1、八、Europeans Just Want to Have Fun1、Walking across Boulevard St. Michel in Paris, on the night before Bastille Day I bumped into an old friend-an American who has lived in the city for 25 years-who told me he was taking up the tango. When I asked him why, he suggested I take a stroll along the Left B
2、ank of the Seine, opposite Ile St. Louis and so of course I did.法国革命纪念日前夜当我穿越巴黎圣米歇尔大街时，遇见了一位在巴黎生活了 25年的美国老朋友。他告诉我，他迷上了探戈。当我问他为何如此时，他建议我沿着圣路易岛对面的塞纳河左岸走一遭。当然，我照办了。2、It was one big party. A drop-dead-gorgeous crowd was tangoing away in a makeshift, open-air amphitheater. Nearby a multiethnic group was
3、doing the meringue. Hundreds of others were tucking into picnics by the river as a full moon rose in a cloudless sky. Much later that night, after a perfect fish soup in the Place des Vosges I walked into the narrow passages of the Marais District and stumbled upon an impromptu block party. Someone
4、had set up a sound systom on the sidewalk, and the street was packed with people-straight and gay, young and old, black and white-dancing to salsa.那里正在举行一个盛大的舞会，俊男靓女们正在临时搭建的露天剧场跳着探戈。在附近，一群不同族裔的人正在跳拉丁默朗格舞。当一轮满月从晴朗的夜空升起时，河边数以百计的人正在尽情享受野炊的乐趣。当晚后半夜，在浮日广场喝完鲜美的鱼汤，穿过马菜街区窄窄的街道，我无意之间又遇上一个即兴的街区舞会。有人已在人行道上安装好音
5、响系统、街道上挤满了人异性恋、同性恋、年轻人、老年人、黑人、白人都随着担丁萨尔乐曲翩翩起舞。3、Europe is enjoying itself. O.K. in late July, it always does. The weekend I was in Paris, an estimated 500,000 kids descended on Berlin for the annual Love Parade, a carnaival of techno music,dope and sex. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of families start
6、ed their treks from the damp north of the Gontinent to their vacation homes in the warm south. But even when the sun isnt shining, Europeans seem to eb throwing themselves into fun and festivity with unprecedented zeal. Each weekend, central London is one great bacchanal Cities that for reasons of p
7、olitics or religion were once gloomily repressive-Madrid, say, or Dublin- now rock to the small hours. In Prague the foreign visitors who get talked about are not the earnest young Americans who flocked there in the early 1990s, but British partygoers who have flown in for the cheap beer and pretty
8、girls. The place that British historian Mazower once called the true dark continent- and from whose curdled soul the horrors of fascism sprang- has become Europa ludens, a community at play.欧洲人过得逍遥自在。是的，7 月末的欧洲通常如此。我在巴黎的那个周末，估计有 50万年轻人蜂拥进入柏林，参加一年一度的“爱之游行”活动。那是一个充满泰克诺音乐、毒品和性的狂欢。此时数以万计的家庭也正从润湿的欧洲大陆北部，
9、长途跋涉来到温暖南部自己的度假屋。但是即使阳光不那么灿烂，欧洲人似乎也会以极大的热忱投身于娱乐和节日欢庆之中。周末的伦敦市中心变成了饮酒派对的场所。昔日因受到政治、宗教专制统治而郁郁寡欢的马德里、都柏林，而今可以摇滚狂欢至凌晨。布拉格人谈论的外国游客不再是那些 20世纪 90年代初成群结队，接踵而至的年轻美国人。取而代之的是那些为了享受廉价啤酒、漂亮女孩幕名而至的英国派对客一族。由于欧洲是令人胆颤心惊的纳粹主义的诞生地，英国历史学家 Mark,Mazower曾把欧洲称为绝对黑暗大陆。而如今欧洲成了娱乐的天堂，快乐的都城。4、Funny. This is how the U.S. was sup
10、posed to be. In a famous series of essays collected in his 1976 book, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Daniel Bell noted how the decline of the Protestant small- town ethic had unhinged American capitalism from its moral foundation of capitalism (had ) become hedonism, the idea of please a
