1、Unit 1 Catching Crabs 1 In the fall of our final year, our mood changed. The relaxed atmosphere of the preceding summer semester, the impromptu ball games, the boating on the Charles River, the late-night parties had disappeared, and we all started to get our heads down, studying late, and attendanc
2、e at classes rose steeply again. We all sensed we were coming to the end of our stay here, that we would never get a chance like this again, and we became determined not to waste it. Most important of course were the final exams in April and May in the following year. No one wanted the humiliation o
3、f finishing last in class, so the peer group pressure to work hard was strong. Libraries which were once empty after five oclock in the afternoon were standing room only until the early hours of the morning, and guys wore the bags under their eyes and their pale, sleepy faces with pride, like medals
4、 proving their diligence.2 But there was something else. At the back of everyones mind was what we would do next, when we left university in a few months time. It wasnt always the high flyers with the top grades who knew what they were going to do. Quite often it was the quieter, less impressive stu
5、dents who had the next stages of their life mapped out. One had landed a job in his brothers advertising firm in Madison Avenue, another had got a script under provisional acceptance in Hollywood. The most ambitious student among us was going to work as a party activist at a local level. We all sawh
6、im ending up in the Senate or in Congress one day. But most people were either looking to continue their studies, or to make a living with a white-collar job in a bank, local government, or anything which would pay them enough to have a comfortable time in their early twenties, and then settle down
7、with a family, a mortgage and some hope of promotion.3 I went home at Thanksgiving, and inevitably, my brothers and sisters kept asking me what I was planning to do. I didnt know what to say. Actually, I did know what to say, but I thought theyd probably criticize me, so I told them what everyone el
8、se was thinking of doing.4 My father was watching me but saying nothing. Late in the evening, he invited me to his study. We sat down and he poured us a drink.5 So? he said.6 Er so what?7 So what do you really want to do? he asked.8 My father was a lawyer, and I had always assumed he wanted me to go
9、 to law school, and follow his path through life. So I hesitated.9 Then I replied, “I want to travel, and I want to be a writer.”10 This was not the answer I thought he would expect. Travel? Where? A writer? About what? I braced myself for some resistance to the idea.11 There was a long silence.12 I
10、nteresting idea, he said finally.13 There was another long silence.14 I kind of wish Id done that when I was your age.15 I waited.16 You have plenty of time. You dont need to go into a career which pays well just at the moment. You need to find out what you really enjoy now, because if you dont, you
11、 wont be successful later.17 So how do I do this?“18 He thought for a moment. Then he said, Look, its late. Lets take the boat out tomorrow morning, just you and me. Maybe we can catch some crabs for dinner, and we can talk more.19 It was a small motor boat, moored ten minutes away, and my father ha
