第一篇：暑期英語悅讀：雄心還在,只是被藏了起來

暑期英語悅讀：雄心還在，只是被藏了起來

If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition-wealth, distinction, control over one's destiny-must be deemed worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition's behalf.If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared;and it especially must be highly regarded by people who are themselves admired, the educated not least among them.In an odd way, however, it is the educated who have claimed to have given up on ambition as an ideal.What is odd is that they have perhaps most benefited from ambition-if not always their own then that of their parents and grandparents.There is a heavy note of hypocrisy in this, a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped―with the educated themselves riding on them.Certainly people do not seem less interested in success and its signs now than formerly.Summer homes, European travel, BMWs-the locations, place names and name brands may change, but such items do not seem less in demand today than a decade or two years ago.What has happened is that people cannot confess fully to their dreams, as easily and openly as once they could, lest they be thought pushing, acquisitive and vulgar.Instead, we are treated to fine hypocritical spectacles, which now more than ever seem in ample supply: the critic of American materialism with a Southampton summer home;the publisher of radical books who takes his meals in three-star restaurants;the journalist advocating participatory democracy in all phases of life, whose own children are enrolled in private schools.For such people and many more perhaps not so exceptional, the proper formulation is,“ Succeed at all costs but avoid appearing ambitious.”

The attacks on ambition are many and come from various angles;its public defenders are few and unimpressive, where they are not extremely unattractive.As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States.This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and promptings, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less openly professed.Consequences follow from this, of course, some of which are that ambition is driven underground, or made sly.Such, then, is the way things stand: on the left angry critics, on the right stupid supporters, and in the middle, as usual, the majority of earnest people trying to get on in life.全文翻譯

雄心如果想要獲得尊重，那么它的回報--財富、聲望、對命運的掌控--則必須被認為值得為之犧牲。如果雄心的傳統(tǒng)要煥發(fā)生命力，那么它就應(yīng)該受到廣泛的認同；雄心尤其應(yīng)該得到那些自身得到他人崇拜的人們的高度尊重，那些接受過良好教育的人最應(yīng)該包括在內(nèi)。怪就怪在恰恰是那些受過良好教育的人在聲稱他們不再將雄心作為理想。可是奇怪的是他們已經(jīng)從雄心中受益最多--如果不總是他們自己的雄心，那么就是他們父母的和祖父母的。這其中有著強烈的虛偽感，就好比把馬放跑后再關(guān)上馬廄的門，而騎在那些馬背上的正是受過良好教育的人自己。

當然，現(xiàn)在人們對成功及其標志的興趣似乎不遜從前，夏日別墅，歐洲旅行、寶馬轎車--盡管它們的地點、地名和商標可能會不一樣，但現(xiàn)在對這些東西的需求似乎并未比一、二十年前減少?，F(xiàn)在，人們不能像以前那樣輕易公開地承認自己的夢想，以免別人認為自己愛出風頭，貪婪和庸俗。相反，我們目睹的是得體的虛偽，而且比以前任何時候都多。如：美國物欲主義批評家在南安普頓擁有一幢夏日別墅；激進讀物的出版商到三星級賓館就餐；倡導終生參與民主制的新聞記者卻把自己的子女送進私立學校。對于這樣的人，以及其他許多不如他們這么特殊的人而言，最好的表達是“成功不惜一切代價，雄心不讓任何人看出”。

很多人從不同角度對雄心進行了攻擊；卻沒什么人為之公開辯護，即使辯護也不能服人，盡管辯護者并非極不引人注意。因此，在美國，本應(yīng)該是一種健康的沖動，一種應(yīng)該受人仰慕并扎根于青年人心靈的品質(zhì)的雄心，其得到的支持也許比以往任何時期都低。但這并不意味著雄心已經(jīng)結(jié)束了，人們不再感覺到它對人們的激勵了，只是人們不再公開地以它為榮，更少愿意公開地承認。很多不良后果隨之而來，如雄心被趕入地下，或變得偷偷摸摸。現(xiàn)在的情況是這樣的：左邊是憤怒的批評家，右邊是愚蠢的支持者，而居中的通常是大多數(shù)認真而努力追求成功的人。