四級晨讀的主題美文

2000年後，世人會記得迪斯尼還是柏拉圖？

(In 2,000 years, will the world remember Disney or Plato?)

LONDON - Down in the mall, between the fast-food joint and the bagel shop, a group of young people huddles in a flurry of baggy combat pants, skateboards, and slang. They size up a woman teetering past wearing DKNY, carrying Time magazine in one hand and a latte in the other. She brushes past a guy in a Yankees' baseball cap who is talking on his Motorola cell phone about the Martin Scorsese film he saw last night.

倫敦——沿着購物街向下，一羣年輕人，穿着鬆鬆垮垮的短褲，腳踩溜冰板，滿嘴粗話，擁擠在一塊，慌張地穿行在連鎖快餐店之間。他們會評價一位路過的婦女，她身穿DKNY的衣服，一手拿着時代雜誌，一手挎一個小包，蹣跚地走着。一個傢伙與她擦身而過，他頭戴美國籃球隊的帽子，邊走邊在他的MOTO手機上與朋友狂侃昨夜剛看的Martin Scorsese導演的電影。

It's a standard American scene - only this isn't America, it's Britain. US culture is so pervasive, the scene could be played out in any one of dozens of cities. Budapest or Berlin, if not Bogota or Bordeaux. Even Manila or Moscow.

這是一幅標準的美國式的畫面——只是發生在英國，而非美國。美國文化已經如此普遍了。現在世界上每天都有幾十個城市——多倫多，波爾多，布達佩斯，德國柏林，甚至馬尼拉和莫斯科，都在上演這樣的.場景。

As the unrivaled global superpower, America exports its culture on an unprecedented scale. From music to media, film to fast food, language to literature and sport, the American idea is spreading inexorably, not unlike the influence of empires that preceded it.

作爲世界上唯一的超級大國，美國將自己的文化推廣到前所未有的範圍。從音樂到傳媒，從電影到快餐，從語言文學直到體育項目，美國價值觀以不可抵擋之勢傳播着。與之前的帝國擴張不無相似。

The difference is that today's technology flings culture to every corner of the globe with blinding speed. If it took two millenniums for Plato's "Republic" to reach North America, the latest hit from Justin Timberlake can be found in Greek (and Japanese) stores within days. Sometimes, US ideals get transmitted - such as individual rights, freedom of speech, and respect for women - and local cultures are enriched. At other times, materialism or worse becomes the message and local traditions get crushed.

不同之處在於，今天的科學技術以令人眩目的速度將文化推向地球的各個角落。若說柏拉圖的“理想國”經過了兩千年纔到達美洲，那麼賈斯汀的新專輯在數天之內就能出現在希臘或日本的音像店裏。有時，美國一些如個人權利、言論自由、尊重婦女等思潮的傳播，豐富了各地的文化；而有時，物質主義或者更糟的思潮，卻給各地的傳統文化帶來了危害。

"The US has become the most powerful, significant world force in terms of cultural imperialism [and] expansion," says Ian Ralston, American studies director at Liverpool John Moores University. "The areas that particularly spring to mind are Hollywood, popular music, and even literature."

“在文化擴張方面，美國已成爲世界上勢力最強大，影響最廣的國家。” Ian Ralston這樣說。他是利物浦約翰墨爾大學的美國研究會理事。他還說，“提到文化擴張，人們就會想到好萊塢，流行音樂，甚至美國文學。”

But what some call "McDomination" has created a backlash in certain cultures. And it's not clear whether fast food, Disney, or rock 'n' roll will change the world the way Homer or Shakespeare has. To this question we haven't got any explicit on yet.

但是，一種"McDomination"現象對某些文化的發展造成了阻礙。快餐、迪斯尼、搖滾音樂是否能像荷馬和莎士比亞那樣改變這個世界呢？對於這個問題，我們尚不能得到明確的答案。