高级英语thefutureoftheenglish中英笔记培训讲学.docx

1、高级英语thefutureoftheenglish中英笔记培训讲学第二册 lesson 11 The Future of The English英国人的未来J . B. Priestley JB普里斯特利 1 【To write about the English in standard and cosmopolitan political terms, the usual Left-Centre-Right stuff, is almost always wasting time and trouble. The English are different. The English are

2、even more different than they think they are, though not more different than they feel they are. And what they feel Englishness again - is more important than what they think. It is instinctive feeling and not rational thought that shapes and colours actual events in England. 背诵】若想用世界上流行的标准政治术语，即左、中

3、、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.) : common to or representative of all or many parts of the world；not national or local世界性的；不限于国家或地区范围的 -2 For example, although

4、the English seem to be so sharply divided, always indulging in plenty of loud political abuse, there are nothing like so many Communists or neo- or potential Fascists in England as there are in most other countries. Again, although the English seem to have more than their share of rallies, protest m

5、arches, confrontations with authority, what could begin to look like a murderous encounter in France or America, or might be a bloody street battle in Japan, would in England end at the worst in a few scuffles and arrests. This is because there are fewer fanatical believers among the English, and at

6、 the same time, below the noisy arguments, the abuse and the quarrels, there is a reservoir of instinctive fellow-feeling, not yet exhausted though it may not be filling up. Not everybody can draw on that reservoir. No doubt there are in England some snarling shop stewards who demand freedom for the

7、 workers when what they really want is to bring the whole system crashing down, together with every guarantee of liberty. No doubt there are wealthy employers who smile at the TV cameras and declare that all they desire is the friendliest relation with their work force, when at heart they would like

8、 to take a whip to the whole idle troublesome mob of them. But there are not many of these men, either on the board or the shop floor, and they are certainly not typical English. Some cancer in their character has eaten away their Englishness. 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

9、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

10、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.) : a gathering of people for a common purpose；mass meeting(群众性)集会 -scuffle (n.) : a rough，confused

11、 fight；close，haphazard struggle扭打；混战 -fanatical (adj.) : unreasonably enthusiastic；overly zealous狂热的，过分热衷的 -snarl (v.) : speak harshly and sharply，as in anger，impatience，etc怒吼，咆哮 -shop steward : a person chosen by his fellow trade unionists in an industrial establishment to speak for them to the man

12、agement and to watch over their interest(资本主义国家中工人选的)工人代表 a union member elected to represent coworkers in dealings with management工会管事，工人代表 -draw on : take or USe as a source利用，凭，靠 例： If newspapermen cannot get facts for their stories，they some-times draws on t11eir imaginations如果记者们采访不到事实真相来写报道，他们

13、有时就凭想像力去编造。 -3 The real English, who are different, who have inherited Englishness and have not yet thrown away their inheritance, cannot feel at home in the contemporary world, representing the accelerated development of our whole age. It demands bigness, and they are suspicious of bigness. (And th

14、ere is now not only Industrial bigness; there is also Scientific bigness, needing more and more to discover less and less.) Clearly everything cannot be done by smallish and reasonably human enterprises. No cosy shipyard can undertake to build a 150,000-ton ship, though we may not be in our right mi

15、nds if we want such a ship. But it is safe to say that while Englishness may reluctantly accept bigness, its monsters are never heartily welcomed. They look all right in America, itself so large, but seem altogether out of scale in England. Along with the demand for bigness goes a demand for severe

16、efficiency, often quite rational but not reasonable, therefore alien to Englishness. A further necessary demand, to feed the monster with higher and higher figures and larger and larger profits, is for enormous advertising campaigns and brigades of razor-keen salesmen. Finally, from the monster and

17、all its spokesmen comes a message, endlessly repeated. It runs more or less as follows: You ought to be happy. But you are not happy. You can be happy, though, if you buy what we are making for you. And a postscript might be added from Iago: Put money in thy purse. 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

18、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”，而英国人却对此不以为然。(现在不仅工业上存在着大规模。科学上也存在着大规模，需要的投资越来越多，而研究出的成果越来越小。)显然，不是一切工作都能由规模较小而又较富人情味的企业来完成的。一座能令人感受到温情的小船厂就不可能造出一艘十五万吨级的轮船，假如我们硬要造这样的轮船，那或许就会造成我们的决策失误。然而，可以有把握地说，尽管英国人也有可能勉勉强强地接受大规模的东西，但英国所出现的庞然大物却决不会受到人们由衷的欢迎。那些庞然大物在美国看来好像倒没什么不对，因为美国本身就有那么大，但在英国就

