美國：天真的特立獨行

文/Diego

The United States of America,the country with the third largest area in the world,just had its 241 years’birthday last year.Compared to China,where history goes back to more than 5000 years,or the long-standing Europe,where peoples’houses are generally much older than the country of America,it is such a young country.

Perhaps it’s due to its youthful vigor,and the fact that it became so strong in such a short time,with legendary financialstability,thatpeople who grew up in America are relatively naive and romantic most of the time.It’s just like Winnie the Pooh who growing up with his pots full of honey.Also,because it’s such a young country,people generally work very hard,with endless amounts of energy.

America is a giant complex,full of dilemmas:the innocent independency.

美國，這個世界上國土面積第三大的國家，去年（2017年7月4日）剛剛度過它的第241個生日。與有著5000年歷史文化的中國和一個建筑動輒有幾百上千年歷史的歐洲國家相比，美國是一個年輕的國家。

也許因為年輕，以及它在如此短的時間內(nèi)變得非常強大，且一直處于富足狀態(tài)，所以，在美國長大的人，總帶著一些“不諳世事”的天真和浪漫，像蜜罐里長大而不知憂愁的維尼熊。也正是因為年輕，美國人特別勤奮，似乎有著用不完的精力和無窮的創(chuàng)造力。

美國是一個巨大的矛盾體：既天真又獨立。

Do I Know You？

If it’s your very first time landing in America,you might be shocked at the customs already.

熟悉的陌生人

如果你是第一次到達美國的話，也許會對海關和移民工作人員Customsand immigration staffmightbehavinga friendly conversation or acting so casually that you might start wondering,“Where are all those fully armed policemen that I see on TV？”Even at the strictestimmigration department,you can stillsee workers joking and laughing with arrivals,almost mimicking a scene of a Christmas reunion.

Walking on the streets ofAmerica,ifyou happen to meet other people’s eyes,no matter if you know him or not,he is probably going to smile at you and greet you：“How are you doing？ You look very nice today!”

If you are travelling in America,and your car suddenly breaksdown,oryou cannotfind enough change,or even if you just look lost standing somewhere;often,someone will stop and ask you if you need any help.Not to mention receiving a free coffee from whoever stands in the line in front of you in the coffee shop,or getting a bunch of free samples from sales in the shopping mall,which happens all the time.之間不正式的說話內(nèi)容和隨意的說話方式感到震驚：“我們在電視節(jié)目里看到的那些全副武裝的工作人員去哪兒了？”即使是在大家印象中極其嚴謹?shù)拿绹刖程帲阋膊浑y看到工作人員之間互相開玩笑和輕松向來客打招呼的場景，大有歡迎自家親戚上門的喜悅感。

走在美國街頭，只要你與人四目相接，無論認識與否，對方通常都會笑臉相迎地跟你打招呼：“你好嗎？今天這身真漂亮！”

如果你在美國旅行，你的車突然拋錨，或者你找不到足夠的零錢，或者你只是在某個地方迷路了，總會有素不相識的美國人停下腳步，詢問你是否需要幫助。至于你在咖啡廳排隊等候時，被前面買單的客人“送”了一杯咖啡，或者去商場買東西時，被售貨員“送”一堆免費的試用品，這些都是在生活中經(jīng)常發(fā)生的場景。

Direct and Indirect

Compared to British people,Americans have completely opposite personalities.In England,before you ask any questions,you should always compose your language carefully,and apologize with respect for the fact that you are going to bother other people’s day.In America,you can throw your questions out

直白又委婉

與英國人相比，美國人的性格簡直截然相反。在英國，問一個問題之前，你需要認真組織語句，用尊敬的語言對打擾對方表達歉意；而在美國，你可以直截了當?shù)貟伋鲎约旱膯栴}，再等待一個直截了當?shù)幕卮稹４蠖鄶?shù)時候問答雙方都不會覺得有所冒犯。也許正因為如此，美國人自認為工作效率高，覺得英國人說話拐彎抹角；而英國人則認為美國人做事太粗魯，不講禮節(jié)。

有趣的是，表達如此直白的美國人有時也會顯得含蓄、委婉。比directly,and expect a direct answer to it,and most of the time nobody will feel insulted.Maybe this is the reason why Americans consider themselves efficient,and view the British as beating around the bush;while British people regard Americans as rude and uncivilized.

The interesting thing is,the direct Americans can be very indirect sometimes. For instance,Americans can use endless extreme compliments to express theiradmiration to strangers,to dressing styles,to working abilities,but they will limit their expressions to very little when asked to talk about other’s shortcomings.Americans can talk about their own mistakesand problemsfora long time,but ratherkeep silentwhen they are told to accuse others.

