1、 急于求成的社会 Quick Fix Society詹妮特 曼德尔 戈德斯坦 Janet Mendell Goldstein我和老公在西弗吉尼亚州度了一周的假，刚回来。 My husband and I just got back from a weeks vacation in West Virginia. 不用说，我们迫不及待地想到那里，于是便走了宾夕法尼亚收费高速公路和几条州际公路。Of course, we couldnt wait to get there, so we took the Pennsylvania Turnpike and a couple of interstate
2、s. “看哪，那些美丽的农场！”老公高声喊道，田园景色以每小时五十五英里的速度在我们身边滑过。 “Look at those gorgeous farms!“ my husband exclaimed as pastoral scenery slid by us at 55 mph. “你看见那些奶牛了吗？”可是，每小时五十五英里的速度，很难看清任何东西。美丽的农场像移动的绿色棋盘，成群的奶牛在后视镜里缩成了几个小黑点。 “Did you see those cows?” But at 55 mph, its difficult to see anything; the gorgeous fa
3、rms look like moving green checkerboards, and the herd of cows is reduced to a few dots in the rear-view mirror. 四个小时里，我们唯一真正的乐趣就是数出口的标志，还有就是想再次停车时会有什么样的感觉。For four hours, our only real amusement consisted of counting exit signs and wondering what it would feel like to hold still again.的确，去那里看上去没多少快
4、乐，事实上根本就没一点儿快乐。 Getting there certainly didnt seem like half the fun; in fact, getting there wasnt any fun at all. 所以，该回费城外的家的时候，我坚持要换条路走。 So, when it was time to return to our home outside of Philadelphia, I insisted that we take a different route.我建议说：“咱们去考察一下农村吧。 ”结果，我们返程的两天里满是新鲜的经历。 “Lets explor
5、e that countryside,” I suggested. The two days it took us to make the return trip were filled with new experiences. 我们游览了内战时的一个战场，站在了一座小山上。一百二十五年前，也是一个七月炎热的下午，一万五千名南部邦联的士兵曾努力想攻占它，不想他们当中有一半人在徒劳的尝试中身亡。 We toured a Civil War battlefield and stood on the little hill that fifteen thousand Confederate sol
6、diers had tried to take on another hot July afternoon, one hundred and twenty-five years ago, not knowing that half of them would get killed in the vain attempt. 我们驾车缓慢地驶过宾夕法尼亚安静的德国城的主要街道，将速度降至每小时二十英里，以免和去赶集的马匹和马车挤在一起。 We drove slowly through main streets of sleepy Pennsylvania Dutch towns, slowing
7、to twenty miles an hour so as not to crowd the horses and horse carriages on their way to market. 在县城的博物馆里，我们欣赏了玩具火车和老式汽车；在工厂的直销商店里（购物） ，省了七成的钱。 We admired toy trains and antique cars in county museums and saved 70 percent in factory outlets. 在农户的自助餐厅里，我们饱饱地吃了一顿香料沙拉和家庭自制面包，而后便在外边闲逛，享受着阳光，欣赏着卧在阳光里的成群
8、奶牛这时可不是小黑点了。 We stuffed ourselves with spicy salads and homemade bread in an “all-you-can-eat“ farmhouse restaurant, then wandered outside to enjoy the sunshine and the herds of cowsno little dots this time lying in it. 我们回到家里，恢复了精力，也恢复了活力，还又一次受到教育。这回到那儿的确是快乐啊。 And We returned home refreshed, revita
9、lized, and reeducated. This time, getting there had been the fun. 毫无特色的收费高速公路和州际公路成了我们许多人的专门选择，这是为什么呢？ Why is it that the featureless turnpikes and interstates are the routes of choice for so many of us? 大家为什么不试着放慢速度，去考察一下农村呢？ Why doesnt everybody try slowing down and exploring the countryside? 可是，越
10、来越多的情况是，快车道看来成了我们要走的唯一道路。 But more and more, the fast lane seems to be the only way for us to go. 实际上，大多数美国人总是匆匆忙忙而且不光是在从甲地赶到乙地这样的事上。 In fact, most Americans are constantly in a hurryand not just to get from Point A to Point B. 我们的国家已经变成了一个追求速战速决的国家不止在一个方面。 Our country has become a nation in search
