爵士乐与美国精髓(英汉对照阅读)

Jazz And The Essence of America

　　Considering how jazz is transcribed in Chinese (jueshi), you may be misledsintosassuming that it is an aristocratic cultural form. Nothing could be further from the truth. It originated among black Americans at the end of the 19th century, at a time when they occupied the very bottom of the American social heap.

 So how has something that was created by a once downtrodden and despised minority acquired a central place in today's American culture? Mr Darrell A Jenks, director of the American Center for Educational Exchange, and also a drummer in the jazz band Window, analyses the phenomenon for us here. Jazz: the soul of America

   爵士乐与美国精髓

　　说到美国的爵士乐(jazz)，你可能从它的中文译名而推断为那是属于贵族的音乐。殊不知恰恰相反，它源于19世纪末的美国黑人，那时他们处于社会的最底层。

    然而，来自当年被奴役受歧视的黑人的音乐如今却进入到了美国文化的主流地位，原因何在呢？美国驻华使馆教育交流中心主任(也是《天窗》爵士乐队的鼓手)金大友先生为我们分析了这一现象。

  Perhaps the essence of America is that you could never get two Americans to agree on just what that might be. After thinking about it for a while, we might chuckle and say, "Hmm, seems like being American is a bit more complicated than we thought." Certainly things like individualism, success (the "American Dream"), innovation and tolerance stand out. But these things come together because of our ability to work with one another and find common purpose no matter how diverse we might be.

    说起美国的精髓，恐怕你找不到哪两个美国人有着相同的看法。在对这个问题考虑一会儿之后，我们可能会笑起来并且说：“嗯，看来身为美国人比我们当初想的要复杂一点儿。”当然了，强调个性，获取成功(即“美国梦”)，创新以及包容是美国人突出的方面。但这些特点集中在美国人身上是因为我们有彼此协作的能力，而无论我们彼此会怎么不同，我们都可以找到共同的目标。