UNIT13 What Is "American”About the USA?
是什么让美国独一无二，成为地球上一个特别的地方? What makes the USA unique, a special place on earth? 首先，这是“西方”最极端的例子。 For one thing, it is the most extreme example of what it means to be "Western." 在主要西方国家中，美国收税最少，为陷入困境的公民提供的社会保障水平最低。 Among the major Western countries, the USA collects the least taxes and provides the lowest levels of social safety nets for citizens in trouble.' 它的积极承诺显然是理想主义的，在现实环境中可能无法实现。 Its positive promises are notably idealistic, perhaps unrealizable in real-world circumstances. 它声称要为公民提供最多的幸福，但对于他们应该相信什么却保持沉默(除了美国的生活方式)。 It claims to offer citizens the heights of wellbeing, but is silent about what they should believe (except in the American way of life). 例如，在美国的建国文本——《独立宣言》(1776年)和《宪法》(1788年，外加27项修正案)中都没有提到资本主义。 For example, there is no mention of capitalism in its founding texts, the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Constitution (1788, plus 27 amendments). 但很明显，美国人期望无论建立什么制度，它都应该给人们提供金钱和金钱能买到的东西。 But clearly Americans expect that whatever system is instituted, it should deliver money and what money can buy. 他们对理论的兴趣不如对实际结果的兴趣。 They are less interested in theories than in practical results.2016年，一场残酷的总统选举突显了美国人对自己在世界上的地位的看法存在巨大分歧。 ContestsIn 2016 a brutal presidential election underlined a great divide in the way Americans think about their place in the world. 面对如此严重的分歧，是什么让美国人团结在一起? Given such stark divisions, what holds Americans together as a people? 根据对国旗的效忠誓词，是什么使这个国家“不可分割”?（战争/内战） What, if anything, makes the nation, according to the Pledge of Allegiance to the national flag, "indivisible"? 要回答这个问题，我们不能指望存在态度或价值观的共识。 To answer this question, we cannot look to nationally shared attitudes or values. 相反，大多数美国人的共同点在于他们对重要决策方式的信任:在有规则的竞争范围内，在不同选择之间自由竞争。（有点拗口，就是说观点的自由竞争） Instead, what most Americans share lies in their loyalty to the way important decisions are made: through competition between alternatives, within the rules that define contests.在竞争中，会有胜利者，也会有失败者。 In contests, there will be victors but also losers.失败者可能会感觉很糟糕，但如果比赛被认为是“公平的”，人们就不会抱怨太多或抱怨太久。 The losers may feel bad, but if the contest is seen as "fair," people will not complain too much or for too long. 失败者可能会对彼此说:“祝你下次好运。” "Better luck next time" the losers may say to each other. 失败者通常会集中精力为下一场竞争做更好的准备。 The losers then typically concentrate on preparing better for the next contest. 他们可以相信会有下一次竞争，（自由竞争，且有多次竞争机会）因为这就是体制的运作方式，这意味着无论今天的选择是什么，它一定是民主国家目前可以获得的最好的选择。（美国人对美式民主的蜜汁自信） They can be confident that there will be a next contest because that is the way the systern works, implying that whatever alternative wins today must be the best available now in a democracy. 未来仍将由另一场竞争决定。 The future remains to be decided-by yet another contest.
体育作为一种文化
(资料图片)
这种竞争在美国生活中的普及程度令人印象深刻。
Sports as Enculturation
The degree to which such contests pervade life in the USA is impressive. 无论美国人在什么领域中，都能看到竞争。 Wherever Americans may turn, they see contests being played out. 美国人从小就开始接触这些模范榜样。 Exposure to these exemplary models starts from a young age. 他们传达的信息是“美国人”成长的核心含义。 Their message is central to what it means to grow up "American." 体育运动无处不在，从学校开始; Sports are pervasive, starting in schools; 首先是“小联盟”，然后是全国性的体育比赛，现在是一个主要的娱乐产业。 first through "little leagues" and on to the national sports contests, now a major entertainment industry'. 运动在美国人的生活中一年四季都无处不在。 Sports are everywhere in American life throughout every year. 每个大城市在每一项主要运动中都有职业球队，这保证了全年都有比赛:棒球在春季、夏季和初秋，美式足球在秋季和初冬，篮球在冬季和春季。 Every major city has professional teams in every major sport, which guarantees contests all year round: baseball in spring, summer and early autumn, American football in autumn and early winter, and basketball in winter and spring. 这些主流体育项目在一年中与其电视转播的比赛重叠的时候直接相互竞争。 These mainstream sports compete with each other directly during the times of the year when they and their televised contests overlap. 此外，还有许多其他不太受欢迎的体育比赛，如网球、橄榄球或足球等。 In addition there are many other less popular sports contests, as in tennis, rugby, or soccer, among a host of others. 学院和大学队伍参与所有的体育运动，他们会选出最有天赋的球员，并给予他们广泛的宣传和奖学金。 All sports are supported by college and university teams that identify the most talented players and give them widespread publicity as well as scholarships. 许多最好的球员都是非裔美国人。 Many of the best players are African-American. 无论如何，顶级运动员的高奖学金和薪水使这些优秀运动员在他们的运动生涯中非常富有。 In any case the high scholarships and then salaries earned by top sports players make those high performers comfortably rich during their playing years.一般来说，美国公众在这些比赛中投入了大量资金和情感，仅仅是因为体育被视为培养公民素质的绝佳途径。 The American public in general invests a great deal-financially and emotionally -in these contests, if only because sports are seen as excellent training for citizenship. 美国人构建的“性格”，是，能够公平地赢得比赛或优雅地失败并继续战斗。 They build "character," that is, the ability to win fairly or to lose gracefully and still fight on. 潜在的信息基本上是一样的:我们希望我们的团队获胜，但如果没有，我们将目睹一场勇敢的竞争，一场在对国家级戏剧，也就是每次选举的缩小版重演。 The underlying message is basically the same: we hope our team will win, but if not, we will have witnessed a valiant contest, a miniature version of the national drama that is replayed in every election. 如果我们这次没有赢，我们也会打得很努力。 If we have not won this time, we have played hard. 明年还会有一个季节。 There will be another season next year. 祝你下次好运。 Better luck next time.
政治领域也隐含着类似的信息。
Politics
A parallel message is implicit in the political sphere. 定期举行选举以确定获胜者。 Elections are held periodically to identify winners. 总统每四年选举一次。 Presidents are elected every four years. 众议院435名议员每两年改选一次，美国国会100名参议员也每两年有三分之一要改选。 The 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for election every two years, as are one-third of the 100 Senators in the US Congress. 自1800年美国独立后不久，就有两个政党在选举中竞争。 Ever since 1800, shortly after the USA established its independent existence, there have been two political parties contesting elections.
