考研英语

Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation,migration becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of preindustrial North America. His approach rests on four separate propositions.

Bernard Bailyn最近过运用关于欧洲移民经历的新的社会研究成果重新解释了美国的早期历史。在他的重新解释中，迁徙成了重写北美前工业化历史的重要依据。其主张可分为四个独立的观点。

The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside migrating to the New World was simply a natural spillover. Although at first the colonies held little positive attraction for the English &mdash they would rather have stayed home &mdash by the eighteenth century people increasingly migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of opportunity. Secondly,Bailyn holds that,contrary to the notion that used to flourish in America history textbooks,there was never a typical New World community. For example,the economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.

点断言，近代早期的英国居民经常在乡下流动，因此后来他们迁移到新大陆仅仅是一种“自然外流”。虽然最初时殖民地对英国人没有多少正面的诱惑力&mdash&mdash他们宁愿留在本土。到18世纪时，移往美洲的人数却增加了，因为他们将那儿看作是充满机遇的地方。第二，Bailyn认为，和以往美国历史教材中惯用的观念相反，从来就没有过一个典型的新大陆社会，例如，早期新英格兰城镇中的经济和人口特点就很不相同。

Bailyn's third proposition suggest two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands of migrants:one group came as indentured servants,another came to acquire land. Surprisingly,Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were the driving forces of transatlantic migration. These colonial entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who came to preindustrial North America. At first,thousands of unskilled laborers were recruited by the 1730's,however,American employers demanded skilled artisans.

Bailyn的第三个观点是，成千上万的移民中最常见的是两种普遍类型：一组是签约的仆人，另一组是为土地而来。令人惊异的是：Bailyn认为那些征召签约仆人的人是这种跨越大西洋移民迁徙的推动力。这些殖民地的企业主帮助那些来到前工业化北美社会的人确定其社会属性。起初，成千上万未受过培训的劳动力被征召，然而到了18世纪30年代，美洲雇主开始需求技术熟练的技工。

Finally,Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct to insist that the colonies were part of an Anglo-American empire. But to divide the empire into English core and colonial periphery,as Bailyn does,devalues the achievements of colonial culture. It is true,as Bailyn claims,that high culture in the colonies never matched that in England. But what of seventeenth-century New England,where the settlers created effective laws,built a distinguished university,and published books? Bailyn might respond that New England was exceptional. However,the ideas and institutions developed by New England Puritans had powerful effects on North American culture.

第四，Bailyn提出，殖民地是欧洲文化体系的半开化内地。在坚持殖民地是盎格鲁&mdash美利坚帝国的一部分这一点上，他无疑是正确的。但是像Bailyn这样，把帝国划分为英国重要和殖民地外围，就贬低了殖民地文化的成就。确实，如Bailyn所说，殖民地的高雅文化不能和英国本土的相比。但是如何看待17世纪的新英格兰呢?移民者在这儿制定了有效的法律，创建了的大学，出版了书籍。Bailyn可能会说，新英格兰是个特例。不过，新英格兰清教徒的思想和组织机构对北美文化有着深远的影响。

Although Bailyn goes on to apply his approach to some thousands of indentured servants who migrated just prior to the revolution,he fails to link their experience with the political development of the United States. Evidence presented in his work suggests how we might make such a connection. These indentured servants were treated as slaves for the period during which they had sold their time to American employers. It is not surprising that as soon as they served their time they passed up good wages in the cities and headed west to ensure their personal independence by acquiring land. Thus, it is in the west that a peculiarly American political culture began,among colonists who were suspicious of authority and intensely anti-aristocratic.

尽管Bailyn不断关注着数万名刚好在革命前夕迁移过来的签约仆人，但他没能把这些人的经历与美国的政治发展结合起来。他的书中有证据表明，我们本来可以建立这样一种联系。在出卖给美洲雇主的时间里，这些签约仆人被看作是奴隶。毫不奇怪，一旦他们服役期满，就会放弃城市里的高薪而走向西部，过获得土地来保障个人独立。因此，一种特殊的美国政治文化开始于西部，那些怀疑和强烈反对贵族统治的移民者之中。

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