評(píng)論
打印
It is clear that we have developed a society which depends on having the right amount of anxiety to make it work. Psychiatrists have been heard to say, "He didn't have enough anxiety to get well," indicating that, while we agree that too much anxiety is inimical to mental health, we have come to rely on anxiety to push and prod us into seeing a doctor about a symptom which may indicate cancer, into checking up on that old life-insurance policy which may have out-of-date clauses in it, into having a conference with Billy's teacher even though his report card looks all right.
顯然，我們已經(jīng)造就了一個(gè)依賴(lài)適度的焦慮來(lái)維持正常運(yùn)作的社會(huì)。我們聽(tīng)到過(guò)心理醫(yī)生這樣說(shuō):“他沒(méi)有足夠的焦慮，所以身體好不起來(lái)，”這表明盡管我們一致認(rèn)為過(guò)多的焦慮對(duì)心理健康有害，我們已變得依賴(lài)焦慮來(lái)促使我們找醫(yī)生診斷某個(gè)癥狀是否是癌癥的先兆，促使我們?nèi)z查一下陳舊的人壽保險(xiǎn)單，看看里面有沒(méi)有過(guò)時(shí)的條款，促使我們?nèi)ズ秃⒆拥睦蠋熣勔徽劊M管他的成績(jī)單看上去還相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)。
People who are anxious enough keep their car insurance up, have the brakes checked, don't take a second drink when they have to drive, are careful where they go and with whom they drive on holidays. People who are too anxious either refuse to go into cars at all — andso complicate the ordinary course of life — or drive so tensely and overcautiously that they help cause accidents. People who aren't anxious enough take chance after chance, which increases the terrible death toll etc. of the roads.
有足夠焦慮的人總是及時(shí)交汽車(chē)保險(xiǎn)，檢查剎車(chē)，要開(kāi)車(chē)時(shí)不喝第二杯酒，對(duì)于假日去哪里以及和誰(shuí)一起開(kāi)車(chē)去，都十分當(dāng)心。過(guò)于焦慮的人要么拒絕使用汽車(chē)——從而把普通的日常生活搞得復(fù)雜不堪——要么開(kāi)車(chē)時(shí)過(guò)于緊張、過(guò)于小心謹(jǐn)慎，結(jié)果反而容易造成車(chē)禍。而不夠焦慮的人一次又一次地冒險(xiǎn)，結(jié)果增加了本已為數(shù)驚人的死于車(chē)禍的人數(shù)。
On balance, our age of anxiety represents a large advance over savage and peasant cultures. Out of a productive system of technology drawing upon enormous resources, we have created a nation in which anxiety has replaced terror and despair, for all except the severely disturbed. The specter of hunger means something only to those Americans who can identify themselves with the millions of hungry people on other continents. The specter of terror may still be roused in some by a knock at the door in a few parts of the South, or in those who have just escaped from a totalitarian regime.
權(quán)衡起來(lái)，我們的焦慮時(shí)代相對(duì)于野蠻文化和農(nóng)民文化是大大進(jìn)步了。憑借我們富有成效的、充分運(yùn)用巨大資源的技術(shù)體系，我們創(chuàng)造了一個(gè)除了嚴(yán)重的精神病患者而外人人感到焦慮代替了恐怖和絕望的國(guó)度。饑餓的幽靈只對(duì)那些關(guān)注其他大陸上千百萬(wàn)饑餓人們的疾苦的美國(guó)人才有意義。夜半敲門(mén)在南方的少數(shù)地方還可能令某些人感到恐怖，或者令那些剛剛逃離極權(quán)統(tǒng)治的人們感到惶惶不安。
But in this twilight\ world which is neither at peace nor at war, and where there is insurance against certain immediate, downright, personal disasters, for most Americans there remains only anxiety over what may happen, might happen, could happen.
但是在這個(gè)既不和平也不交戰(zhàn)的朦朧世界上，在防止眼前的、十足的個(gè)人災(zāi)難有保障的情況下，大多數(shù)美國(guó)人焦慮的只是一些可能發(fā)生，也許會(huì)發(fā)生，說(shuō)不定會(huì)發(fā)生的事情。