为了在选举中获得优势，两党的倾向仍然可以不断重新定义; The orientations of each Party remain open to constant redefinition in search of electoral advantage over the other; 但每个党都保持着大致的定位。 but each retains an approximate identity. 共和党人通常是保守的，寻求保持熟悉的行事方式; Republicans are generally conservative, seeking to maintain familiar ways of proceeding; 民主党人通常是进步派，寻求改变以实现改良。 Democrats generally progressive, seeking changes to enable improvements. 但这些术语可能会发生变化，而且经常被随意重新定义。 But these terms may shift and are frequently redefined at will. 潜在的信息类似于体育比赛中隐含的信息:我们中的一个会赢——因此被视为“更好”——但这也只是暂时的。 The underlying message is similar to that implicit in sports contests:One of us will win—thus seen as "better" — but only for now. 正是由于这个原因，大多数美国人接受选举的结果，即使他们不喜欢当选的人。 It is for this reason that most Americans are prepared to accept the results of an election, even if they do not agree with the person elected. 大多数欧洲国家都有多个政党，只有英国有两个主要政党的传统。 Most European nations sustain multiple political parties, with only the United Kingdom maintaining a tradition of two major rival parties. 两个主要竞争者的存在让剧情更加精彩，重演了基督教的“善”对抗“恶”的情节剧。 Having two major contenders heightens the drama, replaying the Christian melodrama which pits "good" against "evil.
资本主义被称为“资本主义”的经济制度是在类似的规则约束竞争原则下运作的。 "
Capitalism
The economic system known as "capitalism" operates on similar principles of rule bound competition. 参与竞争者通常是公司，自19世纪末以来被称为“有限责任”公司。 The contestants are usually corporations, known since the late 19th century as "limited-liability" companies. 债务的“限制”是指贷款给或投资于公司股份(“股票”)的资金不受任何担保的保护。 The "limits" to liabilities means that money loaned to or invested in corporation shares ("stocks") is not covered by any guarantees. 如果公司在与其他公司的竞争中失败，这些投资或贷款可能会损失，而且没有补偿的保证。 If the corporation fails in its competition with other corporations, those investments or loans may be lost with no guaranteed compensation. 追求利润是公司存在的原因，所以他们通常很少关注竞争可能降低利润的副作用; Seeking profits is the reason for the existence of corporations, so they typically pay little attention to the side effects of competition that might reduce profits; 经常造成环境污染。 pollution of the environment frequently results. 他们尽可能少给员工发工资(高层管理人员除外)，并且反对那些旨在帮助那些因疾病或年龄而失去竞争力的人的政策规划。 They pay their employees as little as possible (except for high executives), and oppose programs that aim to help people who lose out competitively, due to illness or age.一个多世纪以来，这些规则推动了资本主义的扩张。 These rules have fueled capitalistic expansion for well over a century now. 总的来说，这些风险得到了回报。 The risks have, overall, paid off. 这里的要点是，资本主义游戏、体育竞争、政治对抗具有相同的本质。 The point here is that the capitalist game has the same structure as the sports contests and the political confrontations. 实体竞争:有些成功; Entities compete: some are successful; 其他实体消失了。 the others disappear. 我们假设是最好的，也就是最强的，会赢。 The assumption is that the best, that is, the strongest, will win. 这种淘汰弱者，优胜劣汰，并将强者定义为“最好的”的过程，通常被理解为“进步”。 This process of weeding out the weak in favor of the strong, and defining the strong as the "best" is generally understood as "progress." 该体制实现了查尔斯·达尔文在自然界发现的进化原则:“适者生存”。 The system implements the evolutionary principle Charles Darwin discovered in the natural world: "the survival of the fittest." 一项指示性的统计数据衡量了美国大公司的寿命， One indicative statistic measures the life-span of major corporations in the USA,
也就是，那些在标准普尔指数中排名前500位的公司。 that is, those that are among the 500 largest as reported on the Standard & Poor's index. 一个世纪前，大公司的平均预期寿命是50年; A century ago the average life expectancy for a major corporation was 50 years; 到2015年，这个数字下降到了15年。 by 2015 it had declined to 15 years. 简而言之，今天的大公司很少在几十年前就已经存在，而且大多数都将在未来几十年内消失。 In short, very few of today's major corporations even existed a few decades ago and most must be expected to disappear in coming decades. 熟悉的参与者在经济舞台上的出现和消失，掩盖了对其运作至关重要的竞争的残酷。 The arrival and disappearance of familiar players from the economic scene obscures the brutality of the contests that are central to its functioning.
企业之间的竞争同样适用于个人求职的情境。
Competing for a Job
What applies to competition among corporations is also visible in what happens to individuals who apply for jobs. 一个职位发布广告，候选人寻求被录用，面试或其他竞争机制会出现，最终优先考虑某个候选人。 A position is advertised, candidates seek to be hired, interviews or other competitive mechanisms are deployed, and one candidate is preferred.其他人继续寻找其他工作。 The others move on to look elsewhere. 大学和其他非营利组织的运作与公司一样需要竞争，因为它们也是体制的一部分。 Universities and other non-profit organizations function just as competitively as corporations because they too are part of the system. 但有些大学的声誉高于其他大学。 But some universities have higher reputations than others. 因此，在一个宣称“平等”为核心价值的世界里，等级制度得以建立和维持。 Thus in a world that proclaims "equality" as a core value, hierarchies are built and maintained. 这是建立一支能够赢得比赛的球队的方法。 This is the way to build a team that can win competitions. 的确，有些工作可能是根据家族关系或类似的标准来分配的 It is true that some jobs may turn out to be allocated on the grounds of family connections or similar criteria. 但大多数雇佣选择都是基于竞争优势，也就是所谓的“优点”。 But most hiring choices are made on grounds of competitive advantage, otherwise known as "merit." 整个体制渴望 “精英统治”。 The system as a whole aspires to being a "meritocracy. 再一次，竞争体制的隐含承诺是“最好的”应该赢得胜利。 "Again, the implicit promise of the competitive system is that the "best" deserves to win winning. 什么是“最佳”当然会随着时间的推移而变化，但在美国，通过竞争进行筛选永远不会过时。 What is "best" will of course vary according to circumstances that evolve over time, but in the USA testing by competition never goes out of date. 在美国有少数例外的东西，总会被公开批评。 There are few exceptions within this world, which are openly criticized from time to time. 对于大学教授来说，终身教职是极其难以获得的，这就是一个例子。 Tenure, which is extremely difficult to get, for university professors is one example. 终身工作保障被认为是保护教育工作者免受不当政治或意识形态压力的必要条件。 Lifetime job security is defended as necessary to protect educators from undue political or ideological pressure. 因此，获得终身教职的研究人员可以继续自由地追求“真理”，而不管当局对结果是否满意。 Hence tenured researchers can remain free to pursue "truth," regardless of whether authorities are pleased with the results or not. “真理”被理解为难以捉摸，但可以获得的。 "Truth" is understood as elusive but attainable. 当然，在任何制度中都存在弊端，也就是说，一些大学教师一旦获得终身教职，就无法进行有效的教学或深刻的研究; Naturally there are abuses, as in any system, that is, some university teachers, once tenured, do not produce effective teaching or memorable research; 但到目前为止，这些抱怨并没有破坏整个美国体制中的这一例外。 but so far these complaints have not undermined this exception to the overall system.
