評論
打印
I was born in New York, but have lived only in pockets of it.
我出生于紐約，但生活范圍只限于紐約的一些小角落，
In Paris, I lived in all parts of the city-on the Right bank and the Left,
而在巴黎，我的生活足跡卻遍及全市的每一個角落--在右岸區和左岸區，
among the bourgeoisie and among les miserables, and knew all kinds of people, from pimps and prostitutes in Pigalle to Egyptian bankers in Neuilly.
在有錢的資產階級中間和"悲慘世界"里的窮人中間。我還結識了各式各樣的人物，從皮加葉區的老鴇和妓女到納伊區的埃及銀行家都接觸過。
This may sound extremely unprincipled or even obscurely immoral:
這聽起來可能很不正經，甚至有點不道德，
I found it healthy.
但我覺得這是正常的。
I love to talk to people, all kinds of people, and almost everyone, as I hope we still know, loves a man who loves to listen.
我喜歡與人交談，與各種各樣的人交談，而幾乎每一個人--正如我所希望人們仍然明白的-都是喜歡愛聽人講話的人。
This perpetual dealing with people very different from myself caused a shattering in me of preconceptions I scarcely knew I held.
與這些跟我自己大不相同的人的不斷交往，破除了我思想上原先并沒有意識到的一些偏見。
The writer is meeting in Europe people who are not American, whose sense of reality is entirely different from his own.
作者在歐洲遇見的一些人并不是美國人，他們對現實的感受同他本人的感受完全兩樣。
They may love or hate or admire or fear or envy this country-they see it, in any case, from another point of view, and this forces the writer to reconsider many things he had always taken for granted.
對于美國這個國家，他們或是熱愛，或是憎恨，或是敬佩，或是畏懼，或是妒忌-反正他們是從另一個不同的角度來看待美國的，這就迫使作者對許多他原以為是理所當然的事情重新加以考慮。
This reassessment, which can be very painful, is also very valuable.
這個重新認識的過程是非常痛苦的，但也是很有價值的。
This freedom, like all freedom, has its dangers and its responsibilities.
這種自由，像任何一種自由一樣，也帶來一些危險和責任。
One day it begins to be borne in on the writer, and with great force, that he is living in Europe as an American.
總有一天，在歐洲的美國作家會意識到，而且是強烈地意識到，他是作為一個美國人居住在歐洲的。
If he were living there as a European, he would be living on a different and far less attractive continent.
倘若他是作為一個歐洲人居住在歐洲，那么，他所居住的這塊大陸在他心目中的地位就會大不一樣，其對他的吸引力也會大打折扣。
