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1、The American Character 美国人的性格 The following is part of an essay taken from Bradford Smiths book, Why We Behave Like Americans. Success as a goal and materialism, according to Smith, are among the underlying factors that make up the American character. 以下节选自布拉德福德所著为什么我们的举止象美国人里的一篇文章.据布拉德福德所说,目标 为成功和物
2、质享乐主义,构成美国人性格的内在因素.没When visitors from abroad undertake to describe the American Character, the results are frequently puzzling to Americans. All Americans are Puritans; thats whats wrong with them, says one. Theyre always thinking about enjoying themselves, says another. They spend too much time at
3、 work, a distinguished visitor tells us. They dont know how to play. Americans dont know what work is, retorts another. Their machines do it all. American women are shameless sirens. No, theyre prudes. The children here are wonderful outgoing and natural. Natural as little beasts. They have no manne
4、rs, no respect for their elders.要是让国外来客描述美国人的性格,结果常常令美国人感到奇怪.一个人说：所有的美国人都是清教徒；所以他们与众不同.另一个人说：他们总是想方设法让自己开心.一位尊贵的客人告诉我们：他们花在工作上的时间太多.他们不懂如何玩乐.另一个人反驳说：他们不懂什么是工作.因为机器替他们做了一切.美国女人是不知廉耻的,妖艳而危险的女人.-不,她们假正经.这里的孩子真好外向,自然.-象小小的野兽一样自然.他们没礼貌,不尊敬长辈.There is, of course, no single pattern of American character an
5、y more than there is a single English or Turkish or Chinese character. Personality in America is further plicated by our diverse racial and cultural origins, by successive waves of immigration from all parts of the world, by our regional diversities. It is plicated by several hundred varieties of re
6、ligious belief with their varying impact on the believers. It is further diversified by the generation to which the person belongs first generation immigrant, second generation child of immigrants, and on down the line. 当然,世上既没有单一模式的美国人性格,也没有单一的英国人性格或土耳其人性格或是中国人性格.个性的定义在美国变得更为复杂,因为我们有不同的种族和文化背景,因为来自
7、世界各地连续不断的移民浪潮,因为我们区域的多样性.个性的定义变得复杂,因为几百种不同的#信仰与其对各自的信奉者的影响不同.个性的定义也由于每个人所处的年代不同而趋多样化 第一代是移民,第二代是移民的孩子,一直照此延续下去.The temptation is strong to lump all Americans together. Yet those who look a little deeper are puzzled by the seeming contradictions in American life. It is true that Americans as a whole
8、work hard. But they also play hard. They spend more time and money in traveling, camping, hunting, watching sports, drinking, smoking, going to movies, watching television and reading newspapers and magazines than any other people in the world. Yet they also spend more money on churches, social serv
9、ices, hospitals and all kinds of charities. They are always in a hurry, yet they spend more time relaxing. They are at the same time sensitive to the rights of the individual and habitual conformist. They worship bigness yet idealize the little man, whether he be the small business man as opposed to
10、 the big one or the plain citizen as opposed to the big wheel. 强大的吸引力把众多的美国人聚集在了一起.然而那些想再了解深入一点的人弄不懂美国人生活中各种似乎自相矛盾的东西.的确,美国人总体上工作努力.但他们也拼命地玩.他们去旅游、露营、打猎、看体育比赛、喝酒、抽烟、看电影电视、读报纸杂志,花的时间和金钱比世界任何地方的人都多.而他们还把更多的时间花在教会、社会服务、医院和各种各样的慈善活动上.他们总是忙来忙去,又总是花更多的时间休闲.他们十分在乎个人的权利,又习惯于墨守陈规.他们崇拜大人物,也把小人物理想化 ,不论他是和大商人形成
11、对照的小商人,还是和大权在握的人形成对照的平民百姓.Success as a Goal 成功作为目标One thing almost everyone is agreed on, including Americans, is that they place a very high valuation upon success. Success does not necessarily mean material rewards, but recognition of some sort preferably measurable. If the boy turns out to be a p
12、reacher instead of a business man, thats all right. But the bigger his church and congregation, the more successful he is judged to be.包括美国人在内几乎每一个人都会赞同的一点是,美国人极为看重成功.成功不一定是物质上的回报,而是得到某种认可, 最好是可以衡量的那种.如果一个男孩后来没有从商,而是做了布道的教士,那也没什么.但是他的教堂规模越大,教堂会众越多,别人就认为他越成功.A good many things contributed to this acc
13、ent on success. There was the Puritan belief in the virtue of work, both for its own sake and because the rewards it brought were regarded as signs of Gods love. There was the richness of opportunity in a land waiting to be settled. There was the lack of a settled society with fixed ranks and classe
14、s, so that a man was certain to rise through achievement. 好多事情都说明,成功是美国人生活的重点.清教徒相信工作带来的好处,既有工作本身的乐趣,还因为工作的回报是上帝之爱的体现.一片富饶的土地到处都是机遇,等待着人们到来.在一个不固守陈规的社会,没有严格的等级和阶级,这样人就一定能通过成功提升自己的社会地位.There was the determination of the immigrant to gain in the new world what had been denied to him in the old, and th
15、e part of his children an urge to throw off the immigrant onus by still more success and still more rise in a fluid, classless society. Brothers did not pete within the family for the favor of the parents as in Europe, but strove for success in the outer world, along paths of their own choosing. 凡是旧
16、的世界拒绝给的,移民决心都要在新的世界得到.对于他的后代而言,要摆脱作为移民的负担,只有在一个灵活自由的无阶级社会里取得更多的成功,升至更高的地位.他们的兄弟之间不象欧洲人那样为获得父母的欢心而相互 倾轧,他们都在外面的世界 沿着各自选择的道路为成功而奋力拚搏.The English anthropologist, Geoffrey Gorer, sees the whole situation in Freudian terms. Europe is the father rejected by every immigrant who turned his back on his own culture in order to make a new life in America. The immigr