我们可以通过分析对国旗的效忠誓词来追踪这些复杂问题的答案。
The Pledge of Allegiance to the National Flag
We can track these complexities through analyzing the Pledge of Allegiance to the national flag. 这个誓言起源于19世纪末，作为一种宣誓效忠的誓言，将数百万贫穷移民的孩子与他们现在正在建立家园的新国家联系在一起。 This Pledge, originating in the late 19th century, operated as a kind of loyalty oath to bind millions of children of poor immigrants to the new nation they were now making their homeland. 这一誓言在美国各地开学时都会重复。 This pledge is repeated at the start of school days all over the USA. 现在的文本是这样的:“我宣誓效忠美利坚合众国国旗，效忠它所代表的共和国，一个上帝庇佑、不可分割、人人享有自由和正义的国家。” Here is the text in its current form:" I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."这个仪式性的文本值得分析。 This ritual text merits some analysis. “上帝保佑”一词是在德怀特·艾森豪威尔总统任期内添加的。 The phrase "under God" was added under the Presidency of Dwight Eisenhower. 长期以来，对大多数美国人来说，宗教对国家福祉的保佑似乎是“自然的”事情，但到1954年，这一点变得明确起来（公开说出来）。 A religious dimension to national well-being had long seemed "natural" to most Americans, but as of 1954 it became explicit. 这个国家被称为“共和国”:这与两大政党之一的共和党没有任何关系。 "The nation is called a "republic": that has nothing to do with the Republican Party, one of the two major political parties. 相反，这个标签将美国视为一个独立的国家，其公民自己决定他们应该如何被治理。 Instead this label identifies the USA as an independent country whose citizens themselves decide how they should be governed. 效忠誓词还承诺，“一个国家”是“不可分割的”。 The Pledge of Allegiance also promises that this "one nation" is "indivisible." 过去，在1860年至1865年的血腥内战期间，国家统一受到了最严峻的考验，当时南方11个蓄奴州退出联邦，组建了南部邦联。 In the past, national unity was most severely tested during a bloody Civil War from 1860 to 1865 when eleven slave-holding states in the South withdrew from the Union to form the Confederacy. 自那时以来，没有任何其他对民族团结的威胁能与这场灾难相提并论。 Since then, no other threat to national unity has come close to that catastrophe. 但是，今天的美国人在价值观、宗教信仰和政治忠诚方面存在着深刻的分歧。 But today's Americans are profoundly disunited when it comes to their values, their religious convictions, and their political loyalties. 更有问题的是，《誓言》承诺“人人享有自由和正义”。 More problematically the Pledge promises "liberty and justice for all." 这个承诺说起来容易，实现起来难。 This promise is easy to say but hard to realize. 公民不能自由地做任何他们喜欢做的事，因为这可能很容易干扰其他人的平等待遇，他们合法地感到有权维护自己的自由。 Citizens cannot be free to do anything they like because that might easily interfere with the equal treatment of others who legitimately feel authorized to assert their own freedoms. 尽管如此，这一承诺在每天开学的时候都会被重复，似乎是为了向美国人保证，这两项原则都能够而且将会得到尊重。 Nonetheless the promise is repeated at the start of every school day, as if to reassure Americans that both of these principles can and will be respected. 在这里，我们需要从相关的定义开始，解开隐藏在“自由”和“正义”结合背后的更深层次的紧张关系。 Here we need to unpack the deeper tensions that lurk behind the idea of combining "liberty": and "justice," starting with the relevant definitions.
自由 (“人人享有自由和公正....”)现在应该很清楚，一个不可或缺的美国价值观是“自由”。 Liberty/ Freedom("with liberty and justice for all....")As should be clear by now, one indispensable American value is "freedom." 如果竞争不是“自由的”，就不会是“公平的”。 If the competition is not "free," it will not be "fair." 也就是说，竞争将受到对其假定规则有敌意的人或物的影响甚至控制。 That is, the contest will be influenced or even controlled by someone or something hostile to its presumed rules. “自由”意味着任何竞争都是合法的，不能预先确定结果。 "Freedom" means that every competition, to be legitimate, must not be predetermined. 提前决定谁赢是错误的，因为那会伪造竞争的“公平”结果。 It is wrong to decide in advance who wins because that would falsify the "fair" outcome of the competition.美国人很难理解，即使是“自由”也有限制。 Americans have a hard time understanding that even "freedom" has limits. 如果你发现一份工作的候选人中有你最好朋友的儿子或女儿，这应该是——总是会被认为是——无关紧要的。 If the candidates for a job include a son or daughter of your best friend, that should be -will always be said to be— irrelevant. 在这种情况下，你可能会被排除在面试委员会之外，或者被要求搁置你的偏见。 In that case you might be eliminated from the interview board or asked to set your prejudice aside. 因此，“自由竞争”被认为是所有竞争中的基本条件。 "Free competition" is thus a presumed basic promise of all contests.否则，选举结果就会显得偏颇、不可信，因此也就不公平、不公正。 Otherwise the results would seem skewed and untrustworthy, hence unfair, unjust.这种观点所隐含的价值承诺，用美国《独立宣言》(1776)的话说，可以概括为每个人都拥有的一种信念： The value commitment simplicit in this view can be summarized as a belief that every individual has, in the words of the US Declaration of Independence (1776) “不可剥夺的权利”包括“生命、自由和追求幸福”。 "inalienable rights" involving "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 这些权利被认为不属于某个团体，而是属于每一个美国公民。 Such rights are deemed to belong not to a group but to every US citizen. 这是民主的基本条件，因为政府的合法性来自于人民自由给予的授权，而每次选举中的个人投票都隐含地更新了这种授权。” This is a basic condition of democracy, as the government derives its legitimacy from the people's freely given consent, implicitly renewed by individual votes at every election."因此，“自由”对美国人来说似乎是不可或缺的。 "Freedom," then, seems indispensable to Americans. 但是这个关键词可能有不止一个含义。 But this key word may carry more than one meaning. “Freedom from”强调保护个人免受压迫或专制权威的侵害。 "Freedom from" emphasizes protection of individuals from oppression or arbitrary authority. “Liberty to”并不完全相同; "Liberty to" is not exactly the same; 它强调个人做他们决定做的任何事的自由 it emphasizes the latitude of individuals to do whatever they decide to do. 因此，为了确认他们不受外界压力的“自由”，大多数美国人希望感觉他们是在独立地做决定，从而行使他们选择的“自由”。 Thus, to confirm their "freedom from" outside pressures most Americans want to feel that they are making up their minds independently, thereby exercising their "liberty to" do as they choose. 许多美国人不理解这种区别，经常把这两个表达互换使用。 Many Americans do not appreciate this difference, often using these two expressions interchangeably. 他们这样做的事实强调了 美国人假定的那种基本价值观，而且这种价值观在本质上是不需要思考的（必然的）。 The fact that they do so emphasizes the unthinking nature of what are presumed as basic values.
