当代研究生英语

1 Something in the American psyche loves new frontiers. We hanker after wide-open spaces; we like to explore; we like to make rules but refuse to follow them. But in this age it’s hard to find a place where you can go and be yourself without worrying about the neighbors.

2 There is such a place: cyberspace. Formerly a playground for computer fans, cyberspace now embraces every conceivable constituency: schoolchildren, flirtatious singles, Hungarian-Americans, accountants. Can they all get along? Or will our fear of kids surfing for dirty pictures behind their bedroom doors provoke a crackdown?

3 The first order of business is to grasp what cyberspace is. It might help to leave behind metaphors of highways and frontiers and to think instead of real estate.2 Real estate, remember, is an intellectual, legal, artificial environment constructed on top of land. Real estate recognizes the difference between parkland and shopping mall, between red-light zone3 and school district, between church, state and drugstore.

4 In the same way, you could think of cyberspace as a giant and unbounded world of virtual real estate. Some property is privately owned and rented out; other property is common land; some places are suitable for children, and others are best avoided by all citizens. Unfortunately, it’s those places that are now capturing the popular imagination, places that offer bomb-making instructions, pornography, advice on how to steal credit cards. They make cyberspace sound like a nasty place. Good citizens jump to a conclusion: Better regulate it.

5 But before using regulations to counter indecency it is fundamental to interpret the nature of cyberspace. Cyberspace isn't a frontier where wicked people can grab unsuspecting children, nor is it a giant television system that can beam offensive messages at unwilling viewers. In this kind of real estate, users have to choose where they visit, what they see, what they do. It's optional. In other words, cyberspace is a voluntary destination—in reality, many destinations. You don't just get “onto the Net”; you have to go someplace in particular. That means that people can choose where to go and what to see. Yes, community standards should be enforced, but those standards should be set by cyberspace communities themselves, not by the courts or by politicians in Washington.

6 What makes cyberspace so alluring is precisely the way in which it's different from shopping malls, television, highways and other terrestrial jurisdictions. But let's define the territory:

7 First, there are private e-mail conversations, similar to the conversations you have over the telephone. These are private and consensual and require no regulation at all.

8 Second, there are information and entertainment services, where people can download anything from legal texts and lists of “great new restaurants” to game software or dirty pictures. These places are like bookstores, malls and movie houses— places where you go to buy something. The customer needs to request an item or sign up for a subscription; stuff (especially pornography) is not sent out to people who don’t ask for it. Some of these services are free or included as part of a broader service like CompuServe or America Online; others charge and may bill their customers directly.

9 Third, there are “real” communities—groups of people who communicate among themselves. In real-estate terms, they're like bars or restaurants or bathhouses. Each active participant contributes to a general conversation, generally through posted messages. Other participants may simply listen or watch. Some services are supervised by a moderator; others are more like bulletin boards—anyone is free to post anything. Many of these services started out unmoderated but are now imposing rules to keep out unwanted advertising, extraneous discussions or increasingly rude participants.

10 Cyberspace communities evolve just the way terrestrial communities do: people with like-minded interests band together. Every cyberspace community has its own character. Overall, the communities on CompuServe tend to be more professional; those on America Online, affluent young singles; Prodigy, family-oriented. Then there are independents like Echo, a hip, downtown New York service, or Women's Wire, targeted to women who want to avoid the male culture prevalent elsewhere on the Net. On the Internet itself there are lots of passionate noncommercial discussion groups on topics ranging from Hungarian politics (Hungary Online) to copyright law.

11 What's unique about cyberspace is that it allows communities of any size and kind to flourish; in cyberspace, communities are chosen by the users, not forced on them by accidents of geography. This freedom gives the rules that preside in cyberspace a moral authority that rules in terrestrial environments don't have.4 Most people are stuck in the country of their birth, but if you don't like the rules of a cyberspace community, you can just sign off. Love it or leave it. Likewise, if parents don’t like the rules of a given cyberspace community, they can restrict their children’s access to it.

12 What’s likely to happen in cyberspace is the formation of new communities, free of the constraints that cause conflict on earth. Instead of a global village, which is a nice dream but impossible to manage, we’ll have invented another world of self-contained communities that cater to their own members’ inclinations without interfering with anyone else’s. The possibility of a real market-style evolution of governance is at hand. In cyberspace, we’ll be able to test and evolve rules governing what needs to be governed — intellectual property, content and access control, rules about privacy and free speech. Some communities will allow anyone in; others will restrict access to members who qualify on one basis or another. Those communities that prove self-sustaining will prosper (and perhaps grow and split into subsets with ever-more-particular interests and identities). Those that can’t survive — either because people lose interest or get scared off — will simply wither away.

13 In the near future, explorers in cyberspace will need to get better at defining and identifying their communities. They will need to put in place — and accept — their own local governments apart from terrestrial governments, just as the owners of expensive real estate often have their own security guards though they can call in the police to get rid of undesirable customers.

14 Then what should be done about undesirable material in cyberspace? What to do, for instance, about pornography? The answer is labeling, besides banning, questionable material. It makes sense for cyberspace participants themselves to agree on a scheme for questionable items, so that people or automatic filters can avoid them. It's easy enough for software manufacturers to build an automatic filter that would prevent you or your child from ever seeing the undesired item on a menu. (It’s as if all the items were wrapped, with labels on the wrapper.) Someone who posted pornographic material under the title “Kid-Fun” could be sued for mislabeling.

