Jun 29th 2006 From The Economist print edition
It's the pursuit, rather than the end-product, that makes Americans so American
使美国人成为美国人的是追求，而不是结果。
ONE of the most striking things about the document that Americans celebrate with such gusto on July 4th is that so much of it is dull—hardly worthy of the tons of fireworks and barbecue that are sacrificed in its honour. There are lists of complaints about the administration of the courts and the quartering of British troops. There is an angry passage about King George's habit of summoning legislators “at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records”. But all this tedium is more than made up for by a single sentence—the one about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
七月四日，美国人满怀热情地庆祝《独立宣言》，此文件最引人注目的一点是，它大部分内容都是枯燥乏味的，根本不值得牺牲大量的烟花和烤肉来纪念它。该文件列举了对法庭行政管理和英国军队分配的抱怨，还有对乔治国王的愤怒，因为他习惯把立法者召集到那些“不寻常的、令人不安的和远离公众记录存放点的地方”。但是，所有这些枯燥乏味都可以用一句话来弥补，就是那个关于“生活、自由和追求幸福”的句子。
The sentence was remarkable at the time—a perfect summary, in a few pithy words, of exactly what was new about the new republic. Previous countries had been based on common traditions and a collective identity. Previous statesmen had been exercised by things like the common good and public virtue (which usually meant making sure that people played their allotted roles in the divinely established order). The Founding Fathers were the first politicians to produce the explosive combination of individual rights and the pursuit of happiness. It remains equally remarkable today, still the best statement, 230 years after it was written, of what makes America American. The Book of Job gives warning that “man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Americans, for all their overt religiosity, have dedicated their civilisation to proving Job wrong.
这个句子在当时是意义非凡的，它对新共和国的创新之处进来了恰如其分的完美总结。在此之前，国家是基于共同的传统和集体的认同，宣言也是通过诸如共同利益和公众道德来行使（这意味着人们必然要在建立神圣秩序的过程中扮演他们被分配的角色）。国父是把个人权利和追求幸福结合起来的第一个政治家。直到230年后的今天，这个句子依然意义非凡，依然是使美国人成为美国人的最好阐述。《约伯记》曾警告“人类生于忧患，正如火星向上飞舞”。美国人用他们公开的虔诚来创造他们的文明，以证明约伯是错误的。
Everywhere you look in contemporary America you see a people engaged in that pursuit. You can see it in work habits. Americans not only work harder than most Europeans (they work an average of 1,731 hours a year compared with an average of 1,440 for Germans). They also endure lengthy commutes (who cares about a couple of hours a day in a car when you have a McMansion to come home to?). You can see it in geographical mobility. About 40m of them move house every year. They are remarkably willing to travel huge distances in pursuit of everything from bowling conventions to factory outlets. You can see it in religion: Americans relentlessly shop around for the church that most suits their spiritual needs. And you can see it in the country's general hopefulness: two-thirds of Americans are optimistic about the future.
在当代美国的每个角落，你都可以看到追求幸福的美国人。这体现在他们的工作习惯。美国人不仅比大多数欧洲人工作更努力（美国人每年的工作时间为1731小时，而德国人只有1440小时），而且忍受更长的往返上班时间（只要能够回到一个公寓式的家，还有人会介意在车上呆上几个小时吗？）。美国人追求幸福体现在他们的地域性迁移。每年大约有4千万人搬家。只要能够获取任何东西 － 无论是保龄球大赛还是厂家直销点，他们都非常愿意进行长途旅行。美国人追求幸福也体现在他们的宗教信仰。美国人不遗余力地光临教堂来满足他们的精神需求。同时，美国人追求幸福也体现在他们对国家的普遍期望：三分之二的美国人对未来持乐观的态度。
Since Americans are energetic even in deconstructing their own founding principles, there is no shortage of people who have taken exception to the happiness pursuit. They range from conservatives such as Robert Bork, who think the phrase encapsulates the “emptiness at the heart of American ideology”, to liberals who think that it is a justification for an acquisitive society.
既然美国人对解构他们自己的建国原则也充满热情，也有很多不追求幸福的美国人。这些人包括保守派人士，如罗伯克•波克（Robert Bork），他认为追求幸福这个词概述了“美国意识形态中心的空虚”，还包括那些自由主义者，他们认为追求幸福只是为贪婪型社会的辩护。
One criticism is that the pursuit is self-defeating. The more you pursue the illusion of happiness the more you sacrifice the real thing. The flip side of relentless mobility is turmoil and angst, broken marriages and unhappy children. Americans have less job security than ever before. They even report having fewer close friends than a couple of decades ago. And international studies of happiness suggest that people in certain poor countries, for instance Nigeria and Mexico, are apparently happier than people in America.
