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Ask any British gentleman in the middle of the 18th century to draw you a map of the British Empire, and it would have looked like this.
若讓十八世紀中葉任何一位英國紳士來畫一幅英帝國的版圖，它將會是這樣的。
To the east, there were trading posts in India, tiny enclaves that had been there for 100 years, shipping home printed cottons and silks.
向東，在印度有貿易點，這些小的據點已經存在100年了，將印花的棉布和絲綢運回國內。
A commercial enterprise run by the East India Company, not the government. There would be no colonies in Asia.
這一商業活動由東印度公司運作，而不是政府。所以亞洲沒有英國殖民地。
But Britain could look west as well as east. And west was a whole different story.
但英國東進之余還有西拓。而西面是個截然不同的世界。
To the west was America -- Britain West, in fact. Two million people living between the Atlantic seaboard and the Appalachian Mountains.
向西便是美洲，對英國來說是英國西部。先后有兩百萬人移居到美洲東海岸和阿巴拉契亞山脈間。
They came from York to New York, from Hampshire to New Hampshire.
英國人從約克郡來到紐約，從漢普郡來到新罕布什爾。
And they all ate, slept, breathed the same mantra -- liberty and Britishness.
他們在同一信念下同甘共苦--自由和英國精神。
They had first arrived in the early 17th century, seeking their fortune or religious tolerance.
第一批居民于十七世紀初期抵達，為了淘金或是躲避宗教迫害。
Time enough to build farms, communities, towns, cities even.
他們有足夠時間建造農場、社區、小鎮甚至城市。
Certainly time enough to deal with the troublesome natives -- to make alliances where possible, and, if not, to wipe them out, or drive them inland.
絕對有時間對付麻煩的原住民們--可行的話與他們聯盟，否則將他們悉數消滅，或是趕往內陸。
Within the settlements and houses of the Virginia tobacco planters and Massachusetts merchants, the silverware was a little simpler, the furniture not quite so Hepplewhite as back home in England,
在弗吉尼亞的煙草種植者和馬薩諸塞商人們的家中，銀器沒有那么奢華，家具也不像在英國時那么考究，
but that very simplicity spoke to their origins, the quest for liberty and the drive for honest self-improvement.
樸素中可看出他們的初衷，對自由的追求以及對自我完善的渴望。
But it was rather small potatoes, shall we say, if what you really had in mind, was a palazzo in England, rather than a picket fence in New England.
但這些都是微不足道的，如果你真正想要的是英格蘭的宮殿，而不是新英格蘭的尖樁籬笆。
Suppose you wanted to make a serious fortune, now, where could that happen?
但如果你想要大肆賺一筆，又到哪才能實現呢？
In the mid-17th century, the Caribbean was where.
在十七世紀中葉，加勒比地區就是財富的天堂。
Nobody settled in the West Indies in order to read the Bible unmolested. This was not Massachusetts.
沒人會為了能靜下心來讀《圣經》而在西印度群島定居。這里和馬薩諸塞不同。
No, you braved the fevers and swamps for one reason alone -- to make yourself very rich very fast.
你在這忍受高溫和沼澤的唯一理由，便是迅速發家致富。
Serious profits were already being raked in catering to Europe's little addictions -- chocolate, coffee and, in England of course especially, tea.
許多人已經通過迎合歐洲人的嗜好而暴富，巧克力、咖啡，還有英格蘭人的最愛，茶葉。
But, as a money spinner, nothing compared with the stuff you added to make them more palatable -- sugar.
但精明的商人都熟知，沒什么能比得上一種讓食品更加美味的調料，糖。
