最新四级晨读主题美文100篇 72

2000年后，世人会记得迪斯尼还是柏拉图？

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

LONDON - Down in the mall, between the fast-food joint¹ and the bagel shop, a group of young people huddles² in a flurry of baggy³ 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.

伦敦——沿着购物街向下，一群年轻人，穿着松松垮垮的短裤，脚踩溜冰板，满嘴粗话，拥挤在一块，慌张地穿行在连锁快餐店之间。他们会评价一位路过的妇女，她身穿DKNY的衣服，一手拿着时代杂志，一手挎一个小包，蹒跚地走着。一个家伙与她擦身而过，他头戴美国篮球队的帽子，边走边在他的MOTO手机上与朋友狂侃昨夜刚看的Martin Scorsese导演的电影。

It's a standard American scene - only this isn't America, it's Britain. US culture is so pervasive⁴, 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.

这是一幅标准的美国式的画面——只是发生在英国，而非美国。美国文化已经如此普遍了。现在世界上每天都有几十个城市——多伦多，波尔多，布达佩斯，德国柏林，甚至马尼拉和莫斯科，都在上演这样的场景。

As the unrivaled global superpower, America exports its culture on an unprecedented⁵ 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.

作为世界上唯一的超级大国，美国将自己的文化推广到前所未有的范围。从音乐到传媒，从电影到快餐，从语言文学直到体育项目，美国价值观以不可抵挡之势传播着。与之前的帝国扩张不无相似。

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, materialism⁶ or worse becomes the message and local traditions get crushed.

不同之处在于，今天的科学技术以令人眩目的速度将文化推向地球的各个角落。若说柏拉图的“理想国”经过了两千年才到达美洲，那么贾斯汀的新专辑在数天之内就能出现在希腊或日本的音像店里 。有时，美国一些如个人权利、言论自由、尊重妇女等思潮的传播，丰富了各地的文化；而有时，物质主义或者更糟的思潮，却给各地的传统文化带来了危害。

"The US has become the most powerful, significant world force in terms of cultural imperialism⁷ [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."

“在文化扩张方面，美国已成为世界上势力最强大，影响最广的国家。” Ian Ralston这样说。他是利物浦约翰墨尔大学的美国研究会理事。他还说，“提到文化扩张，人们就会想到好莱坞，流行音乐，甚至美国文学。”

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 explicit⁸ on yet.

但是，一种"McDomination"现象对某些文化的发展造成了阻碍。快餐、迪斯尼、摇滚音乐是否能像荷马和莎士比亚那样改变这个世界呢？对于这个问题，我们尚不能得到明确的答案。

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 huddles   

（尤指杂乱地）挤在一起的人（或物品、建筑）( huddle的名词复数 )； （美式足球）队员靠拢（磋商战术）

参考例句：

• The little girl huddles herself up. 小女孩把身子缩成一团。
• The child huddles down in the bed, listening to the sound of the storm. 孩子听到雷雨声，就在床上缩成了一团。

3 baggy   

adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的

参考例句：

• My T-shirt went all baggy in the wash.我的T恤越洗越大了。
• Baggy pants are meant to be stylish,not offensive.松松垮垮的裤子意味着时髦，而不是无礼。

4 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 materialism   

n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上

参考例句：

• Idealism is opposite to materialism.唯心论和唯物论是对立的。
• Crass materialism causes people to forget spiritual values.极端唯物主义使人忘掉精神价值。

7 imperialism   

n.帝国主义，帝国主义政策

参考例句：

• They held the imperialism in contempt.他们鄙视帝国主义。
• Imperialism has not been able to subjugate China.帝国主义不能征服中国。

8 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。