⾼级英语（张汉熙版）第⼆册学习笔记（原⽂及全⽂翻译）
——14-LovingandHatin。。。
Loving and Hating New York
Loving and Hating New York
Thomas Griffith
Tho ad campaigns celebrating the Big Apple, tho T-shirts with a heart design proclaiming "I love New York," are signs, pathetic in their desperation, of how the mighty has fallen. New York City ud to leave the bragging to others, for bragging was "bush". Being unique, the biggest and the best, New York didn't have to asrt how special it was.
It isn't the top anymore, at least if the top is measured by who begets the styles and ts the trends. Nowadays New York is out of pha with American taste as often as it is out of step with American politics. Once it was the nation's undisputed fashion authority, but it too long resisted the incoming casual style and lost its monopoly. No longer so looked up to or copied, New York even prides itlf on being a holdout from prevailing American trends, a place to escape Common Denominator Land.
Its deficiencies as a pacetter are more and more evident. A dozen other cities have buildings more inspired architecturally than any built in New York City in the past twenty years.
The giant Manhattan television studios where Toscanini's NBC Symphony once played now sit empty most of the time, while sitcoms cloned and canned in Hollywood, and the Johnny Carson show live, preempt the airways from California. Tin Pan Alley has moved to Nashville and Hollywood. Vegas casinos routinely pay heavy sums to singers and entertainers whom no nightspot in Manhattan can afford to hire. In sports, the bigger superdomes, the more exciting teams, the most enthusiastic fans, are often found elwhere.
New York was never a good convention city - being regarded as unfriendly, unsafe, overcrowded, and expensive - but it is making something of a comeback as a tourist attraction. Even so, most Americans would probably rate New Orleans, San Francisco, Washington, or Disneyland higher. A dozen other cities, including my hometown of Seattle, are widely considered better cities to live in.
Why, then, do many Europeans call New York their favorite city? They take more readily than do most Americans to its cosmopolitan complexities, its surviving, aloof, European standards, its alien mixtures.93年属鸡
Perhaps some of the Europeans are reassured by the sight, on the twin fashion avenues of Madison and Fifth, of all tho familiar international names – the jewelers, shoe stores, and designer shops that exist to flatter and bilk the frivolous rich.
But no; what most excites Europeans is the city’s charged, nervous atmosphere, its vulgar dynamism.
New York is about energy, contention, and striving.
And since it contains its share of articulate lors, it is also about mockery, the put-down, the lor’s shrug (“whaddya gonna do?”).
It is about constant battles for subway ats, for a cabdriver’s or a clerk's or a waiter's attention, for a foothold, a chance, a better address, a larger billing.
To win in New York is to be uneasy; to lo is to live in jostling proximity to the frustrated majority.
New York was never Mecca to me.
And though I have lived there more than half my life, you won't find me wearing an “I Love New York” T-shirt.
But all in all, I can't think of many places in the world I'd rather live. It's not easy to define why.
Nature's pleasures are much qualified in New York.
You never e a star-filled sky; the city’s bright glow arrogantly obscures the heavens.
熊胆汁Sunts can be spectacular: oranges and reds tinting the sky over the Jery meadows and gaudily reflected in a thousand windows on Manhattan’s jagged skyline.
Nature constantly yields to man in New York: witness tho fragile sidewalk trees gamely struggling against encroaching cement and petrol fumes.
Central Park, which Frederick Law Olmsted designed as lungs for the city’s poor, is in places grassless and filled with trash, no longer pristine yet lively with the noi and vivacity of people, largely youths, blacks, and Puerto Ricans, enjoying themlves.
On park benches sit older people, mostly white, looking displaced.
It has become less a tranquil park than an untidy carnival.
Not the glamour of the city, which never beckoned to me from a distance, but its opportunity – to practice the kind of journalism I wanted – drew me to New York.
I wasn’t even sure how I’d measure up against others who had been more soundly educated at Ivy League schools, or whether I could compete against that tough local breed, tho intellectual sons of immigrants, so highly motivated and single-minded, such as Alfred Kazin, who for diversion (for heaven’s sake!) played Bach’s Unaccompanied Partitas on the violin.
A testing of onelf, a fear of giving in to the most banal and marketable of one’s talents, still draws many of the young to New York.
