四级晨读的主题美文
2000年后，世人会记得迪斯尼还是柏拉图？
(In 2,000 years, will the world remember Disney or Plato?)
LONDON - Down in the mall, between the fast-food joint and the bagel shop, a group of young people huddles in a flurry of baggy combat pants, skateboards, and slang. They size up a woman teetering past wearing DKNY, carrying Time magazine in one hand and a latte in the other. She brushes past a guy in a Yankees' baseball cap who is talking on his Motorola cell phone about the Martin Scorsese film he saw last night.
伦敦——沿着购物街向下，一群年轻人，穿着松松垮垮的短裤，脚踩溜冰板，满嘴粗话，拥挤在一块，慌张地穿行在连锁快餐店之间。他们会评价一位路过的妇女，她身穿DKNY的衣服，一手拿着时代杂志，一手挎一个小包，蹒跚地走着。一个家伙与她擦身而过，他头戴美国篮球队的帽子，边走边在他的MOTO手机上与朋友狂侃昨夜刚看的Martin Scorsese导演的电影。
It's a standard American scene - only this isn't America, it's Britain. US culture is so pervasive, the scene could be played out in any one of dozens of cities. Budapest or Berlin, if not Bogota or Bordeaux. Even Manila or Moscow.
这是一幅标准的美国式的画面——只是发生在英国，而非美国。美国文化已经如此普遍了。现在世界上每天都有几十个城市——多伦多，波尔多，布达佩斯，德国柏林，甚至马尼拉和莫斯科，都在上演这样的.场景。
As the unrivaled global superpower, America exports its culture on an unprecedented scale. From music to media, film to fast food, language to literature and sport, the American idea is spreading inexorably, not unlike the influence of empires that preceded it.
作为世界上唯一的超级大国，美国将自己的文化推广到前所未有的范围。从音乐到传媒，从电影到快餐，从语言文学直到体育项目，美国价值观以不可抵挡之势传播着。与之前的帝国扩张不无相似。
The difference is that today's technology flings culture to every corner of the globe with blinding speed. If it took two millenniums for Plato's "Republic" to reach North America, the latest hit from Justin Timberlake can be found in Greek (and Japanese) stores within days. Sometimes, US ideals get transmitted - such as individual rights, freedom of speech, and respect for women - and local cultures are enriched. At other times, materialism or worse becomes the message and local traditions get crushed.
不同之处在于，今天的科学技术以令人眩目的速度将文化推向地球的各个角落。若说柏拉图的“理想国”经过了两千年才到达美洲，那么贾斯汀的新专辑在数天之内就能出现在希腊或日本的音像店里 。有时，美国一些如个人权利、言论自由、尊重妇女等思潮的传播，丰富了各地的文化；而有时，物质主义或者更糟的思潮，却给各地的传统文化带来了危害。
"The US has become the most powerful, significant world force in terms of cultural imperialism [and] expansion," says Ian Ralston, American studies director at Liverpool John Moores University. "The areas that particularly spring to mind are Hollywood, popular music, and even literature."
“在文化扩张方面，美国已成为世界上势力最强大，影响最广的国家。” Ian Ralston这样说。他是利物浦约翰墨尔大学的美国研究会理事。他还说，“提到文化扩张，人们就会想到好莱坞，流行音乐，甚至美国文学。”
But what some call "McDomination" has created a backlash in certain cultures. And it's not clear whether fast food, Disney, or rock 'n' roll will change the world the way Homer or Shakespeare has. To this question we haven't got any explicit on yet.
但是，一种"McDomination"现象对某些文化的发展造成了阻碍。快餐、迪斯尼、摇滚音乐是否能像荷马和莎士比亚那样改变这个世界呢？对于这个问题，我们尚不能得到明确的答案。