評論
打印
Unit 9 The One Against the Many
第九單元 一個對多個
Arthur M. Schlesinger.Jr
亞瑟·邁耶·施萊辛格
In an epoch dominated by the aspirations of new states for national development, it is instructive to recall that the United States itself began as an underdeveloped country.
在這個新生國家渴望發展的時代，回眸美國從不發達國家開始的發展歷程是很有教益的。
Every country, of course, has its distinctive development problems and must solve them according to its own traditions, capacities, and values. The American experience was unique in a number of ways. The country was blessed by notable advantages-above all, by the fact that population was scarce in relation to available resources. But the favorable ratio between population and resources was obviously not the only factor in American development. Had that been so, the Indians, for whom the ratio was even more favorable, would have developed the country long before the first settlers arrived from over the seas. What mattered equally was the spirit in which these settlers approached the economic and social challenges offered by the environment. Several elements seem fundamental to the philosophy which facilitated the rapid social and economic development of the American continent.
當然，每個國家都有各自發展的問題，而且必須根據其各自的傳統、能力和價值解決它們。美國的經驗在許多方面都是獨特的。這個國家有著得天獨厚的優勢——主要是人口相對稀少而資源十分豐富。但是很明顯，人口和資源之間有利的比例不是促進美國發展的唯一因素。如果真是這樣的話，在人口與資源比例上更具優勢的印第安人，在海外殖民者到來以前，早就應該把國家發展起來了。同樣重要的還有這些殖民者在面臨各種經濟和社會環境的挑戰時的精神。幾個基本思想因素對于促進美洲大陸社會和經濟迅速發展起到了至關重要的作用。
One factor was the deep faith in education. The belief that investment in people is the most essential way for a society to devote its resources existed from the earliest days of the American colonies. It arose originally from a philosophical rather than an economic commitment-from a faith in the dignity of man and from the resulting belief that it is the responsibility of society to offer man the opportunity to develop his highest potentialities. But, at the same time, it also helped produce the conditions essential to successful modernization.
其中一個思想因素就是對于教育的深信不疑。對人員的投入是社會資源分配的最基本方式，這種信念在美國殖民地最早期就存在。它源于對思想原則的信仰，而不是出于對經濟利益的追求；它源于對人的尊嚴的堅信以及由此而產生的信念，即給人類提供機會去發展其最大的潛能是社會的責任。但與此同時，它幫助美國奠定了走向現代化的基礎。
Modern industrial society must be above all a literate society. Economic historians attribute two-thirds of the growth in American output over the centuries of American development to increases in productivity.
現代化的工業社會必須首先是知識的社會。經濟歷史學家把美國兩個世紀發展期間2/3的經濟增長歸功于生產力的提高。
