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What is ultimately most worrisome is not that a lot of old people have to stand on buses but that all of the millions of individual instances of self-absorption threaten to undermine the American tradition of generosity that historically has characterized us as a people. There is a shocking lack of compassion in the land for the unemployed and underprivileged, even among their traditional defenders.
最讓人擔(dān)心的并不是很多老年人得站在公交車上，而是那些數(shù)以百萬計的只關(guān)心自我的個例可能正侵蝕著美國人慷慨的傳統(tǒng)，而這傳統(tǒng)在歷史上曾是我們這個民族的特點之所在。在這片土地上，對失業(yè)族和貧困階層缺乏關(guān)愛已經(jīng)達(dá)到了令人震驚的地步，甚至在那些傳統(tǒng)上一直維護(hù)他們的人群中也是如此。
What is particularly curious about all of this is that there is a good deal more warmth in the air now than ever before. Every time we dial Information, some operator tells us to have a good day; "Have a Coke and a smile," recommends one electronic voice; "Reach out, reach out and touch someone," advises another. It is almost as if the reduction to ad copy of expressions of human need has rendered us less capable of responding to others at all. Incessantly bombarded by platitudes, we simply don't listen so well anymore or see so clearly or, finally, feel so deeply.
讓這一切顯得尤其怪異的是，表面的氣氛倒是比以前多了很多溫情。每次我們撥打問訊處，某個話務(wù)員就會祝我們一天愉快，“喝杯可樂笑一笑”，一個電子聲音提議；“伸出手臂，伸出手臂，伸出你的援助之手，”另一個聲音建議。把人類的需求簡化成廣告噱頭，這似乎已使我們難以再回應(yīng)他人的需求。被陳詞濫調(diào)一刻不停地轟炸，我們聽得就不那么認(rèn)真了，看得就不那么清晰了；到頭來，感受也沒有那么深刻了。
It is, to be sure, a grim picture, and there is little reason to believe it will soon change. So we are left with our conscience, each of us having to choose whether we will, in fact, reach out and touch someone or simply continue to look out for ourselves.
這肯定是一幅可怕的圖景，而且也沒多少理由能相信很快會有改變。所以我們只剩下良知與我們做伴，每個人都必須選擇，我們是真的主動伸出手去幫助別人，還是繼續(xù)關(guān)注自己。
Those who choose right can do an inestimable amount of good -- can, indeed, set even cynical strangers to speculating on the possibilities of the human heart.
那些做出正確選擇的人能夠帶來不可估量的好處——實際上，甚至可以讓憤世嫉俗的陌生人感到人心或許尚存。
