现代大学英语精读(第2版)第六册U9_The_One_Against_the_Many.pdfVIP

现代大学英语精读(第 2 版)第六册:U9 The One Against the Many Unit 9 The One Against the Many 第九单元 一个对多个 Arthur M. Schlesinger.Jr 亚瑟·迈耶·施莱辛格 In an epoch dominated by the aspirations of new states for national development, it is instructive to recall that the United States itself began as an underdeveloped country. 在这个新生国家渴望发展的时代，回眸美国从不发达国家开始的发展历程是很有教益的。 Every country, of course, has its distinctive development problems and must solve them according to its own traditions, capacities, and values. The American experience was unique in a number of ways. The country was blessed by notable advantages-above all, by the fact that population was scarce in relation to available resources. But the favorable ratio between population and resources was obviously not the only factor in American development. Had that been so, the Indians, for whom the ratio was even more favorable, would have developed the country long before the first settlers arrived from over the seas. What mattered equally was the spirit in which these settlers approached the economic and social challenges offered by the environment. Several elements seem fundamental to the philosophy which facilitated the rapid social and economic development of the American continent. 当然，每个国家都有各自发展的问题，而且必须根据其各自的传统、能力和价值解决它们。 美国的经验在许多方面都是独特的。这个国家有着得天独厚的优势——主要是人口相对稀少 而资源十分丰富。但是很明显，人口和资源之间有利的比例不是促进美国发展的唯一因素。 如果真是这样的话，在人口与资源比例上更具优势的印第安人，在海外殖民者到来以前，早 就应该把国家发展起来了。同样重要的还有这些殖民者在面临各种经济和社会环境的挑战时 的精神。几个基本思想因素对于促进美洲大陆社会和经济迅速发展起到了至关重要的作用。 One factor was the deep faith in education. The belief that investment in people is the most essential way for a society to devote its resources existed from the earliest days of the American colonies. It arose originally from a philosophical rather than an economic commitment-from a faith in the dignity of man and from the resulting belief that it is the responsibility of society to offer man the o