社会公正/平等
美国人认为的其他基本价值也同样复杂且必不可少。
Social Justice/ Equality
A parallel complexity emerges in the other basic value Americans see as indispensable.
所有公民基本平等的主张可能起源于早期基督教。 The assertion that all citizens are fundamentally equal probably originates in early Christianity. 在18世纪的启蒙运动中，它明确地成为政治哲学的一部分。 It became explicitly part of political philosophy in the Enlightenment movement of the 18th century. 从1789年法国大革命开始，平等作为一项原则在西方引发了许多大规模的社会运动。 Starting with the French Revolution in 1789, equality as a principle has motivated many large-scale social movements in the West. 为什么平等作为一项原则在西方世界的民主制度中变得如此重要? Why has equality as a principle become so central to democratic systems in the Western world? 很大程度上是因为它被视为比允许国王或皇帝建立可继承的王朝统治优越。 Largely because it was seen as superior to allowing kings or emperors to establish dynastic successions of rulers. 民主选出的领导人并不总是杰出的; Leaders chosen democratically have not always been brilliant; 但他们可以辩解说，他们是在大量公民(通常是多数)的支持下上台的。 but they could be defended as coming to power through the support of large numbers of citizens, typically a majority.这种意义上的“民主”在所有西方国家都是存在，尽管偶尔会有被民主选举出的领导人会找到一种独裁的方式来取消自由选举:纳粹德国的阿道夫·希特勒就是20世纪的一个例子。 "Democracy" in this sense is practiced in all Western countries, though from time to time someone is democratically elected as a leader who finds a dictatorial way to cancel free elections: Adolph Hitler in Nazi Germany is a 20th century example. “民主”的精神是领导人由多数公民选举产生，任期有限。 The spirit of "Democracy" is that leaders are elected for limited terms by majorities of citizens. 理想情况下，所有成年公民都应该能够投票，他们的选票应该是平等的。 Ideally all adult citizens should be able to vote, and their votes should count equally. 当然，“平等”是一种虚构。 Of course, "equality" involves a kind of fiction. 它意味着对所有公民的平等对待，尽管我们都知道人们有很大的差异(在性别、种族、智力、教育、财富等方面)。 It implies an equal treatment of all citizens, while we all know that people vary a great deal (in gender, in race, in, intelligence, in education, in wealth). 因此，“平等”一词经常被其他术语替代:“正义”或“社会正义”。 So other terms are often substituted for "equality": "justice" or "social justice." “正义”特别适用于法庭程序，原则上对各种各样的人都是公平的，尽管这是一种理想，但在实际操作中往往达不到。 "Justice" applies in particular to courtroom procedures, which in principle are to be even-handed for all sorts of people, although this is an ideal that all too often falls short in actual practice. “社会公正”指的是整个社会，肯定没有人应该被视为低人一等。 "Social justice" refers to the community as a whole, affirming that no one should be treated as inferior. 对这种意识形态的依赖意味着美国人经常否认社会阶级或其他明显的不平等的现实，例如基于性别和种族的不平等 Reliance on this ideology means that Americans often deny the realities of social class or other obvious inequalities, such as those based on gender and race. 但与此同时，这也意味着美国人也致力于以“平等”的名义减少这些差异。 But, at the same time, it means that Americans also are committed to mitigating these differences in the name of "equality.
在两种美德之间做出判断
自由/自由和社会正义/平等这两种“启蒙价值观”成为了19世纪界定西方国家的试金石。 "
Adjudicating Between Two Virtues
These two "Enlightenment values," liberty/ freedom and social justice/ equality, became the touchstones that came to define Western nationhood in the course of the 19th century. 但是，“自由”和“平等”虽然听起来令人共鸣，令人钦佩，但它们可能是令人不安的伴侣。 But "freedom" and "equality," though they sound resonant and admirable, can be uneasy companions. 回到效忠誓词 美国国旗。 Go back to the Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag.
它对“人人享有自由和公正”的承诺显然是任何社会都值得钦佩的目标。 Its promise of "liberty and justice for all" is clearly an admirable goal for any society. 但这两种观点很容易相互冲突。 But these two ideas may easily come into conflict with each other. “自由”或“自由”是指一个人选择做他或她决定做的事情。 "Liberty" or "freedom" refers to a person's choices to do what he or she decides to do. 但“社会正义”或“平等”说的是每个人与他人之间的关系。 But "social justice" or "equality" evokes the relations between each person and others. 当一个人对“自由”的追求与另一个人对“平等”待遇的要求发生冲突时，困难就出现了。 The difficulties arise when one person's pursuit of "liberty" comes up against someone else's demand for "equal" treatment.例如，在1960年代，对适用于住房租赁的做法进行了重新审查。 For instance, in the 1960s, there was a reexamination of practices applying to the rental of housing. 就“自由”而言，房东可能希望行使他/她选择什么样租客的自由。 In terms of "liberty," a landlord might like to exercise his/her freedom of choice over what kind of person rents his house. 当然，他或她希望有人能够并且愿意支付商定的租金。 Certainly he or she wants someone who is able and willing to pay the rent agreed upon. 一些房东可能不愿意把房子租给非洲裔美国人。 Some landlords may be reluctant to rent to African-Americans. 原因可能就像说黑人家庭比白人家庭更经常付不起房租一样含糊不清、站不住脚。 The reason might be as vague and flimsy as saying that black families fail to pay their rent more often than white families. 但在这种拒绝的情况下，非裔美国家庭可以自由地抱怨“不平等”待遇，特别是如果他们能提供之前租房付过租金的证据。 But in case of such a refusal, the African-American family would be free to complain of "unequal" treatment, especially if they can show positive references from earlier rentals. 这种冲突通过“公平住房”法得以解决，该法律坚持认为，任何信用良好的人，无论种族、信仰或肤色，都应该能够租用公开市场上登广告的任何房子 This conflict was resolved by "fair housing" laws which insist that anyone with good credit should be able to rent any house advertised on the open market, regardless of race, creed, or color. 这是“自由”与“平等”这两个令人钦佩的原则如何发生冲突的一个小例子。 This is a small example of how two admirable principles such as "freedom" and "equality" can come into conflict. 当他们这样做的时候，可能需要制定法律来在两种积极的价值观之间做出裁决。 When they do, laws may have to be created to adjudicate between two positive values. 在美国人的生活中，当这些理想不仅彼此冲突，而且与它们在现实世界中的简单应用相冲突时，这种紧张关系随时可能出现。 This kind of tension may surface at any time in American life when such ideals conflict not only with each other, but with their easy application to the real world.
