1、Introduction 引言；前言；绪言The opening decade of the twenty-first century has been overwhelmingly shaped by the American and world response to the terror attacks of 11 September 2001.Many analysts speak of a paradigm shift in foreign policy alignments, global economies, and domestic affairs.The events of
2、the post (=late)-11 September world make the 1990s seem a vast, quaint (奇怪的) universe away.But we should note that analysts had christened (洗礼仪式) the last decade of the twentieth century as a “New World Order” under the common umbrella of democracy and free market capitalism.Certainly the decade mar
3、ked a decisive end to the “post (after)-World War II” or “Cold War” world and ushered in a new era.The 45-year period following the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki the, division of the world into “free” and “communist” influences, and the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 change
4、d things.The world is still adjusting to those changes and countries rush (run) to realign (重新排列, 再结盟) the geopolitical order.美国和世界对于 2001 年 9 月 11 日恐怖袭击的反应已经压倒性地充斥了 21 世纪的头十年。许多分析家谈到一个关于外交政策路线，全球经济和国内事务的范式转变。9 月 11 日世界发生的事件让 20 世纪 90 年代不再是一个巨大的，奇怪的宇宙。但是，我们应该注意到，那些分析师已经把二十世纪的最后十年，洗礼成了民主和自由市场资本主义在“世界
5、新秩序”下的共同的庇护所。当然，这十年标志着一个决定性“二战后的”或“冷战” 的世界的结束，也开辟了一个新的时代。在向广岛和长崎投下原子弹后的 45 年间，世界被“自由”和“共产主义”影响着，1989 年柏林墙的倒塌也让事情产生了变化。世界仍然在适应这些变化，各个国家也趋向于重新调整地缘政治的秩序。Historically, the worlds nations have always been involved in a struggle for power. In the twentieth century the rise of the United States of America
6、to superpower status prompted many to label the era “the American Century” and the dominance of American popular culture and products came to be called “Americanization (美国化).” Currently there is a rise in what might be termed “America-phobia (恐怖症 )” as some groups seek to tear down the hegemony (霸权
7、) held by the United States.There are widespread complaints about the cheapness of American culture with its runaway 逃跑, 失控的 materialism.Others fear the transformation of their own culture to mirror changing American patterns, from birth-control pills to gender equality. Still others, who refuse, or
8、 are too young, to remember when the United States was an indispensable part of “the West” buttressing (支持) Europe with an economic aid package called the Marshall Plan and protecting European and Japanese growth through military security only see a selfish nation that goes its own way without a due
9、 respect for world opinion.There is no doubt that American military and economic power is in a league of its own.从历史角度来看，世界各国一直被卷入一场权力斗争当中。在 20 世纪，美国超级大国地位的上升，促使许多人将这个时代为“美国世纪”的时代，同时美国流行文化和产品所占的主导地位，逐渐被称为“美国化”。目前有一种可能被称之“美国恐惧症”（的趋势）在上升，因为一些团体试图推倒美国持有的霸权。对于伴随着失控的廉价的唯物主义美国文化存在着广泛的投诉。其他一部分人担心自己的文化转型，所折
10、射出的从避孕药到性别平等（等方面）不断变化的美国模式。还有一些人，他们（选择）拒绝，或者是（因为）太年轻了，而忘记了美国作为“西部大开发”不可缺少的一部分扶持欧洲经济的紧急措施的马歇尔计划。同时，它通过军事安全和保护欧洲和日本的增长， （这让人们）只看到一个自私的国家按照自己的方式行事而没有给以世界舆论应有的尊重。毫无疑问，美国的军事和经济力量只有它自己的作为联盟。The criticism is as justified as it is expected.As the leading world power, the United States gets the focus of worl
11、d criticism on every issue domestic and international.This is not new. The discovery and colonization of the New World thrust America into the spotlight (聚光灯) in the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The eighteenth-century revolution against Britain that established a liberal nation and the un
12、precedented population and territorial growth of the nineteenth century kept the nation highlighted.The twentieth-century world wars of nationalism forged coalitions (合并) that put the United States in the preeminent (卓越的) global position by 1945, and the Cold War advanced American power to the posit
