"The lives of Chinese villagers I know are infinitely better now than they were 30 years ago" he says. "China has become more open partly because of the demands of ordinary people. They want to become part of the world—I would say globalism is the major force for democracy in China. People want refrigerators, stereos, CD players. I feel it's a moral obligation not to say:‘Those people out there should continue to live in a museum while we will have showers that work.’"
他说:“我知道如今的中国农村人的生活比30年前的生活水平大有改善。中国越来越开放，部分原因是出于中国普通民众的要求。他们想成为世界的一部分，我是说全球观念是中国民主的重要动力。人们需要使用冰箱、音响和激光唱机。‘远在中国的那些人应该继续过着那种只有在博物馆才能见到的落后的生活，而我们却可以使用淋浴器。’我认为不应该这么说，不这么说是一种道义上的责任。
Westernization, I discovered over months of study and travel, is a phenomenon shot through with inconsistencies and populated by very strange bedfellows. Critics of Western culture blast Coke and Hollywood but not organ transplants and computers. Boosters of Western culture can point to increased efforts to preserve and protect the environment. Yet they make no mention of some less salubrious aspects of Western culture, such as cigarettes and automobiles, which, even as they are being eagerly adopted in the developing world, are having disastrous effects. Apparently westernization is not a straight road to hell, or to paradise either.
通过几个月的研究和旅行，我发现西方化是一种得到广泛认可但却自相矛质的现象。批评者公开抨击可乐和好莱坞，但是对器官移植和计算机却不加指责。热心的拥护者认为应该努力增加环境保护力度，但对西方文化中如香烟和汽车的不那么健康的一面却只字不提。尽管这些东西已经带给西方国家以灾难性的后果，但是发展中国家却急切地接纳这些文化。显然，西方化既不是直抵地狱之桥，也不会是直通天堂之路。
But I also discovered that cultures are as resourceful, resilient, and unpredictable as the people who compose them. In Los Angeles, the ostensible fountainhead of world cultural degradation, I saw more diversity than I could ever have supposed—at Hollywood High School the student body represents 32 different languages.
不过我也发现文化就如同构成文化的民族一样，善于随机应变，富有弹性而且不可预测。从表面看来，洛杉矶是世界文化堕落的根源。但我看到的差异要比我想象的多得多：在好莱坞高中里，学生使用32种完全不冋的语言；