That and, as always, the company of others fleeing something constricting where they came from.
Together the young share a freedom, a community of inexpensive amuments, a casual living, and some rough times.
It can’t be the living conditions that appeal, for only fond memory will forgive the inconvenience, risk, and squalor.
Commercial Broadway may be inaccessible to them, but there is off-Broadway, and then off-off-Broa
dway.
If painters disdain Madison Avenue’s plush art galleries, Madison Avenue dealers t up shop in the grubby precincts of Soho.
But the purity of a bohemian dedication can be exaggerated.
The artistic young inhabit the same Greenwich Village and its fringes in which the experimentalists in the arts lived during the Depression, united by a world against them.
But the prent generation is enough of a subculture to be a source of profitable boutiques and coffeehous.
And it is not all that estranged.
Manhattan is an island cut off in most respects from mainland America, but in two areas it remains dominant.
It is the banking and the communications headquarters for America.
In both the roles it ratifies more than it creates.
Wall Street will advance the millions to make a Hollywood movie only if convinced that a bestlling title or a star name will ensure its success.
The networks’ news centers are here, and the largest book publishers, and the biggest magazines – and therefore the largest body of critics to apprai the films, the plays, the music, the books that others have created.
New York is a judging town, and often invokes standards that the rest of the country deplores or ignores.
赐谥A market for knowingness exists in New York that doesn’t exist for knowledge.
The ad agencies are all here too, testing the markets and devising the catchy jingles that will move millions from McDonald’s to Burger king,
so that the ad agency’s “creative director” can lunch instead in Manhattan’s expen-account French restaurants.
The bankers and the admen. The marketing specialists and a thousand well-paid ancillary rvice people, really t the city’s brittle tone— catering to a wide American public who numbers must be
respected but who tastes do not have to shared.
The condescending view from the fiftieth floor of the city’s crowds below cuts the people off from humanity.
So does an attitude which es the public only in terms of large, malleable numbers— as impersonally as does the clattering subway turnstile beneath the office towers.
I am surprid by the lack of cynicism, particularly among the younger ones, of tho who work in such fields.
The television generation grew up in the insistent prence of hype, delights in much of it, and has no scruples about practicing it.
Men and woman do their jobs professionally, and, like the pilots who from great heights bombed Hanoi, em unmarked by it.
They lead their real lives elwhere, in the Village bars they are indistinguishable in dress or behavior from would-be artists, actors, and writers.
The boundaries of “art for art’s sake” aren’t so rigid anymore; art itlf is less sharply defined, and tho who paintings don’t ll do illustrations; tho who can’ get acting jobs do commercials; tho who are writing ambitious novels sustain themlves on the magazines.
科班出身的意思Besides, rious art often feeds on the popular the days, changing it with fond irony.
In time the newcomers find or form their own worlds; Manhattan is many such words, huddled together but rarely interaction.
I think this is what gives the city its n of freedom.
There are enough like you, whatever you are. And it isn’t as necessary to know anything about an apartment neighbor or to worry about his judgment of you-as it is about someone with an adjoining yard.
In New York, like eks like, and by economy of effort excludes the rest as stranger.
This distancing, this uncaring in ordinary encounters, has another side: in no other American city can the lonely be as lonely.
So much more needs to be said. New York is a wounded city, declining in its amenities. Overloaded by its tax burdens.
But it is not dying city; the streets are safer than they were five years ago; Broadway, which emed to be succumbing to the tawdriness of its environment, is astir again.
The trash-strewn streets, the unruly schools, the uneasy feeling or menace, the noi, the brusqueness all confirm outsiders in their conviction that they wouldn’t live here if you gave them the place.
Yet show a New Yorker a splendid home in Dallas, or a swimming pool and cabana in Beverly Hills, and he will be admiring but not envious.
So much of well-to-do America now lives antiptically in enclaves, tranquil and luxurious, that shut out the world.
空想主义Too static, the New Yorker would say.
Tell him about the vigor of your outdoor pleasures; he prefers the unhealthy hassle and the vitality of urban life.
He is hopelessly provincial.
To him New York- despite its faults, which her will impatiently concede (“so what el is new?”) — is the spoiler of all other American cities.