12、d owned it for years. Early next morning we set off along the estuary. We didnt talk much, but enjoyed the sound of the seagulls and the sight of the estuary coastline and the sea beyond.20 There was no surf on the coastal waters at that time of day, so it was a smooth half-hour ride until my father
13、 switched off the motor. Lets see if we get lucky, he said, picked up a rusty, mesh basket with a rope attached and threw it into the sea.21 We waited a while, then my father stood up and said, Give me a hand with this, and we hauled up the crab cage onto the deck.22 Crabs fascinated me. They were s
14、o easy to catch. It wasnt just that they crawled into such an obvious trap, through a small hole in the lid of the basket, but it seemed as if they couldnt be bothered to crawl out again even when you took the lid off. They just sat there, waving their claws at you.23 The cage was brimming with doze
15、ns of soft shell crabs, piled high on top of each other. Why dont they try to escape? I wondered aloud to my father.24 Just watch them for a moment. Look at that one, there! Hes trying to climb out, but every time the other crabs pull him back in, said my father.25 And we watched. The crab climbed u
16、p the mesh towards the lid, and sure enough, just as it reached the top, one of its fellow crabs reached out, clamped its claw onto any available leg, and pulled it back. Several times the crab tried to defy his fellow captives, without luck.26 Now watch! said my father. Hes starting to get bored wi
17、th this game.27 Not only did the crab give up its lengthy struggle to escape, but it actually began to help stop other crabs trying to escape. Hed finally chosen an easy way of life.28 Suddenly I understood why my father had suggested catching crabs that morning. He looked at me. Dont get pulled bac
18、k by the others, he said. Spend some time figuring out who you are and what you want in life. Look back at the classes youre taking, and think about which ones were most productive for you personally. Then think about whats really important to you, what really interests you, what skills you have. Tr
19、y to figure out where you want to live, where you want to go, what you want to earn, how you want to work. And if you cant answer these questions now, then take some time to find out. Because if you dont, youll never be happy.29 He paused.30 So you want to travel? he asked.31 Yes, I replied.32 Bette
20、r get you a passport. And you want to be a writer?33 I think so.34 Interesting choice. Weve never had a writer in the family, he said.35 My father started the motor and we set off back home.抓 螃 蟹 1 大学最后一年的秋天，我们的心情变了。刚刚过去的夏季学期的轻松氛围、即兴球赛、查尔斯河上的泛舟以及深夜晚会都不见了踪影，我们开始埋头学习，苦读到深夜，课堂出勤率再次急剧上升。我们都觉得在校时间不多了，以后再
21、也不会有这样的学习机会了，所以都下定决心不再虚度光阴。当然，下一年四五月份的期末考试最为重要。我们谁都不想考全班倒数第一，那太丢人了，因此同学们之间的竞争压力特别大。以前每天下午五点以后，图书馆就空无一人了，现在却要等到天快亮时才会有空座，小伙子们熬夜熬出了眼袋，他们脸色苍白，睡眼惺忪，却很自豪，好像这些都是表彰他们勤奋好学的奖章。2 还有别的事情让大家心情焦虑。每个人都在心里盘算着过几个月毕业离校之后该找份什么样的工作。并不总是那些心怀抱负、成绩拔尖的高材生才清楚自己将来要做什么，常常是那些平日里默默无闻的同学早早为自己下几个阶段的人生做好了规划。有位同学在位于麦迪逊大道他哥哥的广告公司得到
