Unit 3 Goods Move. People Move. Ideas Move. And Cultures Change.
商品流通。人員流動。觀念轉變。文化變遷
Erla Zwingle
埃拉·茲溫格爾
Today we are in the throes of a worldwide reformation of cultures, a tectonic shift of habits and dreams called, in the curious vocabulary of social scientists, "globalization." It's an inexact term for a wild assortment of changes in politics, business, health, entertainment. "Modern industry has established the worid market…All old-established national industries are dislodged by new industries, whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of the old wants we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes." Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote this 150 years ago in The Communist Manifesto. Their statement now describes an ordinary fact of life.
今天我們正經歷著一種世界范圍文化劇變的陣痛,一種習俗與追求的結構性變化。用社會學家奇特的詞匯來稱呼這種變化,就叫“全球化”。就政治、商務、健康衛生及娛樂領域中各種各樣的巨大變化而言,這個詞并不貼切。“現代工業開拓了世界市場。民族工業被新工業取代。它們的產品不僅供本國消費,而且同時供世界各地消費。舊的、靠國家產品來滿足的需要,被新的、要靠極其遙遠的國家和地區的產品來滿足的需要所取代。”卡爾·馬克思和弗里德里希·恩格斯早在150年前就在《共產黨宣言》中這樣寫道。他們那時的陳述,是如今現實生活的真實寫照。
How people feel about this depends a great deal on where they live and how much money they have. Yet globalization, as one report stated, "is a reality, not a choice." Humans have been weaving commercial and cultural connections since before the first camel caravan ventured afield. In the 19th century the postal service, newspapers, transcontinental railroads, and great steam-powered ships wrought fundamental changes. Telegraph, telephone, radio, and television tied tighter and more intricate knots between individuals and the wider world.
人們對此的感受很大程度上取決于他們的居住位置和財富擁有量。然而,正如一篇報道中所說,全球化“是一個現實,而不是一種選擇”。從第一批駱駝商隊背井離鄉、冒險出外經商之時直到現在,人類一直在編織著商貿和文化的紐帶。19世紀,郵政服務、報紙、貫穿大陸的鐵路及巨大的蒸汽輪船鍛造出了根本變化。電報、電話、收音機和電視把個人和外部世界更緊密地連在一起。(這種聯系更為復雜,不那么直接,也不易察覺。)