-
The Decline of
Neatness
行为标准的蜕化
By Norman Cou
s
ins
Anyone
with
a
passion
for
hanging
labels
on
people
or
things
should
have
little
difficulty
in
recognizing
that
an
apt
tag
for
our
time
is
the
“
Unkempt
Generation
”
.
任何一个
喜欢给别人或事物贴标签的人应该不
难发现我们这个时代合适的标签是“邋遢的一代”。
I
am
not
referring
solely
to
college
kids.
The
sloppiness
virus
has
spread
to
all
sectors
of
society,
People
go
to
all
sorts
of
trouble
and
expense to look uncombed, unshaved.
unpressed.
3
我说这话不仅仅是针对
大学生。邋遢这种病毒已经蔓延到社会各个部分。人们刻意呈现一幅蓬头
散发
、边幅不修、衣着不整的形象。
The
symbol
of
the
times
is
blue
jeans
—
not
just
blue
jeans
in
good
condition
but jeans that are frayed, torn, discolored. They
don't get that
way naturally. No one
wants blue jeans that are crisply clean or
spanking
new.
如今时代潮流的象征是穿蓝色牛
仔裤
--
不是完好的牛仔裤，
而是打磨
过的，撕裂开的，和褪色了的牛仔裤。正常穿着磨损很难达到上述效果。
没有人喜欢穿干净崭新的牛仔裤。
Manufacturers recognize a big market
when they see it, and they compete
with
one another to offer jeans
（
that are made to look as though they've
just been discarded by clumsy house
painters after ten years of wear.
）生
产商意识到这将是个潜力巨大的市场，于是展开了激烈地竞争，生产出的
牛仔裤好像是笨拙的油漆工人穿了十年之后扔掉的一样。
The more faded and seemingly ancient
the garment- the higher the cost.
Disheveled is
in
fashion; neatness is obsolete.
衣服看上去越褪色越旧，成本越高。时下流行的是衣冠不整，服饰整洁已
不合时
宜。
Nothing is wrong with
comfortable clothing. It's just that current usage
is
more reflective of a slavish
conformity than a desire for ease.
穿着追求
舒
适原本并无过错。问题是目前人们的着装习惯与其说是为了寻求舒适，倒
不如说盲目追求单调一致。
No generation has
strained harder than ours to
affect a
casual, relaxed, cool look;
none has succeeded more spectacularly
in looking as though it had been
stamped out by cookie cutters.
6
< br>没有哪一
代人像我们这一代这样努力装出一付随便、轻松、酷的样子，没有哪一代
人如此出奇成功地塑造出看出犹如饼干模子压出来一样的形象。
The attempt to avoid any appearance of
being well groomed or even neat
has a
quality of desperation(
处心积虑
)
about it and suggests a calculated
and
phony
deprivation.
7
这种避免服饰考究、衣着整洁形象的努力真是煞
费苦心，显
出故意装出的虚假穷酸相。
We
shun (avoid) conventionality, but we put on a
uniform to do it.
8
An
appearance of
alien
ation is the triumphant
goal, to be pursued in oversize
sweaters and muddy sneakers.
我们避免落入俗套，但是我们却穿上制服
来实现该目标。
树立
标新立异的形象是最终目标，
为了成功塑造这种形象，
各个都穿
上了超大号的毛衣和沾满泥巴的运动鞋。
Slovenly
speech comes off the same
spool.
10
Vocabulary, like
blue jeans, is
being drained of color
and distinction.
言语杂乱如出一辙。词汇就象蓝色
牛仔裤正失去色彩和特性。
A
complete
sentence
in
everyday
speech
is
as
rare
as
a
man's
tie
in
the
swank Polo Lounge of the
Beverly Hills Hotel.
日常生活中很难听到一句完
整的句子，
就好像贝弗利山庄酒店的豪华水球休闲厅里很难见到打领带的
绅士。
People
communicate in chopped-up phrases, relying on
grunts and chants
of
人们在
交流的时候，说的话老是支离破碎，全靠“你知道吧”“我是说”等口头
禅来掩盖该死的语无伦次
Neatness should
be no less important in language than it is in
dress. But
spew and sprawl are taking o
ver.
。
其实语言利落和穿衣整洁一样重要。
但
现在肆意辱骂和衣着懒散之风却尘嚣日上。
The English language is one of the
greatest sources of wealth in the world.
In the midst of accessible riches, we
are linguistic paupers (beggars).
英语是世界最大的语言财富之一。富饶的语言资源触手可及，我们却宁愿
成为语言的乞丐。
Violence
in
language
has
become
almost
as
casual
as
the
possession
of
handguns.
The
curious
notion
has
taken
hold
that
emphasis
in
communication is impossible without the
incessant use of four-letter words.
(crap, damn,
slut
，
shit, fuck, )
语言粗野几乎就象拥有枪支一样随便。这
种古怪的观念已经根深蒂固，
以至于有些人在言谈中必需借助连篇脏话才
能表达自己的想法。
Some
screenwriters
openly
admit
that
they
are
careful
not
to
turn
in
scripts that are devoid
of foul language lest the classification office
impose
the
curse of a
G
(general)
rating
15
.
很多电影剧本作
家都坦白说他们会尽
量避免递交上的剧本中没有一些污言秽语，
以防电影分级办公室把该剧本
定为
G
级
电影片。（这对电影来说无疑是施加了紧箍咒）
Motion-picture exhibitors have a strong
preference for the R (restricted)