15 Without a lot of fanfare, private enterprises and local groups are already producing a variety of labeling services, along with kid-oriented sites like Kidlink and Kids’ Space. People differ in their tastes and values and can find services on the Net that suit them in the same way they select books and magazines. Or they can wander freely if they prefer, making up their own itinerary.

16 In the end, our society needs to grow up. Growing up means understanding that there are no perfect answers, no all-purpose solutions, no government-sanctioned safe havens. We haven’t created a perfect society on earth, and we won't have one in cyberspace either. But at least we can have individual choice — and individual responsibility.

1 美国人的内心深处具有一种酷爱探索新领域的气质。我们渴求宽敞的场地，我们喜欢探索，喜欢制定规章制度，却不愿去遵守。在当今时代，却很难找到一块空间，可以供你任意驰骋，又不必担心影响你的邻居。

2确实有这样一个空间，那就是信息空间。这里原本是计算机迷的游戏天地，但如今只要想像得到的各类人群应有尽有，包括少年儿童、轻佻的单身汉、美籍匈牙利人、会计等。问题是他们都能和睦相处吗？人们是否会因为害怕孩子们躲在卧室里看网上的淫秽图片而将它？

3 首先要解决的问题是，什么是信息空间。我们可以抛开高速公路、前沿新领域等比喻，把信息空间看作一个巨大的庄园。请记住，庄园是人们智慧的结晶，是合法的、人工营造的氛围，它建立在土地之上。在庄园里，公园和商业中心、与学校、教堂与杂货店都能区分开来。

4 你可以用同样的方法把信息空间想像为一个巨大的、无边无际的虚拟庄园。其中有些房产为私人拥有并已租出，有些是公共场所；有的场所适合儿童出入，而有些地方人们最好避开。不幸的是，正是这些应该避开的地方使得人们心向神往。这些地方教唆你如何制造、为你提供淫秽材料、告诉你如何窃取信用卡。所有这些使信息空间听起来像是一个十分肮脏的地方。正直的公民纷纷作出这样的结论：最好对它严加管理。

5 但是，在利用规章制度来反击下流之举之前，关键是从根本上理解信息空间的性质。恶棍并不能在信息空间抢走毫无提防之心的儿童；信息空间也不像一台巨大的电视机，向不情愿的观众播放令人作呕的节目。在信息空间这座庄园里，用户对他们所去之处、所见所闻、所做所为都要作出选择，一切都出于自愿。换句话说，信息空间是个出入自便的地方，实际上，信息空间里有很多可去之处。人们不能盲目上网，必须带着具体的目标上网。这意味着人们可以选择去哪个网址、看什么内容。不错，规章制度应该在群体内得以实施，但这些规章制度必须由信息空间内各个群体自己来制定，而不是由法庭或华盛顿的政客们来制定。

6 信息空间之所以具有如此大的诱惑力，正是因为它不同于商场、电视、公路或地球上的其他地方。那么，让我们来描述一下这个空间。

7首先，信息空间里人与人之间可以进行电子邮件交流。这种交流类似于电话交谈，都是私人之间的、两相情愿的谈话，不需要任何规章制度加以。

8 其次，信息空间提供信息与娱乐服务。人们可以从中下载各种信息，从法律文件、“大型新饭店”名单，到游戏

软件、下流图片，无奇不有。这里如同书店、商场和电影院，属购物区域。顾客必须通过索求或者登记来购物，物品（特别是淫秽之物）不会发送给那些没有索取的人。有些服务可以免费，或作为总服务费用的一部分计算，如“计算机服务”和“美国在线”就是如此。而有些服务要向顾客收费，而且可能会让顾客直接支付账单。

9 第三，信息空间里还有真正意义上的群体, 那就是在内部互相交流思想的人群。从庄园的角度来看，这些群体就像酒吧、饭店或公共浴室。每个活跃的人都积极参与谈话，谈话一般通过邮件方式进行；而有的人也许只充当旁观者或旁听者。有些活动由专人监督，有些则像公告牌，任何人可以任意在上面张贴。很多活动起初都无人监督，但现在实行强制管理，用规章制度来扫除那些不受欢迎的广告、不相干的讨论或日渐粗鲁的成员。

10 信息空间里群体的演变过程正如陆地社会团体的演变过程，即情趣相投的人们聚在一起。信息空间里每一个团体都各具特色。总的来说，“计算机服务”上的团体一般由专业技术人员组成；“美国在线”上的团体一般为富有的独身者；“奇才”主要面向家庭。另外还有一些具有独到见解的服务机构，“共鸣” 为其中之一，是纽约市中心一家时髦的服务机构。再如“妇女专线”，是专为女性开辟的，她们希望逃避网上其他地方盛行的男性文化。就因特网本身也有大量情绪激昂的讨论小组，都属非商业性质，讨论话题广泛，从匈牙利政治（匈牙利在线）到版权法，无所不及。

