【正文】 “如果人們認(rèn)為我們謙虛禮讓，就讓他們那樣想好了。 generation are willing to accept the generalization?這會不會就是我父母輩的中國朋友愿意接受那些對中國人的簡單概括的原因呢？why are you plaining? one of them said to me. If people think we are modest and polite, let them think that. Wouldn39。我擔(dān)心語言的力量，即如果一個人將一件事說了很多遍，無論其是否有惡意，這件事都會變成事實(shí)。I worry that the dominant society may see Chinese people from a limited perspective, hedging us in with the stereotype. I worry that the seemingly innocent stereotype may lead to actual intolerance and be part of the reason why there are few Chinese in top management positions, or in the main judiciary or political sectors. I worry about the power of language: If one says anything enough times, it might bee true, with or without malicious intent.我擔(dān)心主流社會可能會從一個狹隘的角度、以一種成見看待中國人。如果一個人對此類現(xiàn)象不假思慮，他也許還會概括說，所有中國人都是通過委婉迂回的方式才能說到話題重點(diǎn)的。s individual tendency to ornament her language and wander around a bit.在我看來，更危險的做法是，人們往往傾向于通過翻譯來理解不同語言和行為之間的差異。而英文則常常被認(rèn)為缺乏一致性，因為英文具有太多不合規(guī)則的用法。m suspicious of parisons between the two languages, as I notice the reciprocal challenges they each present. English speakers say Chinese is extremely difficult because different words can be denoted by very subtle variations in tone. English is often bracketed with the label of inconsistency, a language of too many broken rules.由于一直同時聽著中英文兩種語言，故而我對它們之間的任何對比總是心存懷疑，因為我注意到它們各自都有對方所沒有的難點(diǎn)?！盜t seems that the more forceful proceedings always spilled over into Chinese: Not that way! You must wash rice so not a single grain is lost.似乎更加強(qiáng)硬的事情總是通過中文傾瀉出來：“不能那樣！你淘米的時候，必須一粒都不漏。t we just tell you not to question?“哎！我們不是剛剛說過，叫你不要反問嗎？”If I consider my upbringing carefully, I find there was nothing discreet about the Chinese language I grew up with, no censorship for the sake of politeness. My parents made everything abundantly clear in their consecutive demands: Of course you will bee a famous aerospace engineer, they prodded. And yes, a concert pianist on the side.仔細(xì)想想自己的成長過程，我發(fā)現(xiàn)，我從小到大所接觸到的中文并不是什么特別謹(jǐn)慎的語言，也不存在出于客氣而對所說的話進(jìn)行仔細(xì)檢查的現(xiàn)象。s not respectful.“我們叫你時，不要對我們反問，”他們會用中文訓(xùn)斥道。Do not question us when we call, they39。what? I39。Amyah! they39。 I spoke back to them in English.生于移民家庭的孩子都清楚，有一種特殊的兩難境地與說兩種語言的生活聯(lián)系在一起。那些布娃娃的頭不停地上下晃動，似乎對一切都心滿意足，完全贊同。中國人是如此“謹(jǐn)慎和謙虛”，文章開頭寫道，以至于他們都沒有詞語來表達(dá)“是”和“不是”。t even words for yes and no.我在《紐約時報雜志》上讀到過一篇文章，描述的是紐約市內(nèi)的中國城這一小塊文化聚居地的變遷。I read an article in The New York Times Magazine on changes in New York39。要是你不打破老一套的禮數(shù)說你要吃，他們就不會再問你了。t ask you again.我母親轉(zhuǎn)頭看著她兄長——一位經(jīng)驗豐富的中國地方法官，這是他初次來看我們。My mother turned to her brother, an experienced Chinese magistrate, visiting us for the first time. In America, a Chinese person could starve to death. If you don39。m already full, Sausau muttered weakly, eying the scallop.“飽了，我已經(jīng)飽了，”嫂嫂低聲嘀咕著，眼睛卻瞟著扇貝。預(yù)料到她就會這樣，就像月亮盈虧周期似的。我不要了，真的不要了。t want it, really I don39。yao, zhen b39。為了證明她剛才的觀點(diǎn)，她手伸過桌子，把蒜香海鮮拼盤里的最后一個扇貝，連同牛腩排及黃瓜沙拉一起，遞給我從北京來的年長舅媽。s wife) pretends too hard to be a polite recipient! Why bother with such nominal courtesy? In the end, she always takes everything.有一次，在加州蒙特雷半島上用餐時，我母親私下悄悄地對我說：“嫂嫂想做個彬彬有禮的客人，但是裝得太厲害了！