11、of the quick fixin more ways than one. 不要将来，只求现在：从前，美国人明白“好事多磨”的道理。我们从每次的收入里拿出一小部分，以备不时之需。Now instead of later: Americans understood the principle of deferred gratification (被推迟的满足). We put a little of each paycheck away “for a rainy day“. 如果我们想要一个新沙发，或者在湖边的小屋里过上一周，我们就为此攒些钱。银行则会提供特别的圣诞购物储蓄账户和度假储蓄账户帮
12、我们渡过难关。 If we wanted a new sofa or a week at a lakeside cabin, we saved up for it, and the banks helped us out by providing special Christmas Club and Vacation Club accounts. 如果我们住在乡下，地方合适，就种下玉米和豆子，耐心地等待着收获。 If we lived in the right part of the country, we planted corn and beans and waited patiently
13、 for the harvest. 如果我们想要瘦一些，我们就少吃一些最喜爱的食物，耐心地等着磅秤降下来，一次降一磅。 If we wanted to be thinner, we simply ate less of our favorite foods and waited patiently for the scale to drop, a pound at a time. 可是现在，我们没有这份耐心了。我们不攒钱了，而是去贷款；我们用信用卡去买家具、去度假旅行眼下要放松，以后再付钱。 But today we arent so patient. We take out loans in
14、stead of making deposits, or we use our credit card to get that furniture or vacation triprelax now, pay later. 我们买食品也像买衣服一样，都是已经弄好的，现成的。 We buy our food, like our clothing, ready-made and off the rack. 如果我们急着要减轻体重，就试用最新的神奇套餐，它保证能在十天之内减去十磅除非我们很有钱，可以去做吸脂手术。 And If were in a hurry to lose weight, we t
15、ry the latest miracle diet, guaranteed to take away ten pounds in ten days . unless were rich enough to afford liposuction. 不要缓慢，只求快速：我们不但现在就要，我们甚至不想被动地等待。 Faster instead of slower: Not only do we want it now; we dont even want to be kept waiting for it. 这种急躁、 “讨厌等待”的普遍心态已经影响了我们生活的各个层面。 This general
16、 impatience, the “I-hate-to-wait“ attitude, has infected every level of our lives. 我们用二十秒从自动取款机里取出二十元钱，而不会去银行排队（等候） 。 Instead of standing in line at the bank, we withdraw twenty dollars in as many seconds from an automatic teller machine.而后我们拿着这快速取出的钱去一家快捷的便利商店（为什么在超市里排队呢？） ，购买已经全部包好、随时可放进微波炉的速冻晚餐除非
17、我们不介意等那么长时间买些快餐来代替。 Then we take our fast money to a fast convenience store (why wait in line at the supermarket?), where we buy a frozen dinner all wrapped up and ready to be put into the microwave . unless we dont care to wait even that long and pick up some fast food instead.假如吃了快餐感觉不适，我们赶紧去药箱里找药
18、，为了你猜对了找点快速镇痛剂（药） 。 And If our fast meal doesnt agree with us, we hurry to the medicine cabinet foryou guessed itsome fast relief我们喜欢快照，于是就购买宝丽来（拍立得）照相机。 We like fast pictures, so we buy Polaroid cameras.我们喜欢快捷的娱乐，于是便用录像机将最喜爱的电视节目录制下来。 We like fast entertainment, so we record our favorite TV show on
19、 the VCR. 我们也喜欢能快速传送的信息，例如电脑屏幕上闪现的消息、从你的传真机传到我的传真机上的文件、 “目击者新闻”节目里九十秒快速时事报道，以及浓缩成“二百年难忘瞬间”的历史。 We like our information fast, too: messages flashed on a computer screen, documents faxed from your telephone to mine, current events in 90-second bursts on Eyewitness News, history reduced to “Bicentennia
20、l Minutes“.作为象征， “美国之鹰”正在为“邮政速递”飞翔。有谁还敢让美国多等一晚上？ Symbolically, the American eagle now flies for Express Mail. How dare anyone keep America waiting longer than overnight?不要透彻，只求肤浅：而且，我们甚至不想彻底了解一个事物。 Superficially instead of thoroughly: Whats more, we dont even want all of it. 以前，我们仔细阅读经典小说或最新畅销书的每一个词