11 信息空间的独特之处在于允许任何规模、任何种类的团体发展繁荣。在信息空间，用户自愿参加任何团体，而不是因为地理位置的巧合而被迫参加某个团体。这种自由赋予主宰信息空间的准则一种道义上的权威，这种权威是地球空间里的准则所没有的。多数人呆在自己出生的国土上动弹不得，而在信息空间，假若你不喜欢某一群体的准则，脱离这个群体即可。出入自由。同样，如果做父母的不喜欢某一群体的准则，便可以孩子，不让他们参与。 12 在信息空间，可能会发生的情况是形成新的群体，新群体的形成不像在地球上那样受到，产生冲突。我们不是要建立一个梦寐以求、而又难以管理的全球村，而是要建立一个由各种的、不受外界影响的群体组成的世界，这些群体将投其成员所好，而又不干涉他人。一种真正的市场型管理模式很快成为可能。在信息空间，我们将能够检验并完善所需要的管理制度——知识产权制度、服务内容与使用权的控制制度、个人隐私权与自由言论制度等。有些群体允许任何人加入，而有些则只允许符合这样或那样条件的人加入。能够自持的群体会兴旺发展（或许也会因为志趣与身份日趋特殊，而发展成为几个分支）。有些群体或因为成员失去兴趣，或因为成员被吓跑而不能幸存下来，它们将渐渐萎缩消亡。

13 在不远的将来，信息空间的探索者应该更善于解释和辨别各群体的性质。除了现实中的之外，他们将有必要安置并接受自己的地方，就如同豪华庄园的业主一样，尽管可以叫来驱逐不受欢迎的顾客, 但还是宁愿雇佣自己的保安。

14 那么，该如何处置信息空间不受欢迎的材料呢？例如，淫秽材料该怎么办？答案除了禁止以外，就是在有问题的材料上贴上标签。信息空间的成员对有问题的内容应该达成共识，拿出一个解决方案来，使人们或自动过滤系统避开这些内容，这样可能会有助于解决问题。软件制造商很容易建立一套自动过滤系统，使你和孩子们在菜单上见不到不想见到的内容。（就好像所有的内容都被包装了起来，并在包装纸上贴有标签。）如果有人在色情材料上贴上“童趣”的标签，便可能会因错贴标签而被起诉。

15 一些私人组织和地方团体已经在不声不响地建立各种标签服务系统，并建立了适合儿童的网站，如“儿童连接”、“儿童空间”等。具有不同品味和抱有不同价值观念的人如同挑选书刊、杂志一样，可以从网上挑选出适合自己的服务机构。如果愿意，他们还可以在网上无拘无束地逍遥漫游，完成自己的旅程。

16 总之，我们的社会需要发展，要发展就意味着我们必须明白，世上没有完美无缺的答案，没有能够解决各种问题的妙方，没有认可的安全避难所。我们不能在地球上建立一个十全十美的社会，同样也不能在信息空间营造一个这样的社会。但是至少我们可以有个人的选择——也有个人的责任。

英语的未来

1 In the middle of the sixteenth century, English was spoken by between four and five millions of people, and stood fifth among the European languages, with French, German, Italian, and Spanish ahead of it in that order, and Russian following. Two hundred years later, Italian had dropped behind but Russian had gone ahead, so that English was still in fifth place. By the end of the Eighteenth Century English began to move forward, and by the middle of the nineteenth it had forced its way into first place. Today it is so far in the lead that it is probably spoken by as many people as the next two languages—Russian and German combined.

2 How many people speak it today? It is hard to answer. Besides those to whom English is their native tongue, there are people who, though born to some other language, live in English-speaking communities and speak English in their daily business. More importantly, English is now spoken as a foreign language throughout the world—very often, to be sure, badly, but nevertheless understandably. It has become a platitude that one may go almost anywhere with no other linguistic equipment and get on almost as well as in New York.

3 In part, of course, its spread has been due to the extraordinary dispersion of the English-speaking peoples. They have been the greatest travelers of modern times, and the most adventurous merchants, and the most assiduous colonists. Moreover, they have been, on the whole, poor linguists, and so they have dragged their language with them, and forced it upon the human race.

4 But there is more to the matter than this. English, brought to close quarters with formidable rivals, has won very often, not by force of numbers, but by the sheer weight of its merit. “In wealth, wisdom, and strict economy,” said the eminent Jakob Grimm a century ago, “none of the other living languages can vie with it.” To which the eminent Otto Jespersen was adding only the other day: English is simple, it has clear sounds, it packs its words closely together, it is logical in their arrangement, and it is free from all pedantic flubdub.

5 When American pedagogues speak of the virtues of English they almost always begin by hymning its enormous vocabulary, which is at least twice as large as that of any other language. But this is not what enchants the foreigner; on the contrary, the vast reaches of the vocabulary naturally alarm him. The thing that really wins him is the succinctness and simplicity of the language. We use, for all our store of Latin polysyllables, a great many more short words than long ones, and we are always trying to make the long ones short. What was once puniligrion is now pun; what was gasoline only yesterday is already gas. No other European language has so many three-letter words, nor so many four-word sayings. “First come, first served”—that is typically English, for it is bold, plain, and short.

6 The English psychologist, Dr. Ogden believes, indeed, that 850 words are sufficient for all ordinary purposes, and he has devised a form of simplified English, called by him Basic, which uses no more. Of his 850 words no less than 600 are the names of things, which leaves only 250 for the names of qualities and actions, and for all the linguistic hooks and eyes that hold sentences together.