何必費(fèi)勁講究形式上的客套呢？到最后她還是什么都要。理性、明確的環(huán)保主義保護(hù)環(huán)境是為了人類自身，而不是為了自然。s sake but for our own.感情用事的環(huán)保主義者會說這種拯救自然的思路是完全錯誤的。但是，無論是哪種情況，其遵循的原則是一致的：保護(hù)環(huán)境，因為這是我們?nèi)祟惖沫h(huán)境。當(dāng)人類棲息地的完整性（比如大氣層或維持地球核心的基本地質(zhì)狀況）受到威脅時，人類就必須立即調(diào)整自己的行為。s habitat, ., the atmosphere or the essential geology that sustains the core of the earth, is threatened. When the threat to humanity is lower in the hierarchy of necessity, a more modest acmodation that balances economic against health concerns is in order. But in either case the principle is the same: protect the environment because it is humanity39。但是，如果人類必須在自身的福利和自然的福利之間作出選擇，自然則必須作出讓步。自然受我們的監(jiān)護(hù)，而不是我們的主人。如果為了保護(hù)斑點(diǎn)貓頭鷹而讓三萬伐木工家庭失去生計，我會選擇伐木工家庭（包括他們的鋸子和砍伐的木材），而不是貓頭鷹。但是，我們必須記住，保持生物多樣性并不意味著要留住每一種物種。我絕不是仇視貓頭鷹。是要保護(hù)馴鹿，還是要為了避免人們在戰(zhàn)爭中喪生而減少對石油的依賴，面對這一僵局，我每次都會選擇人類而不是馴鹿。如果他們的交配模式受到干擾，我會感到非常遺憾。I like the caribou as much as the next person. And I would be rather sorry if their mating patterns were disturbed. But you can39。對能源的依賴使美國不但付出了金錢的代價，而且也付出了生命的代價。我們沒有尋找安全的方法開采北極國家野生動物保護(hù)區(qū)地下的石油，這看上去是不符合情理的。美國確實(shí)需要征收高額的能源稅以減少能源消耗，但同時也需要生產(chǎn)更多的能源。他們散布說美國應(yīng)該保護(hù)并且節(jié)約能源而不是開采能源。就以當(dāng)前關(guān)于是否在北極國家野生動物保護(hù)區(qū)的某一角落開采石油的激烈爭論為例吧。s idea that Man is the measure of all things. In establishing the sovereignty of man, such a principle helps us through the dense forest of environmental arguments. Take the current debate raging over oil drilling in a corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Environmentalist coalitions, mobilizing against a legislative action working its way through the US Congress for the legalization of such exploration, propagate that Americans should be preserving and economizing energy instead of drilling for it. This is a false eitheror proposition. The US does need a sizable energy tax to reduce consumption. But it needs more production too. Government estimates indicate a nearly fiftyfifty chance that under the ANWR rests one of the five largest oil fields ever discovered in America. It seems illogical that we are not finding safe ways to drill for oil in the ANWR.非感情用事的環(huán)保主義是建立在普羅泰哥拉的格言“人是萬物的尺度”的基礎(chǔ)上的。當(dāng)龍卷風(fēng)肆虐堪薩斯州，當(dāng)瓢潑大雨襲擊孟加拉國，毀滅了整座整座的村莊，使幾百萬人失去家園的時候，我對自然的崇拜便停止了。這種環(huán)保主義喜歡把自己看作是神圣的，其實(shí)它只是感情用事而已。Of course, this human focus runs against the grain of a contemporary environmentalism that indulges in overt earth worship. Some people even allege that the earth is a living organism. This kind of environmentalism likes to consider itself spiritual. It is nothing more than sentimental. It takes, for example, a highly selective view of the kindness of nature, one that is inpatible with the reality of natural disasters. My nature worship stops with the twister that came through Kansas or the dreadful rains in Bangladesh that eradicated whole villages and left millions homeless.當(dāng)然，這種以人類為中心的主張與當(dāng)下盛行的環(huán)保主義是格格不入的，后者已經(jīng)沉溺于對地球的公然崇拜。理性環(huán)保主義是一種完全以人類為中心的思想。隨著全球氣候的變化，我們難道準(zhǔn)備看到衣阿華州變成新墨西哥州的沙漠氣候，而西伯利亞變成衣阿華州的溫和氣候嗎？Ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect are human disasters, and they are urgent because they directly