The Three New Yorks三個紐約

By Elwin Brooks White

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulences as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.

大致說來有三個紐約。首先是那些土生土長的男男女女的紐約，他們對這座城市習以為常，認為它有這樣的規模和喧囂，乃是自然而然、不可避免的。其次是家住郊區、乘公交車到市內上班的人們的紐約--這座城市每到白天就被如蝗的人群吞噬進去，每到晚上又給吐出來。第三是外來人的紐約，他們生于他鄉，到紐約來尋求機緣。

Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetic deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements.

在這三座充滿騷動的城市中，最了不起的是最后一座--那座被視為最終歸宿的城市，視為追尋目標的城市。正是由于這第三座城市，紐約才有了緊張的秉性、詩人的氣質、對藝術的執著追求、無與倫比的成就。