法制
在美国，诉诸“法律”来解决冲突是生活的核心。
The Role of Law
Such resolution of conflicts by recourse to "law" is central to life in the USA. 这就是为什么选举如此重要，对立候选人之间竞争如此激烈的原因之一。 That is one reason why elections are so important and so closely contested between opposing candidates. 法律将由立法机关的多数成员通过，但它们将适用于每个人。 Laws will be passed by legislative majorities but they will apply to everyone. 因此，每个人都希望看到当选的候选人承诺代表“我这种人”，并将支持“我这种人”希望的法律。 So everyone tries to see candidates elected who promise to represent "my kind" of person who will pass "my kind" of laws. 在美国人的生活中，法律本身就是解决冲突的核心，世界上大约一半的律师在美国工作。 Law is itself so central to conflict resolution in American life that about half of all the lawyers in the world work in the USA. 法律及其对具体应用 是限制公开竞争可能造成的残酷的副产品的基本控制机制。 Laws and their application to concrete circumstances serve as essential control mechanisms that limit the potentially brutal excesses of open competition.美国在个人与组织之间互相指责对方的错误造成损害时的裁决上投入了大量的法律精力 The USA devotes a great deal of legal energy to adjudicating between individuals
or groups that accuse each other of wrongly causing damage." 一个最受欢迎的美国短语是“法治”，这意味着法律有能力和平地解决冲突。 A favorite American phrase is "the rule of law," implying that the law has the ability to settle conflicts peaceably. 在美国，这意味着许多案件只能通过上法庭，通过一场受规则约束的竞争来决定谁将是法庭上的胜利者。 In the USA that means many cases are resolved only by going to court and engaging in a rule-bound contest to determine who will be the courtroom victor.
移民
考虑到这些复杂问题，还有什么能让美国人团结在一起呢?
Immigration
Given these complexities, what can be said to hold Americans together? 为什么美国总是对来自世界各地的移民如此有吸引力? Why has the USA always been so attractive to immigrants from everywhere in the world? 一个答案是:对自由、平等和财富的承诺。 One answer is: the promises of freedom and equality and wealth. 美国比世界上其他任何国家都更能保证其公民追求个人利益的最大自由。 More than any other nation on earth, the USA promises maximum freedom to its citizens to pursue their individual interests. 其结果是美国成为了世界上最富有的国家，尽管根据基尼系数，它也是最不平等的国家之一。 The result is the richest nation on earth, although it is also among the most unequal countries according to the Gini Coefficient. 美国也是世界上最具争议的国家之一。 The USA is also among the most contentious nations in the world. 例如，它的人均律师数量是最高的，对许多美国人来说，法律诉讼几乎是一种生活方式。 For instance, it has the highest number of lawyers per capita population — and legal suits for many Americans are almost a way of life. 在司法法庭之外，在政治和公共辩论中，几乎每个决定都有争议，有时可以有很多个角度来看问题。 Outside the judicial courts, in politics and in public debate, just about every decision is contested, sometimes from several points of view. 这种为了追求个人利益而挑战权威的自由，在很大程度上概括了所谓的“美国生活方式”。 That freedom to challenge authority — in order to pursue one's own interests — summarizes a great deal about what is perceived as "the American way of life."这些争论大多用两种方法解决的。 Most of these controversies are settled in one of two ways. 一种方法是通过政治途径，包括在构成国会的两个立法机构中进行投票。 One way is by a political route, involving a vote in the two legislative bodies that make up Congress. 这条路线强调了选民“自由选择”的价值。 This route emphasizes the value of "free choice" for voters. 另一种途径在于法院，由法院裁决法律如何适用。 The alternative route resides in the courts, which adjudicate how the laws are applied. 这条路线强调个人权利和平等待遇。 This route emphasizes individual rights and equal treatment. 虽然法院解释法律，但法律本身是通过政治过程形成的。 Whereas the legal courts interpret the law, the laws themselves come into existence through a political process. 相同的法案文本必须首先得到参议院(100名成员)的同意，然后得到众议院(435名成员)的同意，最后由总统签署成为法律。” Identical texts must be first agreed upon by the Senate (100members) and then by the House of Representatives (435 members) before being finally signed into law by the President." 但此后，任何通过的法律都可能在法庭上受到质疑，如果涉及重大问题，最终上诉至最高法院作出最终裁决。 But thereafter any laws so approved maybe contested before the courts, ultimately appealing to the Supreme Court for a final decision if major issues are involved. 这种治理体系是混乱的。 This system of governance is messy. 它涉及复杂的争论，它存在的目的是为了对任何滥用权力的行为进行制衡。 It involves complex contestation, itself designed to implement checks and balances in the name of blocking any arbitrary exercise of authority. 在19世纪，这个过程偶尔会涉及暴力， In the 19th century this process intermittently involved violence,
暴力发生在选民之间或他们选出的议员之间。 among voters or among their elected representatives. 如今，代表们的行为有所改善，但激烈的口头分歧并没有消失。 Nowadays the representatives are better behaved, but violent verbal disagreements have not disappeared. 因此，很难界定大多数普通美国人相信什么。 As a result, it is hard to define what most ordinary Americans believe. 政府本身包含有争议的意见，而不是一个产生共识的论坛。 Government itself incorporates contesting opinions rather than a forum generating consensus.
