前文（第四篇） 英语精读2.5|美国年轻一代的觉醒——美国不是天堂
接前文，有些思想深刻的美国人自觉美国大部分人就是一帮腐化堕落的、言语粗俗的、大腹便便的、麻木不仁的、盛气凌人的新帝国主义者。但是作者却说欧洲人对美国人的看法没以前那么糟糕，为什么呢？作者就此展开，也就是今天这一篇了，作者认为：因为新一代的美国青年人通过越南战争觉醒了，他们不再觉得美国是天堂，它也有罪恶，也有邪恶。
When Europe had sunk to the level of sewer, America became the golden dream, the Eden where innocence could be recovered. Original sin was the monopoly of that dirty continent over there.
1. monopoly n. 垄断；垄断者；专卖权
形近词monotony n. 单调；千篇一律
2. 翻译：当欧洲沦落到最低层时，美国变成了金色的梦，能重获纯真的伊甸乐园。原罪是大洋彼岸那肮脏的大陆特有的东西。
In America, progress was possible, and the wrongs committed against the Indians, the wildlife, the land itself, could be explained away in terms of the rational control of environment necessary for the building of a New Jerusalem(耶路撒冷) . Morally there were only right and wrong; evil had no place in America.
3. and 后面句子的主干：the wrongs ... could be explained away ... for the building of a New Jerusalem.
4. 翻译：在美国，进步是可能的，对印第安人、野生动物及土地本身所犯下的错误，都可以用为建设一个新耶路撒冷所必须的对环境的理性控制来解释。从道德角度上讲，只有对错之分，在美国没有邪恶的地位。
At last, with the Vietnam War, Americans are beginning to realize that they are subject to original sin as much as Europeans are. Some things -- the massive crime figures, for instance -- can now be explained only in terms of absolute evil. America is no longer Europe's daughter nor her rich stepmother; she is Europe's sister. The agony that America is undergoing is not to be associated with breakdown as much as with the parturition of self-knowledge.
5. agony n. 极大的痛苦
agony: 侧重指精神或身体痛苦的剧烈程度。
anguish: 指精神方面令人难以忍受的极度痛苦；用于身体时，多指局部或暂时的痛苦。
torment: 强调烦恼或痛苦的长期性。
torture: 语气比toment强，指在精神或肉体上受到的折磨所产生的痛苦。
grief: 指由某种特殊处境或原因造成的强烈的感情上的苦恼与悲痛。
misery: 着重痛苦的可悲状态，多含不幸、可怜或悲哀的意味。
distress: 多指因思想上的压力紧张、恐惧、忧虑等所引起的精神上的痛苦，也可指某种灾难带来的痛苦。
sorrow: 语气比grief弱，指因不幸、损失或失望等所产生的悲伤。
6. parturition n. 分娩，生产
7. 最后一句的主干: The agony is not to be associated with breakdown |as much as| with the parturition of self-knowledge.
将句子主干顺序稍微调换下，可能更容易理解 The agony associated with breakdown is not as much as with the parturition of self-knowledge.
8.翻译：终于，随着越南战争的爆发，美国人开始认识到他们和欧洲人一样处在原罪的支配之下。有些事，如巨大的犯罪数字，现在只有从纯粹的邪恶的角度才能解释得通。美国已不再是欧洲的女儿，也不是她阔气的继母，美国是欧洲的姐妹。美国正在经历的痛苦与其说是伴随分崩离析而来，还不如说是伴随自我认识的而产生的。
It has been assumed that the youth of America has been in the vanguard of the discovery of both the disease and the cure. The various escapist movements, however, have committed the gross error of assuming that original sin rested with their elders, their rulers, and that they themselves could manifest their essential innocence by building little neo-Edens.
9. gross adj. 总共的；粗野的；恶劣的
10. 后面一句的主干：The various escapist movements have committed the gross error.
gross error后面一长串都是对gross error的进一步解释。
11. 翻译：人们认为，美国青年是发现社会疾病和其治疗方法的先锋。然而各式各样的逃避现实的运动，都犯下了这样一个严重的错误，即认为只有他们的长辈，他们的统治者身上才有原罪，而他们自己可以用建立小的伊甸园的方法来表明自己本质的清白无辜。
The drug culture could confirm that the paradisal vision(天堂的幻景) was available to all who sought it. But instant ecstasy has to be purchased, like any other commodity, and, in economic terms, that passive life involves parasitism.
12. ecstasy n. 入迷；狂喜；忘形
13. 翻译：毒品文化可以进一步证明，一切寻求它的人都能得到天堂的幻景。但是和其它所有商品一样，短暂的心醉神迷需要去购买，并且从经济角度来看，消极生活意味着寄生状态。
Practically all of the crime I encountered in New York was a preying of the opium-eaters on the working community. There has to be the snake in paradise. You can't escape the heritage of human evil by building communes, usually on an agronomic ignorance that does violence to life. The American young are well-meaning but misguided, and must not themselves be taken as guides.
14. prey vi. 捕食；掠夺；折磨
prey on/upon : v. 捕食；掠夺
形近词：pray vt. &vi. 祈祷；恳求；央求
15. agronomic adj. 农艺学的,农事的
相当于agricultural
16. 翻译：我在纽约遇到的犯罪现象中，几乎全是瘾君子对劳动群体的劫掠。天堂里必然有蛇，你无法用建立群居组织的办法来逃避承袭人类的邪恶，通常这些群居组织因为没有任何耕作知识而摧残了生命。美国青年本意是好的，但是误人歧途，因此自己不应再被当作领路人。
