考满分 toefl

1 .<-NARRATOR:->Listen to part of lecture in a United States history class.

旁白：听一段美国历史课的演讲。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->It's interesting how much we can learn about culture in the United States by looking at how Christopher Columbus has been portrayed throughout United States history.

教授：有趣的是我们通过看Christopher Columbus在美国历史上是如何被描绘的就能了解美国的文化。

2 .So let's start at the beginning.

我们从头开始讲。

1 .Columbus' ships first landed in, uh, landed in the Caribbean-there's some debate about which island-he landed in 1492 but it wasn't until 300 years later, in 1792, that his landing was first commemorated.

Columbus的船队最先在加勒比海登陆---具体是哪一座岛还存在一些争议---他是在1492年登陆的，但是直到1792年，也就是三百年后，他的登陆才开始被纪念。

2 .And this was the brainchild of John Pintard.

而这是John Pintard的智慧结晶。

1 .Pintard was a wealthy New Yorker, the founder of the New York Historical Society.

Pintard是一位很富有的纽约人，他是纽约历史协会的创始人。

2 .And he decided to use his influence and wealth to, um, to find a great hero, a patron for the young country.

他决定要用自己的影响力和财富来为这个年轻的国家找到一个伟大的英雄，一位恩主。

3 .And he chose Columbus.

他选择了Columbus。

4 .And in New York in 1792, the anniversary of Columbus' landing was commemorated for the first time.

1792年在纽约，Columbus的登陆纪念日首次得到庆祝。

1 .Other cities, uh, Philadelphia and then Baltimore followed and...

其他城市，比如Philadelphia和Baltimore也进行了效仿。而且......

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->But why Columbus? And why then?

学生：但是为什么选择Columbus呢？为什么选择那个时候呢？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Well, to Pintard, it was a way to build patriotism in the young, politically fractured country.

教授：对Pintard来说，这是一种在这个年轻的、政治上分裂的国家建立爱国主义的方法。

2 .Remember, the United States had only declared its independence from Britain 16 years earlier and had yet to form a national identity.

别忘了，美国那时距离宣布从英国独立出来才过了16年，还尚未形成一个民族认同。

3 .Pintard also had a hand in helping to create Independence Day-July fourth-as a national holiday.

Pintard还参与了帮忙把7月4日独立日定为国庆日。

4 .So you see that he was very involved in creating sort of a "national story" for Americans.

所以你们看，他在为美国人创造“国家故事”方面牵扯很深。

5 .And Columbus ... he felt Columbus could become a story that Americans could tell each other about their national origins that was outside of the British colonial context.

至于Columbus，他感觉Columbus可以成为美国人互相讲述他们的国家起源的一个故事，一个在英国殖民背景之外的故事。

6 .The United States was in search of a national identity, and its people wanted heroes.

那时的美国正在寻找一种民族认同，而它的人民需要英雄。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->But why not some of the leaders of the revolution? You know, like George Washington?

学生：但是为什么不用一些革命领导人呢？比如George Washington。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->The leaders of the Revolution were the natural candidates to be heroes.

教授：革命领导人自然是被塑造成英雄的候选人。

2 .But, many were still alive and didn't want the job.

但他们很多人那时还活着，而且不想要这个头衔。

3 .To them, being raised to hero status was undemocratic.

对他们来说，被提升到英雄的地位是不民主的。

4 .So Columbus became the hero, and the link between Columbus and the United States took hold.

于是Columbus就成为了这个英雄。而Columbus和美国之间的这种联系确立了下来。

1 .<-FEMALE STUDENT:->And so what was that link?

学生：那这种联系到底是什么？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Well, Columbus was portrayed as entrepreneurial, someone who took chances, who took risks ...

教授：Columbus被描绘成了具有企业家精神的人，一个敢于冒险的人...

2 .And he was cast as somebody who was opposed to the rule of kings and queens.

而且他被视作了一个反对君主统治的人。

3 .Perhaps most of all, Columbus was portrayed as someone who was destined to accomplish things.

可能最重要的是，Columbus被描绘成了一个注定会有所成就的人。

4 .Just as America in those early years was coming to see itself as having a great destiny.

就像美国在起初的那些年看待自己一样，认为自己有着伟大的命运。

1 .<-FEMALE STUDENT:->But Columbus was supported by the king and queen of Spain, he wasn't against them.

学生：但是Columbus当时受到了西班牙国王和王后的支持啊，他才不是反对他们的呢。

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->True. To be historically accurate, the way Pintard thought about Columbus doesn't match up with the facts of his life at all.

教授：没错，严格从历史上来说，Pintard对Columbus的看法和他一生的事实一点儿也不相符。

2 .And I really have to stress this: the fact that Columbus became the hero of the young country had little to do with Columbus-anything he did-and a lot to do with what was happening in the United States 300 years later.

而且我必须强调，Columbus成为了一个年轻国家的英雄同Columbus本人---他做的任何事情几乎一点关系都没有---关系大的是300年后发生在美国的事情。

1 .Columbus was extraordinarily adaptable to the purposes of America's nation builders-people like John Pintard-in the early part of the nineteenth century.

Columbus格外能够适应美国的国家建造者们的目的，也就是19世纪早期像John Pintard这样的人。

2 .And since not a lot of facts were known about Columbus ...his writings weren't available in North America until, until 1816 ...that might have actually helped the process of adapting him to American purposes.

当时很多关于Columbus的情况都不为人知...因为很多著作1816年才开始出现在北美大陆...事实上，这在把他转化成美国人的目标的过程中可能起到了不少作用。

1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->[Seeking confirmation] Since no one knew much about the "real" Columbus, it was easy to invent a mythical one?

学生：既然没人了解真正的Columbus是什么样的，虚构出一个神话中的他就变得很容易了？

1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Exactly.

教授：没错！

2 .And this "mythical Columbus," it ... it became a reflection of the society which chose him.

而这个被神化了的Columbus成为了选择他的这个社会的缩影。

3 .So, in the early history of the United States, Columbus represented an escape from the political institutions of Europe; he was the solitary individual who challenged the unknown.

所以在美国的早期历史中，Columbus代表着从欧洲的政治体制中的逃脱；他成为了只身挑战未知的那个人。

4 .And now there was this new democracy, this new country in a world without kings.

然后就有了这个新的民主，有了这个不存在君王的国家。

5 .Columbus became sort of the mythical founder of the country.

Columbus某种程度上成为了这个国家的神话中的创建者。

1 .So, as historians, we wouldn't want to study these myths about Columbus and mistake them for facts about Columbus.

所以，作为历史学家，我们不想去研究这些关于Columbus的神话，并且把它们误认为是关于Columbus的事实。

2 .But if we're trying to understand American culture, then we can learn much by studying how America adapts Columbus for its own purposes.

但是如果我们在试图理解美国文化，那我们通过学习美国是如何根据自己的意志转化Columbus的就能学到很多。

3 .Evaluations of Columbus, then, will reflect what Americans think of themselves.

对Columbus的评价将会反映出美国人是如何看待他们自己的。

4 .Oh . . . there's a quote ... something like ... "societies reconstruct their past rather than faithfully record it."

有一句引用的话，好像是 “社会重建它们的过去，而不是忠实地记录下来。”

5 .And how that reconstruction takes place, and what it tells us ... that's something we're going to be paying a lot of attention to ...

而那种重建是如何进行的以及它告诉了我们什么，这才是我们要多加关注的内容。