VOA慢速英语2021--美国的社区正在消失吗？

"Won't you be my neighbor?" is a famous song from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, a popular children's television show.

The show, broadcast for 31 years ending in 2001, sought to teach American children the importance of kindness and understanding towards others. The idea was that strong communities need strong relationships between the people in them.

But fewer and fewer Americans seem to know their neighbors and that may be eroding¹ America's communities.

Marc Dunkelman wrote a book called "The Vanishing Neighbor." In it, he examined how American communities have changed over time.

Dunkelman said most Americans have three levels of relationships: The inner circle includes family and close friends. The middle circle is more casual relationships. People in this circle include neighbors and people in community groups. The outer circle includes people who live far away but share a common interest. Today, people in outer circles are easily found through social media and other forms of technology.

In his book, Dunkelman argued that people spend most of their time and attention on the inner and outer circles. But, he said the middle-circle is necessary to strengthening local communities. Relationships with neighbors are important for debate, hearing different ideas and finding compromise.

Brad Birzer is a professor of history at Hillsdale College in Michigan. He said Americans are now more connected with national communities than with local communities.

"We used to think of the community good as a local thing, and now we tend to think of it as the whole country," he said.

Americans used to have more middle-circle relationships. Face-to-face interaction was unavoidable without cell phones or the internet. People also felt more of an obligation to join community organizations.

Dunkelman argues that modern life has made middle-circle relationships less important. He said globalization, education and more women in the workforce² have resulted in fewer middle-circle interactions. He said the weakening of communities has led to political divisions in America.

Americans now have less interaction with others who hold different political opinions. Less interaction with people who voted for the opposite party means "you begin to really be alienated³ from people who voted for the other side," Dunkelman said.

There are some good results from this change in personal interaction, however. It has become harder for hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan to organize at the local level. Doctors and health experts all over the world have been able to collaborate⁴ to deal with the coronavirus health crisis.

However, Americans may be losing what it means to be a good neighbor, as Fred Rogers of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" taught.

Today, society's problems like homelessness or poverty are not seen as local problems to solve, but national problems.

Doing good for a neighbor is healthy "not just for our neighbor, but for ourselves as well," Dunkelman said. Learning how to be a good citizen can be lost, he said, "when we defer⁵ the problem to somebody else."

Words in This Story

erode- v. to gradually destroy

casual- adj. not formal; having some interest but not a lot ; not serious

unavoidable- n. not able to be prevented or avoided

obligation- n. something that you must do because of a law, rule, promise, etc

division- n. a situation in which different groups, countries, etc., have different opinions, beliefs, or ways of life that separate them from each other

alienate- v. - to cause (someone) to feel that she or he no longer belongs in a particular group, society, etc.

defer –v. to permit someone else to decide or choose something

1 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

2 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

3 alienated   

adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• His comments have alienated a lot of young voters. 他的言论使许多年轻选民离他而去。
• The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers. 首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

5 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。