美国梦
这种形式的政府适用于大约3.25亿人。
The American Dream
This form of government applies to about 325 million people. 作为美国人，这些公民有将自己视为个体的悠久传统。 As Americans these citizens have a long tradition of thinking of themselves as individuals. 大多数人认为，如果他们自己能富裕起来，那么整个国家就会繁荣。 Most assume that if they themselves can prosper, then the country as a whole will prosper. 如果是这样，他们就不必太担心国家的集体福祉，而可以专注于自己的成功和家庭的进步。 If so, they need not worry much about the nation's collective well-being but can concentrate on their own success and advancement for their families. 换句话说，他们不太可能例行公事地考虑所有人的共同利益。 In other words, they are unlikely to think routinely of a good common to all. 此外，他们的成功通常是用金钱来衡量的。 Moreover, success for them is most commonly measured in money. 所以人们会考虑他们能挣多少钱，以及他们希望怎么花。 So people think a lot about how much they can earn and how they hope to spend it.金钱是美国阶级制度的基础——尽管大多数生活在那里的人会否认存在社会阶级:他们的意识形态基于“平等”的观念。 Money is the basis of what is the American class system— even though most of the people who live there would deny that there are social classes: their ideology is based on "being equal." 金钱也决定了人们对不断向上发展的期望。 Money also dictates an expectation of constant upward progress. 大多数美国人期望每一代人都能挣得更多，因此比上一代人生活得“更好”。 Most Americans expect that each generation will earn more and hence live "better" than the one that came before. 即使他们很穷，他们也可能相信“白手起家”的神话。 Even if they are poor, they are likely to believe in a "rags to riches" myth." 这是“美国梦”的核心。 "This is the core of the "American Dream". 两个多世纪以来，它一直吸引着移民，激励着辛勤工作。 It has attracted immigrants and inspired hard work for more than two centuries now. 无论目前的情况看起来多么糟糕，对更美好未来的承诺仍然是大多数美国人的核心信念。 No matter how bad present conditions may seem, the promise of a better future remains a core belief for most Americans. 但目前的实际前景并不乐观，尤其是对年轻人而言。 But the actual prospects today are not encouraging, especially for young people. 近年来，收入的增长最终大多落入了富人之手。 In recent years increases in income have ended up mostly in the hands of the rich. 失业率下降了，但在过去的几十年里，工人的工资并没有增加多少。 Unemployment is down, but in the last few decades wages for workers have not gone up much. 美国工业的放缓导致许多工薪阶层的美国人发现他们自己——以及他们的孩子——无法实现这个梦想。 The slow-down of American industry results in many working-class Americans finding themselves - and their children- unable to live out this Dream. 他们可能会变得愤怒，投票给那些承诺更多的候选人:更多的工作，更多的工资，更好的未来。 They may become angry and vote for candidates who promise more: more jobs, more pay, and a better future. 这种幻想的未来在2016年唐纳德·特朗普当选总统的过程中发挥了很大作用。 Such fantasy futures played a large part in the 2016 election of Donald Trump to be President. 然而，尽管前途堪忧，大多数美国人仍然坚信“美国梦”，就好像它会自动保障所有公民的权利一样。 Nonetheless, despite the troubled future, most Americans continue to affirm the Dream as if it were automatically guaranteed for all citizens.
很明显，这种日益繁荣的“美国梦”已经成为了国家意识形态的一部分，甚至已经蔓延到了其他发展中国家。 It is clear that this "American Dream" of ever increasing prosperity has become part of a national ideology— and has even spread to developing countries worldwide. 在美国它有着悠久的历史。 In America itself it has a long history. 由于这段历史，这些期望不需要得到证实就可以继续被人们相信。 Because of this history, these expectations do not need to be confirmed to continue to be believed. 它们已经或明或暗地成为了政治竞选的一部分。 They have become part of political campaigns both explicitly and implicitly. 这样的期望有多现实? How realistic are such expectations? 经济增长能无限制地持续下去吗? Can economic growth go on without limits?
输出美国价值观的冲动
“自由/自由”和“平等/社会正义”之间的紧张关系表明，大多数美国人所认同的基本价值观仍然是复杂的，并且存在潜在的冲突。
The Impulse to Export American Values
The tensions between "freedom /liberty" and "equality / social justice" suggest that the fundamental values most Americans subscribe to remain complex and potentially in conflict. 这并不一定是坏的甚至是不寻常的情况。 This is not necessarily a bad or even an unusual situation. 事实上，法国人类学家克劳德·列维-斯特劳斯(Claude levi strauss)认为，所有文化都致力于解决相互矛盾的价值观之间的冲突。 In fact, the French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss argues that all cultures work to resolve conflicts between contradictory values. 这种观点也许可以解释为什么美国人长期以来一直把他们的生活方式视为典范，尽管其中潜藏着冲突。 This perspective may explain why the Americans for a long time have seen their way of life, despite its lurking conflicts, as exemplary. 在某种程度上，他们可能成为传教士，寻求向他人输出他们的价值观。 To that extent they may become missionaries, seeking to export their values to others. 他们这样做可能是因为坚信美国的道路会带来力量和繁荣。 They may do so in the conviction that the American way leads to strength and prosperity. 不用说，这种传教的努力并不总是受到全世界的欢迎。 Needless to say, such missionary efforts are not always welcome around the world. 的确，美国人选择的道路造就了一个比地球上任何其他国家都富裕的国家——目前是这样。 It is true that the American way has led to a country which is richer than any other on earth-for now. 但这并不意味着每个国家都应该试图以美国为榜样。 But that does not mean that everyone should try to model itself on the USA. 事实上，最近的大数据研究表明，与世界其他地区相比，美国与其他西方、受过教育的、工业化的、富裕的民主国家一样，只是例外。 In fact, what recent large-data studies have shown is that the United States in common with other Western, educated, industrial, rich and democratic countries — is, in comparison to the rest of the world, exceptional. 它致力于竞争，试图取代等级制度。 Committed to contests, it seeks to displace hierarchies. 对于在强调等级制度的世界中长大的人来说，通过无休止的竞争来建立文明似乎是陌生的。 Building a civilization by an unending series of contests may seem alien to people who grow up in worlds that emphasize hierarchies. 在等级制的世界里，人们由高到低排列，这取决于他们作为个人可以行使多少权力或影响，或者他们拥有多少地位。 In a hierarchical world, peopled are arrayed from high to low, depending on how much power or influence they may exercise as individuals or how much status they possess. 但即使是接近底层的人也可能支持这个阶级体制，因为这为他们定义了一个安全的定位。 But even people near the bottom are likely to support the system because it defines a secure place for them. 在一个以竞争为基础的世界里，输家几乎没有地位(收入也有限)，而赢家占据主导地位。 In a contest-based world, the losers are left with little or no status (and limited incomes)d while the winners remain dominant.
