双语有声阅读：美国人面面观

All about Americans

美国人面面观

 

How the Americans See Themselves

美国人怎样看自己

 

Americans are proud to be Americans but each individual will explain that he, personally, is not like the other Americans. He is better. Americans are proud to be different from each other, and from the world.

 

美国人很骄傲自己是美国人。但每个人又会说，就个人而言，自己是不同于其他美国人的，因为他比别人更好。美国人为互不相同、为自己不同于世界上其他的人而感到骄傲。

 

There’s no such thing as a plain American. Every American is a hyphenated-American. An American will say“I’m Polish”or“I’m Italian” because his great-grandparents were born in Poland or Italy.

 

真正意义上的美国人是没有的。每个美国人除了有美国国籍之外，还各有其祖籍。一个美国人会说“我是波兰人”或“我是意大利人”，因为他的曾祖父母是在波兰或意大利出生的。

 

A spirit of rugged¹ individualism pervades² virtually every aspect of American life. Americans’ heroes are outlaws³, like wild west gunfighter Jesse James,or entrepreneurs, like Sam Walton, founder⁴ of the Wal-Mart chain of superstores. Every American worker has fantasies of one day going into business for himself.

 

一种不加掩饰的个人主义精神几乎渗透到美国生活的各个方面。美国人心目中的英雄是亡命徒，像剽悍不羁的西部枪手杰西·詹姆斯，或者是企业家，像沃尔玛连锁超市的创始者萨姆·沃尔顿。每个美国员工都幻想将来有一天自己能开办企业。

1 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

2 pervades   

v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• An unpleasant smell pervades the house. 一种难闻的气味弥漫了全屋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• An atmosphere of pessimism pervades the economy. 悲观的气氛笼罩着整个经济。 来自辞典例句

3 outlaws   

歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯

参考例句：

• During his year in the forest, Robin met many other outlaws. 在森林里的一年，罗宾遇见其他许多绿林大盗。
• I didn't have to leave the country or fight outlaws. 我不必离开自己的国家，也不必与不法分子斗争。

4 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。