工作，旅行者可能会对世界产生真正积极的影响。义工可以通过慈善机构提供服务，为其服务的社区降低开销。义工旅行还有另一个好处：可以帮助城市居民体验乡村生活。对于那些厌倦了城市压力，但又拿不定主意是否要永久移居农村的人来说，义工旅行也许能解决烦恼。正如杨燕所说，通过义工旅行，旅行者可以从繁忙的生活中得到一丝放松，当地旅游业也能吸引更多的客户和临时的优质劳动力，从而令农村地区受益。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报》高二896期