u****n
发帖数: 7521 | 1 Atlantic: How America Can Rise Again
Author: James Fallows
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/how-america-can-rise-again/7839/
January/ February 2010
The Atlantic's James Fallows reacts to fears of American decline, pointing
to unwarranted cries of imminent doom throughout American history, but also
worries that the system of government needs fixing in order for the U.S. to
maintain its strength.
Since coming back to the United States after three years away in China, I
have been asking experts around the country whether America is finally going
to hell. The question is partly a joke. One look at the comforts and
abundance of American life—even during a recession, even with all the
people who are suffering or left out—can make it seem silly to ask about
anything except the secrets of the country’s success. Here is the sort of
thing you notice anew after being in India or China, the two rising powers
of the day: there is still so much nature, and so much space, available for
each person on American soil. Room on the streets and sidewalks, big lawns
around the houses, trees to walk under, wildflowers at the edge of town—yes
, despite the sprawl and overbuilding. A few days after moving from our
apartment in Beijing, I awoke to find a mother deer and two fawns in the
front yard of our house in Washington, barely three miles from the White
House. I know that deer are a modern pest, but the contrast with blighted
urban China, in which even pigeons are scarce, was difficult to ignore.
And the people! The typical American I see in an office building or shopping
mall, stout or slim, gives off countless unconscious signs—hair, skin,
teeth, height—of having grown up in a society of taken-for-granted
sanitation, vaccination, ample protein, and overall public health. I have
learned not to bore people with my expressions of amazement at the array of
food in ordinary grocery stores, the size and newness of cars on the street,
the splendor of the physical plant for universities, museums, sports
stadiums. And honestly, by now I’ve almost stopped noticing. But if this is
“decline,” it is from a level that most of the world still envies.
... ... | u****n
发帖数: 7521 | 2 目录是：
One Reason Not to Worry: We Have Been Here Before
Another Reason Not to Worry: The Irrelevance of “Falling Behind”
The Crucial American Advantage
The Main Concerns
（jobs, debt, military strength, and overall independence.）－这里的concern
都谈到了中国，特别是军事。
The Biggest Problem
问题谈到了政府，需要政府转型：America needed “a government as good as its
people.”
What Is To Be Done?
（America is not going to have a Communist revolution nor endure “100 Years
of Humiliation,” as Imperial China did. 老美还知道中国的百年屈辱？）
1）这家伙想要政变：We could hope for an enlightened military coup, or some
other deus ex machina by the right kind of tyrants.
2）民主政治改革：We could hope to change the basic nature of our democracy,
so it fits the times as our other institutions do.
3）修改宪法：In principle, the United States could call for a new
constitutional convention, to reconsider all the rules.
4）新的外来威胁改变美国人：We might hope for another Sputnik moment
5）作者有点失望： Our government is old and broken and dysfunctional, and
may even be beyond repair. |
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