A Distinctly American Trait

美国人的一个典型特性

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·菲尼摩尔·库珀的经典小说《开拓者》中，主人公是个土地开发商，带他表妹观光他正要建造的那座城市。他向她描绘了宽阔的街道，鳞次栉比的房屋，以及熙熙攘攘的市中心。他的表妹环顾四周，不知所措。她看到的不过是一片森林。她问道:"你想让我看的美景和点缀在哪儿呢？" 表妹看不见那些东西，令他吃惊，他立即回答："哪儿？到处都是啊！" 虽然那些东西还未真的建造起来，但在心中他已将它们建好了。对他来说，它们都那么实在，仿佛已经修建竣工一样。

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."

库珀阐明了美国人的一种典型特性，倾向于未来：以未来看待现在的能力，不受过去羁绊的自由，以及在情感上依附于未来的事物。正如阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦曾说过的那样："美国人的生活，永远在发展，而不会停止。（美国人的生活，永远只有将来时，而没有完成时。）"

译于2005年6月26日。