好英语网为什么美国人越来越愤怒、分化、彼此仇恨？
In June a statistic floated across my desk that startled me. In 2020, the number of miles Americans drove fell 13 percent because of the pandemic, but the number of traffic deaths rose 7 percent.
去年6月，一项偶然出现在我办公桌上的统计数据令我大吃一惊。2020年，由于疫情，美国人的驾驶里程下降了13%，但交通事故死亡人数却上升了7%。
I couldn’t figure it out. Why would Americans be driving so much more recklessly during the pandemic? But then in the first half of 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor vehicle deaths were up 18.4 percent even over 2020. Contributing factors, according to the agency, included driving under the influence, speeding and failure to wear a seatbelt.
我搞不懂。为什么美国人在大流行期间开车却更加鲁莽？但根据美国国家公路交通安全管理局的数据，在2021年上半年，机动车死亡人数更比2020年增加了18.4%。据该机构称，造成事故的因素包括酒后驾驶、超速和不系安全带。
Why are so many Americans driving irresponsibly?
为什么这么多美国人开车那么不负责任？
While gloomy numbers like these were rattling around in my brain, a Substack article from Matthew Yglesias hit my inbox this week. It was titled, “All Kinds of Bad Behavior Is on the Rise.” Not only is reckless driving on the rise, Yglesias pointed out, but the number of altercations on airplanes has exploded, the murder rate is surging in cities, drug overdoses are increasing, Americans are drinking more, nurses say patients are getting more abusive, and so on and so on.
当这些令人沮丧的数字在我的脑海中萦绕时，这个星期，马修·伊格莱西亚斯通过Substack发表的一篇文章进入了我的收件箱。文章的标题是《各种不良行为在增加》。伊格莱西亚斯指出，不仅鲁莽驾驶的人数在增加，飞机上的争吵数量也在激增，城市里的谋杀率在飙升，吸毒过量的人数在上涨，酗酒的美国人越来越多，护士说病人变得越来越粗鲁，等等等等。
Yglesias is right.
伊格莱西亚斯是对的。
Teachers are facing a rising tide of disruptive behavior. The Wall Street Journal reported in December: “Schools have seen an increase in both minor incidents, like students talking in class, and more serious issues, such as fights and gun possession. In Dallas, disruptive classroom incidents have tripled this year compared with prepandemic levels, school officials said.”
教师们正面临着越来越多的破坏性行为。《华尔街日报》去年12月报道称：“在学校里，学生在课堂上讲话这样的小问题，以及打架斗殴、持有枪支等更严重的问题都有所增加。学校官员表示，在达拉斯，今年的课堂破坏事件比疫情前的水平增加了两倍。”
This month, the Institute for Family Studies published an essay called “The Drug Epidemic Just Keeps Getting Worse.” The essay noted that drug deaths had risen almost continuously for more than 20 years, but “overdoses shot up especially during the pandemic.” For much of this time the overdose crisis has been heavily concentrated among whites, but in 2020, the essay observed, “the Black rate exceeded the white rate for the first time.”
本月，美国家庭研究所发表了一篇名为《毒品流行越来越严重》的文章。其中指出，20多年来，因毒品死亡人数的上升几乎没停过，但“在大流行期间吸毒过量尤其出现激增”。在这个时期的大部分时间里，吸毒过量危机主要集中在白人当中，但该文指出，在2020年，“黑人的比例首次超过了白人的比例”。
In October, CNN ran a story titled, “Hate Crime Reports in U.S. Surge to the Highest Level in 12 Years, F.B.I. Says.” The F.B.I. found that between 2019 and 2020 the number of attacks targeting Black people, for example, rose to 2,871 from 1,972.
去年10月，CNN播出了一则报道，题为《联邦调查局称美国的仇恨犯罪报告激增至12年来最高水平》。例如，联邦调查局发现，2019年至2020年期间，针对黑人的袭击从1972起上升到2871起。
The number of gun purchases has soared. In January 2021, more than two million firearms were bought, The Washington Post reported, “an 80 percent year-over-year spike and the third-highest one-month total on record.”
枪支购买量也出现激增。据《华盛顿邮报》报道，2021年1月，美国枪支购买的数量超过200万支，“同比增长80%，是有记录以来单月购买量的第三高。”
As Americans’ hostility toward one another seems to be growing, their care for one another seems to be falling. A study from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy found that the share of Americans who give to charity is steadily declining. In 2000, 66.2 percent of households made a charitable donation. But by 2018 only 49.6 percent did. The share who gave to religious causes dropped as worship service attendance did. But the share of households who gave to secular causes also hit a new low, 42 percent, in 2018.
随着美国人对彼此的敌意似乎在增长，他们对彼此的关心似乎也在下降。印第安纳大学利里家族慈善学院的一项研究发现，美国人的慈善捐款比例正在稳步下降。2000年，66.2%的家庭做了慈善捐赠。但到2018年，只有49.6%的人这么做。对宗教事业捐款的比例随着礼拜仪式出席率的下降而下降。但在2018年，向世俗事业捐款的家庭比例也创下了42%的新低。
This is not even to mention the parts of the deteriorating climate that are hard to quantify — the rise in polarization, hatred, anger and fear. When I went to college, lo these many years ago, I never worried that I might say something in class that would get me ostracized. But now the college students I know fear that one errant sentence could lead to social death. That’s a monumental sea change.
