TheInfluenceoftheFrontier边疆的影响.docVIP

seclusive 级别: 著名学者精华: 5 发帖:30924威望: 164014 点金钱:3054950 正方币贡献: 864 点注册时间:2006-02-27最后登录:2009-10-03 The Influence of the Frontier 边疆的影响The special quality of American culture arises from what the American land and climate did to men who brought with them the glories and the burdens of European culture. Released from the feudal restraints which still clung to ownership even in the seventeenth century, they were driven by long hunger to possess land of their own. The hazards of settling that land － taking it from the Indian by treaty or battle, struggling through trackless forests to find it, hewing out homes and raising crops with nothing but a few simple tools, dying sometimes in battle or from weather or hunger － these hazards quickly changed into Americans the Europeans who survived. It was struggle that shaped the American spirit. 美国文化的特殊性质来自美国的土地和气候对人的影响，而这些人带到美国的，既有欧洲文化辉煌 的一面和也有其落后的一面。从十七世纪封建所有制桎梏中解脱出来后，他们渴望拥有自己的土地。他们要得到那片梦想的土地就要冒各种各样的风险--通过协商或战斗的方式从印地安人那里得到土地；或者跋涉人迹罕至的森林找到土地；用简陋的工具砍树盖房开荒种地；有时会死在战斗中，有时死于天灾或饥饿---这些危险很快地把活下来的欧洲人改变成美国人。正是努力拚搏造就了美国精神。The frontier experience, so strong in its impact, so harsh a teacher, brought new traits to the fore. The hard conditions of the daily life made for crudeness in manners. The competition for favorable land (or later for gold), the need to kill in order to stay alive, the absence of law and order made men touch, brutal sometimes, and quick to resort to brute strength. This violence has continued in such aspects of our life as gangsterism, race riots, corrupt politics, union racketeering and the violent political attack. 边疆的经验影响很大，象一位非常严厉的教师，突出了一些新的特点。日常生活的艰苦使人的态度也粗鲁起来。而他们为了一块好土地争得你死我活（后来争的是金子），必须杀人才能活下来，没有法律和秩序 ，人变得粗暴残忍，动不动就使用暴力。这种暴力还继续存在于我们生活中的各个方面，比如盗匪、种族骚乱、政治腐败、有组织的敲诈勒索 、暴力性政治攻击。Hard as the life was, it also offered great riches, sometimes for a small return. Hence the get rich quick philosophy － the belief that hard work and a little luck would turn all things into gold. Traders got rich furs f