Europe Offers a New Dream of a Green,

 

By Zlatica Hoke

For more than two centuries, the American dream -- the idea that everyone in this country can achieve personal success through hard work and determination -- has been a source of hope, envy and inspiration to people all over the world.

Americans like to vacation in Europe if they can afford it. They enjoy its culture, its food and its diversity. They envy Europeans their longer vacations, shorter working hours and social benefits. But they also consider Europe's economy to be sluggish¹, its productivity low, its organization too bureaucratic² and its policies weak and ineffective.

Niall Ferguson, professor of economic history at Harvard University, says despite its enlargement, Europe can never really compete with the United States. "Whether in economic, in cultural, in political or in international terms, the European Union is an entity³ on the brink⁴ of decline and even dissolution," he contends.

All these disagree. The greater European Union is facing transitional problems, they say, but there have been improvements: a growing economic and political influence, a strong European currency, more cultural diversity. Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and author of a book titled The European Dream, says these improvements, coupled with estrangement⁵ from the United States, have encouraged some western European leaders to offer their own vision for the 21st century: one they think better suited for the new globalized world than the American Dream of individual success and self-reliance.

"Every American believes they can be an island in and of themselves; in other words, self-contained," says Mr. Rifkin. "The problem is we live in a world that's much more densely⁶ connected. We live in a world where we are all vulnerable to things that happen everywhere else. So a SARS (disease) epidemic⁷ can affect us in a matter of months. A computer virus can affect all of us around the world in a mater of weeks. A terrorist attack can affect the whole world in a matter of days, or a financial scandal somewhere in the world in hours."

Mr. Rifkin says the European dream, as he calls this alternative vision for humanity, is almost the opposite of the American dream. It emphasizes the success of the community rather than of an individual. It values quality of life more than material success. It is concerned with sustainable development and environmental protection. And it prefers peaceful conflict resolution to armed intervention⁸. In the meantime, says Mr. Rifkin, many Americans are beginning to question their dream.

Gar Alperovitz, professor of political economy at the University of Maryland, cites the growing gap between rich and poor as the biggest threat to the American Dream: "One percent of Americans own about 50 percent -- almost half -- of the investment wealth. Just one percent. That is a medieval concentration." Professor Alperovitz says the promise that wealth would trickle⁹ down to the middle and low-income classes has not been fulfilled.

Jeremy Rifkin adds that surveys indicate the United States now ranks lower than most industrialized nations in equality of income. And that hinders upward mobility¹⁰, a key aspect of the American dream: "Only Mexico and Russia score lower. So what's happened in this country is millions of people worked hard, they played by the script and they are not able to move up the ladder any more."

Mr. Rifkin says many new immigrants who come to the United States to escape poverty remain poor. Those who achieve material success often say it has come at the expense of social, family and cultural life. But Professor Alperovitz says that picture of America is incomplete. There is more to Americans than self-striving: "There's also community service. There is neighborhood participation¹¹. There are more people now involved in worker-owned companies than there are members of unions in the private sector¹². So there is another side of America which is communitarian." And it is this communitarian America that will help revive the American dream, says Gar Alperovitz. The European vision for the 21st century is very attractive, but in his opinion unrealistic because of the transitional difficulties facing the enlarged union.

Jeremy Rifkin agrees that as Europe grows, so do its problems. "There's growing anti-Semitism in Europe. There's discrimination against Muslim minorities," he says. In these circumstances, the vision of a culturally diverse, "Green Europe" may indeed seem utopian. But 200 years ago America's founders¹³ crated¹⁴ a radical¹⁵ new dream for humanity that has transformed the world, notes Mr. Rifkin. Today, Europeans are trying to create a different, but also worthy¹⁶ new dream.

For focus, I'm Zlatica Hoke.

注释：
determination 决心
inspiration 灵感
vacation 度假，休假
sluggish 迟缓的
ineffective 工作效率低的
entity 实体
dissolution 解散
transitional 过渡期的
estrangement 疏远
globalized 全球化的
self-reliance 依靠自己
epidemic 疫疾流行
scandal 丑闻
medieval 原始的
communitarian 提倡共产主义社会者
anti-Semitism 反犹太主义

1 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。

2 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

3 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

4 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

5 estrangement   

n.疏远，失和，不和

参考例句：

• a period of estrangement from his wife 他与妻子分居期间
• The quarrel led to a complete estrangement between her and her family. 这一争吵使她同家人完全疏远了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

7 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

8 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

9 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

10 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

11 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

12 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

13 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

14 crated   

把…装入箱中( crate的过去式 )

参考例句：

• If I know Rhoda she's already crated and boxed them out of sight. 如果没猜错罗达的脾气，我相信她已经把它们装了箱放到一边了。
• Tanks must be completely drained of fuel before the vehicles are crated. 车辆在装箱前必须把油箱里的燃油完全排干。

15 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

16 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。