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第二册lesson11TheFutureofTheEnglish英国人的未来J.B.PriestleyJB普里斯特利1【TowriteabouttheEnglishinstandardandcosmopolitanpoliticalterms,theusualLeft-Centre-Rightstuff,isalmostalwayswastingtimeandtrouble.TheEnglisharedifferent.TheEnglishareevenmoredifferentthantheythinktheyare,thoughnotmoredifferentthantheyfeeltheyare.Andwhattheyfeel—Englishnessagain-ismoreimportantthanwhattheythink.ItisinstinctivefeelingandnotrationalthoughtthatshapesandcoloursactualeventsinEngland.背诵】若想用世界上流行的标准政治术语，即左、中、右三派这种毫无意义的陈腔老调来描述英国人的话，那多半是白费时间，徒耗精力。英国人可是与众不同。他们甚至比自己想象中的英国人还要不同，倒是同他们自己感觉中的英国人差不多。而他们所感觉到的…这一点再次反映出英国人的特性——比他们想象到的更为重要。在英国，决定一切事物形式和色彩的不是人的理性思维，而是人的本能感觉。cosmopolitan(adj.):commontoorrepresentativeofallormanypartsoftheworld；notnationalorlocal世界性的；不限于国家或地区范围的----------------------------------------------------------------------------------2Forexample,althoughtheEnglishseemtobesosharplydivided,alwaysindulginginplentyofloudpoliticalabuse,therearenothinglikesomanyCommunistsorneo-orpotentialFascistsinEnglandasthereareinmostothercountries.Again,althoughtheEnglishseemtohavemorethantheirshareofrallies,protestmarches,confrontationswithauthority,whatcouldbegintolooklikeamurderousencounterinFranceorAmerica,ormightbeabloodystreetbattleinJapan,wouldinEnglandendattheworstinafewscufflesandarrests.ThisisbecausetherearefewerfanaticalbelieversamongtheEnglish,andatthesametime,belowthenoisyarguments,theabuseandthequarrels,thereisareservoirofinstinctivefellow-feeling,notyetexhaustedthoughitmaynotbefillingup.Noteverybodycandrawonthatreservoir.NodoubtthereareinEnglandsomesnarlingshopstewardswhodemandfreedomfortheworkerswhenwhattheyreallywantistobringthewholesystemcrashingdown,togetherwitheveryguaranteeofliberty.NodoubttherearewealthyemployerswhosmileattheTVcamerasanddeclarethatalltheydesireisthefriendliestrelationwiththeirworkforce,whenathearttheywouldliketotakeawhiptothewholeidletroublesomemobofthem.Buttherearenotmanyofthesemen,eitherontheboardortheshopfloor,andtheyarecertainlynottypicalEnglish.SomecancerintheircharacterhaseatenawaytheirEnglishness.举例来说，尽管英国人表面上似乎存在着严重的意见分歧，彼此之间进行政治上的攻击谩骂也是常有的事，但英国却不像许多其他国家一样有那么多的共产主义者以及新的或潜在的法西斯主义分子。再如，虽然英国人举行的群众集会、示威游行、与当局对抗的事件似乎比一般国家多，但有些在法国或美国有可能发展成生死搏斗，在日本有可能演变成街头血战的恶性事件，而在英国至多也不过以一阵扭打或几个人被拘捕的结局了事。这是因为在英国人当中狂热的盲从分子较少，同时，在他们那一片乱哄哄的争论、谩骂和吵闹的背后，还蕴藏着一股河海般深厚、纯真的同胞之情。这种情谊虽然还不到充溢的程度，却还没有枯竭。当然，也不是每个人都能够利用这种蕴藏的同胞之情。在英国，毫无疑问，还存在着那么一些喜欢大声咆哮的工会代表，他们口口声声嚷着要为工人们争自由，而事实上，其真正目的是想破坏现行的社会制度及一切保障自由的措施。毫无疑问，也有那么一些腰缠万贯的资本家，他们面对着电视摄像机，笑容可掬地宣称他们唯一的愿望是同自己的劳动队伍建立起最亲密友好的关系，而实际上他们心里只想拿起鞭子狠狠抽打那群专爱惹事生非的懒虫。不过，像这样的人，无论在管理者中间还是在劳动者中间，都不是很多，而且他们无疑也不是典型的英国人。他们性格上的肿瘤已经吞噬了他们身上的英国人特性。rally(n.):agatheringofpeopleforacommonpurpose；massmeeting(群众性)集会----------------------------------------------------------------------------------scuffle(n.):arough，confusedfight；close，haphazardstruggle扭打；混战----------------------------------------------------------------------------------fanatical(adj.):unreasonablyenthusiastic；overlyzealous狂热的，过分热衷的----------------------------------------------------------------------------------snarl(v.):speakharshlyandsharply，asinanger，impatience，etc．怒吼，咆哮----------------------------------------------------------------------------------shopsteward:apersonchosenbyhisfellowtradeunionistsinanindustrialestablishmenttospeakforthemtothemanagementandtowatchovertheirinterest(资本主义国家中工人选的)工人代表aunionmemberelectedtorepresentcoworkersindealingswithmanagement工会管事，工人代表----------------------------------------------------------------------------------drawon:takeorUSeasasource利用，凭，靠例：Ifnewspapermencannotgetfactsfortheirstories，theysome-timesdrawsont11eirimaginations．如果记者们采访不到事实真相来写报道，他们有时就凭想像力去编造。----------------------------------------------------------------------------------3TherealEnglish,whoare‘different’,whohaveinheritedEnglishnessandhavenotyetthrownawaytheirinheritance,cannotfeelathomeinthecontemporaryworld,representingtheaccelerateddevelopmentofourwholeage.Itdemandsbigness,andtheyaresuspiciousofbigness.(AndthereisnownotonlyIndustrialbigness;thereisalsoScientificbigness,needingmoreandmoretodiscoverlessandless.)Clearlyeverythingcannotbedonebysmallishandreasonablyhumanenterprises.Nocosyshipyardcanundertaketobuilda150,000-tonship,thoughwemaynotbeinourrightmindsifwewantsuchaship.ButitissafetosaythatwhileEnglishnessmayreluctantlyacceptbigness,itsmonstersareneverheartilywelcomed.TheylookallrightinAmerica,itselfsolarge,butseemaltogetheroutofscaleinEngland.Alongwiththedemandforbignessgoesademandforsevereefficiency,oftenquiterationalbutnotreasonable,thereforealientoEnglishness.Afurthernecessarydemand,tofeedthemonsterwithhigherandhigherfiguresandlargerandlargerprofits,isforenormousadvertisingcampaignsandbrigadesofrazor-keensalesmen.Finally,fromthemonsterandallitsspokesmencomesamessage,endlesslyrepeated.Itrunsmoreorlessasfollows:‘Yououghttobehappy.Butyouarenothappy.Youcanbehappy,though,ifyoubuywhatwearemakingforyou.’AndapostscriptmightbeaddedfromIago:‘Putmoneyinthypurse.’那些“与众不同的”真正地道的英国人，由于继承了英国人的特性而又尚未抛弃这一祖传特性，因而对于这个代表了整个时代日新月异的发展形势的现代世界感到不很习惯。现代世界事事求“大”，而英国人