美國人眼中的道德觀念

【英文原文】

Do Americans have any morals?That"s a good people insist that ideas about right and wrong are merely personal voices,though,are calling Americans back to traditional moral iam ett,former etary of Education,edited The Book of Virtues in 1993to do just ett suggests that great moral stories can build success of Bennett"s book shows that many Americans still believe in moral what are they?
To begin with,moral values in America are like those in any fact,many aspects of morality are the stories and traditions that teach them are unique to each only that,but culture influences how people show these virtues.

One of the most basic moral values for Americans is well-known legend about George Washington and the cherry tree teaches this value le George cut down his father"s favorite cherry tree while trying out his new his father asked him about it,George said,"I cannot tell a lie.I did it with my hatchet."Instead of punishment,George received praise for telling the times American honesty-being open and direct-can offend Americans still believe that "honesty is the best policy."

Another virtue Americans respect is mber Aesop"s fable about the turtle and the rabbit that had a race?The rabbit thought he could win easily,so he took a the turtle finally won because he did not give her story tells of a little train that had to climb a steep hill was so steep that the little train had a hard time trying to get over the train just kept pulling,all the while saying,"I think I can,I think I can."At last,the train was over the top of the hill."I thought I could,I thought I could,"chugged the happy little train.

Compassion may be the queen of American story of "The Good Samaritan"from the Bible describes a man who showed his way to a certain city,a Samaritan man found a poor traveler lying on the traveler had been beaten and kind Samaritan,instead of just passing by,stopped to help this person in assion can even turn into a positive fall 1992,people in Iowa sent truckloads of water to help Floridians hit by a next summer,during the Midwest flooding,Florida returned the less dramatic ways,millions of Americans are quietly passing along the kindnesses shown to them.

In no way can this brief description cover all the moral values honored by age,responsibility,loyalty,gratitude and many others could be fact,Bennett"s bestseller-over 800pages-highlights just Bennett admits that he has only scratched the no matter how long or short the list,moral values are are the foundation of American culture-and any culture.

【中文譯文】

美國人還有道德嗎？這是個好問題。許多人堅持對與錯乃是個人的意見。但是，還是有些人在呼喚美國人回到傳統的道德價值裏去。威廉．班奈特，前任美國教育部長，正是爲了此目的而在一九九三年編輯了「美德」這本書。班奈特認爲偉大的道德故事可以建造性格。班奈持這本書的成功顯示了許多美國人仍然相信道德的價值。但是它們到底爲何？

最開始，道德價值在美國就像在任何其它的文化一樣。事實上，許多道德的觀點是全球一致的。但是，不同的文化則有不同的故事和傳統來教導它們。不僅如此，文化也影響了人民如何表現這些美德。

美國人最基本的道德價值之一是誠實。衆所周知的喬治．華盛頓砍櫻桃樹的故事，即將此道德教導地極爲清楚。小喬治在試他新斧頭時砍倒了爸爸最心愛的櫻桃樹。當爸爸問他的時候，喬治說，「我不能說謊，我用我的斧頭砍了它。」喬治非但未被懲罰，反而因爲誠實而被讚賞。有時候美國人仍然相信「誠實是最上策」。

另外一個爲美國人所尊崇的美德爲堅忍。記得再龜兔賽跑這則伊索寓言嗎？兔子以爲可以贏的很輕鬆，便睡了個午覺，但是烏龜再最後終因不放棄而贏了這場比賽。另一個故事談到一個必須爬過陡峭山頭的小火車，山頭是這麼陡，以至於小火車很難爬上去，但是它仍不斷地爬，並不停地說：「我想我能做到，我能做到。」最後，火車終於爬過了山頭，「我就知道我可以。」這個快樂的小火車繼續往前去。
同情心，可能是美國的道德之最了。聖經中的「好撒瑪利亞人」的故事，描述一個流露同情心的人。在這個撒瑪利亞人出發去某城市的途中，看到一個可憐的旅客躺在路旁。這旅客被鞭打、搶劫，這位仁慈的撒瑪利亞人非但沒有視而不見，反而停下來幫助這位有需要的人。同情心還可以變成一個正面循環，在一九九二年的秋天，愛荷華州的居民將好幾輛卡車的水送到受颶風侵襲的佛羅里達州；而就在第二年夏天，當中西部鬧水災的時候，佛州人便投挑報李。數以百萬計的美國人民正用較不醒目的方式回報人們向他們表達的善意。
在這麼一篇短短的文章裏，無論如何也不能將美國人所尊崇的道德述盡。勇氣、責任心、忠誠、感激之心還有許多其它可以討論的。事實上，班奈特最暢銷的書——超過八百頁——只談到了十種美德。即使班奈特也承認他只談到了皮毛而已。但是不論這張道德表是多長或短，道德價值都是無價的。他們是美國文化——和任何其它國家的文化之基礎。