13、ion it now holds. The countrys unique standing has brought criticism not only for what it is and has been, but for the ways it acts and portrays its actions.这种批评像它所预期的一样是合乎道理的。作为世界领先的力量，美国对于国内和国际的每一个问题都成为世界批评的焦点。这并不新鲜。在十五到十七世纪，新世界的发现和殖民将美国变成举世瞩目的焦点。十八世纪的英国革命反对建立一个自由和（拥有）前所未有的人口的国家，同时，19 世纪的领土增长使它一直在
14、被注视。20 世纪的世界民族战争所锻造的联盟于 1945 年美国将美国推进了全球的卓越位置，同时，冷战又让美国的实力提升到和现在相同的位置。它的独特地位带来了批评，不仅因为它过去和现在是什么，同时也因为它起作用的方式对其行动的描绘。America is new, or likes to assert that notion. Americans often think of themselves as a people of the future whose personal pasts can be overcome or reinvented, even if they will volu
15、nteer upon the first meeting with any stranger that their families came from Ireland, from Germany, from Vietnam, or from elsewhere outside the US.The key word is “from” as in, the Old World is a good place to be “from.” With Americans, it is the right here and right now that has their attention.The
16、y seem to care more about the future and of what could become.Most Americans see themselves as risk-takers who grasp at chances to get a new life for themselves and their children.Sometimes that means leaving family and national ties behind to cross an ocean or a continent. Americans imagine themsel
17、ves and their country in many ways; but when looking into a mirror, they are likely to see the reflected image of a dream that began not so long ago.美国是新的，或喜欢断言这一概念。美国人往往认为自己作为一个拥有未来的人，其个人的过去是可以克服或改造的，即使他们会自愿和任何的陌生人进行第一次会面，这些陌生人的家人可能来自爱尔兰，德国，越南或美国以外的其他地方。关键的词是“来自”，和正在一样，旧世界是个作为“来自”的好地方。对美国人来说，这是他们随时
18、随地所注意的。他们似乎更关心将来可能成为什么。大多数美国人都认为自己作为冒险者把握机会，为自己和自己的孩子获得了新生。有时这意味着离开家庭和国家的关系然后越过海洋或大陆。美国人在许多方面想象着自己和自己的国家。但当寻找到了镜子时，他们可能会看到一个不久前才开始的反射梦想的影像。Much of what has happened in the history of the United States is based upon the European imagination of a New World.Europeans imagined America before they discov
19、ered it and, in the years since discovering it, they have been trying to define what it is that makes it different.Christopher Columbus never understood that he had located a new continent or continents in 1492, but died steadfastly (踏实地, 不变地) believing that he was somewhere in eastern Asia.Others s
20、poke of the discovery of an Atlantis, a lost continent that had long filled the European imagination. In the sixteenth century, explorers from many nations some using a new map, Amerika, named for the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci canvassed (彻查) the coast of the New World, sailing into inlets, c
21、ollecting souvenirs, and being astonished at what they did or did not find there.在美国历史上发生了什么事大部分是根据欧洲一个新的世界的想象力。欧洲人想象美国才发现它，发现它几年以后，他们一直试图定义它是什么以使它与众不同的。克里斯托弗哥伦布从未明白，他在 1492 年已经找到了一个新的大陆或大陆群，却坚定不移地相信，它是在亚洲东部的某处。其他的另一部分人提到（他们）发现了亚特兰蒂斯，那是一个早已充满了欧洲的想象力的失落的大陆。在十六世纪，来自许多国家的探险家，他们中的一些人使用新的地图。美国是以征询彻查新大陆的海
22、岸的意大利探险家亚美利哥韦斯普奇的名字命名的，他们航行进水湾，收集纪念品，并惊讶于什么所有他们找到和找不到的一切。The seemingly unlimited areas of free land provoked speculation about a New Eden where Indians lived easily off the land in a state of innocence, with no need for clothing or work.Others reasoned that Indians, being so different, must be “red
23、devils” who should be summarily(立刻, 草率地) dealt with by the believers in Christ and civilization. Basically disregarding the claims of the Indians they encountered, Europeans saw the new land as a tabula rasa a blank slate (石板) on which to write the dreams of national power by establishing colonies a
24、nd exploiting raw materials.But whatever Europeans believed and they believed many things they were overcome with the possibilities of what could be gained from possessing a part of America.这个看似不收限制的自由的地域机器了关于一个新的伊甸园的推测，在那里，印第安人可以以一种纯真的状态自由自在地生活，不需要为穿衣和工作为发愁。另外的一些人推断如此不一样的印第安人必定是在基督文明可以草率地处理的信徒的“红色的
25、魔鬼” 。他们基本上无视他们所遇到的印第安人，欧洲人把这块新的土地看做一块白板，一块通过建立殖民地和原材料利用国家权力谱写梦想的空白的石板。但无论欧洲人怎样认为他们相信很多事情他们始终相信能够克服一切而得以拥有美国的一部分。The idea of building something new on new land, of having the freedom to do so, of looking toward the future and not the past, of accepting the progress of change over the stasis (停滞) of c
