【新闻周刊20110627】为什么我要做美国人
本帖最后由 woikuraki 于 2012-3-31 14:47 编辑【中文标题】为什么我要做美国人！
【原文标题】Why I’m Becoming an American
【登载媒体】译言
【原文链接】http://article.yeeyan.org/view/222977/248430
此篇文章是报道过美国水门事件的记者亲笔写的一篇文章，翻译后与大家分享：
希望大家能多学习英文，多一种语言也就是多一种辨别是非，独立思考的能力！！！！
我和美国渊源最早可回溯到1959年，虽然那段时间有些令人失望。我父亲在Tulsa,Okla得到了一份工程师的工作。我和母亲一想到要离开在英国北部的破旧小屋住进新房子—高高的草坪，阳光，油井，带着长角的牛就感到无比兴奋。于是我们便卖掉了房子，整理好行李，并且买了去美国的船票。然后出发前一晚，我的父亲改变了主意并取消了一切行程。I was crushed—but vowed to go, one day, and see for myself the dream that had been so cruelly snatched away. Four years later I seized the opportunity. I took a year off before Oxford, bought the cheapest ticket to Montreal, traveled to Vancouver, and then crossed the American frontier by way of the Peace Arch into the seaside town of Blaine, Wash.我很失落但是决心一定要亲自实现我的梦想。4年后我得到了机会，我在去牛津之前抽出了一年，买了最便宜的机票到了蒙特利尔然后到了温哥华，穿过美国边境经由和平门到了华盛顿的海滨小城布莱恩。I then spent the magical days of that spring and summer hitchhiking through every corner of the country, from Los Angeles (dinner with Kirk Douglas, coffee with Johnny Carson), to New Iberia, La. (guests of the Tabasco sauce factory owners), from Sault Sainte Marie, Mich. (shaking President Kennedy’s hand) to Topeka, Kans. (horse riding with Harold Stassen), to Wheeling, W.Va. (where at 2 a.m. one frightening night a young man of lustful intent asked me if I wanted a b.j. to which I, quite innocent of such matters, spluttered thanks, but I already have one at home), to New York City, and myriad places in between.那个春天和夏天我度过了一段极为魔幻般的时光，走遍美国的各个角落。在洛杉矶（和Kirl Douglas共进晚餐 和Johnny carsonhe 喝咖啡）在新伊比利亚（作为塔巴斯科工厂主人的客人）在苏圣玛丽（和肯尼迪总统握手）在托皮卡（和Harold Stassen骑马）在Wheeling,W.Va（那一晚一个好色的男人问我是否需要找点乐子，那是我很单纯但是还是拒绝了，因为我已经有一个了）又到了纽约和很多其他地方。All told, I hitched 38,000 American highway miles, and it cost me just $18. I had entered at Blaine with 200 crisp bills in my pocket; and when six months later I left for Canada by way of Houlton, Maine, I had 182 of them left. Such kindness I had never known.合计我搭了38000英里的高速路便车，它只花了我18美元。我去布莱恩口袋里有200张卷曲的钞票，六个月以后我经由休斯顿去加拿大口袋里还有182张。这点我从没想到。The experience changed me, profoundly. That summer, somewhere inside me was germinated the vague idea that one day I might make common cause with these kindly, warm, open folk, and even eventually become (as I heard it was possible to do) one of them.这些经历深刻的改变着我。那个夏天我内心生出这样一个念头有一天我要和那些善良，热情和开放的人成为朋友甚至变成他们那样。（我听说这基本不可能）Ten years later I was back, this time as a young reporter, and assigned to cover one of the most extraordinary episodes ever to befall the country: the resignation of a president, over Watergate. For 30 months I watched transfixed as the ponderous machinery of America’s democracy cranked itself up to answer, it seemed, the ultimate wish of the public. To get rid of British heads of state had for centuries required execution, the head on the block. Here it seemed, and more properly, it was the people who enjoyed the greater measure of sovereignty. A people I now even more urgently wanted to join.十年后我回来了，这次作为一名记者，并任命报道水门事件及美国总统辞职。30个月我眼睁睁的看着美国民主是如何让人民的愿望得以实现的。如何摆脱英国统治留下的痕迹，那就是人民的意愿。现在我更加想加入这群人了。