7 Does this seem too few? Then it is only to those who have forgotten one of the prime characteristics of English—its capacity for getting an infinity of meanings out of a single word by combining it with simple modifiers. Consider, for example, the difference between the verbs to get. To get going, to get by, to get on to, to get wise, to get off, to get ahead of, and to get over. Dr. Ogden proposes to rid the language of a great many verbs—some of them irregular, and hence difficult—by substituting such compounds for them. Why, for example, should a foreigner be taught to say that he has disembarked from a ship? Isn’t it sufficient for him to say that he has got off? And why should he be taught to say that he has recovered from the flu, or escaped the police, or obtained a job? Isn’t it enough to say that he has got over the first, got away from the second, and simply got the third?

8 But as English spreads, will it be able to maintain its present form? Probably not. But why should it? Every successful effort at standardization seldom succeeds. The schoolma’am has been trying since the Revolution to bring American English to her rules, but it goes on sprouting, and it will eventually conquer the English of England.

9 This guess indeed is rather too easy to be quite sporting. English has been yielding to American for fifty years past, and since the turn of the century it has been yielding at a constantly accelerated rate. The flow of novelties in vocabulary, in idiom, even in pronunciation, is now overwhelmingly eastward. We seldom borrow an English word or phrase any more, though we used to borrow many; but the English take in our inventions almost as fast as we can launch them. The American movie, I suppose, is largely responsible for this change, but there are unquestionably deeper causes too. English

is still a bit tight, a bit stiff, more than a little artificial. But American has gone on developing with almost Elizabethan prodigality. All the processes of word-formation that were in operation in Shakespeare’s England are still in operation here, and they produce a steady stream of neologisms that he would have relished as joyfully as he relished the novelties actually produced in his time.

10 The English, from the Age of Anne onward, have resisted the march of American with a mixture of patriotic watchfulness and moral indignation, albeit with steadily decreasing effectiveness

11 The English travelers who began to swarm in America after 1800 gave willing aid in this benign work, and scarcely one of them failed to record his horror over the new American words that he encountered, and the unfamiliar American pronunciation. Captain Basil Hall, who was here in 1827 and 1828, went to the length of making a call upon Noah Webster, then over 70 years of age, to lodge his protest.

“Surely,” he said, “such innovations are to be deprecated.”

“I don’t know that,” replied Webster stoutly. “If a word becomes universally current in America, why should it not take its station in the language?”

“Because,” answered Hall, with a magnificent resort to British complacency, “there are words enough already.”

12 This hostility continues into our own day. At regular intervals the London dailies and weeklies break into sonorous complaints against the American invasion. Even the relatively cautious and plainly useful simplicities of American spelling (as in the -or words, for example) are sometimes denounced with great rancor. But it is really too late for the English to guard the purity of their native tongue, for so many Americanisms have already got into it that, on some levels at least, it is now almost an American dialect. There are hundreds of them in daily use in England, and many have become so familiar that an Englishman, on being challenged for using them, will commonly argue that they are actually English.

13 There are Englishmen who believe that the time has come to compromise with the invasion, and even to welcome it. The father of this pro-American party seems to have been the late William Archer, who was saying so long ago as 19 that Americans had enormously enriched the language, not only with new words, but with apt and luminous colloquial metaphors. The late Dr. Robert Bridges, Poet Laureate from 1913 until his death in 1930, was of like mind with Archer.

14 I turn to Dr. Ogden’s list of fifty “international” nouns for the Basic vocabulary, and find that no less than nine of them are American, not English. I turn to Professor Ichikawa’s list of English words that have been taken into Japanese, and Americanisms bristle from every page. Plainly enough, the conquest of the world by English, if it ever comes off, will really be a conquest by American.

1 在16世纪中叶，有四五百万人说英语，说英语的人数在欧洲的语言中名列第五。前四位依次是法语、德语、意大利语和西班牙语。俄语排在英语之后。两百年以后，意大利语排名落后，而俄语的排名靠前了，英语依然处于第五位。到了18世纪末，英语的地位开始上升。到19世纪中叶，英语已经跻身于第一位了。今天，英语的地位遥遥领先，说英语的人数可能达到说后两种语言，即俄语和德语人数的总和。

2 今天到底有多少人说英语？这个问题难以回答。除了把英语作为母语的人以外，还有一些人虽然出生在说其他语言的地方，但现在生活在说英语的社会，这些人在日常工作中说的是英语。更重要的是，英语目前在世界范围里作为外语广泛使用——当然，在这些地方英语往往说得蹩脚，但是也可以让人理解。你几乎可以去世界的任何一个地方，不会任何别的语言，也能像在纽约一样过得顺利，这已成为司空见惯的事情。

3 当然，英语得到普及，部分原因是说英语的人分布极广。他们是现代最热衷旅行的人、最敢冒险的商人、最执着的殖民主义者。除此以外，他们总体上学语言的能力很差，所以，他们走到哪里，便把自己的语言带到哪里，并将之强加于人。

4 但是，问题远不止如此。英语在与其劲敌的竞争中取胜，往往不是因为数量原因，而完全是因为其优点。“在丰富性、所包含的智慧、以及严谨的精炼程度方面，”著名的雅各布·格利姆在一个世纪之前说，“没有一种现存的语言能与英语媲美。”而著名的奥托·耶斯佩森就在前几天对此加以补充说：英语简单，发音清晰，词与词之间的结构紧密，词的安排组织有逻辑性，而且英语中没有迂腐的废话。

