經典英語文章The Almighty Dollar雙語閱讀

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經典英語文章The Almighty Dollar雙語閱讀

　　The Almighty Dollar 萬能的美元

　　Wystan Hugh Auden 威斯特·休·奧登(1907—1973)，英國詩人，文學評論家

　　Political and technological developments are rapidly obliterating all cultural differences and it is possible that, in a not remote future, it will be impossible to distinguish human beings living on one area of the earth’s surface from those living on any other, but our different pasts have not yet been completely erased and cultural differences are still perceptible. The most striking difference between an American and a European is the difference in their attitudes towards money. Every European knows, as a matter of historical fact, that, in Europe, wealth could only be acquired at the expense of other human beings, either by conquering them or by exploiting their labor in factories. Further, even after the Industrial Revolution began, the number of persons who could rise from poverty to wealth was small: the vast majority took it for granted that they should not be much richer nor poorer than their fathers. In consequence, no European associates wealth with personal merit or poverty with personal failure.

　　政治與科技的發展正迅速消除一切文化差異，在不久的將來，人們有可能沒辦法把地球上一個地區的人與居住在另一個地區的人區分開來，但我們不同的過去還沒有完全被抹滅，文化的差異依然清晰可見。美國人與歐洲人之間最明顯的'不同在于他們對待金錢的態度不同。每個歐洲人都知道(其實這也是歷史事實)：在歐洲要獲得財富只能犧牲別人，不論是通過征服他們，還是通過在工廠里剝削他們的勞動。此外，即使工業革命開始后，能由窮變富的人仍是少數：絕大多數人認為他們不會比自己上一代富太多或窮太多是理所當然的事。因此，沒有歐洲人會把財富與個人成就，或者把貧窮與個人失敗聯系在一起。

　　In the United States, wealth was also acquired by stealing, but the real exploited victim was not a human being but poor Mother Earth and her creatures who were ruthlessly plundered. It is true that the Indians were expropriated, but this was not, as it had always been in Europe, a matter of the conqueror seizing the wealth of the conquered, for the Indian had never realized the potential riches of his country. It is also true that, in the Southern states, men lived on the labor of slaves, but slave labor did not make them fortunes; what made slavery in the South all the more inexcusable was that, in addition to being morally wicked, it didn’t even pay off handsomely.

　　在美國，財富也是偷盜而來，但那個真正受剝削的犧牲品不是人，而是被殘酷掠奪的的可憐的大地母親和她的生物。印第安人確實被剝奪了土地，但這并不像在歐洲那樣征服者掠奪被征服者的財富，因為印第安人從來沒有意識到他們國土上潛在的財富。在南方各州，也的確有人靠奴隸的勞動生活，但奴隸勞力并沒有使他們發大財;南方奴隸制尤其不可原諒之處，除了它道德上極惡劣外，還在于它甚至不能慷慨地讓南方人賺一大筆錢。

　　Thanks to the natural resources of the country, every American, until quite recently, could reasonably look forward to making more money than his father, so that, if he made less, the fault must be his; he was either lazy or inefficient. What an American values, therefore, is not the possession of money as such, but his power to make it as a proof of his manhood; once he has proved himself by making it, it has served its function and can be lost or given away. In no society in history have rich men given away so large a part of their fortunes. A poor American feels guilty at being poor, but less guilty than an American rentier who has inherited wealth but is doing nothing to increase it; what can the latter do but take to drink and psychoanalysis?

　　由于美國自然資源很豐富，直到最近，每個美國人都有理由指望賺得比他父親多，所以如果他賺得比他父親少了，一定是他的錯;不是他太懶，就是他不能干。因此，美國人看重的不是有錢這件事本身，而是他借以證明其男子漢氣概的賺錢能力;一旦他賺到了錢證明了自己，錢就達到了它的功用，此時或失去或贈人都無所謂了。歷史上沒有一個社會的富人會把那么一大筆財富送掉。一個貧窮的美國人會因為窮而感到慚愧，但他的羞愧之情還不及一個繼承了一筆財富卻沒辦法使其增值的美國人;后者除了酗酒，看心理醫生之外還能怎么辦呢?

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