西方世界内部的比较
即使在西方国家中，美国也是独一无二的，因为它在生活的各个领域都致力于竞争的生活方式。
Comparisons within the Western World
Even among Western countries, the USA is unique in the extraordinary degree to which it has committed its way of life to processes of competition in all spheres of life. 以欧洲为例，资本主义的确也是一个特点，它让制造商和商人在“优胜劣汰”的原则下相互竞争。 It is true that Europe, for example, also features capitalism, which pits manufacturers and merchants against each other on the principle "May the Best Win." 但是，欧洲国家在考虑到它们之间的许多差异之后，仍然保留了等级秩序的重要特征。 But European countries, after taking their many differences into account, nonetheless perpetuate important features of hierarchical ordering. 欧洲的税收明显高于美国。 Taxes are notably higher in Europe than in the USA. 但作为回报，公民可以根据需要，以国家保障的医疗保健、失业保险或退休福利的形式获得更高的福利。 But in return the citizens may receive— on the basis of need -higher benefits in the form of state-assured health care, unemployment insurance, or retirement benefits. 换句话说，欧洲国家倾向于为那些被野蛮的资本主义所忽视的公民——年轻人、老人、病人和失业者——建立一个安全网 In other words, European nations tend to erect a safety-net for those citizens neglected by brute capitalism: the young, the old, the sick, the unemployed. 简而言之，美国希望个人自己照顾自己的基本需求，而欧洲则认为，在危机情况下，许多人可能无法满足自己的需求。 In short, while the USA expects individuals to take care of their basic needs themselves, Europe assumes that in crisis situations many may be unable to fund their own needs. 按照“人人为己”的原则，美国政府征收的税收比其他任何西方国家都少，国家出资的保障也相对较低。 In accordance with its principle of each man for himself, in the USA the government collects less in taxes than any other Western nation, and state-sponsored services are proportionally lower. 这种国家取向的基本原理是什么? What is the rationale for such national orientations? 这与“自由选择”的原则有关。 It has to do with the principle of "free choice." 如果税收较低，那么更多的钱就会留在工薪阶层手中，由他们来决定如何消费。 If taxes are lower, then more money is left in the hands of earners for them to decide just how to spend it. 因此，他们会感受到更多地掌控自己的生活，尽管按照美国的标准，许多人的收入只够保证最低限度的幸福。 Thus they are invited to feel more in control of their lives, though many earn only enough to assure minimal well-being according to American standards. 根据“美国梦”的说法，勉强度日的人应该把目前的状况视为暂时的，相信自己和家人的未来会有更多钱。 People who are barely getting by are supposed to see their present condition as temporary, to believe in a better-funded future for themselves and their families, according to the "American Dream." 这个梦想肯定了每个人都可以变得富有，如果他们足够努力和幸运。 This Dream affirms that everyone can become rich if they work hard enough and are lucky enough. 这个故事情节在19世纪晚期 霍雷肖·阿尔杰的通俗小说中很受欢迎。 This story line sold very well in the late 19th century in the popular fictions by Horatio Alger. 很多书讲述了贫穷的男孩如何通过努力工作、决心和诚实，再加上一点点运气，获得了可观的收入和社会地位。 Book after book told how poor boys rose to a comfortable income and social status through hard work, determination and honesty-plus a little bit of luck. 这个故事在接下来的几代人中一直保持着共鸣，尽管今天的证据表面事实与之相反。 This story has retained its resonance through the following generations, even though the evidence today is running against it. 社会学家说，美国的社会阶层向上流动的机会和今天的法国一样少 Sociologists say that there is as little upward social mobility in social class in America as in present-day France.
这一分析表明，公民的信念比任何数量的事实都重要。 The Top 1% and the Bottom 1%What this analysis shows is that what citizens believe is more important than any number of facts. 我们可以通过关注人口中收入最高的1%和收入最低的1%来深入了解当今的美国。 We can gain important insights into the US today by focusing on the top 1% and the bottom 1% of the population. 这些极端表现了美国人的生活是多么的不同。 These extremes dramatize how disparate American life can be. 最富有的1%的人控制着美国大约一半的财富。 The top 1% of the population control about half of the wealth of the USA. 这些最成功的人，富人，有足够的钱去做他们想做的事或去他们想去的地方。 These most successful individuals, the rich, have enough money to do whatever they want or go wherever they choose. 他们是实现美国梦的赢家，并为其他许多人证明了他们对未来的希望。 They are the winners who live out the American Dream and justify for many others their hopes for the future. 即使社会地位较低的人也会相信这个梦想——尽管他们知道这只是对极少数人是有可能的。 Even people lower down on the social scale buy into this Dream-even though they can see that it is a valid expectation for only a very few. 因为他们自己的努力工作没有得到回报，这些人可能会对那些似乎排在他们前面的人表现出敌意。 Because their own hard work is not seen as rewarded, these same people may express hostility toward others who seem to move ahead of them in line. 定义这种社会的一种方式是富豪统治，在这种社会中，富人和他们的购买决定了什么是精英和可取的。 One way of defining such society is a plutocracy, one in which the rich and their purchases define what is elite and desirable. 最底层是1%的美国人在监狱里。 At the bottom end are the 1% of Americans who are in prison. 美国被判入狱的人口比世界上任何一个国家都要多。 The USA condemns vastly more of its population to prison than any other country in the world.其中，非裔美国人的数量不成比例得高。 Among them, African-Americans are disproportionately numerous. 犯罪，尤其是与非法毒品的分销和销售有关的犯罪，虽然是非法的，但也能迅速获得现金。 Crime, especially as tied to the distribution and sale of illegal drugs, promises fast if illegitimate access to cash. 如果一个人把成功定义为迅速获得财富，那么犯罪又一次把我们带回到金钱这个通往美国梦生活的神奇门户。If one defines success as gaining wealth quickly, then crime takes us back once again to money as the magic portal into the life of the American Dream
个人主义
美国生活方式所产生的文化形态中浸染着个人主义精神。
Individualism
The cultural formation encouraged by the American way of life is saturated by an ethos of individualism. 大多数美国人认为这种倾向不是“自私”，而是“现实”。 Most Americans consider this orientation to be not "selfish" but "realistic." 你可以从大多数美国人看待或书写历史的方式中看出，历史是伟大人物的故事，其中大部分是伟人。 You can tell from the way most Americans view or write about history as the stories of great individuals, mostly great men.使这些人变得伟大的是他们的成就。 What makes those men great is said to be their accomplishments. 他们的父母、妻子或支持他们的团体很少受到关注和赞扬，而根据调查，这些人对他们令人钦佩的成就是不可或缺的。 Little attention and credit is accorded their parents or their wives or the supporting groups that were, on inspection, indispensable to their admirable achievements. 这种看待生活的方式反映了一种不自觉的偏见，这与美国文化非常吻合。 This way of looking at lives reflects an unself-conscious bias that fits comfortably with American culture. 伟人(大多是白人，通常已经去世)的故事强化了这样一种信念，即这些人是生活中重要内容的典范 Stories of great men (mostly white and usually dead) reinforce the belief that such individuals are models for what is important in life.