22、了一份工作，另一位同学写的电影脚本已经与好莱坞草签了合约。我们当中野心最大的一位同学准备到地方上当一个政党活动家，我们都预料他最终会当上参议员或国会议员。但大多数同学不是准备继续深造，就是想在银行、地方政府或其他单位当个白领，希望在20出头的时候能挣到足够多的薪水，过上舒适的生活，然后就娶妻生子，贷款买房，期望升职，过安稳日子。3 感恩节的时候我回了一趟家，兄弟姐妹们免不了不停地问我毕业后有什么打算，我不知道该说什么。实际上，我知道该说什么，但我怕他们批评我，所以只对他们说了别人都准备干什么。4 父亲看着我，什么也没说。夜深时，他叫我去他的书房。我们坐了下来，他给我们俩各倒了杯饮料。5 “怎么
23、样？”他问。6 “啊，什么怎么样？”7 “你毕业后到底想做什么？”他问道。8 父亲是一名律师，我一直都认为他想让我去法学院深造，追随他的人生足迹，所以我有点儿犹豫。9 过了会儿我回答说：“我想旅行，我想当个作家。”10我想这不是他所期待的答案。旅行？去哪儿旅行？当作家？写什么呀？我做好了遭到他反对的心理准备。11 接着是一段长长的沉默。12 “这想法有点意思，”他最后说。13 接着又是一段长长的沉默。14 “我真有点希望自己在你这个年纪时能做这些事儿。”15 我在等他把话说完。16 “你还有很多时间，不必急于进一个暂时报酬高的行业。你现在要搞清楚自己真正喜欢什么，如果你弄不清楚，以后就不可能成
24、功。”17 “那我该怎么办？” 18 他想了一会儿。然后他说道：“瞧，现在太晚了。我们明天早晨乘船出海去，就我们两个。也许我们能抓点螃蟹当晚餐，我们还可以再谈谈。”19 那是一艘小小的机动船，停泊在离我们家约十分钟路程的地方，是好些年前父亲买的。次日清晨，我们沿着港湾出发，一路上没说多少话，只是默默地欣赏着海鸥的叫声，还有港湾沿岸和远处大海的景色。20在这个时候沿海水域没什么风浪，船平稳地航行了半个小时之后父亲把船停了下来。他说：“咱们在这儿试试运气吧，”然后抓起一个系上绳子的生了锈的网状篓子抛到海里。21我们等了一会儿，父亲站起来说，“来帮我一把。”于是我们一起将蟹篓子拽上了甲板。22螃蟹让
25、我着迷，它们太容易抓了。不仅仅是因为它们顺着篓盖上的小孔爬进一个再明显不过的陷阱，更因为即便盖子打开了，它们似乎也懒得从里面爬出来，只会趴在那儿冲你挥动着蟹钳。23篓子里挤满了几十只软壳螃蟹，一只压着一只，堆得老高。“它们为什么不逃走啊？”我满腹狐疑地问父亲。24 “你先观察一下，看那只螃蟹，那儿！它想爬出去，但每次都被同伴拽了回去，”父亲说。25我们接着观察。那只螃蟹顺着网眼向顶盖攀援，每当它爬到顶盖时，果然就会有另一只螃蟹举起蟹钳夹住它的腿把它拽下来。这只螃蟹尝试了好几次想挣脱它的狱中同伴，但都没能成功。26 “快看！”父亲说。“它开始对这种游戏感到不耐烦了。”27 那只螃蟹不仅放弃了漫长
26、的逃亡之战，而且还帮着把其他想逃跑的螃蟹拽下来。它最终选择了一种轻松的活法。28 我忽然明白了父亲为什么提议早上来抓螃蟹。他看着我说：“你可别被别人拽下来哦。花点时间想想你是哪一类人，你这一生希望得到什么。”“回顾一下你在大学修的课程，想想有哪些课对你个人来说最有益。然后再想想什么对你最重要，什么最使你感兴趣，你有什么技能。琢磨一下你想在哪里生活，你想去哪里，想挣多少钱，想做什么样的工作。如果你现在不能回答这些问题，你就得花点时间去找出答案。你不这样做的话，永远都不会幸福的。”29 他停顿了一下。30 “你想去旅行？”他接着问我。31 “对，”我回答说。32 “那就去申请护照吧。你想当作家？”
27、33 “对。”34 “有趣的选择，我们家还没出过作家呢，”他说。35 我父亲发动了马达，我们返航回家。Unit 2 Cultural Childhoods 1 When I look back on my own childhood in the 1970s and 1980s and compare it with children today, it reminds me of that famous sentence The past is a foreign country: They do things differently there (from L. P. Hartleys n
28、ovel The Go-Between). Even in a relatively short period of time, I can see the enormous transformations that have taken place in childrens lives and in the ways they are thought about and treated.2 Looking further back I can see vast differences between contemporary and historical childhoods. Today,
29、 children have few responsibilities, their lives are characterized by play not work, school not paid labour, family rather than public life and consumption instead of production. Yet this is all relatively recent. A hundred years ago, a 12 year old working in a factory would have been perfectly acce
30、ptable. Now, it would cause social services intervention and the prosecution of both parents and factory owner. 3 The differences between the expectations placed on children today and those placed on them in the past are neatly summed up by two American writers, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre Englis
31、h. Comparing childhoods in America today with those of the American colonial period (16001776), they have written: Today, a four year old who can tie his or her shoes is impressive. In colonial times, four-year-old girls knitted stockings and mittens and could produce intricate embroidery: At age si
32、x they spun wool. A good, industrious little girl was called Mrs instead of Miss in appreciation of her contribution to the family economy: She was not, strictly speaking, a child. 4 These changing ideas about children have led many social scientists to claim that childhood is a social construction.
