新视界大学英语综合教程第三册Unit-5-Active-reading课文及翻译

Unit 5 Active reading The lonely American 1 Americans in the 21st century devote more technology to staying connected than any society in history yet somehow the devices fail us Studies show that we feel increasingly alone Our lives are spent in a tug of war between conflicting desires we want to stay connected and we want to be free We lurch back and forth reaching for both How much of one should we give up in order to have more of the other How do we know when we ve got it right 2 Yet people in this country continue to drift apart We need to know why 3 First let s look at the frenetic busyness of our lives Americans may be the only people in the world who believe that each individual has the right and the capacity to fit whatever he or she wants into one small life America is the original You can be anything you want if you really try and it s never too late to start trying country 4 A good friend described the impact of busyness on our neighborhoods brilliantly Being neighborly used to mean visiting people Now being nice to your neighbors means not bothering them People s lives are shaped by how busy they are Lives also are shaped by the respect and deference that is given to busyness especially when it is valued above connection and community If people are considerate they assume that their neighbors are very busy and so try not to intrude on them Dropping by is no longer neighborly It is simply rude 5 We treat socializing as if it s a frivolous diversion from the tasks at hand rather than an activity that is essential to our well being as individuals and as a community Soon our not bothering to call people or even email them gets read by others as a sign that we are too caught up in the busy sweep of our own lives to have time for them Our friends are not surprised Our relatives may be indignant but even they know how hard it is An unspoken understanding develops It s too bad that we ve lost touch but that s just the way it is 6 The pace of everyday life may push us toward isolation but there is a pull as well a very seductive picture of standing apart as a victory not a retreat Ever since Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his famous essay and Henry David Thoreau set out to embody the concept in his cabin on Walden Pond a long series of American icons have idealized the concept of self reliance 7 And when we do find ourselves isolated by standing tall in our own minds side by side with self reliant heroes each of us is suddenly no longer alone but part of a group a great American tradition of lonesome cowboys and go it alone entrepreneurs That psychological magic becomes the spoonful of sugar that makes painful experiences of finding ourselves left out easier to swallow We may have isolated ourselves without entirely meaning to but we also have ended up in a place that looks a lot like where we always knew that we were supposed to stand On the outside proud to be there 8 It is also the last place on earth that a person would want to be 9 The consequences of social disconnection are both extensive and remarkably diverse To begin with social support is an important determinant of overall health It has significant effects on longevity on an individual s response to stress on immune functions and on the incidence of a variety of specific illnesses In diseases as varied as heart attacks and dementia medical research repeatedly has found that social networks and social activity have a protective effect 10 Social isolation damages ecological health as well The rising tide of single person households strains the earth s resources Additionally in our consumer oriented culture a common solution to not having enough people in one s life is to turn to things objects that will define one s identity through possessions rather than through one s place in a social world We once passed an elegant store in New York City whose name summed up the problem More and More We watched the shop from across the street keeping a safe distance 11 The truth is that if one can bring oneself to acknowledge loneliness half the battle is won It is not an easy half of a battle however When we began to talk about these ideas with friends their first response was to passionately defend their styles of staying disconnected Having chosen like so many Americans to step back they explained how right the choice has been for them 12 Small daily choices whether to go to a local store or order off the Internet whether to pick up a ringing telephone or let it go to voicemail whether to get together with a friend or pop in a DVD end up defining one s social world These little decisions are cumulative You step back a little from others They step back a little from you You feel a little left out Feeling left out unexamined leads you to step back further But feeling left out when it s examined can lead people to work a little harder to reconnect 13 Loneliness was never the goal It s just the spot where too many people wind up We get stuck because the world we have wandered away from is so frantic and demanding We get stuck because we have dreamed about lonesome heroes who stand defiantly apart We get stuck because we feel left out and stop looking for ways back in We should remember that the outside was not meant to be our final destination 孤独的美国人孤独的美国人 1 在使人与人保持联系方面 21 世纪的美国人投入了比历史上任何一个社会都要多的技术手段 然而 这些手段却辜负了我们 研究表明我们感觉越来越孤单 我们的生命花在了两种相互矛盾的欲望之间的拉锯 战上 我们想保持联系 但我们也想自由 我们在两者之间徘徊 两种状态都想达到 如果我们想在一方面 得到 那我们需要在另一方面牺牲多少呢 我们怎么知道自己什么时候达到两者间的平衡呢 2 但是这个国家的人们还在疏远彼此 我们需要知道为什么 3 首先 让我们来看看我们生活中的疯狂忙碌状态 美国人可能是世界上唯一抱有这样一种理念的民族 每个人都有权利和能力在自己短暂的一生实现任何梦想 如果你真的努力 你就能成为你想要成为的人 只要开始尝试 什么时候都不晚 美国就是这种思想的发源地 4 有个好友恰如其分地描绘了忙碌对我们邻里生活的影响 过去表示邻里友好就是要相互拜访 但现 在 对邻居友好就意味着不要打扰他们 人们的生活受他们忙碌程度的影响 同时也受给予这种忙碌状态 的尊重及敬意程度的影响 特别是当忙碌被视为比相互联系及集体生活更重要时 如果人们考虑周到的话 他们会猜想他们的邻居非常忙所以尽量不去打扰 顺便拜访不再是亲近邻居的表现 那只会显得很没礼貌 5 我们把交际当做了手头诸多任务中一个不起眼的小插曲 而不是一项对于我们个人或集体的利益都很 重要的活动 很快 我们不愿意打电话给别人 甚至也不发电邮 这种行为让别人以为我们太忙于我们自 己的生活以至无暇顾及他们 我们的朋友并不觉得奇怪 我们的亲戚可能会生气 但即使是他们也知道其中 的艰辛 于是大家达成了一种默契 失去联系是很糟糕的 但事情就是这样 6 日常生活的节奏可能会把我们推向孤独 但也有一种拉力将我们拉向孤独 独自一人是个诱人的画面 这是一种胜利 而不是一种逃避 自拉尔夫 沃尔多 爱默生为此写下著名的篇章 亨利 大卫 梭罗开始 在他的瓦尔登湖湖畔的小屋中身体力行后 很多美国大人物都把自立这种概念理想化了 7 当我们发现我们确实被孤立 并与自立自强的英雄一起孤芳自赏时 我们每个人却突然变得不再是独 自一人 而是一个群体中的一部分 一个伟大的美国传统群体 其中有孤独的牛仔及单打独斗的企业家 这个心理魔术变成了一种安慰 让我们发现自己被孤立不那么痛苦 也许我们孤立自己并非完全出于本意 但是我们最后所处的处境 和我们一直的预期非常相近 表面看来 我们引以为荣 8 这也是一个人在地球上最不愿意呆的地方 9 与社会脱节的后果深远而且复杂 首先 社会支持是决定全身健康的重