But there was more. I had come to Washington from Belfast, from reporting on three horror-filled years of hatred and killing. Stripped of its subtleties, the violence there stemmed from a mutual hatred between Ulster Protestants and Irish Catholics—so long as they were confined to Ulster. But then many Belfast friends moved away, to escape. I soon came to reconnect with some who had moved to America–couples who had loathed one another back in the Six Counties, but who now, in Chicago, Seattle, and Dallas, far from hating one another, had married, had produced children, had quite forgotten the need to hate. And still others, people who had arrived here mired in the hostilities of other homelands—immigrants from the Balkans, the Levant, and Indochina were among those I came to know best—soon found their ancient animosities were fading into insignificance, too. Their experience only reinforced my feeling: the argument for my joining this extraordinary experiment in improving the human condition—an imperfect experiment at times, of course—grew steadily more powerful.我从华盛顿来到贝尔法斯特，报道持续3年的充满憎恨和杀戮的种族冲突。冲突始于Ulster反对者和爱尔兰天主教徒之间的相互仇恨—只要触及到Ulster的边境问题。但是之后有很多贝尔法斯特的朋友离开了，应该是逃离。我不久重新和一些夫妇取得了联系。这些人曾经相互厌恶现已经移居到美国，住在芝加哥，西雅图和达拉斯。这些城市相隔很远，如今这些人已经不再彼此憎恨。结婚，生子，早已遗忘了仇恨。还有些人正在面临生活在异国他乡的困难—来自巴尔干半岛，地中海中部的移民，亚洲人不久就发现历史上的憎恶正在消失。他们的经历只不过增强了我的感受：自己献身于提高人类自身生存状况的斗争只不过是这个时代里一个不完善的实验罢了，只不过现在变得更加坚定了。The tug of home at first proved fierce, difficult to resist. It exerted an ever more powerful pull the longer I stayed away. I went off to live in India, then spent a dozen years in Hong Kong—and perhaps because I was convinced that imperial Britain, which when I lived in these outposts was still held in high esteem, had done good by its faraway subjects, I used to feel no small sense of pride in being an Englishman. Except that once Hong Kong passed back into the hands of China, in the summer of 1997, I came back—and not to London as was expected of me, but by choice, to New York.异国他乡的不习惯一开始是那么的猛烈。离开的越远就越强烈。我去了印度，又在香港住了10年，大概是对大英帝国的信服使我虽然远离英国但是仍然充满自信。我对于自己是个英国人感到很自豪。但是香港在1997年夏还给中国后，我回去了，但是伦敦不是我的选择而是纽约。As I settled into the rhythms of that unmatchable city, so, bit by bit, my jingoistic leanings started to fade, and I began to consider what truly mattered to me, about the society in which I wanted to live out the rest of my days. I used to stroll at lunchtime down to the waterfront, at the Battery, and list those attributes of Home I felt I could abandon. Though at first I felt a traitor, a heretic, I realized I would feel no qualms at all about turning my back on the notions of royalty, on the bizarre idea of an established church, on inherited privilege, on the House of Lords, on class divisions, and on the relative want of opportunity.当我跟上这个无与伦比的城市生活节奏后，一点点地，我开始思考我的余生究竟是么才是最重要的。我用午餐的时间在海滨散布，列出了种种我认为可以抛弃的东西。虽然一开始我觉得自己像个叛徒但是我发现对于皇室的忠诚，兴建教堂的奇思异想，不能继承的优先权，阶层区分和对机遇的追求，这些区分对我没有一点意义。It was this last that pushed me over the edge. By now I was prospering, and in a way and to a degree that I felt I could never have done back home. I felt so deeply grateful to America in consequence, beholden. I now truly wanted to throw in my lot, to play in full my part in America’s making and its future.这使我跨过了最后一道坎。现在我发现我再也不能回到以前了。我对自己是个美国人并承担一定的义务感到很高兴。我现在想改变我的命运，完全投入在美国的生活。Yet I couldn’t: I wasn’t allowed to vote. Except—what was the rallying cry, born in Massachusetts, all those years ago: no taxation without representation? Well, I said to myself: I pay taxes. I demand to vote. I must vote. I must share in the right to help throw the rascals out, or keep the good ones in. And so in due course—coincident with President Obama’s election, which set the capstone on it all—I sent in my application, setting in motion the formal procedure leading to the ceremony in which I will take part this Independence Day.但是我不能。我没有选举权。我缴税。我有权参加选举，把差得排除选上好的。这和奥巴马的选举精神一致。于是我申请了美国国籍那天真的是个独立日。