21、，而现在，由于越快就越好，我们读浓缩版的书，或者把书的录音磁带放进汽车的录音机里，在上班的路上收听。 Once, we lingered over every word of a classic novel or the latest best seller. Today, since faster is better, we read the condensed version or put a tape of the book into our cars tape player to listen to on the way to work. 要么就是去买克利夫笔记 ，尤其当我们是学生时。
22、这样我们就根本不用去阅读原书了。 Or we buy the Cliffs Notes, especially if we are students, so we dont have to deal with the book at all. 以前，我们聆听贝多芬第五交响曲的每一个音符。而现在，我们没有那个时间了；作为代替，我们可以从古典音乐精华片断CD 上欣赏那段“哒哒哒嘟”主旋律的二十六秒长的片段，CD 上还有九十九个同样著名乐曲的选段。 Once, we listened to every note of Beethovens Fifth Symphony. Today, we dont
23、 have the time; instead, we can enjoy 26 seconds of that famous “da-da-da-DUM“ themeand 99 other musical excerpts almost as famouson our Greatest Moments of the Classic CD.毕竟，既然有人已经选择出最优秀的部分，为我们省去了的麻烦，干嘛还要浪费四十五分钟去听整首曲子呢？ After all, why waste 45 minutes listening to the whole thing when someone else
24、has saved us the trouble of picking out the best parts? 像读者文摘这样的杂志上的文章，到我们手里时已经被缩简了。因为有了今日美国报 ，简要报道的新闻比以前更简单了。 Our magazine articles come to us pre-digested in Readers Digest. Our news briefings, thanks to USA Today, are more brief than ever. 甚至我们的人际关系也被压缩了。我们不再每天花很多时间陪伴我们的亲人，而是代之以所谓的“宝贵时光” ，但这种时间往往
25、根本就是没时间。 Even our personal relationships have become compressed. Instead of devoting large parts of our days to our loved ones, we replace them with something called “quality time“, which, more often than not, is no time at all. 在我们匆匆忙忙地看书，再去听音乐、读新闻、与人交往的同时，我们没有认识到，我们是在依照“冰山原理”过日子仅仅注意了冰山的顶端，而忽视了隐蔽在水
26、面下的那九分之八的部分。 As we rush from book to music to news item to relationship, we do not realize that we are living our lives by the iceberg principlepaying attention only to the top and ignoring the 8/9 that lies just below the surface. 现在就干的欲望，立刻干完的欲望，对待生活浮光掠影的欲望，这一切都是从什么时候开始的？我们为什么如此匆匆忙忙地去节省时间？ When di
27、d it all begin, this urge to do it now, to get it over with, to skim the surface of life? Why are we in such a hurry to save time? 我们要用省下的时间去干什么呢？仅仅是为了急急忙忙地去节省更多的时间吗？ And What are we going to do with all the time we save besides, of course, rushing out to save some more time? 令人悲哀的事实是，我们不懂得怎样利用省下的时间
28、，因为我们所擅长的是节省时间而不是利用时间。 The sad truth is that we dont know how to use the time we save, because all were good at is saving time . not spending time. 不要误解我。我并不是说要回到自己种蔬菜、自己做衣服（的年代去） 。我也不提倡来一场将信用卡切成碎片的大规模运动。 Dont get me wrong. Im not saying we should go back to growing our own vegetables or making our
29、own clothes. Im not even advocating a mass movement to cut all our credit cards into little pieces. 但是，我要说的是，我们大家都需要更加认真地考虑一下，趁我们还没有完全失控，赶快为“什么都要，现在就要”的生活方式刹车吧。 But I am saying that all of us need to think more seriously about putting the brakes on our “we-want-it-all-and-we-want-it-now“ lifestyle before we speed completely out of control.让我们慢慢地去阅读故事的每一个词，聆听音乐的每一个音符，欣赏农村每一个细微的变化。让我们在慢车道上去重新发现生活吧。 Lets take the time to read every word of that story, hear every note of that music, and enjoy every subtle change of that countryside. Lets rediscover life in the slow lane.4-7
