三个纽约城|新福兴纽约城
时间：2018-12-27 03:35:02 来源：柠檬阅读网 本文已影响 人 
There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter-the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out1 each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last ―― the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York"s high-strung2 disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settles give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love3, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf4 the Consolidated Edison Company.
一般来说,纽约城有三个。第一个是出生在纽约的男女们的纽约城,他们把纽约的一切都看作是理所当然的,认为纽约之大、纽约城的动荡是很自然的无法避免的。第二个是每天往返城市间的上班族的纽约城,在他们眼力,这个城市每天白天被蝗虫吞了进去,到夜里又被吐了出来。第三个是出生在他乡,到纽约来有所追求的人的纽约城。这三个生气勃勃的纽约城中,最重要的是最后一个,这个城才是最终的目的地,才是要到达的终点。正因为有了这第三个城,纽约才有它高度敏感的特性、诗人般的风度、对艺术的献身精神以及它无与伦比的成就。每日往返城市间的上班族使纽约潮汐般没有片刻平静,本地人使纽约保持其稳定性和延续性,但外来谋生的人却激起纽约了的热情。无论是从意大利来的农民,在贫民区开了个小杂货店也好;还是从密西西比州的小镇来的年轻姑娘,为逃避邻居的注意而感到的羞辱也好;或是从玉米地带跋涉而来的小伙子,手提箱里装着文稿,内心带着痛苦而来也好;大家都是一样:每个人都怀着初恋的激情来拥抱纽约,每个人都是以冒险家的新眼光来探视纽约的新奇,每个人带给纽约的光热都足以使爱迪生电气公司相形见绌了。
注释:
1. spit out:吐出来。但spit it out还有另外一个含义,是“说出来,有话尽管说”的意思。当你的 朋友有烦心事的时候,你就可以对他说:“Come on, spit it out!”(说出来吧,心里会 痛快一点。)
2. high-strung:高度紧张的、敏感的。Strung这个词的原形是string,string是动词“串起”、名 词“绳子”的意思。High-strung形象地说明紧张、敏感的程度像绷紧的绳子一 样,也可写作"highlystrung"。
3. first love:初恋。口语中“初恋”也常说成“puppy love”,puppy是“小狗”的意思。
4. dwarf:使……变矮小(渺小)。Dwarf作名词是指“矮人”,童话中救过白雪公主的七个小矮 人就是“the seven dwarfs”;dwarf作动词是“使……矮小”,本文中是“使……相形见 绌”的意思。