5 当美国的教育工作者谈及英语的优点时，几乎总是一开始就赞美其词汇量之庞大。英语的词汇比任何其他语言的词汇至少多一倍。然而，吸引外国人的并不是词汇量大，相反，浩瀚的词汇很容易令外国人担忧。真正赢得外国人的是英语简练和纯朴的特征。尽管英语中有大量的源于拉丁文的多音节词，但我们却更多地使用短词，少用长词。而且，我们总是努力把长词缩短。以前使用的puniligrion现在缩短成了pun；昨天还是gasoline，今天已成为gas。欧洲没有任何一种其他语言有这么多由三个字母构成的单词，也没有如此多由四个单词构成的格言。“First come,

first served”（先到先供应）便是典型的英语，因为它一目了然、朴实无华、短小精悍。

6 英国心理学家奥格登博士认为，在一般的交流中，850个词就足够了。他把英语改编成简单的形式，将这种形式叫做基础英语。基础英语中的词汇不超过850个。在这850个词中，有至少600个词表示事物的名称，剩下的250个词包括说明事物的特征和动作行为的词、以及将句子连接在一起的语法词和小品词。

7 这些词的数量是不是显得太少了？只有那些忘记了下面这一英语基本特征的人才会这么认为：英语中同一个词与不同的小修饰词结合，便可以产生无数多的意思。例如，我们可以想一想动词get 在下列组合中的不同意思：to get going, to get by, to get onto, to get wise, to get off, toget ahead, to get over等。奥格登博士建议去掉英语中的大量动词——其中一些是不规则动词，因而难以掌握，这些动词可以用上述短语动词来取代。例如，为什么要教外国人说他已从船上“上岸”（disembark）？难道说他已“下船”(get off)不能表达同样的意思吗？为什么要教他说从流感中“复原”（recover）、“逃避”（escape）了,“获得”（obtain）了工作？难道说“流感好了”（ get over the flu）、“甩开”（get away from the police），或者简单地说“找到工作”（get a job）不足以表达同样的意思吗？

8 但是随着英语的广泛传播，它是否能够保持现在的形式？也许不能。但为什么要保持现在的形式呢？每次使英语规范化的所谓成功的努力其实很少成功。自从大以来，学校女教师一直努力使美式英语遵守语法规则，但是，美式英语依然在不断发展，最终必将征服英国英语。

9 这种结局很容易猜出，甚至是可以肯定的。在过去的50年里，英语一直屈从于美语。自世纪之交以来，英语屈从美语的速度不断加快。新词汇、新习语、甚至新发音都以无法抗拒的势力源源不断传入东方。从前我们常常借用很多英语词或短语，但现在很少这样做。但英语却吸纳我们创造的词，我们创造有多快，其吸纳的速度几乎就有多快。我认为，美国电影固然对这一变化起了很大作用，但毫无疑问，还有更深刻的原因。英语依然有点太严格、有点僵硬，且过于矫揉造作。而美语的发展却像伊丽莎白时代一样繁荣。所有那些在英国莎士比亚时代应用的构词方法，现在依然在美国应用着，新词源源不断地产生。如果莎翁健在，这些新词一定会使他欣喜若狂，就像他所生活的时代产生的新词曾使他欣喜若狂一样。

10 自安妮时代以来，英国人就以一种带有爱国者的警惕和义愤的复杂心情，来拒绝美语的进入，尽管效果在日渐下降。

11 1800年以后开始蜂涌来到美国的英国游客也心甘情愿支持这一有益的工作。他们当中很少有人不对碰到的美国新词和陌生的美国发音感到惊恐。当海军上校巴赛尔·霍尔1827年和1828年来到这里时，甚至打电话向70多岁的诺亚·韦伯斯特提出。

“毫无疑问，”他说，“这种发明创造应该受到蔑视。” “我不这么认为，”韦伯斯特坚决地回答，“如果一个词在美国普遍流行开来，为什么不应该收入语言中呢？” 霍尔只好以英国人典型的自满态度回答说：“因为现有的词汇已经足够了。”

12 这种敌对情绪一直持续到今天。每隔一段时间，伦敦的日报和周报便对美语侵入提出大声。就连相对谨慎而又绝对实用的美式简单拼写（如以or结尾的词）有时也遭到极其强烈的指责。但是，英国人现在来维护其本族语的纯洁性实在为时太晚了，因为已经有太多的美式用语进入英语，英语至少在某种程度上已成为一种美式方言。在英国，数以百计的美语应用于日常生活中，许多英国人对这些用语极其熟悉，因此在使用时，如果有人质问他为什么用美语，他往往会辩解道，这些用语其实是英国英语。 13 有些英国人认为，现在已是向美语妥协的时候了，甚至应该欢迎美语了。美语支持者的鼻祖好像是已故的威廉·阿切尔。他早在19年就说过，美国用语大大丰富了英语语言，不仅为英语增加了新词，而且增加了一些恰如其分、通俗易懂、带有口语特色的比喻用法。已故的罗伯特·布里奇博士，从1913年到1930年去世为止，享有英国桂冠诗人的称号，他也与阿切尔持同样观点。

14 我看了看奥格登博士的基础英语里列出的50个“国际性”名词表，发现至少9个是美语，而不是英语。我再看了看市川教授列出的已纳入日语的英语单词表，只见每一页都有美语。显而易见，如果有朝一日英语征服世界真的成为现实，征服世界的必将是美式英语。

人生旅程

1 A person’s life at any given time incorporates both external and internal aspects. The external system is composed of our memberships in the culture: our job, social class, family and social roles, how we present ourselves to and participate in the world. The interior realm concerns the meanings this participation has for each of us. In what ways are our values, goals, and aspirations being invigorated or violated by our present life system? How many parts of our personality can we live out, and what parts are we suppressing? How do we feel about our way of living in the world at any given time?