简而言之，故事以这种方式进一步促进了最初产生它们的文化思维模式。 In short, stories oriented that way further the cultural mind set that produced them in the first place. 这枚硬币的另一面是，任何没有“成功”的人一定是个人的错。 The other side of this coin is that anyone who does not "succeed" must be personally at fault. 因此，内疚或自责被当作个人主义的副产品，作为其阴暗面而受到鼓励。 Guilt or self-blame, then, is encouraged as a by-product of individualism, as its dark side.通常所说的“个人主义”在美国人思想中的重要性怎么强调都不过分。 The importance in American mentalities of what is commonly called "individualism" is hard to exaggerate. 许多美国人可能没有意识到他们的思维是如何朝着这个方向发展的，因为认为一切都源于个人成就的观点是如此普遍，几乎没有争议。 Many Americans may not recognize how their thinking is oriented in this direction because the view of everything as the achievement of single persons is so pervasive and so little contested. 但是，当人们将美国与XX进行比较时，对比就变得明显了。 But when one compares the USA with China, the contrast becomes obvious. 在XX，大多数人长大后会思考自己所属的群体，他们的家庭、亲戚、家乡、工作群体，最终是国家。 In China most people grow up to think about the groups to which they belong, their families, their relatives, their home region, their work groups and, ultimately, the nation. 对美国人来说，尽管有效忠国旗的宣誓和其他归属性的仪式，但要认同自己的国家可能更难。 For Americans, despite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and other rituals of belonging, it may be harder to identify with their nation. 个人主义可能有助于激励个人，但这阻碍了连贯的民族认同感的形成。 Individualism may well help to motivate individuals, but it discourages a coherent sense of national identity. 换句话说，美国人对个人成功的追求如此投入，以至于每一代人都越来越难以将美国视为“一个不可分割的国家”。 In other words, so invested are Americans in their quest for individual success that to see the United States as "one nation, indivisible" is becoming more difficult with every generation.
全球气候危机
考虑到这一切，现在必须有一个更大的视角。
The Worldwide Climate Crisis
In relation to all this, a larger perspective is now indispensible. 尽管民族主义情绪在世界范围内上升，但个别国家现在正面临更大、更紧迫的问题。 Despite a worldwide rise of nationalist feeling, individual nations are now being outflanked by greater and more urgent problems. 今天，仅仅研究一个国家及其看待事物的习惯方式，就忽略了影响整个世界的更大的现实。 Today simply studying one nation and its habitual way of looking at things ignores the larger realities that affect the world as a whole. 人类对经济“进步”的追求已经成功地把地球带入了一个自我污染的恶性循环，这个循环也在抵制纠正它的努力。The human drive for economic "progress" has managed to carry the earth-world into a self-polluting spiral that is resisting efforts to correct it. 无论人们把它称为“气候危机”还是其他什么名字，世界上所有国家都面临着子孙后代无法在未来生存的风险。 Whether one calls it "the climate crisis" or some alternative name, all the nations of the world are facing the risk of a future that will be unlivable for their children and grandchildren. 也就是说，未来没有足够的水和食物，甚至没有足够的可的地方供人类居住。 That is, a future without adequate water or food or even enough habitable places for human beings to live. 当今世界面临的危机对世界各地所有人的传统思想提出了巨大的挑战。 The crisis facing the world today poses a huge challenge to traditional thinking for all people in all places. 我们人类面临的问题不是由任何一个国家造成的，也不能由任何一个国家单独行动来解决。 The problems we humans are facing are not caused by any one nation and cannot be fixed by any nation acting alone. 但是，如果许多人，也许是大多数美国人把注意力集中在短期问题上，他们就不会注意到这些问题，直到为时已晚。 But if many, perhaps most, Americans keep their focus on short-term concerns, they will not pay attention to such problems until it is too late to do anything about them. 个人也可能 Individuals may all too
很容易只去考虑他们需要买的东西，以及如何赚钱来支付这些东西。 easily think only about things they need to buy and how to find the money to pay for them. 同样，企业也会考虑今年的利润，以及如何为业务扩张而支付费用以实现未来的利润。 Similarly, corporations think about profits this year and how to pay for expansion to enable future profits. 但是，这种对持续经济增长的期望在世界各地成倍增长，将使子孙后代面临一个被我们自己的累积行为所破坏的地球。 But such expectations of ongoing economic growth, multiplied around the world, condemn future generations to an earth devastated by our own cumulative actions. 现代科学，用我们人类开发的最强大的工具来了解我们居住的星球，告诉我们未来可能变得多么不适宜居住。 Modern science, with the most powerful tools we humans have developed to understand the planet where we live, tells us how unlivable the future is likely to become. 一种非常普遍的回应是否认气候科学家的观点。 One response, all too common, is to deny that the climate scientists are right. 更有建设性的替代办法是在最近的全球性决定的基础上继续努力，以免浪费宝贵的时间 The more constructive alternative is to build on recent global decisions in order to not waste precious time. 世界各地的气候科学家都告诉我们，如果我们现在不开始行动，未来将很快变得无望。 The climate scientists all around the world tell us that if we do not begin to act now, the future will soon become hopeless. 毫无疑问，迟早需要做出巨大的努力，但至少地球上的国家现在已经正式同意，危险是真实的，所有国家必须联合起来做些什么来保护这个星球上的生命。 Great efforts will no doubt be required in time, but at least the nations of earth have now formally agreed that the dangers are real and that all nations must join to do something to protect life on this planet.
最重要的是，美国人现在被要求改变他们长期以来以自我为中心的和关注短期的思维方式，以便认真对待对整个人类的威胁。 Above all Americans are now asked to modify their long-term loyalty to selfcentered and short-term concerns in order to take seriously the threats to humankind as a whole. 在美国人中存在着并将继续存在巨大的阻力:新思想需要对价值观和优先关注点进行重新定位。 There is and will continue to be substantial resistance among Americans: the new thinking requires a major reorientation of values and priorities.
但还有希望。But there is still hope. 支持脚踏实地的希望观的美国思想就是“实用主义”。 One characteristic of American thinking that supports a down-to-earth hopeful view is best known as "pragmatism." 作为一个民族，美国人经常质疑一般理论或基于理论观点的意识形态的优越性。 As a people the Americans have often questioned the superiority of theories in general or ideologies based on theoretical perspectives. 几个世纪以来，事实证明，当实际情况发生变化时，他们能适应。 Over some centuries now, they have proved adaptable when down-to-earth conditions changed. 当前的气候危机是人类有史以来面临的最严重的气候危机。 The present climate crisis is the most severe ever faced by humankind. 希望在于，美国人将继续站在对抗这场危机的全球行动的最前线。 The hope is that Americans will continue to be in the forefront of world action to counter the crisis. 作为世界上最富有和人均污染最严重的国家，美国现在肩负着重大的全球责任。 As the richest and by far the most polluting nation per capita, the USA has a grave, and now global, responsibility.
