全新版大学英语综合教程第四册UNIT4-2

  
     America has drawn¹ to its shores individuals from all over the world. This has produced a blending of different ways of life that many Americans find disturbing. Ishmael Reed, however, sees this mixing of customs as neither new nor a threat. On the contrary, it is typically American.
      美国吸引世界各国的人去它那里。这就导致了不同生活方式的交融，对此，不少美国人感到不安。伊什梅尔·里德却认为，这种不同习俗的糅合既不是新事物，也不是什么威胁。相反，这正是典型的美国风格。 

 

 
 

What's American about America?

Ishmael Reed

1    An item from the New York Times, June 23, 1983: "At the annual Lower East Side Jewish Festival yesterday, a Chinese woman ate a pizza slice in front of Ty Thuan Duc's Vietnamese grocery store. Beside her a Spanish-speaking family patronized a cart with two signs: 'Italian Ices' and 'Kosher by Rabbi Alper'."
美国的特色是什么？

伊什梅尔·里德

      1983年6月23日《纽约时报》的一则报道：“在昨天举行的每年一度的下东区犹太节上，一位华裔女子在越南杂货店前吃着比萨。在她身边，一个说西班牙语的家庭正在光顾一辆小推车，车上有两块牌子，写着：'意大利冰淇淋'和'阿尔帕拉比犹太食品'。”
 

 
 
  　
2    On the day before Memorial Day, 1983, a poet called me to describe a city he had just visited. He said that one section included mosques², built by the Islamic people who dwelled there. Attending his reading, he said, were large numbers of Hispanic people, 40,000 of whom lived in the same city. He was not talking about a legendary³ city located in some mysterious region of the world. The city he'd visited was Detroit.
      1983年阵亡将士纪念日的前一天，一位诗人在电话里向我描述了他刚刚去过的一个城市。他说该市某处有不少清真寺，都是当地的伊斯兰教信徒建造的。他说，该城共住有4万西班牙裔美国人，其中许多人前来参加了他的诗歌朗诵会。他说的不是坐落在世界某个神秘地方的充满传奇色彩的城市。他去的城市是底特律。
 

 
 
 
3    A few months before, as I was visiting Texas, I heard the taped voice used to guide passengers to their connections at the Dallas Airport announcing items in both Spanish and English. This trend is likely to continue; after all, for some southwestern states like Texas, where the largest minority is now Mexican-American, Spanish was the first written language and the Spanish style lives on in the western way of life.
      几个月前我去得克萨斯，在达拉斯机场里听见指引乘客上联运飞机的广播分别用西班牙语和英语播报航班信息。这一潮流很可能继续下去，别忘了，在像得克萨斯这样的西南部的一些州，墨西哥裔美国人是目前最大的少数民族，西班牙语是首选的书面语言，而西班牙风格也一直存在于西部生活中。
 

 
 
 
4    Shortly after my Texas trip, I sat in a campus auditorium⁴ at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee as a Yale professor -- whose original work on the influence of African cultures upon those of the Americas has led to his ostracism⁵ from some intellectual circles -- walked up and down the aisle⁶ like an old-time Southern evangelist, dancing and drumming the top of the lectern, illustrating⁷ his points before some Afro-American intellectuals and artists who cheered and applauded his performance. The professor was "white." After his lecture, he conversed⁸ with a group of Milwaukeeans -- all of whom spoke⁹ Yoruban, though only the professor had ever traveled to Africa.
      得克萨斯之行后不久，我坐在位于密尔沃基市的威斯康星大学的校园礼堂里，一位耶鲁大学教授--他那些论述非洲文化对美洲文化所产生的影响的有独到见解的著作致使他遭到某些知识界人士的摈弃—如同旧时南方福音传道士那样，在过道上走过来走过去，手舞足蹈，还拍击讲桌桌面，在一些对他的表演报以喝彩鼓掌的非洲裔美国知识分子和艺术家前阐述着自己的观点。这位教授是白人。讲座之后，他与一群全都说约鲁巴语的密尔沃基人交谈，但只有这位教授真正去过非洲。
 

 
 