2 The inner realm is where the crucial shifts in bedrock begin to throw a person off balance, signaling the necessity to change and move on to a new footing in the next stage of development. These crucial shifts occur throughout life, yet people consistently refuse to recognize that they possess an internal life system. Ask anyone who seems down, “Why are you feeling low?” Most will displace the inner message onto a marker event: “I’ve been down since we moved, since I changed jobs, since my wife went back to graduate school and turned into a damn social worker in sackcloth,” and so on. Probably less than ten percent would say: “There is some unknown disturbance within me, and even though it’s painful, I feel I have to stay with it and ride it out.” Even fewer people would be able to explain that the turbulence they feel may have no external cause. And yet it may not resolve itself for several years.

3 During each of these passages, how we feel about our way of living will undergo subtle changes in four areas of perception. One is the interior sense of self in relation to others. A second is the proportion of safeness to danger we feel in our lives. A third is our perception of time—do we have plenty of it, or are we beginning to feel that time is running out? Last, there will be some shift at the gut level in our sense of aliveness or stagnation. These are the hazy sensations that compose the background tone of living and shape the decisions on which we take action.

4 The work of adult life is not easy. As in childhood, each step presents not only new tasks of development but requires a letting go of the techniques that worked before. With each passage some magic must be given up, some cherished illusion of safety and comfortably familiar sense of self must be cast off, to allow for the greater expansion of our own distinctiveness. Pulling Up Roots

5 Before 18, the motto is loud and clear: “I have to get away from my parents.” But the words are seldom connected to action. Generally still safely part of our families, even if away at school, we feel our autonomy to be subject to erosion from moment to moment.

6 After 18, we begin Pulling Up Roots in earnest. College, military service, and short-term travels are all customary vehicles our society provides for the first round trips between family and a base of one’s own. In the attempt to separate our view of the world from our family’s view, despite vigorous protestations to the contrary—“I know exactly what I want!”— we cast about for any beliefs we can call our own. And in the process of testing those beliefs we are often drawn to fads, preferably those most mysterious and inaccessible to our parents.

7 Whatever tentative memberships we try out in the world, the fear haunts us that we are really kids who cannot take care of ourselves. We cover that fear with acts of defiance and mimicked confidence. For allies to replace our parents, we turn to our contemporaries. They become conspirators. So long as their perspective meshes with our own, they are able to substitute for the sanctuary of the family. But that doesn’t last very long. And the instant they diverge from the shaky ideals of “our group”, they are seen as betrayers. Rebounds to the family are common between the ages of 18 and 22.

8 The tasks of this passage are to locate ourselves in a peer group role, a sex role, an anticipated occupation, an ideology or world view. As a result, we gather the impetus to leave home physically and the identity to begin leaving home emotionally.

9 Even as one part of us seeks to be an individual, another part longs to restore the safety and comfort of merging with another. Thus one of the most popular myths of this passage is: We can piggyback our development by attaching to a Stronger One. But people who marry during this time often prolong financial and emotional ties to the family and relatives that impede them from becoming self-sufficient.

10 A stormy passage through the Pulling Up Roots years will probably facilitate the normal progression of the adult life cycle. If one doesn’t have an identity crisis at this point, it will erupt during a later transition, when the penalties may be

harder to bear.

The Trying Twenties

11 The Trying Twenties confront us with the question of how to take hold in the adult world. Our focus shifts from the interior turmoils of late adolescence—“Who am I?” “What is truth?”—and we become almost totally preoccupied with working out the externals. “How do I put my aspirations into effect?” “What is the best way to start?” “Where do I go?” “Who can help me?” “How did you do it?”

12 In this period, which is longer and more stable compared with the passage that leads to it, the tasks are as enormous as they are exhilarating: To shape a Dream, that vision of ourselves which will generate energy, aliveness, and hope. To prepare for a lifework. To find a mentor if possible. And to form the capacity for intimacy, without losing in the process whatever consistency of self we have thus far mustered. The first test structure must be erected around the life we choose to try.

13 Doing what we “should” is the most pervasive theme of the twenties. The “shoulds” are largely defined by family models, the press of the culture, or the prejudices of our peers. If the prevailing cultural instructions are that one should get married and settle down behind one’s own door, a nuclear family is born.

14 One of the terrifying aspects of the twenties is the inner conviction that the choices we make are irrevocable. It is largely a false fear. Change is quite possible, and some alteration of our original choices is probably inevitable.

15 Two impulses, as always, are at work. One is to build a firm, safe structure for the future by making strong commitments, to “be set”. Yet people who slip into a ready-made form without much self-examination are likely to find themselves locked in.

16 The other urge is to explore and experiment, keeping any structure tentative and therefore easily reversible. Taken to the extreme, these are people who skip from one trial job and onelimited personal encounter to another, spending their twenties in the transient state.

17 Although the choices of our twenties are not irrevocable, they do set in motion a Life Pattern. Some of us follow the locked-in pattern, others the transient pattern, the wunderkind pattern, the caregiver pattern, and there are a number of others. Such patterns strongly influence the particular questions raised for each person during each passage through the life.

