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A Better Way to Teach Kids about Thanksgiving
教孩子們了解感恩節(jié) 還有更好的辦法
If you learned about Thanksgiving in an American elementary school,
如果你是從美國(guó)的小學(xué)里了解到感恩節(jié)的，
chances are you learned that the holiday commemorates how the Pilgrims of Plymouth, Mass., fresh off the Mayflower,
那你很有可能了解到的是，乘坐五月花號(hào)的清教徒剛一抵達(dá)馬薩諸塞州的普利茅斯，
celebrated the harvest by enjoying a potluck-style dinner with their friendly Indian neighbors.
便與當(dāng)?shù)睾每偷挠〉诎灿燕徆策M(jìn)家常便飯，慶祝豐收，感恩節(jié)紀(jì)念的便是此段佳話。
But while that story is inspired by a real 1621 meal,
盡管該故事靈感來(lái)源于1621年真實(shí)的一餐，
it reflects neither the 17th century truth nor the 21st century understanding of it.
但故事反映的既不是17世紀(jì)的史實(shí)，也非21世紀(jì)的現(xiàn)代人對(duì)這一節(jié)日的理解。
American public memory of Thanksgiving comes from the 19th century—and it can sometimes seem stuck there.
美國(guó)民眾的感恩節(jié)記憶源于19世紀(jì)——偶爾似乎仍停留在那段時(shí)間。
An elementary school in Mississippi, for example,
例如，密西西比州一所小學(xué)
drew backlash for a Nov.15 tweet that included photos of kids dressed up as Native Americans,
便因11月15日的一條推文引發(fā)了強(qiáng)烈的抗議，推文的配圖是孩子們打扮成印第安人，
with feather headbands and vests made of shopping bags.
戴著羽毛頭飾，穿著購(gòu)物袋做的背心的照片。
Images like those have deep roots in American education,
這樣的印第安人形象早已深入美國(guó)的教育體系，
dating back to the decades after Abraham Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving in 1863.
甚至可追溯到1863年亞伯拉罕·林肯宣布感恩節(jié)為美國(guó)的法定節(jié)假日的幾十年后。
The Puritan separatists were rebranded "Pilgrims,"
“分離派”清教徒被冠上了"朝圣者"之名，
and an 1889 novel that described their Thanksgiving as an outdoor feast became a best seller.
1889年面世的那部將感恩節(jié)描繪成了一場(chǎng)戶外盛宴的小說(shuō)則成了暢銷書。
The growing ad industry helped spread popular images of the tale, not least to classrooms.
不斷壯大的廣告業(yè)也幫助傳播了這一故事所塑造的廣受歡迎的感恩節(jié)形象，尤其是在教室的傳播。
Drawing in part on depictions of Native Americans in early westerns, teachers developed skits to make the sentimental stories stick.
老師們又借鑒早期西部片對(duì)印第安人的描繪發(fā)明了滑稽短劇，使得這些充滿柔情的故事更加經(jīng)久不衰。
By the 1920s, Thanksgiving was the most talked-about holiday in U.S. classrooms.
到上世紀(jì)20年代，感恩節(jié)便已成為美國(guó)課堂上談?wù)撟疃嗟墓?jié)日。
The parts that made the colonists look bad were left out.
那些有損殖民者形象的部分則被刪減掉了。
This was no coincidence.
這并非巧合。
A wave of immigration and urbanization around the turn of the 20th century led to a surge of both nativism and nostalgia;
20世紀(jì)之交的移民浪潮和城市化浪潮激起了一波濃厚的本土主義情懷與懷舊情緒；
one 1887 cartoon compared noble-looking Pilgrims confidently striding off the Mayflower with the huddled masses of the day.
1887年的一幅漫畫就將打扮高貴，昂首闊步走下“五月花”號(hào)的朝圣者與當(dāng)天擠成一團(tuán)的人群做了對(duì)照。
In the 1940s and '50s, as the Cold War drove another wave of concern about outsiders, imagery of Pilgrims again exploded.
到了20世紀(jì)40，50年代，冷戰(zhàn)再次引發(fā)了人們對(duì)外來(lái)者的擔(dān)憂，朝圣者這一意象再次被推翻。
In some schools, Thanksgiving became one of the only times Native Americans were discussed,
部分學(xué)校，感恩節(jié)甚至成了為數(shù)不多的幾個(gè)討論印第安人的契機(jī)之一，
often leaving students with a mistaken, and damaging, impression.
給學(xué)生留下的往往還是錯(cuò)誤、有害的印象。
譯文由可可原創(chuàng)，僅供學(xué)習(xí)交流使用，未經(jīng)許可請(qǐng)勿轉(zhuǎn)載。