  
5    One of the artists there told me that his paintings, which included African and Afro-American mythological¹⁰ symbols and imagery, were hanging in the local McDonald's restaurant. The next day I went to McDonald's and snapped pictures of smiling youngsters eating hamburgers below paintings that could grace the walls of any of the country's leading museums. The manager of the local McDonald's said, "I don't know what you boys are doing, but I like it," as he commissioned the local painters to exhibit in his restaurant.       当地一位艺术家告诉我，他的一些含有非洲和美国黑人神话中的象征和意象的画作悬挂在当地一家麦当劳快餐店里。第二天我去了那家麦当劳快餐店，拍下了一些坐在画下吃汉堡包的面带微笑的青年人，那些画挂在美国任何一家著名博物馆里都会增光添彩。麦当劳的经理对我说：“我不知道你们这是在干什么，不过我觉得挺好，”是他允许当地画家把他们的作品拿到店里展示。
 

 
 
 
6    Such blurring¹¹ of cultural styles occurs in everyday life in the United States to a greater extent than anyone can imagine. Yet members of the nation's present educational and cultural elite¹² still cling to the notion that the United States belongs to some vaguely¹³ defined entity¹⁴ they refer to as "Western civilization," by which they mean, presumably, a civilization created by people of Europe, as if Europe can even be viewed as completely uninfluenced by the rest of the world. Is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which includes Turkish marches, a part of Western civilization? Or the late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century French paintings, whose creators were influenced by Japanese art? And what of the cubists, through whom the influence of African art changed modern painting? Or the surrealists, who were so impressed with the art of the Pacific Northwest Indians that, in their map of North America, Alaska dwarfs¹⁵ the lower forty-eight states in size?
      这种文化风格模糊化的现象在美国的日常生活中屡见不鲜，远远超出人们的想象。然而，当今美国教育文化界的特权分子仍紧抱着固有的观念，认为美国属于某种定义模糊的他们称之为“西方文明”的实体，他们所指的想必就是由欧洲人创造的文明，仿佛欧洲可以被视为完全不受世界其他地区影响似的。借用了土耳其进行曲的贝多芬第九交响曲是不是西方文明的一部分？19世纪末和20世纪的法国绘画呢？那些画的创作者可都是深受日本艺术影响的。那些立体主义画家呢？通过他们，非洲艺术的影响改变了现代绘画。还有那些超现实主义艺术家呢？他们为太平洋西北部的印第安艺术所深深打动，于是在他们所绘的北美地图上，阿拉斯加使得其他48州显得很小。
 

 
 
 
7    Are the Russians, who are often criticized for their adoption¹⁶ of "Western" ways by Tsarist dissidents in exile, members of Western civilization? And what of the millions of Europeans who have black African and Asian ancestry¹⁷, black Africans having occupied several European countries for hundreds of years? Are these "Europeans" a part of Western civilization? Or the Hungarians, who originated across the Urals in a place called Greater Hungary? Or the Irish, who came from the Iberian Peninsula?
      经常被流亡中的拥护沙皇的持不同政见者指责为采用“西方”方式的俄罗斯人是不是西方文明的成员？千百万祖先为非洲黑人和亚洲人的欧洲人呢，数百年来一直生活在一些欧洲国家的非洲黑人呢？这些“欧洲人”是不是西方文明的一部分？还有祖辈居住乌拉尔山脉彼侧一个叫做大马扎尔的地方的匈牙利人呢？还有来自伊比利亚半岛的爱尔兰人呢？
 

 
 
  
8    Even the notion that North America is part of Western civilization because our "system of government" is derived¹⁸ from Europe is being challenged by Native American historians who say that the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin especially, were actually influenced by the system of government that had been adopted by the Iroquois hundreds of years prior to the arrival of Europeans.
      就连因为我们的“政体”源自欧洲，所以北美是西方文明的一部分这一观念也遭到了美国本土历史学家的质疑。他们声称，事实上那些开国元勋，尤其是本杰明·弗兰克林，受到易洛魁族人在欧洲人到来前几百年就已采用的政体的影响。
 

 
 