18 Buoyed by powerful illusions and belief in the power of the will, we commonly insist in our twenties that what we have chosen to do is the one true course in life. Our backs go up at the merest hint that we are like our parents, that two decades of parental training might be reflected in our current actions and attitudes. 19 “Not me,” is the motto, “I’m different.”

1 一个人在每一特定时期内的生活都是由外部生活和内心生活这两个方面结合而成的。外部生活是指我们在文明社会中的实际生活，其中包括我们的工作、家庭生活以及我们作为社会阶级成员的活动等。内心生活是指我们所参与的种种外部活动对我们个人产生的影响。例如，我们目前的生活体系是符合我们的价值观、目标和理想呢，还是与之相违背？我们的个性能在多大程度上得到发挥，还是受到某种程度的压抑？在每一特定时期，我们对自己的生活方式又有何种感受？

2 人的内心生活是阶段性的：在人生必经的一些重大转折关头，如果一个人觉得失去自我平衡，那就意味着要进行调整，以步入人生发展的下一个阶段。这些重大转折是人生不可避免的，只是人们往往不承认自己具有这样一种内在的生命系统。如果你问一个看来不得志的人：“你为何如此消沉？”大部分人总是把那些内心因素解释成比较明显的外部因素——他会对你说：“我之所以不高兴，是因为我最近搬家了，我原来的工作也换了，我的妻子又回学校去读研究生，还要干什么不相干的社会工作，还因为其他一些乱七八糟的事。”或许只有不足十分之一的人会说：“我感到有一种不可名状的烦恼，尽管很痛苦，可我还得设法忍受它、克服它。”更少有人会承认这些思想情绪的波动和外界因素没有什么关系。而这种痛苦可能需要好几年才能熬过去。

3 在这些变化和转折中，我们对生活方式的看法要经历四个感知方面的微妙变化：第一，在内心中对自己和他人的看法；第二，在生活的各种威胁面前所具有的安全感；第三是我们对时间的认识，是感到来日方长，还是开始感到时日无多？最后是对自己的精力和活力的直觉意识，是感到精力充沛，还是感到力不从心？这些都是在我们内心里产生的若明若暗的感觉，它们构成了我们生活的基调，影响着我们采取行动前的种种决定。 4 成年后的生活很不容易。正如童年时代一样，每一步不但有新的发展任务，还要求我们放弃对从前有效的方法。在每一发展阶段，一些不切实际的幻想得放弃，一些虚幻的安全感和舒适良好的自我感觉也得放弃，以便能有更大的空间发展自己的独特个性。

自立之年

5 不到18岁，我们的座右铭就已非常明确而响亮：“离开父母，自力更生。”话虽如此，实际情况未必尽然。一般说来，我们依然还是家庭中无法自立的成员。即便是离家在外上学，我们也经常感到自主权不时地要受到客观因素的和侵犯。

6 18岁之后，我们便开始认真考虑如何才能真正地离家自主。上大学、服兵役以及短期外出旅行等自然是社会为我们提供的第一次在家庭和自己的基地之间进行的双程旅行。为了显示自己对社会的看法与父母不同，我们常常急于寻找一切可称之为见解的看法。我们大声“我很清楚我该做什么！”但实际上对此并不确定。我们为证实自己的信念，常常追求一些时尚概念，尤其是在父母感到神秘或者不懂的问题上更想独树一帜。

7 无论在社会上尝试什么角色我们都时时有一种恐惧，即自己还是个孩子无力照管自己。于是我们就采取了对什么都不在乎的态度，假装信心十足，以此掩盖我们的恐惧心理。为了 ，寻求支持以摆脱父母的羁绊，我们求助于同伴，于是他们便成了为我们出谋划策的参谋。只要同伴与我们的看法一致，意趣相投，他们就可以取代家庭的庇护。但这种关系一般长不了。一旦彼此的看法出现矛盾，双方便会分道扬镳。这时我们就又有可能回到家里。对于18到22岁的青年人来说，这种去而复返的现象司空见惯。

8 人生这一阶段的任务是，在同龄人中、在性别角色中、在期望的职业中、以及在思想意识和世界观方面确立自己的位置。这样，我们既有了离家的动力，也有了离家的心理准备。

9 在这个阶段，我们想离开家庭生活，而另一方面又渴望与另一人结合以重新找到安全和舒适感。因此，在这段时间里，最神秘、最令人神往的事之一莫过于同一个出众的异性相结合，来带动我们事业的发展。然而，在这个阶段内结婚的青年人，越发延长了同家庭及亲属在经济上和感情上的维系，无法实现真正的愿望。

10 在力图自立的阶段中，风风雨雨的锻炼也许有利于促使一个人正常地长大成人。如果一个人没有在这一阶段遇到任何自立的危机的话，那在将来某个发展阶段他一定还会遇到，但那时他要付出的代价将可能更加沉重。 迷惘求索的二十几岁

11 到了二十几岁，我们面临的难题是如何在这成年人的世界中生存。在内心波动的青春期后期，我们关注的焦点是：“我究竟是怎样的一个人？”“生活的真谛到底是什么？”而此时我们几乎完全沉浸在有关外部生活的问题上：“怎样才能使自己的抱负得以实现？”“最好从何处着手？”“我应朝什么目标努力？”“谁能帮我的忙？”“别人是如何走过来的？”

