評論
打印
America has drawn to its shores individuals from all over the world. This has produced a blending of different ways of life that many Americans find disturbing. Ishmael Reed, however, sees this mixing of customs as neither new nor a threat. On the contrary, it is typically American.
美國吸引世界各國的人去它那里。這就導(dǎo)致了不同生活方式的交融，對此，不少美國人感到不安。伊什梅爾·里德卻認(rèn)為，這種不同習(xí)俗的糅合既不是新事物，也不是什么威脅。相反，這正是典型的美國風(fēng)格。
What's American about America?
美國的特色是什么？
Ishmael Reed
伊什梅爾·里德
An item from the New York Times, June 23, 1983: "At the annual Lower East Side Jewish Festival yesterday, a Chinese woman ate a pizza slice in front of Ty Thuan Duc's Vietnamese grocery store. Beside her a Spanish-speaking family patronized a cart with two signs: 'Italian Ices' and 'Kosher by Rabbi Alper'."
1983年6月23日《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》的一則報(bào)道：“在昨天舉行的每年一度的下東區(qū)猶太節(jié)上，一位華裔女子在越南雜貨店前吃著比薩。在她身邊，一個(gè)說西班牙語的家庭正在光顧一輛小推車，車上有兩塊牌子，寫著：'意大利冰淇淋'和'阿爾帕拉比猶太食品'?！?/p>
On the day before Memorial Day, 1983, a poet called me to describe a city he had just visited. He said that one section included mosques, built by the Islamic people who dwelled there. Attending his reading, he said, were large numbers of Hispanic people, 40,000 of whom lived in the same city. He was not talking about a legendary city located in some mysterious region of the world. The city he'd visited was Detroit.
1983年陣亡將士紀(jì)念日的前一天，一位詩人在電話里向我描述了他剛剛?cè)ミ^的一個(gè)城市。他說該市某處有不少清真寺，都是當(dāng)?shù)氐囊了固m教信徒建造的。他說，該城共住有4萬西班牙裔美國人，其中許多人前來參加了他的詩歌朗誦會(huì)。他說的不是坐落在世界某個(gè)神秘地方的充滿傳奇色彩的城市。他去的城市是底特律。
A few months before, as I was visiting Texas, I heard the taped voice used to guide passengers to their connections at the Dallas Airport announcing items in both Spanish and English. This trend is likely to continue; after all, for some southwestern states like Texas, where the largest minority is now Mexican-American, Spanish was the first written language and the Spanish style lives on in the western way of life.
幾個(gè)月前我去得克薩斯，在達(dá)拉斯機(jī)場里聽見指引乘客上聯(lián)運(yùn)飛機(jī)的廣播分別用西班牙語和英語播報(bào)航班信息。這一潮流很可能繼續(xù)下去，別忘了，在像得克薩斯這樣的西南部的一些州，墨西哥裔美國人是目前最大的少數(shù)民族，西班牙語是首選的書面語言，而西班牙風(fēng)格也一直存在于西部生活中。
Shortly after my Texas trip, I sat in a campus auditorium at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee as a Yale professor -- whose original work on the influence of African cultures upon those of the Americas has led to his ostracism from some intellectual circles -- walked up and down the aisle like an old-time Southern evangelist, dancing and drumming the top of the lectern, illustrating his points before some Afro-American intellectuals and artists who cheered and applauded his performance. The professor was "white." After his lecture, he conversed with a group of Milwaukeeans -- all of whom spoke Yoruban, though only the professor had ever traveled to Africa.
