现代大学英语精读-Paper-Tiger-英汉版本.docx

Lesson 1 Paper Tigers What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when the test-taking ends? 当考试结束时，所有的亚裔美国人都会有怎样的表现呢？ By Wesley Yang Published May 8,2011 para 1 Sometimes I’ll glimpse my reflection in a window and feel astonished by what I see. Jet-black hair. Slanted eyes. A pancake-flat surface of yellow-and-green-toned skin. An expression that is nearly reptilian in its impassivity. I’ve contrived to think of this face as the equal in beauty to any other. But what I feel in these moments is its strangeness to me. It’s my face. I can’t disclaim it. But what does it have to do with me? 有时我会从窗户里瞥见我的倒影，我会对我所看到的感到惊讶。乌黑的头发。斜眼。黄绿色肤色的薄煎饼状的表面。一种近乎爬行动物般冷漠的表情。我想方设法地认为这张脸在美貌上与其他任何人都不相上下。但在这些时刻我感觉到的是它对我来说很奇怪。这是我的脸。我不能否认。但这和我有什么关系呢？ Para 2 Millions of Americans must feel estranged from their own faces. But every self-estranged individual is estranged in his own way. I, for instance, am the child of Korean immigrants, but I do not speak my parents’ native tongue. I have never dated a Korean woman. I don’t have a Korean friend. Though I am an immigrant, I have never wanted to strive like one. 一定有无数的美国人对他们自己的长相会有一种疏离感,但是其中每个人的原因却又不尽相同。以我自己为例,我是韩国移民的后裔,但我却不会讲我父母的母语。我从未跟韩国女性约过会,甚至都没有韩国朋友。虽然我是移民,但是我从未想过像移民那样努力奋斗。 para 3 You could say that I am a banana. But while I don’t believe our roots necessarily define us, I do believe there are racially inflected assumptions wired into our neural circuitry. And although I am in most respects devoid of Asian characteristics, I do have an Asian face. 你可能会说我是亚裔美国人。虽然我并不认为一个人的种族出身就会决定他的一切,但我相信对各个种族的成见已经深深地植入了我们的思想里。尽管在很多方面,我已经没了什么亚洲人的特点，但我确实长着一张亚洲人的脸。 para 4 Here is what I sometimes suspect my face signifies to other Americans: An invisible person, barely distinguishable from a mass of faces that resemble it. A conspicuous person standing apart from the crowd and yet devoid of any individuality. An icon of so much that the culture pretends to honor but that it in fact patronizes and exploits. Not just people “who are good a