26、ontinuity, and of individual rebirth/recreation, inspired European adventurers and became the story of the American people.During the Age of Discovery, Europeans tried to define the dream that might be; during the Age of Reason, philosopher John Locke made what has proven to be a long-lasting appeal
27、 to innocence: “in the beginning, all the world was America.”有权在新的土地上建设新的东西，面向的是未来而不是过去，接受变革的进展和停滞的连续性，以及个人能够重生，这样的想法激励着欧洲的探险家们并让它成为美国人民的故事。在大航海时代，欧洲人试图定义定义这个可能的梦想;在理性时代，哲学家约翰洛克已证明这是一个对于童真的长期持久吸引：“在开始的时候，世界上所有的地方都是美国。 “The American Dream and American history stem directly from these European dreams
28、and imaginings.From its discovery until the present day, America-the-place as well as America-the-idea has been discussed as opportunity. It has been seen as a “safe haven” where conditions could be altered in favor of whoever needed change.Immigration, economic opportunity, and the chance for indiv
29、idual redefinition are central components of the American Dream.美国梦和美国历史直接源于欧洲的梦想和想象。从它的发现至今，美国这个地方，以及美国这种想法已经变成一个机会被讨论。它一直被视为那些赞成需要改变的人可以改变条件的“避风港” 。移民，经济机会，和重新定义个人的机会，是“美国梦”的核心组成部分。At the 1950 Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm, the American author and literature winner, William Faulkner, told the
30、audience, “The big difference between Europe and America is that we are still adding stars to the flag” (quoted in T. Morgan, 1993: 11).This was a patriotic statement of Cold War logic as well as a literal prediction that saw Alaska and Hawaii added to the flag in 1959.Addition has been central to A
31、merican history. Historian Ted Morgan calls the American experience an “unending quest” and agrees with Faulkner that “the American flag is unlike any other, because its an add-on flag, with room to grow” T. Morgan, 1993: 11).Morgan wrote of the exceptionalism (例外论) of the American experience becaus
32、e the seventeenth-century Europeans who would provide the impetus (推动力) for the new nation arrived before the government did, landing in places where no government had previously existed (American Indians notwithstanding) and where control by European governments was shaky and ever-changing.Both Fau
33、lkner and Morgan declare for youth and mobility in American thinking.1950 年在斯德哥尔摩举行的诺贝尔颁奖仪式上，美国作家和文学奖得主威廉福克纳，告诉观众， “欧洲和美国之间最大的区别是，我们仍然在增加我们国旗上的星星。 ”（引自 T.摩根，1993：11） 。这是一个涉及冷战逻辑和文字预测的爱国的陈述，它看到阿拉斯加和夏威夷在 1959 年加入的标志。增加已经变成了美国的核心。历史学家特德摩根称美国的经验为“无止境的追求” ，并同意与福克纳所说：“ 是不同于其他任何美国国旗，因为它是一个拥有成长空间追加的标志。 ”（T.
34、摩根，1993：11） 。摩根写道：美国的经验的例外论，因为17 世纪的欧洲人在政府有所作为之前为新的国家政府提供推动力，而落户在一个此前没有政府存在的地方（尽管还有美国印第安人存在）和由欧洲各国政府的控制地方是不稳定和不断变化的。福克纳和摩根都宣布美国思维的青年化和流动性。Egocentric (自我中心的) and religious, most Americans have believed that a divine Providence guided the nation.In the first years of the twenty-first century, nothing
35、had changed the American belief in the countrys exceptional status.With the end of a Cold War putting an explanation point on the success of American individualism, and as immigrants continue to pour into the country, Americans still believe that every person in the world is a potential American cit
36、izen.作为自我中心者和卫道士，大多数美国人都相信有一个神圣的地域在引导这个国家。在二十一世纪的头些年，什么都没有改变美国人的关于美国拥有特殊地位的信念。随着冷战的结束推进了对美国的个人主义解释上的成功，随着移民不断涌入，美国人仍然相信，世界上的每个人是一个潜在的美国公民。Americans are taught from childhood that anything or everything is possible. This American Dream is a decidedly bourgeois (中产阶级, 资产阶级) notion and it is formulated
37、 upon the belief that government will not limit individual ambitions, either by restrictive laws or by using transfer income to gain an equality of outcome for others.Americans have consistently and overwhelmingly resisted any equality other than the equality of opportunity to achieve merit, and, th
