新視野大學(xué)英語第四冊unit6ATheweightmencarry

Theweightmencarry男人背負的重任WhenIwasaboygrowingupoffthegridintheCommonwealthofVirginia,themenIknewlaboredwiththeirbodiesfromthefirstroostercrowinthemorningtosundown.Theyweremarginalfarmers，shepherds，justscrapingby，orwelders，steelworkers,carpenters；theybuiltcabinets，dugditches,minedcoal,ordrovetrucks，theirforearmsthickwithmuscle.Theytrainedhorses,stockedfurnaces，madetires，stoodonassemblylines，weldingpartsontorefrigeratorsorlubricatingcarengines。Intheeveningsandonweekends，theylaboredequallyhard,workingontheirownsmalltractofland,fixingbroken—downcars，repairingbrokenshuttersanddraftywindows。Intheirlittlefreetime，theydrownedtheirliversinbeerfromcheapcoppermugsatabarnearthelocalbreweryorracecourse.當我仍是個小男孩時,我住在弗吉尼亞州一個偏僻的地域，那時我所認識的男人們從清早的第一聲公雞啼鳴向來勞作到日落.他們都是些不起眼的農(nóng)民、牧羊人，牽強度日，或是焊接工、鋼鐵工或木工；他們制作櫥柜、發(fā)掘水渠、開采煤炭，或駕駛卡車，這使他們擁有肌肉結(jié)實的上臂.他們訓(xùn)練馬匹、填塞爐膛、制造輪胎，站在裝置線大將部件焊接到冰箱，或是給汽車發(fā)動機上潤滑劑.到了夜晚或周末，他們也要相同辛苦地勞作，在自己的一小片土地上耕種，維修出了問題的汽車，修復(fù)壞掉的百頁窗和漏風的窗戶.在僅剩的空暇時間里，他們會在當?shù)氐钠【谱鞣换蛸愸R場鄰近的酒館里用盛在低價銅杯中的啤酒將自己灌得大醉。ThebodiesofthemenIknewweretwistedandwoundedinwaysvisibleandinvisible。Heavyliftinghadgivenmanyofthemspinalproblemsandappallinginjuries.Somehadbrokenribsandlostfingers。Racingagainstconveyorbeltshadgivensomeulcers.Theiranklesandkneesachedfromyearsofstandingonconcrete.Somehadpartialvisionlossastheglowoftheweldingflamedamagedtheiropticreceptors。Thereweretimes,studyingthem，whenIdreadedgrowingup.Allaroundus,thefathersalwaysseemedolderthanthemothers.Menworeoutsooner,beingmartyrsofconstantwork。Onlywomenlivedintooldage.我所認識的那些男人的身軀遭到著各種看得見或看不也的歪曲和傷痛。搬運深重的物件給他們好多人造成了脊柱病和可怕的傷痛。有些人斷了肋骨，掉了手指。在傳輸帶上不斷地工作使他們有些人患了潰瘍。他們的腳踝和膝蓋因為日久天長站立在水泥地上痛苦不已。有些人因為焊接火光損傷視覺感官而遭到部分視覺缺失的摧殘。有些時候,端詳著他們，我會懼怕長大.在我們四周的人中,父親們看上去老是比母親們要老。男人衰老得更早，長久遭到著因連續(xù)勞作帶來的病痛.只有女人材活到年邁。Therewerealsosoldiers，andsofarasIcouldtell,theyscarcelyworkedatall。Butwhentheshootingstarted,manyofthemwoulddiefortheirpatriotisminfieldsandfortsofforeignoutposts。Thiswaswhatsoldierswerefor—theyweretoolslikeawrench，ahammerorascrew.還有士兵也是男人的工作。據(jù)我所知，他們幾乎不工作，但當戰(zhàn)爭一打響，他們好多人都會出于愛國熱忱而戰(zhàn)死在戰(zhàn)場或異域前哨的碉堡前。這就是士兵的作用——他們就像工具,好像扳鉗、錘子或螺絲相同.Theseweren’ttheonlydestiniesofmen,asIlearnedfromhavingafewmaleteachers，fromreadingbooksandfromwatchingtelevision.Butthemenontelevision—thenewscommentators,thelawyers，thedoctors,thepoliticianswholeviedthetaxesandthebosseswhogaveorders—seemedasremoteandunrealtomeasthefiguresinoldpaintings。IcouldnomoreimaginegrowinguptobecomeoneofthesesophisticatedpeoplethanIcouldimaginebecomingasovereignprince。這些并不是男人們獨一的歸宿，我從以前有過的幾位男教師、從看書及看電視中認識到了這一點。但是，那些上電視的男人們-—新聞議論員、律師、醫(yī)生、課收稅款的政治家及發(fā)號布令的老板們-—在我看來就像古老繪畫上的人像，遙遠而不真切。我不可以想象自己長大會變?yōu)檫@些聰明世故的人中的一員，就像我沒法想象自己能變?yōu)橐粋€權(quán)益至高無上的國君相同.Ascholarshipenabledmenotonlytoattendcollege，arareenoughfeatinmysocialcircle,buteventotraversethehallsofahistoricuniversitymeantforthechildrenoftherich。HereforthefirsttimeImetwomenwhotoldmethatmenwereguiltyofhavingkeptallthejoysandprivilegesoftheearthforthemselves.Iwaspuzzled，anddemandedclarification。Whatprivileges？Whatjoys？