得克薩斯之行后不久，我坐在位于密爾沃基市的威斯康星大學(xué)的校園禮堂里，一位耶魯大學(xué)教授--他那些論述非洲文化對美洲文化所產(chǎn)生的影響的有獨(dú)到見解的著作致使他遭到某些知識界人士的擯棄—如同舊時(shí)南方福音傳道士那樣，在過道上走過來走過去，手舞足蹈，還拍擊講桌桌面，在一些對他的表演報(bào)以喝彩鼓掌的非洲裔美國知識分子和藝術(shù)家前闡述著自己的觀點(diǎn)。這位教授是白人。講座之后，他與一群全都說約魯巴語的密爾沃基人交談，但只有這位教授真正去過非洲。
One of the artists there told me that his paintings, which included African and Afro-American mythological symbols and imagery, were hanging in the local McDonald's restaurant. The next day I went to McDonald's and snapped pictures of smiling youngsters eating hamburgers below paintings that could grace the walls of any of the country's leading museums. The manager of the local McDonald's said, "I don't know what you boys are doing, but I like it," as he commissioned the local painters to exhibit in his restaurant.
當(dāng)?shù)匾晃凰囆g(shù)家告訴我，他的一些含有非洲和美國黑人神話中的象征和意象的畫作懸掛在當(dāng)?shù)匾患饮湲?dāng)勞快餐店里。第二天我去了那家麥當(dāng)勞快餐店，拍下了一些坐在畫下吃漢堡包的面帶微笑的青年人，那些畫掛在美國任何一家著名博物館里都會(huì)增光添彩。麥當(dāng)勞的經(jīng)理對我說：“我不知道你們這是在干什么，不過我覺得挺好，”是他允許當(dāng)?shù)禺嫾野阉麄兊淖髌纺玫降昀镎故尽?/div>
Such blurring of cultural styles occurs in everyday life in the United States to a greater extent than anyone can imagine. Yet members of the nation's present educational and cultural elite still cling to the notion that the United States belongs to some vaguely defined entity they refer to as "Western civilization," by which they mean, presumably, a civilization created by people of Europe, as if Europe can even be viewed as completely uninfluenced by the rest of the world. Is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which includes Turkish marches, a part of Western civilization? Or the late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century French paintings, whose creators were influenced by Japanese art? And what of the cubists, through whom the influence of African art changed modern painting? Or the surrealists, who were so impressed with the art of the Pacific Northwest Indians that, in their map of North America, Alaska dwarfs the lower forty-eight states in size?
這種文化風(fēng)格模糊化的現(xiàn)象在美國的日常生活中屢見不鮮，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出人們的想象。然而，當(dāng)今美國教育文化界的特權(quán)分子仍緊抱著固有的觀念，認(rèn)為美國屬于某種定義模糊的他們稱之為“西方文明”的實(shí)體，他們所指的想必就是由歐洲人創(chuàng)造的文明，仿佛歐洲可以被視為完全不受世界其他地區(qū)影響似的。借用了土耳其進(jìn)行曲的貝多芬第九交響曲是不是西方文明的一部分？19世紀(jì)末和20世紀(jì)的法國繪畫呢？那些畫的創(chuàng)作者可都是深受日本藝術(shù)影響的。那些立體主義畫家呢？通過他們，非洲藝術(shù)的影響改變了現(xiàn)代繪畫。還有那些超現(xiàn)實(shí)主義藝術(shù)家呢？他們?yōu)樘窖笪鞅辈康挠〉诎菜囆g(shù)所深深打動(dòng)，于是在他們所繪的北美地圖上，阿拉斯加使得其他48州顯得很小。
Are the Russians, who are often criticized for their adoption of "Western" ways by Tsarist dissidents in exile, members of Western civilization? And what of the millions of Europeans who have black African and Asian ancestry, black Africans having occupied several European countries for hundreds of years? Are these "Europeans" a part of Western civilization? Or the Hungarians, who originated across the Urals in a place called Greater Hungary? Or the Irish, who came from the Iberian Peninsula?
經(jīng)常被流亡中的擁護(hù)沙皇的持不同政見者指責(zé)為采用“西方”方式的俄羅斯人是不是西方文明的成員？千百萬祖先為非洲黑人和亞洲人的歐洲人呢，數(shù)百年來一直生活在一些歐洲國家的非洲黑人呢？這些“歐洲人”是不是西方文明的一部分？還有祖輩居住烏拉爾山脈彼側(cè)一個(gè)叫做大馬扎爾的地方的匈牙利人呢？還有來自伊比利亞半島的愛爾蘭人呢？
Even the notion that North America is part of Western civilization because our "system of government" is derived from Europe is being challenged by Native American historians who say that the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin especially, were actually influenced by the system of government that had been adopted by the Iroquois hundreds of years prior to the arrival of Europeans.
