1995到20131995 For my sons there is of course the rural bounty of fresh-grown vegetables, line-caught fish and the shared riches of neighbours orchards and gardens. There is the unpaid baby-sitter for whose children my daughter-in-law baby-sits in return, and neighbours who barter their skills and labour. But more than that, how do you measure serenity? Sense if self?I dont want to idealize life in small places. There are times when the outside world intrudes brutally, as when the cost of gasoline goes up or developers cast their eyes on untouched farmland. There are cruelties, there is intolerance, there are all the many vices and meannesses in small places that exist in large cities. Furthermore, it is harder to ignore them when they cannot be banished psychologically to another part of town or excused as the whims of alien groups - when they have to be acknowledged as “part of us.”对我的几个儿子来说，乡村当然有充足的新鲜蔬菜，垂钓来的鱼，邻里菜园和果园里可供分享的丰盛瓜果。乡下有不用付报酬便可请来照看孩子的邻居，作为回报，我儿媳也帮着照看其孩子。乡邻之间互相交换技能和劳动。但比之更重要的是，你如何来衡量那静谧与安详？如何来衡量自我价值呢？我无意将小地方的生活理想化。因为有时外面的世界会无情地侵入：比如汽油价格上涨，开发商把眼睛盯住尚未开发的农田；那里充斥着凶残和偏狭，大城市的种种卑劣行径，小地方也一应俱全。不仅如此，当人们无法自欺欺人地硬把那些丑恶现象想象成只是小地方的一小部分或将它们解释为异乡人的为所欲为，而又不得不承认这一切是我们的一部分时，就更难以忽视它们。1996 It should have been easy. They were battle-tested veterans with long ties to Reagan and even longer ties to the Republican party, men who understood presidential politics as well as any in the country. The backdrop of the campaign was hospitable, with lots of good news to work with: America was at peace, and the nations economy, a key factor in any election, was rebounding vigorously after recession. Furthermore, the campaign itself was lavishly financed, with plenty of money for a top-flight staff, travel, and television commercials. And, most important, their candidate was Ronald Reagan, a president of tremendous personal popularity and dazzling communication skills. Reagan has succeed more than any president since John F. Kennedy in projecting a broad vision of America a nation of renewed military strength, individual initiative, and smaller federal government. 这应该不是件难事。这都是些跟着里根多年、久经沙场的老将，他们跟共和党则有更深厚的渊源，是这个国家里最熟悉总统政治的人。竞选的背景也很有利，也很多好消息可供炒作。例如，美国上下一片和平，美国经济这一竞选要素也在经过一段时间的衰退之后开始强劲反弹。此外，这次竞选本身得到了慷慨资助，因此有充裕的资用于组织一流的竞选班子、支付巡回演讲和电视广告的费用。而最重要的一点是，他们的候选人是罗纳德里根，他可是位极具个人魅力和沟通技巧的总统。自约翰F肯尼迪总统以来，里根是最成功地勾勒出美国蓝图的总统：一个军事力量复兴、富有个人进取心、联邦政府得以精简的国家。1997 Opera is expensive: that much is inevitable. But expensive things are inevitably the province（范围） of the rich unless we abdicate（退位、放弃） societys power of choice. We can choose to make opera and other expensive forms of culture, accessible（易接近的，可达到的） to those who cannot individually pay for it. The question is: why should we? No body denies the imperatives（必要的）of food, shelter, defence, health and education. But even in a prehistoric cave, man-kind stretched out a hand of not just to eat, drink or fight, but also to draw. The impulse（冲动） towards culture, the desire to express and explore the world through imagination and representation（表述、陈述）is fundamental. In Europe, this desire has found fulfillment（完成、成就） in the masterpieces of our music, art, literature and theatre. These masterpieces are the touchstones（标准、试金石） for all our efforts; they are the touchstones for the possibilities to which human thought and imagination may aspire（立志、追求目标、渴望）; they carry the most profound （深厚的、深刻的）messages that can be sent from one human to another.欣赏歌剧是一种奢侈的享受，而且人们不可避免地要为此支付昂贵的费用。然而，只要你不放弃对社会权利的选择，高档享受不可避免地成为富人的特有的领域。我们可以让歌剧和其他费用昂贵的文化形式面向那些个人承受不起费用的大众。然而，问题是我们为什么要这么做。没有人会否认食物、居所、安全、健康与教育的必要性。但是，即使在史前的穴居时代，人们伸出手来，也不仅仅是为了吃喝，或者是单纯地为了搏杀，也可以是为了刻画。人们对文化的冲动，对表达的渴望，以及通过想象和表述对世界的探索等，才是最根本的。在欧洲，人们通过音乐、美术、文学和戏剧等杰作的成就形式实现了这一愿望。这些杰作是检验人类努力程度的标准，也是检验人类追求的思想和想象能力的标准，它们承载着丰富的信息，并得以在彼此之间相互传播。1998 To speak of American literature, then, is not to assert（断言、声称）that it is completely unlike that of Europe. Broadly speaking, America and Europe have kept step（同步）. At any given moment（在任何时候） the traveler could find examples in both of the same architecture, the same styles in dress, the same books on the shelves. Ideas have crossed the Atlantic as freely as men and merchandise, though sometimes more slowly. When I refer to American habit, thoughts, etc., I intend some sort of qualification（限制、限定、资格） to precede（领先、超前） the word, for frequently the difference between America and Europe (especially England) will be one of degree（唯一只是在程度上）, sometimes only of a small degree. The amount of divergence（分歧、差异） is a subtle （微妙的）affair, liable（有可能的） to perplex the Englishman when he looks at America. He is looking at a country which in important senses （重要的感觉）grew out of his own, which in several ways（在有些方面）still resembles his own and which is yet a foreign country. There are odd overlappings（重叠） and abrupt unfamiliarities; kinship(亲缘关系) yields to a sudden alienation（疏远关系）, as when we hail（打招呼） a person across the street, only to discover from his blank（没有表情的） response that we have mistaken a stranger for a friend.参