Onethingthat’sveryimportantin American culture is:self-criticize,encourage others,see others’strong points and say it out loud.如：美國人可以用盡贊美之詞表達自己對陌生人的喜愛、著裝品味的欣賞、辦事能力的敬佩，卻會在談及對方缺點時，只用非常概括的詞語一帶而過。美國人可以針對自身的缺點侃侃而談，卻會在被要求指責他人時躲閃不語。

美國文化中非常重要的亮點就是：自我批評，鼓勵他人；多看到他人的長處，并大聲說出來。

A Man for Yourself

It’s nice to buy some fancy deserts from the cafe around the street corner and bring them as a gift when you are invited to an American’s house party.But if you can start from scratch,from beating the egg to the final fondant,a homemade gift will often be more appreciated.In the same way,if ever an American brings yousomehomeplanted fresh flowers,or cookies that cost them a whole afternoon to bake, please do not forget to express your excitementand appreciation.Because,compared to material gifts,what Americans value more is the time and effort someone put into something.

Therefore, in a lot of wealthy American households,parents will choose not to focus on just materialthings.They believe,parentsshould work hard to provide,but that’s not enough.At the same time,parents should spend a great amount of quality

自己動手，豐衣足食

如果你被邀請去美國人家中做客，在街角咖啡店買些精美的甜點當然不錯，但是如果你可以從頭開始，親自從打雞蛋到最后添加軟糖，自制的禮物通常會更受歡迎。同樣，你邀請美國人來家里做客，如果對方帶著自己花園種植的鮮花或者花費一下午時間精心烘焙的餅干，你一定不要忘記表達自己的興奮和感激之情。因為與物質(zhì)禮物相比，美國人更看重一個人在他們身上花費的時間和精力。

因此，在很多富裕的美國家庭中，父母們會選擇不把重點放在孩子的物質(zhì)投資上。相反，他們認為，父母在努力工作的同時，也應該花大量的時間和孩子在一起。父母能夠為孩子提供經(jīng)濟條件，但是不會拱手相送，而是從孩子小時候開始，就培養(yǎng)他們的獨立自主意識，靠自己的勞動來賺取收獲。例如，即使是來自富裕家庭甚至是總統(tǒng)的孩子，他們上學時也只有和其他普通家庭學生一樣多的基本學費，生活費和其他額外費用都需要靠自己做兼職來賺取。這種別人眼中time with their children. Also, simply handing everything over to children is not smart,as they train children to be independent from a young age,to earn with their own hands.For instance,even kids from the top wealthy families,or presidents of America,might be only given basic tuition fee for college like any other student from ordinary families.If they want to use money or get something,they need to work a part time job or find their own ways to earn them.This sort of “cheapness”is in fact the“independent American spirit”.的“摳門”，實際上是一種“獨立的美國精神”。

Everyone is Unique

Frankly speaking,Americans are one of the most difficult to categorize in the whole world.The reason is each American,ever since they are born,will be told“You are you,you are special”.

To Americans,there is not a single track that works for everyone,and there is no definite right or wrong.A boy born into a poor family can be a basketball fan and if he is talented and diligent,he might become an NBA star one day.In fact,these kinds of stories happen all the time.It’s also normal for a middle class child to grow up attending the same schools his grandparents and parents went to before,graduating with the same degree and working the same job for the rest of his life.In America,all choices can be the right choice,as long as you are responsible for your own decision.

As a result,Harvard dropouts can become world leading IT company CEOs,lost teenagers who lock themselves inside their bedrooms can suddenly come up with great movies and become the most successful directors in Hollywood.In the meantime,billionaires may donate everything to charity and their children will be fine with it.Everyone lives their own life,the life of that“unique you”.

特立獨行

坦率地說，我們很難給美國人一個統(tǒng)一、確定的描述。因為每一個美國人，從他們出生起，就會被告知：“你就是你，你是最特別的。”

對美國人來說，沒有一條對每個人都適用的單一道路，任何事情也沒有絕對的對或錯。一個出生在貧民窟的男孩可能是一個籃球迷，如果他有天賦并且勤奮，最終成為NBA明星的故事并不少見；中產(chǎn)階級家庭子承父業(yè)，全家?guī)状水厴I(yè)于同一所名牌大學，有著同樣工作的經(jīng)歷也屬正常……在美國，所有的選擇都是正確的，只要你對自己的決定負責。

于是，哈佛輟學的學生，可以成為世界領先的IT巨頭；在家啃老數(shù)年的迷途青年，可以一轉身開竅，成為好萊塢最成功的導演；身價上億的老總離世時，會將全部財產(chǎn)捐給慈善機構，而他們的兒女并不會有一絲抱怨……每一個人，都過著自己的生活，成為那個“獨一無二的自己”。

（中文僅供文意參考，請勿逐字逐句對比學習）