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A Letter To America
You are the 21st –century Romans .Your admiring friends used to know you well: land of the brave ,home of the free .Now ,as you obsesses over the omens of war, we wonder if you know yourself , muses Margaret Atwood.
致美国的一封信
你是21世纪的罗马帝国。仰慕你的朋友们曾对你了若指掌：勇士之邦，自由之乡。可是，现在战争的预兆萦系你心，我们真不知道你是否还了解你自己。
玛格利特·阿特伍德的沉思
Dear America:
This is a difficult letter to write ,because I’m no longer sure who you .Some of you may be having the same trouble .I thought I knew you: we’d become well acquainted over the past 55 years .You were the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic books I read in the late 1940s.You were the radio shows –Jack Benny ,Our Miss Brooks. You were the music I sang and danced to : the Andrews Sisters ,Ella Fitzgerald ,the Platters ,Elvis .You were a ton of fun.
亲爱的美国：
这封信难以下笔，因为我再也无法确定你是谁。
也许，你们中的一些人同样感到困惑。我曾自认为了解你：我们已相识相知55年之久。，你曾是我在20世纪40年代末读过的连环漫画册米老鼠与唐老鸭;你曾是我看过的广播喜剧：杰克·班尼、《我们的布鲁克斯小姐》你曾是我唱过的歌，跳过的舞曲：安德鲁斯姐妹，埃拉·菲次杰拉德，派克斯乐队，猫王艾尔维斯。你是无穷的乐趣。
You wrote some of my favorite books .You created Huckleberry Finn, and Hawkeye ,and Beth and Jo in Little Woman , courageous in their different ways .Later ,you were my beloved Thoreau ,father of environmentalism, witness to individual conscience ;and Walt Whitman, singer of the Great Public ;and Emily Dickson, keeper of the private soul .you were the amazing trio, Hemingway, Fitzgerald ,and Faulkner, who traced the dark labyrinths of your hidden heart. You were Sinclair Lewis and Arthur Miller who with their own American idealism ,went after the sham in you ,because they thought you could do better.
你撰写了我最喜爱的一些书。你创造了哈克贝利·费恩，霍基，《小妇人》中的贝思和乔，展现了他们各自不同的勇敢无畏。后来，你是我敬爱的环保论之父——梭罗，个人良知的见证者；你是伟大合众国的歌颂者——沃尔特·惠特曼；你是个人灵魂的守护者—艾米莉·狄金森；你是险恶大街上英勇的行进者——哈米特与钱德勒。再后来，你是令人惊叹的文坛三杰——海明威，菲次杰拉德，福克纳，他们探寻了你深藏于心的黑暗迷宫。你是辛克莱·刘易斯[与阿瑟·密勒，他们以自己的美国理想主义，去捕捉了你身上的虚伪，因为他们认为你可以做得更好。
You were Marlon Brando, you were Humphrey Bogart in Key Largo, you were Lillian Gish in Night of the Hunter. You stood up for freedom ,honesty and justice; you protected the innocent .I believed most of that .I think you did ,too. It seemed true at the time .
你是《码头风波》中的马龙·白兰度，你是《基拉哥旅馆》中的亨弗莱·鲍嘉，你是《猎人之夜》中的莉莲·吉什。你为自由，诚信和公正挺身而出；你保护无辜者。我相信这大部分是真的，我想你亦信其然。那时，这些似乎是事实。
You put God on the money .You had a way of thinking that the things of Caesar were the same as the things of God: that gave you self-confidence. You have always wanted to be a city upon a hill, a light to all nations,and for a while you were. Give me your tired ,your poor ,you sang ,and for a while you meant it.
可是，即便在当时，你就已经把上帝放在钱币上。你把凯撒的东西看作是上帝的东西，这种思维方式给予你自信。你总是想成为山顶之城，万国之灯。曾经有一度，你还真的是。你吟唱道：送给我那些疲惫的人，贫困的人，而且，曾经有一度，你还真是说到做到。
We’ve always been close ,you and us history , that old entangler, has twisted us together since the early 17th century. Some of us used to be you ;some of us want to be you; some of you used to be us. You are not only our neighbors:In many cases –mine, for instance –you are also our blood relations ,our colleagues ,and our personal friends .But although we’ve had a ringside seat ,we’ve never understood you completely ,up here north of the 49th
你们和我们一直息息相关。自17世纪初叶，历史这根古藤就把我们紧紧缠绕在一起。我们中一些人曾是你们，我们中有些人想成为你们，你们中一些人也曾是我们。你不仅是我们的邻居：在许多情况下——以我自己为例——你还是我们的血亲、同事和私交。但是，我们虽然坐在靠近拳击台的观察席上，就在北纬49度这里，却从未看清你。
We’re like Romanized Cauls –look like Romans, dress like Romans ,but aren’t Romans –peering over the wall at the real Romans.What are they doing ? Why? What are they doing now? Why is the haruspex eyeballing the sheep’s liver? Why is the soothsayer wholesaling the Bewares?
我们就像罗马化的高卢人——看起来像罗马人，穿着像罗马人，却不是罗马人——只能隔墙窥视真正的罗马人。看他们在做什么？为了什么？他们此刻又在做什么？为什么肠卜师目不转睛地打量那绵羊的肝脏呢？为什么那位术士到处批售不祥的警示呢？
Perhaps that’s been my difficulty in writing you this letter : I am not sure I know what ‘s really going on. Anyway, you have a huge posse of experienced entrails -sifters who do nothing but analyze your every vein and lobe. What can I tell you about yourself that you don’t already know ?
或许这正是我难以下笔之处。我不能肯定究竟发生了什么事。不管怎样，你有一大群富有经验的内脏审查者，他们专司分析你的每一根血管，每一根筋。因此，关于你自己，我还能告诉你什么你不知道的情况呢？
This might be the reason for my hesitation: embarrassment, brought on by a becoming modesty. But it is more likely to be embarrassment of another sort .When my grandmother–from a New England background –was confronted with an unsavory topic, she would change the subject and gaze out the window. And that is my own inclination :Mind your own business
这也许就是我犹豫不决的原因: 尴尬，这是由一种适当的谦虚造成的。但这更有可能是另一种困窘。当我的新英格兰裔祖母遇到不愉快的话题时，她就会转移话题，凝望窗外。这也正是我的处事之道：别管闲事。
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发表于 2007-3-18 15:46:44
