QA讨论:如何看待“我能行”的美国文化
2024-12-19 辽阔天空 3001
正文翻译

What do you most admire about U.S. culture?

你最欣赏美国文化的哪一点?

评论翻译
Ernest
What is your favorite thing about the US culture?
A can-do attitude about things. The American response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor was unbelievable. A neutral nation at peace turned into the mightiest war machine the world had ever seen in the space of a few months. The world's largest office building, the Pentagon, was constructed incredibly fast. One thing many people don't know is that the US Navy salvaged most of the bombed ships at Pearl and put them back into service. When we went to the Moon, we did it in less than ten years.

你最喜欢美国文化的哪一点?
是他们那种“我能行”的态度。美国对珍珠港被轰炸的反应令人难以置信。一个和平的中立国家在短短几个月内转变成了世界上前所未有的强大战争机器。世界上最大的办公楼——五角大楼,以惊人的速度建成。许多人可能不知道,美国海军打捞了珍珠港被炸的大部分船只,并将它们修复后重新投入使用。我们登月的任务,在不到十年的时间里就完成了。

When the British notice a problem, they tend to ask, “Why doesn't the government do something about this?” Americans ask, “What can we do about this?”
This has its drawbacks at times; it can produce great arrogance, as when George W. Bush was certain that he could “make his own reality” in Iraq. But it's a beneficial attitude for a population to have.

当英国人遇到问题时,他们通常会问,“政府为什么不采取行动解决这个问题?”而美国人则会问,“我们能做些什么来解决这个问题?”
这种态度有时确实会带来一些弊端,比如可能导致极大的自负,就像乔治·W·布什坚信他能在伊拉克“创造自己的现实”一样。但总体来说,这种态度对于一个国家的人民来说是有益的。

A. Bowdoin Van Riper
What is your favorite thing about American culture?
The food . . . the sheer exuberant variety of the food.

你最喜欢美国文化的哪一点?
是食物……其食物多样性令人兴奋。

The USA is a huge, environmentally diverse country with a huge, culturally diverse population, and you can eat a whole lot of very good meals without ever coming close to repeating yourself. Four distinct regional varieties of clam chowder . . . six? eight? major variations on southern barbecue, each with hundreds of changes rung on it by individual pit masters . . . if it grows on a tree or a vine, somebody’s figured out how to make a damn fine pie out of it.

美国是一个地域广阔、环境多样的国家,拥有一个文化多元的庞大人口。在这里,你可以享受到许多美味佳肴,而且几乎不会重复。从四种(六种?八种?)不同的蛤蜊浓汤……到南方烧烤的多种主要风味,每一种都有成百上千的变化,由不同的烤肉大师根据个人风格进行调整……如果某种食物长在树上或藤上,总有人会想出办法做出美味的派。

Fish tacos in San Diego . . . guacamole with pomegranate in Tempe . . . elk burgers with green chile sauce in New Mexico . . . jambalaya in Louisiana . . . smoked brisket in Texas . . . crab cakes on the Chesapeake . . . cheesesteaks in Philadelphia . . . grilled bratwurst in Wisconsin . . . frozen custard in St. Louis . . . stuffed quahogs in Rhode Island . . . bay scallops in Massachusetts . . . and that’s just scratching the surface of my “best things I ever ate” list.

在圣地亚哥享用美味的墨西哥玉米饼包炸鱼……在坦佩品尝带有石榴的鳄梨酱……在新墨西哥州大口吃青辣椒酱麋鹿汉堡……在路易斯安那州品尝地道的什锦饭……在德克萨斯享受烟熏牛胸肉……在切萨皮克湾品尝蟹肉饼……在费城大嚼芝士牛排三明治……在威斯康星州烤腊肠……在圣路易斯品尝软质奶油冰淇淋……在罗德岛州享用填馅蛤蜊……在马萨诸塞州品尝嵌条扇贝……这只是我“最美味食物”清单中的一小部分。

I’ve eaten Moroccan in Georgia, Afghan in Wisconsin, Peruvian in Utah, Brazilian in Massachusetts, and Vietnamese and Ethiopian in more states than I can remember . . . all that without even trying hard. I live in a small New England town, and the local veterans’ club has a Jamaican-born chef who does a brisk business in jerk chicken, curried goat, and braised ox tails. There’s a Brazilian grocery up the street from me, and a Caribbean one around the corner.

