評(píng)論
打印
The Future of The English
英國(guó)人的未來
J . B. Priestley
JB普里斯特利
To write about the English in standard and cosmopolitan political terms, the usual Left-Centre-Right stuff, is almost always wasting time and trouble. The English are different.
若想用世界上流行的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)政治術(shù)語(yǔ)，即左、中、右三派這種毫無意義的陳腔老調(diào)來描述英國(guó)人的話，那多半是白費(fèi)時(shí)間，徒耗精力。英國(guó)人可是與眾不同。
The English are even more different than they think they are, though not more different than they feel they are.
他們甚至比自己想象中的英國(guó)人還要不同，倒是同他們自己感覺中的英國(guó)人差不多。
And what they feel-Englishness again-is more important than what they think.
而他們所感覺到的…這一點(diǎn)再次反映出英國(guó)人的特性-比他們想象到的更為重要。
It is instinctive feeling and not rational thought that shapes and colours actual events in England.
在英國(guó)，決定一切事物形式和色彩的不是人的理性思維，而是人的本能感覺。
For example, although the English seem to be so sharply divided, always indulging in plenty of loud political abuse, there are nothing like so many Communists or neo-or potential Fascists in England as there are in most other countries.
舉例來說，盡管英國(guó)人表面上似乎存在著嚴(yán)重的意見分歧，彼此之間進(jìn)行政治上的攻擊謾罵也是常有的事，但英國(guó)卻不像許多其他國(guó)家一樣有那么多的共產(chǎn)主義者以及新的或潛在的法西斯主義分子。
Again, although the English seem to have more than their share of rallies, protest marches, confrontations with authority, what could begin to look like a murderous encounter in France or America,
再如，雖然英國(guó)人舉行的群眾集會(huì)、示威游行、與當(dāng)局對(duì)抗的事件似乎比一般國(guó)家多，但有些在法國(guó)或美國(guó)有可能發(fā)展成生死搏斗，
or might be a bloody street battle in Japan, would in England end at the worst in a few scuffles and arrests.
在日本有可能演變成街頭血戰(zhàn)的惡性事件，而在英國(guó)至多也不過以一陣扭打或幾個(gè)人被拘捕的結(jié)局了事。
This is because there are fewer fanatical believers among the English, and at the same time, below the noisy arguments, the abuse and the quarrels, there is a reservoir of instinctive fellow-feeling, not yet exhausted though it may not be filling up.
這是因?yàn)樵谟?guó)人當(dāng)中狂熱的盲從分子較少，同時(shí)，在他們那一片亂哄哄的爭(zhēng)論、謾罵和吵鬧的背后，還蘊(yùn)藏著一股河海般深厚、純真的同胞之情。這種情誼雖然還不到充溢的程度，卻還沒有枯竭。
