Thoughts for a new year

Most of us look away when we pass strangers. It is the expectional person who stops to help the woman maneuvering her kids and groceries up the staircase. We rarely give up in line or on the subway or bus. Locked into our automobiles, we prefer gridlock to giving way.

新年沉思

當(dāng)我們與陌生人擦肩而過時(shí)，多數(shù)人往往把目光移開。要是有人停下來幫婦女哄她的小孩和幫她把食品搬上樓梯，反而會(huì)被人看成另類。無論是排隊(duì)還是乘地鐵或公共汽車，我們很少讓位于他人。坐在自己的汽車?yán)?，我們寧愿堵塞交通也不愿給人讓路。

These daily encounters, when they are angry or alien, diminish our lives. When they are pleasant, we feel buoyed. Yet when we sit at home and make resolutions, we think about what we can accomplish in private spaces：home, work. Too many have given up the belief that they control the shared, the public world.

這些日常接觸，要是氣沖沖的或是使人反感的，那便會(huì)減少我們生活的樂趣，要是它們令人愉快，那便會(huì)使我們精神振奮。然而，當(dāng)我們坐在家里做出各種決定的時(shí)候，我們考慮的僅是在個(gè)人天地--家庭和工作里可以實(shí)現(xiàn)的目標(biāo)。太多的人已經(jīng)放棄了他們也管理著共享的、公共的世界這一信念。

As individuals we can change the contour of a day, the mood of a moment, the way people feel. The demolition and reconstruction of public life is the result of personal decisions made every day：the decision to give up a seat on the bus;the decision to be patient or pleasant against all odds;the decision to let that jerk take a left-hand turn from a right-hand lane without rolling down the window and calling him a jerk.

作為眾人的一員，我們可以改變一天的面貌，一時(shí)的情緒，以及人們對(duì)某件事的感覺。公共生活的毀壞和重建是人們每日所做的種種個(gè)人決定的綜合結(jié)果。這些決定包括：公共汽車上讓座，面對(duì)逆境而能容忍或具有樂觀精神;讓那個(gè)笨蛋從右車道往左拐而不搖下車窗罵他蠢貨。

It's the resolution to be a civil, social creature. This may be a peak period for the battle against the spread of a waistline and creeping cholesterol. But it is also within our will power to fight the spread of urban rudeness and creeping hostility. Civility doesn't stop nuclear holocaust and doesn't put a roof over the head of the homeless. But it makes a difference in the shape of a community, as surely as lifting weights can make a difference in the shape of a human torso.

這是做一個(gè)文明的、社會(huì)的人的決定。今天也許是人們?yōu)闇p少腰圍和降低膽固醇而斗爭(zhēng)的高峰期。然而，反對(duì)城市野蠻行為和人際敵對(duì)態(tài)度的蔓延，也是我們只要愿做就能做到的事。有禮貌不能制止核戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，也不能為無家可歸者提供棲身之所，但它的確能改變一個(gè)社會(huì)群體的面貌，猶如舉重定能改變一個(gè)人的體形一樣。