The Americans

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 live to think of themselves as tough-minded business men, yet they are push-overs 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 state, 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 griping 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

美國人是一個與眾不同的民族。他們拼命地工作，然后花掉了大量辛苦賺來的錢。他們玩得筋疲力盡，并稱之為度假。他們向來把自己想成硬心腸的商人，可是任何不幸的故事都會使他們受騙。幾乎所有最大的東西他們都有：政府，汽車和債務，可他們害怕龐大。所以他們總是要想辦法除去大的政府，大的買賣，大的團體，大的影響力。他們愿意把自己看成是小人物，平平常常的人，喜歡一切都是平等的。他們吹噓自己的高樓大廈，高山，大河，吹噓自己是大國，是最好的國家，是最好的世界，最好的天堂。同時，他們的車禍最多，浪費最多，騙子也最多。

美國人一見面就對彼此說：“放輕松點，”然后就向相反的方向狂奔。他們做游戲象打仗一樣，打起仗來象做游戲。跟任何人相比，他們結婚次數更多，離婚的頻率更高，賺的錢更多。他們愛孩子，愛動物，愛小玩藝，愛母親，愛工作，愛激動，愛吵吵嚷嚷，愛大自然，愛看電視節目，愛看喜劇，買東西喜歡分期付款，喜歡快節奏，愛買票看體育比賽，同情弱者，熱愛國旗，愛過圣誕節，聽爵士樂，愛看身材好的女子和肌肉發達的男人，愛收藏經典唱片，愛湊熱鬧，看連環畫，抽煙，喜歡房子冬暖夏涼，愛吃切得厚厚的牛排，愛喝咖啡，吃冰淇淋，穿著隨便，喜歡自來水一直淌著，一切自己動手，一周工作時間限制在40小時以內。