Unit 3 Goods Move. People Move. Ideas Move. And Cultures Change.
商品流通。人员流动。观念转变。文化变迁
Erla Zwingle
埃拉·兹温格尔
Today we are in the throes of a worldwide reformation of cultures, a tectonic shift of habits and dreams called, in the curious vocabulary of social scientists, "globalization." It's an inexact term for a wild assortment of changes in politics, business, health, entertainment. "Modern industry has established the worid market…All old-established national industries are dislodged by new industries, whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of the old wants we find new wants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distant lands and climes." Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote this 150 years ago in The Communist Manifesto. Their statement now describes an ordinary fact of life.
今天我们正经历着一种世界范围文化剧变的阵痛，一种习俗与追求的结构性变化。用社会学家奇特的词汇来称呼这种变化，就叫“全球化”。就政治、商务、健康卫生及娱乐领域中各种各样的巨大变化而言，这个词并不贴切。“现代工业开拓了世界市场。民族工业被新工业取代。它们的产品不仅供本国消费，而且同时供世界各地消费。旧的、靠国家产品来满足的需要，被新的、要靠极其遥远的国家和地区的产品来满足的需要所取代。”卡尔·马克思和弗里德里希·恩格斯早在150年前就在《共产党宣言》中这样写道。他们那时的陈述，是如今现实生活的真实写照。
How people feel about this depends a great deal on where they live and how much money they have. Yet globalization, as one report stated, "is a reality, not a choice." Humans have been weaving commercial and cultural connections since before the first camel caravan ventured afield. In the 19th century the postal service, newspapers, transcontinental railroads, and great steam-powered ships wrought fundamental changes. Telegraph, telephone, radio, and television tied tighter and more intricate knots between individuals and the wider world.
人们对此的感受很大程度上取决于他们的居住位置和财富拥有量。然而，正如一篇报道中所说，全球化“是一个现实，而不是一种选择”。从第一批骆驼商队背井离乡、冒险出外经商之时直到现在，人类一直在编织着商贸和文化的纽带。19世纪，邮政服务、报纸、贯穿大陆的铁路及巨大的蒸汽轮船锻造出了根本变化。电报、电话、收音机和电视把个人和外部世界更紧密地连在一起。（这种联系更为复杂，不那么直接，也不易察觉。）