It is possible in twenty other American cities to visit first-rate art muums, to hear good music and e lively experimental theater, to meet intelligent and sophisticated people who know how to live, dine, and talk well; and to enjoy all this in congenial and spacious surroundings.
The New Yorkers still wouldn’t want to live there.
What he would find missing is what many outsiders find oppressive and distasteful about New York – its rawness, tension, urgency; its bracing competitiveness; the rigor of its judgments; and the congested, democratic prence of so many other New Yorkers, encad in their own worlds, the defeated are not hidden away somewhere el on the wrong side of town.
In the subways, in the bus, in the streets, it is impossible to avoid people who lives are harder than yours.
With the desperate, the ill, the fatigued, the overwhelmed, one learns not to strike up conversation (
which isn’t wanted) but to make brief, sympathetic eye contact, to include them in the human race.
It isn’t much, but it is the fleeting hospitality of New Yorkers, each jealous of his privacy in the crowd.
Ever helpfulness is often delivered as a taunt: a man, rushing the traffic light, shouts the man behind him.
“You want to be wearing a Buick with Jery plates?” — great scorn in the word Jery, home of drivers who don’t belong here.
By Adolf Hitler’s definition, New York is a mongrel city.
It is in fact the first truly international metropolis.
No other great city- not London, Paris, Rome or Tokyo- plays host (or hostage) to so many nationalities.
The mix is much wider- Asians, Africans, Latins - that when that tumultuous variety of European crowded ashore at Ellis Island.
The newcomers are never fully absorbed, but are added precariously to the undigested many.朋友圈生病配图
New York is too big to be dominated by any group, by Wasps or Jews or blacks, or by Catholics of many origins — Irish, Italian, Hispanic.
All have their little sovereignties, all are sizable enough to be reckoned with and tough in asrting their claims, but none is powerful enough to subdue the others.
Characteristically, the city swallows up the United Nations and refus to take it riously, regarding it as an unworkable mixture of the idealistic, the impractical, and the hypocritical.
But New Yorkers themlves are in training in how to live together in a diversity of races- the necessary initiation into the future.
The diversity gives endless color to the city, so that walking in it is constant education in sights and smells.
