每个民族都有其独特的性格，人们常常谈及英国人的矜持、法国人的浪漫、中国人的含蓄等等，同样，美国人的性格也有其明显特点。
Americans are a peculiar people. They work like mad, then give away much of what they earn. They play until they are exhausted, and call this a vacation. They love to think of themselves as tough-minded businessmen, yet they are pushovers for any hard luck story. They have the biggest of nearly everything including government, motor cars and debts, yet they are afraid of bigness. They are always trying to chip away at big government, big business, big unions, big influence. They like to think of themselves as little people, average men, and they would like to cut everything down to their own size. Yet they boast of their tall buildings, high mountains, long rivers, big states, the best country, the best world, the best heaven. They also have the most traffic deaths, the most waste, the most racketeering.
When they meet, they are always telling each other, "take it easy," then they rush off like crazy in opposite directions. They play games as if they were fighting a war, and fight wars as if playing a game. They marry more, go broke more often and make more money than any other people. They love children, animals, gadgets, mother, work, excitement, noise, nature, television shows, comedy, installment buying, fast motion, spectator sports, the underdog, the flag, Christmas, jazz, shapely women and muscular men, classical recordings, crowds, comics, cigarettes, warm houses in winter and cool ones in summer, thick beefsteaks, coffee, ice cream, informal dress, plenty of running water, do-it-yourself, and a working week trimmed to forty hours or less.
They crowd their highways with cars while complaining about the traffic, flock to movies and television while grumbling about the quality and the commercials, go to church but don't care much for sermons, and drink too much in the hope of relaxing—only to find themselves stimulated to even bigger dreams.
There is, of course, no typical American. But if you added them all together and then divided by 226,000,000 they would look something like what this chapter has tried to portray.
Excerpt From Why We Behave Like Americans
By Bradford Smith
［参考译文］
美国人
布拉德福德·史密斯
美国人是个独树一帜的民族。他们疯狂地工作，然后把赚的钱大笔大笔花掉。他们玩到精疲力竭，并把这称为度假。他们喜欢把自己当成坚强的职场人士，但是他们也会碰到很多不顺心的事情。几乎所有事情尽在他们掌握之中，包括政府、汽车、贷款，但是他们又惧怕庞大。他们总是试图逃离大政府，拆散大公司，脱离大联盟，摆脱大影响。他们喜欢把自己看做渺小的普通人，总是把所有事简化到原来大小。但是他们总是自诩拥有高楼大厦、崇山峻岭、绵延的河流、面积广大的州、最幸福的国度、最美丽的世界、最舒适的天堂。他们也出现最多的交通死亡人数、最大的浪费、最猖狂的诈骗。
他们见了面，常常告诉对方“放轻松点”，然后发疯似的朝相反的方向奔去。他们玩游戏就像打仗，打仗就像玩游戏。他们比其他人结婚的次数更多，离婚更多，赚的钱更多。他们喜爱小孩、动物、小玩意、母亲、工作、兴奋、噪音、自然、电视表演、喜剧、分期付款、快动作、观看比赛、失败者、旗帜、圣诞节、爵士乐、苗条的美女和健美的男子、经典唱片、人群、连环画、香烟、冬日的暖房和夏日的凉室、厚厚的牛排、咖啡、冰淇淋、休闲服饰、自来水、自己做、每星期工作时间为40小时或者更少。
他们开车拥堵在高速公路上；抱怨交通堵塞；三五成群地奔向电影院，坐在电视机前，埋怨节目质量和广告；做礼拜，但是并不专心于布道；喝很多酒寻求放松——结果却发现自己受到激励要追求更大的梦想。
当然，没有典型的美国人。但是如果把所有的美国人加在一起，然后除以226,000,000，美国人就会表现出这章所描绘的模样。
［注释］
-though-minded [ˈtʌfmaɪndɪd] adj. 铁石心肠的
-pushover [ˈpʊʃəʊvə(r)] n. 容易为之打动的人，有恻隐心的人 one that is easily defeated or moved
chip away ：削减，减少
-racketeering [ˌrækɪˈtɪərɪŋ] n. 敲诈勒索 illegal activities that involve crimes of extortion