 
9    Western civilization, then, becomes another confusing category -- like Third World, or Judeo-Christian culture -- as humanity attempts to impose its small-screen view of political and cultural reality upon a complex world. Our most publicized novelist recently said that Western civilization was the greatest achievement of mankind -- an attitude that flourishes on the street level as scribbles¹⁹ in public restrooms: "White Power," "Niggers and Spics Suck," or "Hitler was a prophet." Where did such an attitude, which has caused so much misery²⁰ and depression in our national life, which has spoiled even our noblest achievements, begin? An attitude that caused the confinement²¹ of Japanese-American citizens during World War II, the persecution²² of Chicanos and Chinese Americans, the near-extermination of the Indians, and the murder and lynchings of thousands of Afro-Americans.
      这样一来，由于人类试图将从狭小屏幕观察政治文化现实得出的看法强加于错综复杂的世界，西方文明就成为又一个令人困惑的范畴—就像第三世界或者犹太教和基督教共有文化那样。我们知名度最高的小说家最近声称，西方文明是人类最伟大的成就—这种态度在平民百姓中也大有市场，只要看看公共厕所里的涂鸦就知道了：“白人权力”、“黑鬼和西班牙佬可恶”、“希特勒是预言家”。此类带给我们的国民生活如此深重的苦难和绝望、甚至玷污了我们最辉煌成就的态度是如何出现的？这种态度导致了日裔美国公民在第二次世界大战期间遭受拘禁，导致了墨西哥裔和华裔美国人遭受迫害，致使印第安人几乎被灭绝，致使成千上万的非洲裔美国人被谋杀，被以私刑处死。
 

 
 
  
10    The Puritans of New England are idealized in our schoolbooks as the first Americans, "a hardy²³ band" whose discipline razed²⁴ the forest and brought order to the New World (a term that annoys Native American historians). Industrious²⁵, responsible, it was their "Yankee ingenuity²⁶" and practicality that created the work ethic²⁷.
      在我们的教材中，新英格兰的清教徒被理想化地描述为最早的美国人， “吃苦耐劳的一批人”，他们严格的行为准则把森林夷为平地，给新世界（一个令美国本土历史学家们耿耿于怀的名称）带来了秩序。他们勤勉尽责，正是他们那“扬基式的机灵”和务实精神创立了职业道德。
 

 
 
  
11    The Puritans, however, had a mean streak²⁸. They hated the theater and banned Christmas. They punished people in a cruel and inhuman²⁹ manner. They killed children who disobeyed their parents. They exterminated³⁰ the Indians, who had taught them how to survive in a world unknown to them. The Puritan legacy³¹ of hard work and meticulous³² accounting³³ led to the establishment of a great industrial society, but there was the other side -- the strange and fearful attitudes of that society toward those different from the elect.
      然而，那些清教徒生性也有卑劣的一面。他们憎恶戏剧演出，禁止圣诞节庆。他们惨无人道地惩罚他人。他们处死违抗父母旨意的孩子。他们把教会自己如何在一个陌生的世界生存的印第安人屠杀殆尽。从清教徒那里遗传下来的勤奋和精于计算促成了一个伟大的工业社会的建立，但是还有另一面—那就是这个社会对待那些上帝选民以外的人的奇怪可怕的态度。
 

 
 
  
12    The cultural attitudes of that early elect continue to be voiced in everyday life in the United States; the president of a distinguished³⁴ university, writing a letter to the Times, belittling³⁵ the study of African civilizations; the television network that promoted its show on the Vatican art with the boast that this art represented "the finest achievements of the human spirit."
      那些早期的上帝选民们的文化观念在美国的日常生活中继续被传扬；一所著名大学的校长给《时代周刊》写信，贬低非洲文明研究的意义；电视网为一档有关梵蒂冈艺术的节目做宣传时夸耀说，这一艺术代表了“人类精神最优秀的成就。”
 

 
 
  
13    When I heard a schoolteacher warn the other night about the invasion of the American educational system by foreign curricula, I wanted to yell at the television set, "Lady, they're already here." It has already begun because the world is here. The world has been arriving at these shores for at least 10,000 years from Europe, Africa, and Asia. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, large numbers of Europeans arrived, adding their cultures to those of the European, African, and Asian settlers who were already here, and recently millions have been entering the country from South America and the Caribbean.
      一天晚上，当我听到一位教师大谈国外课程侵入美国教育体系的威胁时，我真想对着电视机大喝一声：“女士，它们已经来了。”侵入已然发生，因为整个世界已经涌入。来自欧洲、非洲、亚洲的世界各地的人们从东西海岸涌入，至少已有一万年之久。在19世纪末和20世纪初，大批欧洲人来到这里，把他们的文化添进已经居住着的欧洲、非洲和亚洲移民的文化中，近来又有数百万来自南美和加勒比海地区的移民涌入。
 