Ithoughtaboutthegrim，woundedlivesofmostofthemenbackhome。Whathadtheyallegedlystolenfromtheirwivesanddaughters?Therighttoworkfivedaysaweek，12monthsayear,for30or40years,wedgedintightspacesinthetextilemills,orinthecoalmines，strugglingtoextracteverylastbitofcoalfromtherock—hardearth？Therighttodieinwar？Therighttofixeveryleakintheroof,everygapinthefence？Therighttopilebanknoteshighforarichcorporationinacityfaraway?Therighttofeel,whenthelay—offcameortheminesshutdown，notonlyafraidbutalsoashamed?一份獎學(xué)金使我得以上大學(xué)，這但是我交際圈子里極其難得的光榮.不單這樣，它還讓我能夠穿行于為富人家的孩子打造的史上有名的大學(xué)殿堂里。就在這里,我平生頭一次碰到女人告訴我說男人是有罪的,因為他們把地球上全部的歡喜和特權(quán)都據(jù)為己有。我被弄糊涂了，要求她們予以解釋.什么特權(quán)？什么歡喜？我想到家鄉(xiāng)大部分男人那種困難嚴酷、傷痛累累的生活。人們所說的他們從老婆和女兒那邊偷走的東西又能是些什么呢?莫非是每周五天、每年十二個月，這樣三四十年里擠縮在紡織廠狹窄的空間里，或是在煤礦下掙扎著從巖石般堅硬的泥土中挖出最后一點煤的勞作的權(quán)益?戰(zhàn)死戰(zhàn)場的權(quán)益？修葺屋頂上每條裂痕和圍欄上每個斷欄的權(quán)益？為一個遙遠的城市某個富饒財團壘積錢鈔的權(quán)益？在遭受辭退或煤礦倒閉時感覺既懼怕又羞愧的權(quán)益？Inthisalienworldoftherich，Iwasslowtounderstandthedeepgrievancesofwomen。Thiswasbecause，asaboy,Ihadenviedthem.Beforecollege,theonlypeopleIhadeverknownwhowereinterestedinartormusicorliterature，theonlyoneswhoeverseemedtoenjoyasenseofeasewerethemothersanddaughters。What’smore,theydidnothavetogotowar。Bycomparisonwiththenarrow,compartmentalizeddaysoffathers，thecomparativelylightweightworkofmothersseemedexpansive。Theyclippedcoupons，wenttoseeneighbors，orranerrandsatschooloratchurch.Isawtheirlivesasthroughatelescope,alltwinklingstarsandshaftsoflight,missingthedetailsthattrulydefinedtheirdays.Nodoubt,hadItakenamoredeductivelookattheirlives，Iwouldhaveenviedthemless。Ididn’tsee,then,whataprisonahousecouldbe，sincehousesseemedtomebrighter，handsomerplacesthananyfactory。Assuchthingswereneverspokenof，Ididnotrealizehowoftenwomensufferedfrommen’sbullying。EventhenIcouldseehowexhaustingitwasforamothertocateralldaytotheneedsofyoungchildren.But,asaboy，ifIhadtochoosebetweentendingababyandtendingamachine,IthinkIwouldhavechosenthebaby.在這樣一個盡是富人的陌生世界里，我在理解女人們深深的怨怒方面非常愚鈍。這是因為，當我仍是一個小男孩時,我就妒忌過她們.在上大學(xué)從前,我所認識的獨一對藝術(shù)、音樂或文學(xué)有興趣的人，獨一看上去能夠享受一絲自在的一群人就是那些做母親和女兒的人.并且，她們也不用去參加戰(zhàn)爭。與父親們所遭到的狹小的、關(guān)閉的日子對比，母親們所擔當?shù)南鄬^輕的工作顯得更為廣泛一些。她們剪用購物券,探望街坊，在學(xué)?；蚪烫门芘芡?我憂如是透過望遠鏡看到她們的生活，盡是閃耀的星星和一縷縷光線,而遺漏了她們生活光陰的真切細節(jié)。無須置疑，假如我用更具理性的方式審察她們的生活,我就不會那么妒忌她們了.可在那時，我實在看不出一幢房屋能成為何樣的牢獄，因為房屋在我看來比任何廠房都更亮堂、更風光。我也沒存心識到女人是多么屢次地遭到男人的欺辱，因為這樣的事情從未被說起過。即便在那時,我也能夠看出一個母親整天繁忙著對付年幼孩子們的需假如多么地辛苦。但是，作為男孩,假如我那時一定在照料嬰兒和照看機器之間作選擇,我想我會選擇照料嬰兒。SoIwasbaffledwhenthewomenatcollegemadearacketaccusingmeandmysexofhavingcorneredtheworld'spleasures。Theydemandedtobeemancipatedfromthebondsofsexism.Ithinkmybafflementhasbeenfeltbyotherboys（andbygirlsaswell）whogrewupindirt—poorfarmcountry，bythedocks,intheshadowsoffactories—anyplacewherethefatesofmenandwomenaresymmetricallybleakandgrim。因此,當學(xué)校里的女性大吵大囔，斥責我和我所屬的性別，說我們侵占著人間的歡喜時,我很疑惑。她們要求從性別鄙視的約束中解放出來。我認為其他男孩(女孩也相同）也會有我這樣的誘惑,只需他們成擅長一無全部的鄉(xiāng)村，成擅長碼頭邊或工廠鄰近——成擅長任何讓男人和女人的命運同樣蒼白和嚴酷的地方。WhenthewomenImetatcollegethoughtaboutthejoysandprivilegesofmen，theydidn’tseethesortofmenIhadknown。Thesedaughtersofprivileged，Republicanmenwantedtoinherittheirfathers’powerandlordshipovertheworl