38、ereafter, the rewards that merit (优点, 价值) brings.美国人从小就被教导，任何或一切皆有可能。美国梦是一个决定性的资产阶级（中产阶级，资产阶级）的概念，它构建了一个相信政府既不会限制个人野心，也不会通过限制性的法律或使用转让收益为他人获得一个平等的结果。美国人一直高票抵制任何平等而不是机会平等来实现的优点，此外还有优点带来的回报。So why havent these dreams of equality and freedom been realized in contemporary America?Is there a basic hypocr
39、isy (伪善) in the gap between what America stands for and what it is?For many of its critics, the United States is a nation built on the avarice (贪婪) of rich white Protestant males who laid waste to the environment of a pristine (质朴的) continent, killed the native inhabitants, enslaved Africans, warred
40、 against all peoples who stood in the way, suppressed women and ethnic minorities, abused the working class, and cannibalized (吃人肉) European culture into a vulgar materialism spread by Hollywood and McDonalds.Despite the truths inherent in these criticisms and the widespread knowledge of such action
41、s, non-white and non-Protestant immigrants of both sexes continue to arrive, chasing the hope of a better life under the promise of opportunity. Philosopher Reinhold Neibuhr called the distance between the dream and reality “the irony of American history” (Niebuhr, 1952).That irony, as we hope this
42、book will show, cannot be reduced to though neither does it exclude hypocrisy.那么，为什么这些平等和自由的梦想在当代美国没有被意识到？是不是在美国代表什么和美国是什么之间的差距是不是存在一种基本性的伪善。对于美国的许多评论家来说，美国是一个民族建立在贪婪之上，它让富有的白人新教男性破坏质朴的环境，杀害当地居民，奴役非洲人，攻击挡在路上的人，控制妇女和少数族裔，滥用人民工人阶级，同时将欧洲文化分解成通过好莱坞和麦当来传播的庸俗唯物主义。尽管固有的真理在这些具有批评和广泛的知识的行动当中，两种性别的非白人和非新教移民继续
43、到达，在机会的允诺中追逐更好生活的希望。哲学家雷纳德尼布尔称梦想与现实之间的距离为“具有讽刺意味的美国历史”（尼布尔，1952 年） 。正如这本书所呈现的这样，那种讽刺不能减少也不能排斥为虚伪。Another warning note is appropriate.On relocating to the United States after having lived 20 years in England, popular writer Bill Bryson wrote of being “dazzled by the famous ease and convenience of dai
44、ly life, the giddying abundance of absolutely everything, the wondrous infallible vastness” (Bryson, 1998: 17). When looking for America, one can find anything one seeks.The country is enormous and the people are many.It is easy to locate inequality, poverty, racism, police brutality, hate, and deat
45、h.It is just as easy to find philanthropy, community, honesty, equality, openness, and life.另一个警示的陈述是合适的。在英国居住 20 年后又重新安置在美国的流行作家比尔布莱森写道：“眼花缭乱. 通过 著名的安逸和日常生活的方便，一切丰富的事物绝对让人眼花缭乱，万无一失的丰富的奇妙浩瀚”（布赖森，1998：17） 。当寻找美国时，人们可以找到自己所寻求的一切。它的领土是广阔的，人民是众多的。这很容易找到不平等，贫困，种族主义，警察暴力，仇恨，和死亡。也容易找到慈善事业，社区，诚实，平等，开放，和生命。T
46、he problem in looking for America is that we already “know all about it.” Most people have grown up with America and stories of America.It would be hard to find a single issue of a newspaper published anywhere in the world that fails to mention the United States or an American celebrity.Airways are
47、flooded with American music, streets are walked by American tourists, everyone wears American jeans and logos, the worldwide web is overwhelmingly American, and television and movie theaters spew images of American life everywhere.Most Europeans have relatives who are Americans or who are married to
48、 Americans.Everyone has imagined America, in flattering and damning ways.The reality can be much more difficult and interesting to grasp.在寻找美国的问题上，我们已经“知道有关它的一切” 。大多数人在美国和美国的故事当中已经长大了。在世界的任何地方都很难找到一份出版的报纸是只涉及一个单一的问题且没有提到美国或美国名人的。广播频道被美国音乐所淹没，街道走过来得美国游客，每个人都穿着美国牛仔裤和徽标，互联网绝大多数来自美国，电视和电影院反映出美国生活的图像无处不在
49、。大多数欧洲人都有是美国人或和美国人结婚的亲戚。每个人都在用恭维和咒骂的方式来描绘美国。现实的情况则可能会更加困难和有趣地掌握。Understanding the USA in the twenty-first century requires a historical background that is not suited to a mere timeline or a few brief paragraphs.Chapter 1 provides an overview of the nations history and introduces the main themes of the American experience.Chapter 2 examines the contours (轮廓) of a vast country by looking at it through the lens of its main regions, environmental concerns, and immigrant groups. Chapters 3 and 4 detail governing political institutions and explain