There is wonderful variety of places to eat or shop, and though the most successful of such places are likely to touristy hybrid compromis, they too have genuine roots.
Other American cities have ethnic turfs jealously defended, but not, I think, such an admixture of groups, thrown together in such jarring juxtapositions.
In the same way, avenues of high-ri luxury in New York are never far from poverty and mean streets.
The sadness and fortitude of New York must be celebrated, along with its treasures of art and music.
The combination is unstable; it produces friction, or an uneasy forbearance that sometimes becomes a real toleration.
Loving and hating New York becomes a matter of alternating moods, often in the same day.
The place constantly exasperates, at times exhilarates.
To me it is the city of unavoidable experience.
Living there, one has the reassurance of steadily confronting life.
亦爱亦恨话纽约
亦爱亦恨话纽约
托马斯·格⾥⾮斯
那些赞美“⼤苹果”的⼴告活动，还有那些印着带有“我爱纽约”字样的⼼形图案的T恤衫，只不过是它们在绝望中发出悲哀的迹象，只不过是纽约这个⾮凡的城市⽇趋衰落的象征。纽约过去从不⾃我炫耀，⽽只让别的城市去这样做，因为⾃我炫耀显得“⼩家⼦⽓”。纽约既然是独⼀⽆⼆的、最⼤的⽽且是最好的城市，也就没有必要宣称⾃⼰是如何与众不同了。
然⽽，今⽇的纽约再不是头号城市了。⾄少，在开创时尚、领导潮流⽅⾯，纽约是再也配不上这个称号了。今⽇的纽约⾮但常常跟不上美国政治前进的步伐，⽽且往往也合不上美国⼈⽣活情趣变化的节拍。过去有⼀个时期，它曾是全国流⾏服装款式⽅⾯⽆可争议的权威，但由于长期抵制越来越流⾏的休闲服装款式⽽丧失了其垄断地位。纽约已不再是众望所归、纷起仿效的对象了，如今它甚⾄以成为风⾏美国的时装潮流的抵制者，以成为摆脱全国清⼀⾊的单调局⾯的⼀隅逃遁之地⽽⾃鸣得意。
纽约⽆⼒保持排头兵的地位这⼀点已是越来越明显了。有⼗多座其他城市都已经有了⼀些在建筑艺术上很富有创造性的建筑物，⽽纽约最近⼆⼗年来所造的任何⼀幢建筑物都不能与之相⽐。
曾是托斯卡尼尼全国⼴播公司交响乐团演出场所的巨⼈般的曼哈顿电视演播厅，现在经常是空⽆⼀⼈，⽽好莱坞⼤量⽣产出的情景喜剧和约翰尼·卡森节⽬的实况转播却占满了加利福尼亚的⼴播电视发送频道。美国流⾏歌曲创作发⾏中⼼从纽约的廷潘胡同转移到了纳什维尔和好莱坞。拉斯韦加斯的赌场经常出⾼薪聘请曼哈顿没有哪⼀家夜总会请得起的歌⼿和艺员。⽽体育运动⽅⾯，那些规模较⼤的体育馆、⽐较激动⼈⼼的球队以及热情最⾼的球迷们，往往都出现在纽约以外的地⽅。
纽约从来都不是召集会议的好场所——因为那⼉少友情，不安全，⼈⼝拥挤，消费⾼昂——但现在它似乎正在⼀定程度上争回其作为旅游胜地的地位。即便如此，⼤多数美国⼈对新奥尔良、旧⾦⼭、华盛顿或迪斯尼乐园等地的评价可能还是⾼于纽约。⼈们普遍认为，还有⼗⼏座其他城市，包括我的家乡西雅图，都⽐纽约更适于居住。
那么，为什么有许多欧洲⼈称纽约是他们最喜爱的城市呢？他们⽐⼤多数美国⼈更欣赏纽约这个国际⼤都市的五彩缤纷的⽣活，它那残存的、独此⼀家的欧洲社会准则以及它那众多外来民族混杂⽽居的社会。
这些欧洲⼈中有些⼈也许是因为在麦迪逊⼤街和第五⼤街这两条双胞胎似的繁华⼤街上看到那些熟悉的国际名牌商号——那些专为迎合并蒙骗那些轻浮浅薄的有钱⼈⽽存在的珠宝店、鞋店和服装设计店——⽽感到⼼头踏实。
然⽽事实并⾮如此，最令欧洲⼈激动不已的是这个城市的那种精神饱满的紧张⽓氛和它那种野性的活⼒。
纽约充满着活⼒、竞争和奋⽃。
同时，由于存在着⼀批能说会道的失意者，它也充满着嘲笑、轻侮和失意者的⼼灰意冷（"你说该咋办？）。
它充满着⽆休⽆⽌的⽃争⼀⼀为了地铁上的座位，为了引起⼀个的⼠司机、⼀个办事员或⼀个侍者的注意，为了有⼀个⽴⾜之地，为了⼀次成功的机会。为了⼀个较好的居住地⽅，为了让⾃⼰名字出现在⼀张⼤⼀点的海报上。
在纽约，⼀个⼈若成功了，他会感到惶惶不安；如果失败了，他就得和那灰⼼丧⽓的⼤多数⼈⼀起苦熬岁⽉。
纽约从来都不是我⼼⽬中的麦加圣地。
尽管我在那⼉⽣活了⼤半辈⼦，你却休想看到我穿上⼀件印着“我爱纽约”的⽂化衫。
但总的说来，我倒还想不出这世界上有多少个地⽅我更愿意去居住。⾄于为什么，就很难说得清。
在纽约所能欣赏到的⾃然美景⾮常有限。
你从来看不到⼀⽚繁星点点的夜空，城⾥的万家灯⽕交相辉映使得天空黯然失⾊。
最省油的轿车
唯有⽇落时分的景⾊尚可谓壮观：泽西市草地上的天空染上了⼀块块深浅不⼀的橙红⾊，在曼哈顿那些⾼⾼矮矮、⼤⼤⼩⼩的建筑物上的万千扇玻璃窗的反射下，更显得绚丽多彩。
背风波
⼤⾃然对纽约⼈总是低头服输。只须看看⼈⾏道上那些脆弱的树⽊迎着四⾯进逼的⽔泥路⾯和阵阵袭来的⽯油烟⽓拚命挣扎的样⼦，就⾜以说明问题了。
