Part 1: A City on a Hill

這本書要討論的三個基本問題，也是所有國家歷史會面臨的三個基本問題

P3

First, can a nation rise above the justices of its origins and by its moral purpose and performance, atone for them?

The second question provides the key to the first. In the process of nation-building, can ideals and altruism——the desire to build the perfect community——be mixed successfully with acquisitiveness and ambition, without which no dynamic society can be built at all? Have the Americans got the mixture right? Have they forged a nation where righteousness has the edge to over the needful self-interest??

Thirdly, the Americans originally aimed to build an other-wordly 'City on a hill', but found themselves designing a republic of the people, to be a model for the entire planet. Have they made good their audacious claims? Have they indeed proved exemplars for humanity? And will they continue to be so in the new millennium?

P12

作者對典型美國人特征的理解

Ralegh (Humphrey Gilbert 在接受Hakluyt的挑戰(zhàn)，代表英伊麗莎白女王向太平洋西北方向開拓殖民地途中，因風浪遇難，Ralegh是同去的5艘船之一的船主，也是其繼任者）was, in a sense, a proto-American. He had certain strongly marked characteristics which were to be associated with the American Archetype. He was energetic, brash, hugely ambitious, money-conscious, none too scrupulous, far sighted and ahead of his time, with a passion for the new and, not least, a streak of idealism which clashed violently with his overweening desire to get on and make a fortune.?

為什么女王鐘意他

What made her single him out from the crowd of smart-looking gallants who jostled for attention was his sheer brain-power and his grasp of new, especially scientific knowledge.

這話寫當時那種男人們爭寵真是看著簡直像武則天呢

這個人總的來說就是出身好，沒有錢，長得帥，腦筋快。好學(xué)又雄辯，靠稱量煙草產(chǎn)生的煙的重量的這種小科學(xué)戲碼獲得了女王的歡心

man of action 實干家