一种批评认为，这种追求是自我拆台的行为。追求幸福的幻想越多，失去的现实事物越多。不断迁移的反面是混乱、焦虑、离婚和不幸的孩子。相对于以前，美国人的工作安全感变得更少。甚至有报道称，与几十年前相比，人们拥有更少的知心朋友。关于幸福的全球研究表明，一些贫穷国家如尼日利亚和墨西哥的人民似乎比美国人更幸福。
Another criticism is that Americans have confused happiness with material possessions (it is notable that Thomas Jefferson's call echoes Adam Smith's phrase about “life, liberty and the pursuit of property”). Do all those pairs of Manolo Blahnik shoes really make you happy? Or are they just a compensation for empty lives à la “Sex in the City”?
另外一种批评认为，美国人把幸福和物质财产混同了（值得注意的是，托马斯•杰弗逊（Thomas Jefferson）的号召和亚当•斯密（Adam Smith）的措词“生活、自由和追求财产”不谋而合。是否拥有多双莫罗•伯拉尼克（Manolo Blahnik）名牌鞋就能够使你真正幸福？或者它们只是如“欲望都市”这种空虚生活的一种补偿？
If opinion polls on such matters mean anything—and that is dubious—they suggest that both these criticisms are flawed. A 2006 Pew Research Centre study, “Are we happy yet?” claims that 84% of Americans are either “very happy” (34%) or “pretty happy” (50%). The Harris Poll's 2004 “feel good index” found that 95% are pleased with their homes and 91% are pleased with their social lives. The Pew About sponsorship polls show that money does indeed go some way towards buying happiness: nearly half (49%) of Americans with annual incomes of more than $100,000 say they are very happy compared with just 24% of people with incomes of $30,000 or less. They also suggest that Americans' religiosity makes them happier still: 43% of Americans who attend religious services once a week or more report being very happy compared with 31% who attend once a month or less and 26% of people who attend seldom or never.
如果民意测验真有意义的话 － 这是不确定的 － 那么以上这些批评是有缺陷的。Pew研究中心的一份2006年关于“你还幸福吗？”的研究表明，84%的美国人都认为他们“很幸福”（34%）或“非常幸福”（50%）。一份2004年的Harris民意测验“感觉良好指数”发现，95%的美国人对他们的家庭感到满意，同时91%的美国人对他们的社会活动感到满意。Pew研究中心的关于赞助的民意测验表明，金钱确实能够在某种程度上购买到幸福：几乎半数（49%）年收入超过10万美元的美国人认为他们很幸福，而只有24%的年收入低于或等于3万美元的美国人认为他们很幸福。调查还发现美国人的宗教信仰也令他们感到更幸福：对于那些每周一次或多次参加宗教活动的美国人，43%的人认为他们很幸福；对于那些每月或多月才参加宗教活动的美国人，31%的人认为他们很幸福；而对于那些很少参加或几乎不参加宗教活动的美国人，只有26%的人认为他们很幸福。
Weep, and you weep alone 哭泣，孤独地哭泣吧 The pursuit of happiness explains all sorts of peculiarities of American life: from the $700m that is spent on self-help books every year to the irritating dinner guests who will not stop looking at their BlackBerries. It also holds a clue to understanding American politics. Perhaps the biggest reason why the Republicans have proved so successful in recent years is that they have established a huge “happiness gap”. Some 45% of Republicans report being “very happy” compared with just 30% of Democrats. The Democrats may be right to give warning of global warming and other disasters. But are they right to give the impression that they relish all the misery? The people's party will never regain its momentum unless it learns to relate to the guy on the super-sized patio, happily grilling his hamburgers and displaying his American flag.
美国生活的所有古怪现象都可以用追求幸福来解析：例如每年自励图书的销售额达7亿美元，而急躁的宴会客人总是不停地盯着他们的黑草莓（BlackBerries）。追求幸福也有助于理解美国的政治。近年来共和党之所以如此成功，最大的原因或许是共和党人建立了一个“幸福鸿沟”。大约45%的共和党人认为他们很幸福，而只有30%的民主党人认为他们很幸福。也许民主党人关于全球变暖和其它灾难的警告是正确的，但是，他们给人留下的对这些灾难津津乐道的印象是正确的吗？除非政党认识到他们要注意那个坐在巨大院子、幸福地烤着汉堡包和展示美国国旗的家伙，否则政党永远也不会再次获得前进的动力。
The pursuit of happiness may even help to explain the surge of anti-Americanism. Many people dislike America because of its failure to live up to its stated ideals. But others dislike it precisely because it is doing exactly what Jefferson intended. For some Europeans, the pursuit of happiness in the form of monster cars and mansions is objectionable on every possible ground, from aesthetic to ecological. You cannot pursue happiness with such conspicuous enthusiasm without making quite a lot of people around the world rather unhappy.
甚至反美国情绪的高涨也可以用追求幸福来解析。很多人因为美国无法实现其许下的理想诺言而讨厌美国。然而，其它一些人因为美国正按照杰斐逊指明的道路走下去而讨厌美国。一些欧洲人认为，无论是从审美还是从生态方面来说，以大型汽车和高楼大厦的形式来追求幸福是无法接收的。满腔热情地追求幸福，同时又不会引起世界上大多数人的不安，这是不可能的。
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