研究生英语泛读翻译第十二单元.doc

Unhappy America If America can learn from its problems, instead of blaming others, it will come back stronger. 如果美国能够从自身的问题中汲取教训，而不是责备他人，将会变得更加强大。 NATIONS, like people, occasionally get the blues郁郁不乐; and right now the United States, normally the world’s most self-confident place, is glum阴沉的. Eight out of ten Americans think their country is heading in the wrong direction. The hapless不幸的 George Bush is partly to blame (be to blame应承担责任)for this: his approval ratings are now sub-Nixonian. But many are concerned not so much about a failed president as about a flailing nation. 国家，就像人一样， 有时也会郁郁不乐；而此时的美国，原本是世界上最自信的国家，如今也陷入阴沉。超过80%的美国人认为他们的国家正朝一个错误的方向发展。不幸的G.布什 也对此遭受几分指责：他如今的支持率已不如尼克松。但是人们更加关心一个动荡的国家而不是一个失败的总统。 One source of angst担心 is the sorry state of American capitalism资本主义. The “Washington consensus” told the world that open markets and deregulation would solve its problems. Yet American house prices are falling faster than during the Depression, petrol is more expensive than in the 1970s, banks are collapsing破坏, the euro is kicking sand in the dollar’s face, credit is scarce, recession and inflation both threaten the economy, consumer confidence is an oxymoron and Belgians比利时人 have just bought Budweiser, “America’s beer”. 担心的一个来源是美 国资本主义的可怜处境。“华盛顿共识”告诉世界开放市场以及放松管制会解决问题。但是，美国房价正以比大萧条时期更快的速度下跌，石油比20世纪70年代 更加昂贵，银行倒闭，欧元在美元面前飞扬跋扈，信用缺失，衰退和通胀都威胁着经济。比利时人刚收购了被称为“美国的啤酒”的百威啤酒，这与消费者信心形成 矛盾。 And it’s not just the downturn低迷时期 that has caused this discontent不满. Many Americans feel as if they missed the boom. Between 2002 and 2006 the incomes of 99% rose by an average of 1% a year in real terms, while those of the top 1% rose by 11% a year; three-quarters of the economic gains during Mr Bush’s presidency went to that top 1%. Economic envy, once seen as a European vice恶习, is now rife普遍的. The rich appear in Barack Obama’s speeches not as entrepreneurial企业家 role models but as modern versions of the “malefactors犯罪分子 of great wealth” denounced谴责 by Teddy Roosevelt a century ago: this