我在乔治亚州品尝过摩洛哥菜,在威斯康星州试过阿富汗菜,在犹他州享受过秘鲁美食,在马萨诸塞州吃过巴西菜,还有在许多州都尝过越南菜和埃塞俄比亚菜……这一切都不用刻意去寻找。我居住在新英格兰地区的一个小镇上,镇上的退伍军人俱乐部有一位牙买加籍厨师,他的特色菜——牙买加风味烤肉、咖喱山羊肉和炖牛尾,且生意兴隆。从我家出发,不远处就有一家巴西杂货店,再转个弯就是一家加勒比风格的商店。

Yes, the stereotypes are true. You can spend a lifetime in America eating mass-produced burgers, casseroles made with canned soup, and macaroni coated in “cheese” that started as orange powder. You don’t have to go far or look hard, though, to find an endless array of better options.

确实,那些关于美国食物的刻板印象并非空穴来风。在美国,你确实可以一辈子都吃那些工业化生产的汉堡、用罐头汤制成的砂锅菜,以及那些用橙色粉末制成的“奶酪”覆盖的通心粉。然而,你并不需要走多远或费多大劲,就能发现一系列更优质的美食选择。

KS Venkat
What is your favorite thing about American culture?
This is a beautiful question. I am an immigrant who moved to the US six years ago. There is a lot about America that is appealing to me.

关于美国文化,你最欣赏的是什么?
这是个美妙的问题。我六年前移民到美国,美国有很多让我着迷的地方。

Belief : Most people believe that if they put in hard work and are committed, the outcomes and the money will flow in. To me, this is the bedrock of the American culture, the so called “American Dream”. The term might be politicized now. But in my view, It brings about a certain discipline in people, and positivity to a very large degree. A lot of people have side businesses, invest in the markets, try their hand out at multiple things. It’s a bit of a can do attitude. They believe that they can achieve financial freedom and work towards it. It kind of keeps the economic juggernaut going as well.

信仰:大多数人坚信,只要他们付出辛勤的努力并且坚持不懈,成功和财富自然会随之而来。在我看来,这就是美国文化的核心,也就是人们常说的“美国梦”。虽然这个概念现在可能被政治化了,但我认为它在很大程度上激发了人们的自律和积极性。许多人都经营着副业,投资股市,或者尝试多种不同的事物。这体现了一种“我能行”的精神。他们相信自己能够实现财务自由,并为之奋斗。这种精神也在推动着整个经济巨轮不断前进。

Helpfulness : Most people I’ve met have helped me out. Neighbors coming over to show me how to do household maintenance like painting, gardening, etc., with absolutely no real expectation of something in return. Most people also offer physical help and donate to whatever they believe in regularly. For example, there was a rush at the local blood bank during covid. Americans braving covid to do social service was amazing. And no matter what their political orientation, they do something or the other.

乐于助人:我遇到的大多数人都非常乐于助人。邻居们会教我如何进行家庭维护,比如粉刷、园艺等,而且他们并不期待得到任何回报。大多数人也会提供实际帮助,并定期捐赠他们所信仰的事业。例如,在新冠疫情期间,许多人不顾个人安危,勇敢地参与社会服务工作。无论他们的政治立场如何,他们都会以某种方式做出贡献。

Talkative : I mean this in a good way. In general, in most places outside of bustling downtowns on the coasts, people smile and wave, or atleast wish you a good morning and evening. Many times I’ve had long conversations with total strangers - on planes, in airports, in parks, while going out on a stroll, etc.
Choices : Americans believe in having choices. There is so much of variety in most things, to the point of one getting completely spoilt! I love the choices that we have in everything in daily life. Choice is a “need” here. People demand to have choices and won’t settle for less. This means better products, amazing customer service, etc.

健谈:我在这里使用这个词是褒义性质。在美国的大多数地方,人们会微笑、挥手,或者至少向你道早安和晚安。我经常与完全陌生的人进行长时间的交谈——在飞机上、在机场、在公园里、在散步时等。
选择:美国人崇尚选择的自由。在许多方面,选择的多样性极其丰富,多到几乎让人挑花了眼!我非常喜欢我们日常生活中拥有的各种选择。在这里,“选择”是一种基本需求。人们坚持要求有多种选择,不愿意妥协。这也意味着产品必须更加优质,客户服务必须更加出色等等。

原创翻译:龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Personal Handyman-ship: Most people are completely independent from the point of view of running their own lives. For someone who spent the initial part of my life in India, and couldn’t cook or do household chores, I appreciate the way most people are good with handymanship around the house. I’ve seen it in other countries too (eg Australia), but it’s refreshing to see a 70 year old out at 6 am on a Saturday morning mowing his own lawn. It’s a bit of a liberating feeling.

