时代周刊:美国种族问题"光说没有用"(4)

But even among those white Americans who do not live in a state of denial, the call to action has once again grown faint, if it was ever there at all.

但即使在那些没有生活在否定状态下的美国白人中，行动的呼声也再次变得微弱，如果曾经存在的话。

Few companies have been so public in discussing how employees involved in unfair practices might actually be penalized¹, or how the obligation to operate with equity² in mind will be prioritized above profits.

很少有公司会如此公开地讨论卷入不公平行为的员工可能会受到怎样的惩罚，或者如何将公平经营的义务置于利润之上。

Few organizations or individuals have acknowledged outright³ that they have engaged in racist⁴ practices, or explained how they plan to stop.

很少有组织或个人直接承认他们从事种族主义活动，或解释自己计划如何停止。

There aren't many parents willing to stop arranging their housing around the pursuit of "good schools"—thinly veiled code for white schools—or wealthy people ready to admit the racial consequences of opposing higher taxes on investment earnings⁵.

没有多少父母愿意为了追求“好学校”(白人学校几乎不加掩饰的准则)而停止安排住房，也没有多少富人愿意承认反对对投资收益增税的种族后果。

After the nation's so-called reckoning, to which those who claimed to have awakened⁶ brought PowerPoint presentations and brochures, few have stayed behind to fold and stack the chairs.

在国家的所谓“清算”之后——那些声称已经觉醒的人带来了PPT演示文稿和小册子——几乎没有人留下来叠椅子。

IT IS NOT TRUE that, as the most exhausted⁷ among us sometimes assert, nothing has changed.

我们当中最疲惫的人有时会断言，什么都没有改变，这是不正确的。

But as the optimistic Myrdal saw in 1944, yet had a hard time putting bluntly, America is not about the business of doing things much differently.

但正如乐观的默达尔在1944年所看到的那样(虽然他很难直言不讳)，美国在做事方面并没有太大的不同。

When the New Deal reoriented Americans' relationships to their government, officials south of the Mason-Dixon Line made sure that most of the jobs done by Black Americans were excluded from the new Social Security system.

当新政重新定位了美国人与政府的关系时，梅森-迪克森线以南的官员们确定了美国黑人的大部分工作被排除在新的社会保障体系之外。

Program administrators⁸ barred Black Americans from meaningful access to the homeownership and education programs that ensconced millions of white Americans in the middle class.

项目管理者禁止美国黑人获得有意义的住房所有权和教育项目，而正这些项目使得数百万的美国白人得以进入中产阶级。

In his study, Myrdal found ample proof of Black ingenuity⁹, creativity and grit¹⁰, producing lives of multidimensional joy and peril¹¹. All that's still there.

在他的研究中，默达尔发现了充分的证据，证明黑人的聪明才智、创造力和勇气，创造了多维度的快乐和危险的生活。所有这些都还在。

But perhaps today's list of dangerous inequities wouldn't run quite so long or, in some cases, have come to envelop¹² other groups, if sustained action had been taken in response to his findings—something he believed possible.

但如果对他的发现采取了持续的行动——他相信这是有可能的——那么今天的危险不平等名单或许不会持续这么久，或者在某些情况下，会包围其他群体。

"It is true the average white American does not want to sacrifice much himself in order to improve the living condition of Negroes," he wrote. "But on this point, the American creed¹³ is quite clear and explicit¹⁴."

他写道：“的确，普通美国白人不愿意为了改善黑人的生活条件而牺牲自己。”“但在这一点上，美国的信条是非常明确的。”

Myrdal died in 1987. He did not live to see the new and creative ways that Americans have developed of telling lies. And he was not immune to the same maladies.

默达尔于1987年去世。他没有活着看到美国人发展出来的新的、有创造性的说谎方式。他也不能对同样的疾病免疫。

Myrdal was optimistic about the nation and dubious¹⁵ about whether Black Americans were equipped to function as full citizens.

默达尔对这个国家持乐观态度，但对美国黑人是否具备成为完全公民的条件表示怀疑。

1 penalized   

对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 )； 使处于不利地位

参考例句：

• You will be penalized for poor spelling. 你拼写不好将会受到处罚。
• Team members will be penalized for lateness. 队员迟到要受处罚。

2 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

3 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

4 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

5 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

6 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

8 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

9 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。

10 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

11 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

12 envelop   

vt.包，封，遮盖；包围

参考例句：

• All combine to form a layer of mist to envelop this region.织成一层烟雾又笼罩着这个地区。
• The dust cloud will envelop the planet within weeks.产生的尘云将会笼罩整个星球长达几周。

13 creed   

n.信条；信念，纲领

参考例句：

• They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
• Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。

14 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

15 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。