就連因?yàn)槲覀兊摹罢w”源自歐洲，所以北美是西方文明的一部分這一觀念也遭到了美國本土歷史學(xué)家的質(zhì)疑。他們聲稱，事實(shí)上那些開國元?jiǎng)祝绕涫潜窘苊鳌じヌm克林，受到易洛魁族人在歐洲人到來前幾百年就已采用的政體的影響。
Western civilization, then, becomes another confusing category -- like Third World, or Judeo-Christian culture -- as humanity attempts to impose its small-screen view of political and cultural reality upon a complex world. Our most publicized novelist recently said that Western civilization was the greatest achievement of mankind -- an attitude that flourishes on the street level as scribbles in public restrooms: "White Power," "Niggers and Spics Suck," or "Hitler was a prophet." Where did such an attitude, which has caused so much misery and depression in our national life, which has spoiled even our noblest achievements, begin? An attitude that caused the confinement of Japanese-American citizens during World War II, the persecution of Chicanos and Chinese Americans, the near-extermination of the Indians, and the murder and lynchings of thousands of Afro-Americans.
這樣一來，由于人類試圖將從狹小屏幕觀察政治文化現(xiàn)實(shí)得出的看法強(qiáng)加于錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的世界，西方文明就成為又一個(gè)令人困惑的范疇—就像第三世界或者猶太教和基督教共有文化那樣。我們知名度最高的小說家最近聲稱，西方文明是人類最偉大的成就—這種態(tài)度在平民百姓中也大有市場，只要看看公共廁所里的涂鴉就知道了：“白人權(quán)力”、“黑鬼和西班牙佬可惡”、“希特勒是預(yù)言家”。此類帶給我們的國民生活如此深重的苦難和絕望、甚至玷污了我們最輝煌成就的態(tài)度是如何出現(xiàn)的？這種態(tài)度導(dǎo)致了日裔美國公民在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)期間遭受拘禁，導(dǎo)致了墨西哥裔和華裔美國人遭受迫害，致使印第安人幾乎被滅絕，致使成千上萬的非洲裔美國人被謀殺，被以私刑處死。
The Puritans of New England are idealized in our schoolbooks as the first Americans, "a hardy band" whose discipline razed the forest and brought order to the New World (a term that annoys Native American historians). Industrious, responsible, it was their "Yankee ingenuity" and practicality that created the work ethic.
在我們的教材中，新英格蘭的清教徒被理想化地描述為最早的美國人， “吃苦耐勞的一批人”，他們嚴(yán)格的行為準(zhǔn)則把森林夷為平地，給新世界（一個(gè)令美國本土歷史學(xué)家們耿耿于懷的名稱）帶來了秩序。他們勤勉盡責(zé)，正是他們那“揚(yáng)基式的機(jī)靈”和務(wù)實(shí)精神創(chuàng)立了職業(yè)道德。
The Puritans, however, had a mean streak. They hated the theater and banned Christmas. They punished people in a cruel and inhuman manner. They killed children who disobeyed their parents. They exterminated the Indians, who had taught them how to survive in a world unknown to them. The Puritan legacy of hard work and meticulous accounting led to the establishment of a great industrial society, but there was the other side -- the strange and fearful attitudes of that society toward those different from the elect.