个人动手能力:从管理自己生活的角度来看,大多数人都是完全独立的。对于我这个在印度度过了人生初期、不会做饭或做家务的人来说,我非常欣赏大多数人在家里的动手能力。我也在其他国家(例如澳大利亚)见过这种情况,但看到一个70岁的人在周六早上6点出来自己割草,让人感到振奋,这是一种解放的感觉。
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Overall, while America has its faults, culture is most definitely not one of them, in my view.

总的来说,尽管美国有其缺点,但在我看来,文化肯定不是其中之一。

Arthur Dayne
What is your favorite thing about American culture?
The customer service and professionalism. American companies have some of the best customer service, business integrity and standards around as well as excellent presentation and expectations. The US is the world standard on quality financial & various service sectors, institutions and procedures.

关于美国文化,你最喜欢什么?
我最喜欢的是美国的客户服务和专业性。美国公司提供一些世界上最好的客户服务,商业诚信和标准,以及出色的展示和期望。在优质的金融和各种服务部门、机构和程序方面,美国是世界标准。

Americans don’t take things too personally which has a good side in that they won’t personally take a bat to your face or leg for bad reviews, a deal gone wrong, business or social relationship not working out as intended though I’m sure there will always be a few horrifying rare exceptions.

美国人通常不会把事情看得过于个人化,这有其积极的一面。例如,他们不会因为一个糟糕的评价、交易失败、或者商业及社交关系没有按预期发展,就对你个人进行攻击。当然,我也知道总会有一些令人震惊的例外情况。

Americans respect privacy and will leave you alone if you don’t want to be bothered. They won’t just leave you alone, they will literally stay out of your way which does have a positive benefit if you need that solitary space to work on/enjoy personal hobbies or projects.

美国人很重视个人隐私,如果你不希望被打扰,他们会给予你足够的空间。他们不仅会保持距离,而且真的会不干涉你,这在你需要一个安静的空间来专注于个人爱好或项目时,是非常有益的。

Americans acknowledge and respect rule of law, courts and legal institutions, with very little leeway. In America, Law is the Correct Judgement of the State. No exceptions… unless you are wealthy.

美国人非常重视并尊重法律、法庭和法律制度,几乎没有多少灵活性。在美国,法律被视为国家的正确裁决。通常情况下没有例外……除非你非常富有。
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Americans generally don’t give a damn about what you wear, the car you drive, whether or not you look like you are from lower/middle/upper classes because they see it as very rude to encourage class distinctions. There is racism & various degrees of racial discrimination of course but I haven’t seen much in way of class-ism. So I can respect that Americans don’t really care about social class.

美国人通常不太关心你的穿着打扮、你开什么车,或者你是不是看起来属于低、中、高社会阶层,因为他们认为强调这些阶级差异是非常不礼貌的。当然,种族主义和各种程度的种族歧视确实存在,但我没有看到很多关于阶级歧视的现象。因此,我尊重美国人不太关注社会阶级这一点。

Michael W. Ecker
I have witnessed some of the same excellence, but I have also witnessed awful service. In fact, as I read your answer, I thought you were being sarcastic!
Perhaps compared to other countries Americans may possess some of the good qualities you mention…

我确实见过一些卓越的表现,但也遇到过糟糕的服务。实际上,在你回答的时候,我甚至以为你是在反讽呢!
或许与其他一些国家相比,美国人可能确实具备你提到的某些优点……

Richard Potter
What is your favorite thing about the US culture?
My daughter and her fiancé (now husband) lived on Broadway in TriBeCa about a mile from Ground Zero on 9/11. They weren't allowed south of Canal Street in the weeks after without proving their residence to the soldiers at checkpoints. I stayed overnight about 10 days after 9/11. I was amazed by the continuous truck traffic on Broadway. There was no other traffic. The trucks drove south on Broadway all night without let up. This went on for months.

关于美国文化,你最喜欢什么?
我的女儿和她的未婚夫(现在是丈夫)在9/11事件时住在百老汇的特里贝克地区,离世贸大厦遗址大约一英里。在9/11之后的几周里,如果没有向检验点的士兵证明他们的住所,他们就不被允许进入运河街以南。我在9/11之后的大约10天里就住了一晚。百老汇大街上川流不息的卡车使我感到惊奇,没有其他交通工具。卡车在百老汇大街上整夜不停地向南行驶;这种情况持续了几个月。

The level of industry was amazing and inspiring. It was like society was maniacally driven to get back to normal, while mourning our dead. In the immediate days after 9/11, it was private contractors who put together an armada of heavy equipment to begin the horrifying process of extracting the detritus of the Twin Towers and surrounding buildings.