33、 They use this term to meanthat understandings of childhood are not the same everywhere and that while all societies acknowledge that children are different from adults, how they are different and what expectations are placed on them, change according to the society in which they live. 5 Social anth
34、ropologists have shown this in their studies of peoples with very different understandings of the world to Western ones. Jean Briggs has worked with the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic and has described how, within these communities, growing up is largely seen as a process of acquiring thought, reason
35、and understanding (known in Inuit as ihuma). Young children dont possess these qualities and are easily angered, cry frequently and are incapable of understanding the external difficulties facing the community, such as shortages of food. Because they cant be reasoned with, and dont understand, paren
36、ts treat them with a great deal of tolerance and leniency. Its only when they are older and begin to acquire thought that parents attempt to teach them or discipline them. 6 In contrast, children on the Pacific island of Tonga, studied by Helen Morton, are regularly beaten by their parents and older
37、 siblings. They are seen as being closer to mad people than adults because they lack the highly prized quality of social competence (or poto as the Tongans call it). They are regularly told off for being clumsy and a child who falls over may be laughed at, shouted at, or beaten. Children are thought
38、 of as mischievous; they cry or want to feed simply because they are naughty, and beatings are at their most severe betweenthe ages of three and five when children are seen as particularly wilful. Parents believe that social competence can only be achieved through discipline and physical punishment,
39、 and treat their children in ways that have seemed very harsh to outsiders.7 In other cases, ideas about children are radically different. For example, the Beng, a small ethnic group in West Africa, assume that very young children know and understand everything that is said to them, in whatever lang
40、uage they are addressed. The Beng, whove been extensively studied by another anthropologist, Alma Gottlieb, believe in a spirit world where children live before they are born and where they know all humanlanguages and understand all cultures. Life in the spirit world is very pleasant and the childre
41、n have many friends there and are often very reluctant to leave it for an earthly family (a fictional account of a spirit childs journey between the spirit and the earthly world is given in Ben Okris novel, The Famished Road). When they are born, they remain in contact with this other world for seve
42、ral years, and may decide to return there if they are not properly looked after. So parents treat young children with great care so that theyre not tempted to return, and also with some reverence, because theyre in contact with the spirit world in a way that adults arent. 8 Theres a tendency to view
43、 children in the UK, and in the Western world in general, as incompetent and dependent. But this isnt the case throughout the world.In many societies children work and contribute to the family in whatever way they can from a very early age. A good example of this is childcare. In the UK, it is illeg
44、al for a child under the age of 14 to look after another child unsupervised, because theyre deemed incompetentand irresponsible. In other cultures, this is not the case. Michelle Johnson has written about the Fulani of West Africa describing how by the age of four, girls are expected to be able to c
45、are for their younger siblings, fetch water and firewood and by the age of six will be pounding grain, producing milk and butter and selling these alongside their mothers in the market. 9 Across the world, among the Yanamam of the Amazonian rainforest, another anthropologist, Napoleon Chagnon, has s
46、hown how different these childrens childhoods are from Western ones, and also how differently boys and girls grow up in comparison with other parts of the world. He has written how a Yanamam girl is expected to help her mother from a young age and by the age of ten will be running a house. By the ag
47、e of 12 or 13 she is probably married and will have started to have babies. Boys on the other hand, have far fewer responsibilities. They dont marry until later than girls and are allowed to play well into their teens. Western notions of childhood simply do not fit in these cases, where childrens competence and responsibilities are understood very differently. 10 Social anthropologists ask questions about how childhood, and the role of children, is seen within the communities they study, rather than how it fits into Western ideas about child