There was a single moment when I wavered. At my final examination the federal officer saw in my files that the queen had given me an award: Officer of the Order of the British Empire. It had been a hugely proud day. My 90-year-old mother came to Buckingham Palace. I had shaken Her Majesty’s hand. She had pinned a medal on my lapel. The British ambassador had told me I had brought “honor and glory to my country.”有一段时间我有点犹豫。最后面试官看见我曾经得到英国女王的授予的：大英帝国官员勋章。那是值得骄傲的一天。我的90岁母亲去了白金汉宫。我跟女王握了手。她用在我的衣领上钉上了勋章。英国大使告诉我我给这个国家带来了荣耀。The officer’s question ended this reverie. “Would you be willing,” he demanded, sternly, “to give up this award, offered as it was by a foreign prince or potentate?” For a second, I wondered. Emotionally, I was English, and always would be. The palace had been a great moment in my life. But then: what I was now embarking upon was all part of some even-greater good—a greater, well-considered good.面试官问道：“你愿意放弃这个勋章么？因为它是其他国家君主给予的奖赏。”我有点犹豫，觉得自己还是个英国人起码曾经是。那个地方我曾经度过了美好的时光。但是以后可能会更好，起码自己这么认为。So I looked the officer straight in the eye, gulped, and replied that yes, I would be willing to give it up. He smiled faintly. Then I guess you’ve passed, he said.所以我直接回答道：我愿意。我微笑着坦诚的回答。“我想你通过了”面试官这么说。The ceremony will be held in Boston at teatime on July 4, aboard the USS Constitution, the majestic three-masted sailing frigate that is the oldest commissioned floating warship in the world. The fact that she played so heroic a role in the War of 1812 against the British invests her with a symbolism that, for me at least, is both powerful and ironic: for I will walk on to her foredeck as a Briton, swear a powerful oath before her commander, and walk back down the gangplank as a newly minted American.仪式将于7月4号下午茶的时候在波斯顿举行，遵守美国宪法。登上世界上最古老而雄伟的三跪军舰。那艘船在1812年对抗英国侵略者时扮演了重要作用。当我走上甲板，在他的指挥官前作出誓言，作为一个新美国人走下跳板。这对我来说或多或少有点讽刺但是很震撼。Ah, yes, said a friend, congratulating me, but bringing me rightly down to earth. America, he said: it takes all kinds.是的。祝贺你踏上美国。我的一个朋友跟我说到！
上帝护佑美国！！！ http://article.yeeyan.org/view/222977/248430 自己顶起！！！！！！！！！！！ tempest 发表于 2012-3-5 13:10 static/image/common/back.gif
楼主想当美国人没能如愿，于是当了条美国狗。
你恶语相向倒是挺有本事的，写文章，翻译文章，却都做不来！呵呵 NEUMAN 发表于 2012-3-5 13:06 static/image/common/back.gif
说半天，就一点：你到我这儿就得投诚，否则就容不下你！那比得了我们天朝，兼收并蓄，包容异族，乃至变节者 ...
Q15)
你是说你楼下的！ NEUMAN 发表于 2012-3-5 13:19 static/image/common/back.gif
小鸡回答一个问题呗：人都说你不要脸，说过的话不算数，你是怎么看说话不算数这件事情的？ ...
Q15)
你妈妈怎么教你的？请教问题，应该是个什么态度？Q15) NEUMAN 发表于 2012-3-5 13:26 static/image/common/back.gif
你也配提起你妈，你让你妈受多大委曲多大侮辱啊，真是有娘养没娘教的东西！ ...
Q15)Q15)
如此素质，还在这里装什么绅士？呵呵 轮子？？？？ 以为楼主已经是美国人呢 是你翻译的？表示严重怀疑 当然不是质疑你的英文能力而是质疑你的职业 你不是美分么还做起翻译的活？ 本帖最后由 tempest 于 2012-3-5 13:55 编辑
Balkaneagle 发表于 2012-3-5 13:11 http://bbs.m4.cn/static/image/common/back.gif
你恶语相向倒是挺有本事的，写文章，翻译文章，却都做不来！呵呵
对你这样的狗，采取这样的方式最适合。
我会不会做文章，会不会翻译，不关你的事。我不需要用这个赚美分，而对于你是必要的谋生手段。
再说你说是你翻译的，就是你翻译的？以你一贯的无诚信的前科，很可能是在撒谎。
紫玉炎华01 发表于 2012-3-5 13:52 static/image/common/back.gif
是你翻译的？表示严重怀疑 当然不是质疑你的英文能力而是质疑你的职业 你不是美分么还做起翻译的活？ ...
不是AC才有编译！ tempest 发表于 2012-3-5 13:53 static/image/common/back.gif
对你这样的狗，采取这样的方式最适合。
Q15)Q15)Q15)
你什么时候看见我拿美元了？！呵呵 无论你是什么国籍，都不能改变你是一个具有中国血统的人，如何你要放弃中国的血统，那只有等来世了
你曾经拥有中国国籍，后来在香港（回归前）是英国国籍，再后来是美国国籍......
其实人类发展到今天，无论是奴隶社会、封建社会、社会主义还是资本主义，历史发展必有过程，你崇拜美国的民主、崇拜美国的人权，那你作为有一个中国根的人，你为你的祖国做了一些为你所向往的目标的事情奋斗的事情吗？
坐享其成...... Balkaneagle 发表于 2012-3-5 13:57 static/image/common/back.gif
你什么时候看见我拿美元了？！呵呵
你干这种事还能让人看见？Q26)
本帖最后由 phoenix77 于 2012-3-5 14:06 编辑
这篇文章是从译言网转载的，
顺便提醒一下：
http://article.yeeyan.org/view/222977/248430
【本文由左手执香授权给译言网使用，未经许可请勿转载。商业或非商业使用请联系译言网】 tempest 发表于 2012-3-5 13:59 static/image/common/back.gif
你干这种事还能让人看见？
Q15)Q15)
造谣就是你这样人给搞起来的！ phoenix77 发表于 2012-3-5 14:06
这篇文章是从译言网转载的，
顺便提醒一下：
http://article.yeeyan.org/view/222977/248430
呵呵！其实那网站是他开的，也可以说是他翻译的