这种工业水平是令人惊讶和鼓舞的。这就像是社会被疯狂地驱动着要恢复正常,同时哀悼我们的死者。在9/11之后的几天里,是私人承包商组织了一支重型设备的工程队,开始了从双子塔和周围建筑中提取碎片的可怕过程。

No one told them to do this. They had the equipment and the know-how. Americans have keen knowledge in their specialties and the confidence to use that knowledge without waiting for permission or approval. We just do it.

没有人指示他们这么做。他们拥有设备和技术。美国人在自己擅长的领域拥有深厚的知识,并且有信心在无需等待许可或批准的情况下,直接运用这些知识。我们就是这么做的。

David Slesinger
Yankee ingenuity certainly is admirable. I think you are incorrect about the trucks clearing the rubble not being organized. You may not realize than the immediate sale of the steel to China from the WTC buildings was a serious legal violation because it prevented that steel from being examined for evidence of incendiaries and explosives. Law enforcement is SUPPOSED to be able to EXAMINE crime scenes.

美国人的独创性确实值得钦佩。不过,我认为你关于清理废墟的卡车没有组织的说法并不准确。你可能没意识到,从世贸中心建筑中直接将钢材卖给中国,是一种严重的法律违规行为,因为这妨碍了对这些钢材进行检查,以寻找燃烧剂和炸药的证据。执法部门本就应该有权检查犯罪现场。

It’s not as if the Mayor, who formerly had achieved an impressive record as a prosecutor, was unaware of this aspect of crime scenes. The MOST important peer reviewed paper as regards 9/11 found that 4 different samples of dust from 4 different times and locations had .5 % mass of nano thermite, a high tech incendiary. My recollection is that one truck driver in this effort lost his job for a small deviation in schedule. Would you like a lix to the peer reviewed article?

这并不是说曾经作为检察官取得显著成绩的市长对犯罪现场的这一方面一无所知。关于9/11的最重要同行评审论文发现,从四个不同时间和地点采集的四个样本中,含有0.5%的纳米热能炸药,这是一种高科技的燃烧剂。我记得,这项清理废墟的工作中,一位卡车司机因时间表的微小偏差而失去了工作。你想要这篇同行评审文章的链接吗?
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Tami Burner
You may not realize that signing a contract to sell steel precedes delivery, often by a considerably length of time. You may also not realize that the first priority was search-and-rescue, not preservation of the crime scene. This is standard procedure.

你可能没有意识到,签署出售钢铁的合同通常是在交货前很长一段时间就已完成。你也许不清楚,最优先的任务是进行搜救工作,而不是保护犯罪现场。这是标准操作流程。

The FBI as well as 23 other law enforcement agencies examined evidence and looked for human remains. The heavy steel was examined for human remains, personal effects, and airplane parts. Such close work could hardly have failed to turn up evidence of explosives had there been any.

联邦调查局(FBI)以及其他23个执法机构对证据进行了详细检查,并搜寻了人类遗骸。重型钢材被仔细检查,以寻找人类遗骸、个人物品和飞机残骸。在如此细致的检查下,如果真的有爆炸物存在,几乎不可能没有发现相关证据。

AD2022
What is your favorite thing about American culture?
Appreciation of enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm could have less positive connotations in other places.
Three of the most common perspectives I've intuited (in other places):

关于美国文化,你最喜欢什么?
对热情的赞赏。
在其他地方,热情可能不会带来这么正面的含义。
我在其他地方觉察到的三个最常见的观点:

A sign of gullibility or naiveté - by someone who hasn't realized that everything in life ends in disappointment, so better prepare for it, otherwise you'd be taken advantage of by more ruthless people.
Fakers, and manipulators as in the used car salesman stereotype.
In a woman - a sign that she's “easy".
In the USA, enthusiasm is seen in a much more positive light: In keeping with a general “ can do" ethos of innovation, and constant improvement.

A. 这是天真或易受骗的表现——来自那些还没意识到生活中的一切最终都会让人失望的人,所以最好提前做好准备,否则会被那些更冷酷的人利用。
B. 伪装者和操纵者,就像人们对于二手车销售员的刻板印象那样。
C. 在女性身上,可能被误解为“容易上手”。
在美国,热情被看作是一种非常积极的品质,它与创新和不断追求进步的“我能行”精神相契合。

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