12 与前一阶段相比，这个阶段的时间更长，也更稳定一些。在这个阶段中，人们的任务既艰巨而又令人振奋： 绘制一幅美妙的生活蓝图，这种美好的憧憬会使我们充满活力、激情和希望；为毕生的事业做好准备；如果可能的话，找一个良师益友。还要培养一种既不丧失自己固有的风格，又能做到善解人意的能力。最初的实验基地必须围绕自己设计的生活蓝图去建立。

13 “做我们‘应该’做的事。”这是二十几岁的人的生活基调。但我们应该做什么主要取决于家庭的类型，文化的影响，以及同龄人的特定见解。

如果当时最盛行的社会时尚就是到了这种年龄要结婚成家，那么年青人就会去建立小家庭。 14 二十几岁的人内心有一种可怕的想法，他们认定自己所做的选择将来不能改弦易辙。实际上这种担忧是不对的，因为变化是可能的，改变初衷也常常是必然的。

15 这个时期有两个方面的动力在起作用。一种动力是信誓旦旦地要为未来筑造一个坚实而安全的生活构架。不过那些未经深思熟虑就落入一种现成的生活模式的人，往往到头来会发现自己陷入了一个十分狭小的天地里而不能自拔。

16 另外一种动力就是不断地开拓和尝试。他们把任何生活结构都看成是试验性的，因而可以随意更改的。在极端的情况下，这些人工作试来换去，人际之间的短暂邂逅接二连三，结果很可能在一种反复不定的状态中度过这二十几岁的时光。

17 虽然我们在二十几岁时的选择并不是一成不变的，它们对于我们生活方式的形成还是起着决定性的作用。有的人按照关在自己小天地里的

生活模式一直生活下去，有些人则变来变去很难定型；有的人少年得志，成就卓著，有的人一心为他人奉献。当然还有其他一些类型。这些生活模式都极大地影响着每个人在人生每一阶段所面临的具体问题。

18 由于幻想的鼓舞和支持以及对自己的意志充满信心，我们在二十几岁时普遍认定自己所选择的道路是人生真正的事业所在。如果有人说我们很像自己的父母，说我们的言行举止是父母二十多年来教育和熏陶的结果，我们会很不高兴。

19 “不，我绝不是那样，我与他们不同。”我们总会这样说。

passionate热烈的;激昂的

distract分散(注意力等),岔开(念头等) absorb吸收 avert防止,避免

profit赢余,利润,赚头;利润率 thrive兴旺,繁荣;成功;致富

prosper (使)兴隆,(使)繁荣;(使)成功 affluent丰富的;富足的 prosperous兴隆的,繁荣的 wither凋残,萎谢,枯萎

mature熟的,成熟的;(精神,智力)圆熟的,发育完全的 ripen成熟;长成 (into) disintegrate使崩溃,使瓦解 irritate激怒,使发怒,使急躁 intervene干预,干涉

tempt诱惑,教唆;引起(食欲等);引诱;怂恿试探 inspire鼓舞,激动,激发

stimulate激励,刺激,使兴奋,鼓励

discharge释放;解除,免除(义务等);遣散(军人),使退役;放走,放行,罢免,解雇 derive得到,导出

deprive剥夺,使 (somebody) 不能享受 (of) dispatch调度,调遣

rip扯裂,割裂 (up) 剥去,拆去,割掉,扯掉 strip剥离; 剥夺; 除去 certify证明保证

classify把...分类[分部;分等,分级] notify通告,宣告,布告,通知

clarify澄清(液体等);【生】透化

productive生产的,生产性的;有生产力的;多产的 versatile通用的,万能的

simultaneous同时发生的,同时做的,同时的 spontaneous自发的,一时冲动的 rigorous严格的,严肃的;严厉的

swarm (抱着)爬(树等) 2密集;群集;被挤满;充满 stride迈步,大踏步走,迈进

fur用毛皮护覆,用毛皮给...镶里 bristle使(毛发等)竖起;把...弄粗糙 wool绒线;毛织品;呢绒;呢衣 feather羽毛,翎毛;羽饰;箭羽

eminent著名的;显著的,突出的

imminent迫切的,危急的,逼近眼前的,临头的 illicit违法的,违禁的,不正当的

explicable可解释的,可说明的,可辩明的 depress压下,压低(声调等),放低

disperse使疏散,使散开;冲散(敌军等);解散(集会等);驱散(云,雾等)

scatter散布,撒(种),散播

compel强迫;协迫;使不得不;迫使(服从,沉默等) default拖欠,未能偿还;不履行;违约 deteriorate弄坏,(使)恶化,退化,下降 degrade【化】降解

diagnosis诊断 2调查分析,判断 indigestion消化不良,胃弱 descend下来,下降 decay衰减,衰退

scold骂,怒骂,骂骂咧咧,肆口谩骂 deserve应受,该得,值得,当 reserve贮藏,储备

preserve保持,维持;保护,维护 desert功劳,美德

dessert甜品;餐后甜点;甜食 pour注,倒,灌,泻,喷散 twist拧,扭,绞

expend使用,花费(金钱,劳力,时间等);用光,耗尽 expand展开,张开

secure安心的;不必担心的;有把握的 ensure保证,担保;保险

assure保证,担保,确告,郑重宣告 guarantee保证,担保

creative有创意的,创新的,创造的 stimulate激励,刺激,使兴奋,鼓励 deficient不足的,缺乏的

substance物质,材料;【哲】实体,本体,本质 efficient有效的,有力的;效率高的 affect假装,佯装,假冒,冒充 effect效果; 作用; 影响; 效应