A Distinctly American Trait
A Distinctly American Trait
美國人的一個典型特性
In his classic novel, “The Pioneers”, James Fenimore Cooer has his hero, a land developer, with his cousin on a tour of the city he is building. He describes the broad streets,rows of houses,a bustling metropolis. But his cousin looks around bewildered. All she sees is a forest. “where are the beauties and improvements which you were to show me？” she asks. He's astonished she can't see them. “where！ Why everywhere,” he replies. For though they are not yet built on earth, he has built them in his mind, and they are as concrete to him as if they were already constructed and finished.
在詹姆士?菲尼摩爾?庫珀的經典小說《開拓者》中，主人公是個土地開發商，帶他表妹觀光他正要建造的那座城市。他向她描繪了寬闊的街道，鱗次櫛比的房屋，以及熙熙攘攘的市中心。他的表妹環顧四周，不知所措。她看到的不過是一片森林。她問道：“你想讓我看的美景和點綴在哪兒呢？” 表妹看不見那些東西，令他吃驚，他立即回答：“哪兒？到處都是啊！” 雖然那些東西還未真的建造起來，但在心中他已將它們建好了。對他來說，它們都那么實在，仿佛已經修建竣工一樣。
Copper was illustrating a distinctly American trait, future-mindedness： the ability to see the present from the vantage point of the future，the freedom to feel unencumbered by the past and more emotionally attached to things to come. As Albert Einstein once said, “Life for the American is always becoming, not being.”
庫珀闡明了美國人的一種典型特性，傾向于未來：以未來看待現在的能力，不受過去羈絆的自由，以及在情感上依附于未來的事物。正如阿爾伯特?愛因斯坦曾說過的那樣：“美國人的生活，永遠在發展，而不會停止。（美國人的生活，永遠只有將來時，而沒有完成時。）”
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