11、s a way of life.” In a 1969 cover story titled “California: A State of Excitement,” Time reported that, as most Americans saw it, “the good, godless,gregarious pursuit of pleasure is what California is all about. I have seen the future, says the newly returned visitor to California, and it plays.”真是
12、可笑！这本该是美国的模样嘛！丹尼尔贝尔 1976年出版资本主义文化矛盾一书，书中收录的一系列著名文章描述了新教徒小镇式道德观的衰落怎样动摇了美国资本主义的道德基础和对工作内在价值的认识。20 世纪 60年代，贝尔声称， “资本主义文化经过拨乱反正已变成了享乐主义文化，享受成为生活的一种方式。 ”1969年时代周刊一篇名为加利福尼亚：充满刺激之州的封面故事中写道， “追寻美好的、非宗教的、交际性的快乐已经成了加利福尼亚的全部。每个刚去过加州的人都说， 我看到了未来，自由自在的娱乐在发挥作用。 ”当时绝大多数美国人对报道中提及的情况都是有目共睹的。5、But the American future
13、 didnt turn out as we expected. While Europeans cut the hours they spend at the office or factory-in France it is illegal to work more than35 hours a week-and lengthened their vacations, Americans were concluding that you could be happy only if you work hard and play hard. So they began to stay at t
14、heir jobs longer than ever and then, in jam-packed weekends at places like the Haptons on Long Island, invented the uniquely American concept of scheduled joy, filling a day off with one appointment after another, as if were no different from one at the office. American conservatives, meanwhile, cam
15、e to believe that Europeans desire to devote themselves to the pleasures of life and-the shame of it-six weeks annual vacation was evidence of a lack of seriousness and would, in any event, end in economic tears.但美国的未来并没有成为我们所期待的那样。当欧洲人缩短在办公室或工厂工作的时间在法国一周工作时间超过 35个小时就是非法的延长假期时，美国人却认为只有努力工作拼命玩耍才是幸福的。
16、因此美国人工作的时间开始变得比以往任何时候都长，然后将日程安排得满满的，去诸如位于长岛的汉普敦等地度周末，美国人创造了独特的美国式的概念，按计划娱乐，休息日排满了一个又一个的日程，好像节假日与工作日没什么区别似的。同时美国的保守者们认为：真是遗憾啊，欧洲人渴望全身心地享受生活，一年 6周的假期是欧洲人不负责任的表现，无论如何欧洲人最终会为经济的衰退而痛哭流涕。6、Why do Europeans and Amerians differ so much in their attitude toward work and leisure?I can think of two reasons. Fi
17、rst, the crowed confines of Western Europe and the expansive space of North Amerians value stuff-SUVs, 7,000-sq.-ft. house-more than they value time, while for Europeans its the opposite. Second, as Bell predicted, Americas sense of itself as a religious nation has revived. At least in the puritanic
18、al version of Christianity that has always appealed to Americans, religion comes packaged with the stern message that hard work is good for the soul. Modern Europe has avoided so melancholy a lesson.为什么欧洲人和美国人对待工作和娱乐的态度有如此大的反差呢？我能想到两个原因。首先是西欧拥挤的环境和北美广阔的空间导致了不同的消费倾向。从广义上讲，美国人对实实在在的东西例如运动型多功能车，7000 平方
19、英尺房子的重视甚至他们对时间的重视。对欧洲人来说，情况恰恰相反。其次，正如贝尔所预言的那样，美国宗教意识思想复苏，至少清教徒式的基督教历来迎合美国人的心声。严厉的教条规劝人们：努力工作对于灵魂升华是有益的。而现代的欧洲已没有了这种苦行课。7、Whatever the explanation, the idea of a work-life balance is a staple of European discourse, studied in think tanks , mulled over by policymakers. In the U.S., the term, when its
20、used at all, is said with the sort of sneer reserved for those who eat quiche. But it might still catch on. When Bill Keller was named executive editor of the New York Times, he encouraged the staff to do “a little more savoring”of life, spending time with their families or viewing art.不管如何解释，工作与生活平衡这种观念是欧洲的要义，智囊团对之研究，决策者反复思考。在美国如果这种观念被提升的话，话语间也带有对那些吃乳蛋饼的人的耻笑。但说不定这种观念以后会很流行呢。 纽约时报总编比尔凯勒走马上任时，就鼓励手下人员“多品味一下生活的乐趣” ，多陪陪家人，或者多欣赏欣赏艺术。8、Even better, they could take up the tango. 还有更好的呢，他们还能跳跳探戈。
