过去真的比现在更美好？

 　　Why does everything seem so much more simple and dreamy in the days gone by? Maybe it was lack of technology that forced us to be more personal or maybe the slower pace of life that left you with time to "stop and smell the roses?"

　　为什么在过去的日子里，一切都显得那么简单和梦幻？也许是缺乏迫使我们更加个人化的科技，或者是以前更加慢节奏的生活使你可以“停下脚步、细嗅蔷薇”。

　　I always hear my elders talking about how simpler times were when there weren’t phones in everyone’s hands and the only entertainment they had was sitting around listening to radio talk shows. However, were these times as great as we think they were? Do they owe their enchantment¹ to their distance in time?

　　我经常听到老人们谈论当人人手中都没有手机时生活是多么地简单，那时他们唯一的娱乐就是坐在一起听广播。但是，这些时日真的如我们想象的那么美好吗？是否只是因为距离产生美呢？

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　　I recently watched a movie entitled² Midnight in Paris (2011). In this fantasy film, the main character gets lost in the streets of Paris and at the stroke of midnight, a vintage vehicle pulls up, the passengers encourage him to get in and he is transported to the 1920s, the era he has always romanticized.

　　我最近观看了一部2011年的电影《午夜巴黎（Midnight in Paris）》。在这部奇幻电影中，主角迷失在了巴黎的街头，而当午夜钟声敲响时，一辆老式的汽车停了下来，车上的乘客鼓励主角上车，最终他被送回了20世纪20年代——一个他总认为浪漫非常的年代。

　　During his journey to the past, he realizes the people living in his "golden age," long for the ages before theirs.

　　在主角重返过去的旅途中，他发现生活在他的“黄金时代”里的人们却非常渴望他们之前的人的时代。

　　Using "The Roaring 20s" as an example, in an age of sustained³ economic prosperity and cultural edginess⁴, things were not as pretty as the pictures of flappers and cocktail⁵ parties we all have painted in our minds.

　　以“咆哮的二十年代”为例，那个经济持续繁荣和文化躁动的时代，并不像我们心中描绘的时髦女郎、鸡尾酒舞会那么美好。

　　As the populations in cities grew, crime and political corruption⁶ became more acceptable⁷ and even reached into the nation’s congress, and organizations such as the Klu Klux Klan began to form.

　　随着城市人口的增长，犯罪和政治腐败变得更加可以接受，甚至美国国会也出现了这些问题，例如3K党等组织也开始出现。

　　Same goes for our parents and grandparents, who believe they lived in a better, simpler time. Forgetting all the hardships they faced and how, maybe, they are only remembering what and how they want to feel about the past.

　　我们的父母和祖父母们也一样，他们相信曾经的生活更好、更简单。他们忘记了过去的艰辛，也许想要记住的只是自己心中希望感受到的那个“过去”。

　　Today things are growing and changing faster than ever. We have a world of knowledge literally⁸ at our fingertips; we have the ability to travel, move to new places and achieve things people in the past, and even our own parents, could never dream of.

　　如今，事情的发展和变化比任何时候都要快。在我们指尖真真正正有一个知识的世界；我们有能力旅行、有能力搬到新的地方、有能力实现过去的人，甚至是我们的父母，想都不会想的事情。

　　Although I find myself thinking of what it must have been like to live "the simple life," I still think today is better than all the yesterdays.

　　尽管我发现自己在想“简单的生活”是什么样子，但是我仍然认为今天比所有的昨天都更加美好。

　　Next time you hear someone saying they wished they didn’t live in these times, ask them about their travels or how they are able to talk with friends who live far away or in other countries.

　　当你下次听到有人说不希望生活在现今时代的时候，问问他们过去是怎么出行的，或者问问他们是如何与生活在外地或外国的朋友交谈的。

　　While the past is something we should all treasure and learn from, I consider the present my golden age.

　　虽然我们应该珍惜并反思过去，但是我认为当下才是我的黄金时代。

1 enchantment   

n.迷惑，妖术，魅力

参考例句：

• The beauty of the scene filled us with enchantment.风景的秀丽令我们陶醉。
• The countryside lay as under some dread enchantment.乡村好像躺在某种可怖的魔法之下。

2 entitled   

有资格的

参考例句：

• You will be entitled to your pension when you reach 65. 你到65岁就有资格享受养老金。
• He entitled us to enter his office at any time. 他授权给我们可以随时进入他的办公室。

3 sustained   

adj.持久的，持续的v.维持( sustain的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；忍受；长期保持

参考例句：

• Without correct leadership, the enthusiasm of the masses cannot be sustained. 没有正确的领导，群众的积极性就不可能持久。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He has sustained a great loss by the death of his father. 他父亲的去世使他蒙受巨大的损失。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 edginess   

n.刀口锐利，急躁

参考例句：

5 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

6 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

7 acceptable   

adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。