19、显得完全不相称了。伴随着对大规模的要求而出现的是对严格的高效率的要求，这种要求虽然常常是合乎理性的，但却是不合情理的，因而与英国人特性格格不入。为了给那些庞然大物提供越来越高的投资，创造越来越多的利润，还有一个必不可少的要求，这就是需要有声势浩大的广告运动和大批精明强干的推销员。最后，从这些庞然大物及其所有代言人那里不断重复地传来这样的信息，其大意为：“你本该快乐；但你并不快乐。不过，你仍有可能得到快乐，只要你购买我们为你制造的产品。”这里也许应该加上一句伊阿古的名言：“把钱都装进你的口袋吧。” accelerate (v.) : cause to develop or progress mo

20、re quickly加快，促进 -alien (adj.) : opposed or repugnant相反的；不相容的；格格不入的 -cosy (adj.) : smallish but comfortable and relaxing舒适的，安逸的 -razorkeen (adj.) : as sharp as a razor；figvery smart and shrewd犀如剃刀的；喻伶俐能干的 -safe to say : 英)If it is safe to say something，it may be said with-out exaggeration or falsehoo

21、d可以肯定地说，可以保险地说 例： Whether he call get a high score in the exam，it is safe to say that he will pass it不管他在考试中能不能拿到高分，但是可以肯定地说他能通过这项考试。 -out of scale : out of proportion不成比例，不相称 例： The dogs head is out of scale in this painting在这幅画中这只狗的头与它身体的其他部分不成比例。 -4 I like to call this Admass , and will do so fro

22、m now on. I will also announce what the future of the English hangs upon, while at the same time, unlike almost everybody else, keeping well clear of economics. It hangs upon the final result of a battle that has been going on for some years now and that explains why the English seem so odd, eccentr

23、ic, unsatisfactory, not only abroad but to many persons at home. It is a battle that is being fought in the minds of the English. It is between Admass, which has already conquered most of the Western world, and Englishness, ailing and impoverished , in no position to receive vast subsidies of dollar

24、s, francs, deutschmarks and the rest, for public relations and advertising campaigns. The triumphs of Admass can be plainly seen. It operates in the outer visible world, where it offers more and more things - for more and more money of course - and creates the so-called Good Life. Against this, at l

25、east superficially, Englishness seems a poor shadowy show - a faint pencil sketch beside a poster in full colour - belonging as it really does to the invisible inner world, merely offering states of mind in place of that rich variety of things. But then while things are important, states of mind are

26、 even more important.我想将这种现象称作“商业广告推销”，此后将一直采用这一名称。我还要预告一下英国人的未来取决于什么，而同时又几乎与所有的人背道而驰地避免谈及经济问题。英国人的未来取决于一场已进行多年的战斗的最终结局。这场战斗说明了英国人不仅在外国人眼中，而且在国内某些人眼中显得如此稀奇古怪、不令人满意的原因。这是一场发生在英国人思想领域的战斗，它在商 业广告推销和英国人特性之间展开。商业广告推销业已征服了大 半个西方世界，而英国人特性则是贫病交加，无法取得大量美元、法郎、德国马克之类的官方津贴来进行公关和广告宣传活动。商 业广告推销的胜局已很明显，它的活动在可见的外部世

27、界进行，向 世界提供越来越多的东西一一当然索取的钱也越来越多从而 创造了所谓的“美好生活”。相形之下，至少从表面上看，英国人特性似乎只是一场微不足道的影子戏就像是五彩缤纷的广告 画旁边贴着的一幅淡色的铅笔素描它实际上属于不可见的内 心世界，不能为人们提供那品类繁多的物质用品，而只能提供精 神上的境界。不过，物质用品固然重要，精神境界则更加重要。impoverish (v.) : make poor；reduce to poverty使贫困，使处于贫困 -subsidy (n.) : a grant of money from the government or society，etc补助金；津

28、贴 -poster (n.) : a relatively large printed card or sheet of paper，often illustrated，posted to advertise or publicize something海报；张贴的大幅广告 -keep clear of sth : avoid or refrain from stll避开，离着 例： Keep clear of that area!不要去那个地方! -5 It is easy to understand why there should be this conflict between Admass and Englishness. What is central to Admass is