然而，那些清教徒生性也有卑劣的一面。他們憎惡戲劇演出，禁止圣誕節(jié)慶。他們慘無人道地懲罰他人。他們處死違抗父母旨意的孩子。他們把教會(huì)自己如何在一個(gè)陌生的世界生存的印第安人屠殺殆盡。從清教徒那里遺傳下來的勤奮和精于計(jì)算促成了一個(gè)偉大的工業(yè)社會(huì)的建立，但是還有另一面—那就是這個(gè)社會(huì)對待那些上帝選民以外的人的奇怪可怕的態(tài)度。
The cultural attitudes of that early elect continue to be voiced in everyday life in the United States; the president of a distinguished university, writing a letter to the Times, belittling the study of African civilizations; the television network that promoted its show on the Vatican art with the boast that this art represented "the finest achievements of the human spirit."
那些早期的上帝選民們的文化觀念在美國的日常生活中繼續(xù)被傳揚(yáng)；一所著名大學(xué)的校長給《時(shí)代周刊》寫信，貶低非洲文明研究的意義；電視網(wǎng)為一檔有關(guān)梵蒂岡藝術(shù)的節(jié)目做宣傳時(shí)夸耀說，這一藝術(shù)代表了“人類精神最優(yōu)秀的成就?！?/div>
When I heard a schoolteacher warn the other night about the invasion of the American educational system by foreign curricula, I wanted to yell at the television set, "Lady, they're already here." It has already begun because the world is here. The world has been arriving at these shores for at least 10,000 years from Europe, Africa, and Asia. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, large numbers of Europeans arrived, adding their cultures to those of the European, African, and Asian settlers who were already here, and recently millions have been entering the country from South America and the Caribbean.
一天晚上，當(dāng)我聽到一位教師大談國外課程侵入美國教育體系的威脅時(shí)，我真想對著電視機(jī)大喝一聲：“女士，它們已經(jīng)來了?！鼻秩胍讶话l(fā)生，因?yàn)檎麄€(gè)世界已經(jīng)涌入。來自歐洲、非洲、亞洲的世界各地的人們從東西海岸涌入，至少已有一萬年之久。在19世紀(jì)末和20世紀(jì)初，大批歐洲人來到這里，把他們的文化添進(jìn)已經(jīng)居住著的歐洲、非洲和亞洲移民的文化中，近來又有數(shù)百萬來自南美和加勒比海地區(qū)的移民涌入。
North America deserves a more exciting destiny than as a storeroom of "Western civilization." We can become a place where the cultures of the world crisscross. This is possible because the United States and Canada are unique in the world: The world is here.
北美理應(yīng)擔(dān)負(fù)起比充當(dāng)“西方文明”的儲藏庫更令人激奮的使命。我們可以成為世界不同文化的交匯地。這是可能的，因?yàn)槊绹图幽么笈c眾不同：世界在此交匯。
| 重點(diǎn)單詞 | 查看全部解釋 | |||
| invasion | [in'veiʒən] |
想一想再看 n. 侵入，侵略 |
聯(lián)想記憶 | |
| network | ['netwə:k] |
想一想再看 n. 網(wǎng)絡(luò)，網(wǎng)狀物，網(wǎng)狀系統(tǒng) |
||
| distinguished | [di'stiŋgwiʃt] |
想一想再看 adj. 卓著的，尊敬的 動(dòng)詞distinguish的過 |
聯(lián)想記憶 | |
| survive | [sə'vaiv] |
想一想再看 vt. 比 ... 活得長，幸免于難，艱難度過 |
聯(lián)想記憶 | |
| yell | [jel] |
想一想再看 v. 大叫 |
||
| humanity | [hju:'mæniti] |
想一想再看 n. 人類，人性，人道，慈愛，(復(fù))人文學(xué)科 |
||
| impose | [im'pəuz] |
想一想再看 v. 加上，課征，強(qiáng)迫，征收(稅款) |
聯(lián)想記憶 | |
| band | [bænd] |
想一想再看 n. 帶，箍，波段 |
||
| discipline | ['disiplin] |
想一想再看 n. 訓(xùn)練，紀(jì)律，懲罰，學(xué)科 |
聯(lián)想記憶 | |
| achievement | [ə'tʃi:vmənt] |
想一想再看 n. 成就，成績，完成，達(dá)到 |