 
 
  
14    North America deserves a more exciting destiny than as a storeroom of "Western civilization." We can become a place where the cultures of the world crisscross. This is possible because the United States and Canada are unique in the world: The world is here.
      北美理应担负起比充当“西方文明”的储藏库更令人激奋的使命。我们可以成为世界不同文化的交汇地。这是可能的，因为美国和加拿大与众不同：世界在此交汇。 
 

 

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

3 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

4 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

5 ostracism   

n.放逐；排斥

参考例句：

• Until I emigrated to America,my family and I endured progressive ostracism and discrimination.我的家庭和我自己忍受着变本加厉的排斥和歧视直到我移居美国。
• For the first time in her life the import and horror of social ostracism flashed upon her.她生平第一次突然想到遭受社交界排斥的意义与可怕。

6 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

7 illustrating   

给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• He upstaged the other speakers by illustrating his talk with slides. 他演讲中配上幻灯片，比其他演讲人更吸引听众。
• Material illustrating detailed structure of graptolites has been etched from limestone by means of hydrofluoric acid. 表明笔石详细构造的物质是利用氢氟酸从石灰岩中侵蚀出来。

8 conversed   

v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 )

参考例句：

• I conversed with her on a certain problem. 我与她讨论某一问题。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She was cheerful and polite, and conversed with me pleasantly. 她十分高兴，也很客气，而且愉快地同我交谈。 来自辞典例句

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 mythological   

adj.神话的

参考例句：

• He is remembered for his historical and mythological works. 他以其带有历史感和神话色彩的作品而著称。
• But even so, the cumulative process had for most Americans a deep, almost mythological significance. 不过即使如此，移民渐增的过程，对于大部分美国人，还是意味深长的，几乎有不可思议的影响。

11 blurring   

n.模糊，斑点甚多，（图像的）混乱v.（使）变模糊( blur的现在分词 )；（使）难以区分

参考例句：

• Retinal hemorrhage, and blurring of the optic dise cause visual disturbances. 视网膜出血及神经盘模糊等可导致视力障碍。 来自辞典例句
• In other ways the Bible limited Puritan writing, blurring and deadening the pages. 另一方面，圣经又限制了清教时期的作品，使它们显得晦涩沉闷。 来自辞典例句

12 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

13 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

14 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

15 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

16 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

17 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

18 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 scribbles   

n.潦草的书写( scribble的名词复数 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下v.潦草的书写( scribble的第三人称单数 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• The scribbles on the wall must be the work of those children. 墙壁上的涂鸦准是那几个孩子画的。 来自辞典例句
• There are scribbles on the wall. 墙上有胡乱涂写的字迹。 来自辞典例句

20 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

21 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

22 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

23 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

24 razed   

v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The village was razed to the ground . 这座村庄被夷为平地。
• Many villages were razed to the ground. 许多村子被夷为平地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 industrious   

adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的

参考例句：

• If the tiller is industrious,the farmland is productive.人勤地不懒。
• She was an industrious and willing worker.她是个勤劳肯干的员工。

26 ingenuity   

n.别出心裁；善于发明创造

参考例句：

• The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
• I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。

27 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

28 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

29 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

30 exterminated   

v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was exterminated root and branch. 它被彻底剪除了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The insects can be exterminated by spraying DDT. 可以用喷撒滴滴涕的方法大量杀死这种昆虫。 来自《用法词典》

31 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

32 meticulous   

adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的

参考例句：

• We'll have to handle the matter with meticulous care.这事一点不能含糊。
• She is meticulous in her presentation of facts.她介绍事实十分详细。

33 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

34 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

35 belittling   

使显得微小，轻视，贬低( belittle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• We must be realistic in our self-estimation, neither being conceited nor belittling ourselves. 我们对自己的估计应该实事求是， 不要自高自大，也不要妄自菲薄。
• I find it belittling to be criticized by someone so much younger than me. 有个比我年轻许多的人批评了我，我觉得是小看了我。