本文作者Anthony Burgess，是英國當(dāng)代著名的作家、詩人、作曲家、劇作家、語言學(xué)家和評論家，在歐美各國享有很高的聲譽(yù)。代表作有《醫(yī)生病了》(1960)、《一只手鼓掌》(1961)、《缺少的種子》(1962)、《恩德比先生的內(nèi)心》(1963)、《馬來亞三部曲》(1964)、《帶發(fā)條的桔子》、《什么也比不上太陽》(1964)、《恩德比的外部》(1968)、《拿破侖交響曲》(1974)、《世間權(quán)力》(1980)、《1985年》(1987)等。
作者在本文對六七十年代的美國提出了尖銳的批評，設(shè)計(jì)消費(fèi)、服務(wù)、教育、青年、社會治安、公共設(shè)施、越戰(zhàn)、政治等諸多方面。該文比較長，預(yù)計(jì)分成8天講，有些相對易懂、沒長難句的段落就直接給出原文和翻譯。
I am back in Bracciano（布拉奇阿諾）, a castellated(城堡式) town about 13 miles north of Rome, after a year in New Jersey. I find the Italian Government still unstable, gasoline more expensive than anywhere in the world, butchers and bank clerks and tobacconists(煙店老板) ready to go on strike at the drop of a hat, neo-fascists (新法西斯分子) at their dirty work, the hammer(錘子) and sickle（鐮刀） painted on the rumps（n.底座；臀部） of public statues, a thousand-lira note (officially worth about $1.63) shrunk to the slightness of a dollar bill.
1. at the drop of a hat：隨時的
例句：He could gather all the tools necessary to carry out another terrorist attack at the drop of a hat. 他能收集多有必須的武器以便隨時再發(fā)動一場恐怖襲擊。
例句：They say teenagers laugh at the drop of a hat.? 他們說十幾歲的少年們隨性的歡笑。
2. 翻譯：我在新澤西州呆了一年之后，回到了布拉奇阿諾，這是一座位于羅馬以北約13英里的城堡式的小城。我發(fā)現(xiàn)意大利政府仍不穩(wěn)定，汽油比世界任何地方都貴，賣肉的、銀行職員和煙店老板隨時都準(zhǔn)備罷工，新法西斯分子在干著卑鄙骯臟的勾當(dāng)，公共場所雕像臀部畫著錘子和鐮刀，1000里拉（按官價折合1.63美元左右）的鈔票貶值到只值一美元。
Nevertheless, it's delightful to be back. People are underpaid but they go through an act of liking their work, the open markets are luscious with esculent color, the community is important than the state, the human condition is humorously accepted.
3. luscious? adj. 甘美的；滿足感官的
4. esculent? adj. 可食用的，適于食用的
5. 翻譯：然而回到這里仍然令我高興。人們得到的工資很低，但仍做出喜歡他們的工作的樣子，露天市場里是香甜味美的可口食品，社區(qū)比國家重要，人們懷著幽默感接受了這種人生狀況。
The northern wind blows viciously today, and there's no central heating (中央暖氣)to turn on, but it will be pleasant when the wind drops. The two television channels are inadequate, but next Wednesday's return of an old Western is something to look forward to.
6. viciously? adv. 邪惡地；敵意地
vicious? adj. 惡的, 邪惡的；殘酷的, 狠毒的
7. 翻譯：今天刮著猛烈的干冷的北風(fēng)，而且也沒有中央暖氣可供采暖，但風(fēng)停了就會舒服了。兩個電視頻道太少了，但下個星期三重播一部老西部片，這給了大家一個盼頭。
Manifold consumption isn't important here. The quality of life has nothing to do with the quantity of brand names. What matters is talk, family, cheap wine in the open air, the wresting of minimal sweetness out of the long-known bitterness of living. I was spoiled in New Jersey.
8. manifold? adj. 多方面的，有許多部分的；各式各樣的
9. wrest? vt. 強(qiáng)奪、費(fèi)力取得
10. 翻譯：在這兒多樣化的消費(fèi)并不重要，生活的質(zhì)量與品牌的數(shù)量無關(guān)。重要的是聊天，家庭，露天喝廉價酒，從久已熟知的痛苦生活中榨取最低限度的甜蜜。我在新澤西州被慣壞了。
In New Jersey, I never had to shiver by a fire that wouldn't draw, or go without canned food. America made me develop new appetites in order to make proper use of the supermarket. A character in Evelyn Waugh's Put out More Flags said that the difference between prewar and postwar life was that, prewar, if one thing went wrong the day was ruined; postwar, if one thing went right the day would be made.
11. 翻譯：在新澤西州，我從來不坐在通風(fēng)不良的爐前發(fā)抖，或吃不上罐頭。為了很好利用超市，美國使我培養(yǎng)起了新的胃口。在伊夫林?沃的《升起更多的旗》一書中一個人物談了戰(zhàn)前生活與戰(zhàn)后生活的區(qū)別：戰(zhàn)前如一天中有一件事不對頭，你覺得這一天就全毀了；戰(zhàn)后如果一天中有一件事很順利，你覺得這一天真痛快。
America is a prewar country, psychologically unprepared for one thing to go wrong. Hence the neurosis, despair, the Kafka feeling that the whole marvelous fabric of American life is coming apart at the seams.
12. 翻譯：美國是屬于戰(zhàn)前狀態(tài)的國家，沒有心理準(zhǔn)備承受出現(xiàn)的任何問題。因此就出現(xiàn)了神經(jīng)質(zhì)、絕望，感到卡夫卡式的憂慮，整個美妙的美國生活模式正在分崩離析。