这还不包括整体氛围恶化中难以量化的部分——两极分化、仇恨、愤怒和恐惧的加剧。许多年前，当我上大学的时候，我从来不担心自己在课堂上说的话会让我受到排斥。但现在，我认识的大学生们担心，说错一句话可能会导致社会性死亡。这是一个巨大的变化。
It has to be said that not every trend is bad. Substance use among teenagers, for example, seems to be declining. And a lot of these problems are caused by the presumably temporary stress of the pandemic. I doubt as many people would be punching flight attendants or throwing temper tantrums over cheese if there weren’t mask rules and a deadly virus to worry about.
不得不说，并非所有趋势都是坏的。例如，青少年的毒品使用似乎正在减少。而且这些问题当中，有很多都是由疫情带来的暂时压力造成的。我怀疑，如果没有戴口罩的规定和一种令人担忧的致命病毒，就不会有那么多人殴打空乘或是因为奶酪发脾气。
But something darker and deeper seems to be happening as well — a long-term loss of solidarity, a long-term rise in estrangement and hostility. This is what it feels like to live in a society that is dissolving from the bottom up as much as from the top down.
但一些更黑暗、更深层次的事情似乎也在发生——团结的长期丧失，隔阂与敌意的长期上升。生活在一个自下而上和自上而下都在解体的社会里，就是这样的感觉。
What the hell is going on? The short answer: I don’t know. I also don’t know what’s causing the high rates of depression, suicide and loneliness that dogged Americans even before the pandemic and that are the sad flip side of all the hostility and recklessness I’ve just described.
这到底是怎么回事？一句话：我不知道。我同样不知道是什么导致了抑郁、自杀和孤独感的高发率（这些问题其实在大流行之前就已经困扰着美国人），这是我刚才描述的那些敌意和鲁莽可悲的另一面。
We can round up the usual suspects: social media, rotten politics. When President Donald Trump signaled it was OK to hate marginalized groups, a lot of people were bound to see that as permission.
我们可以归纳出一些常见的嫌疑人：社交媒体、腐败的政治。当唐纳德·特朗普总统表示仇恨边缘化群体也没什么不可以的，很多人肯定会将其视为一种允许。
Some of our poisons must be sociological — the fraying of the social fabric. Last year, Gallup had a report titled, “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time.” In 2019, the Pew Research Center had a report, “U.S. Has World’s Highest Rate of Children Living in Single Parent Households.”
一些有害因素肯定是社会学方面的——社会结构的破裂。去年，盖洛普发表了一份报告，题为《美国教会成员在人口中首次不占多数》。2019年，皮尤研究中心发布了一份报告《美国单亲家庭儿童比例为世界最高》。
And some of the poisons must be cultural. In 2018, The Washington Post had a story headlined, “America Is a Nation of Narcissists, According to Two New Studies.”
一些有害因素肯定是文化上的。2018年，《华盛顿邮报》发表了一篇文章，题为《根据两项新研究，美国是一个自恋狂的国家》。
But there must also be some spiritual or moral problem at the core of this. Over the past several years, and over a wide range of different behaviors, Americans have been acting in fewer pro-social and relational ways and in more antisocial and self-destructive ways. But why?
但在这个问题的核心，肯定也存在着某种精神或道德问题。在过去的几年里，在各种不同的行为中，美国人支持社会、亲近他人越来越少，反社会和自我毁灭越来越多。但这是为什么呢？
As a columnist, I’m supposed to have some answers. But I just don’t right now. I just know the situation is dire.
作为一个专栏作家，我本应有一些答案。但我现在不知道。我只知道情况很糟糕。
为什么这么多美国人开车那么不负责任？
While gloomy numbers like these were rattling around in my brain, a Substack article from Matthew Yglesias hit my inbox this week. It was titled, “All Kinds of Bad Behavior Is on the Rise.” Not only is reckless driving on the rise, Yglesias pointed out, but the number of altercations on airplanes has exploded, the murder rate is surging in cities, drug overdoses are increasing, Americans are drinking more, nurses say patients are getting more abusive, and so on and so on.
当这些令人沮丧的数字在我的脑海中萦绕时，这个星期，马修·伊格莱西亚斯通过Substack发表的一篇文章进入了我的收件箱。文章的标题是《各种不良行为在增加》。伊格莱西亚斯指出，不仅鲁莽驾驶的人数在增加，飞机上的争吵数量也在激增，城市里的谋杀率在飙升，吸毒过量的人数在上涨，酗酒的美国人越来越多，护士说病人变得越来越粗鲁，等等等等。
Yglesias is right.
伊格莱西亚斯是对的。
Teachers are facing a rising tide of disruptive behavior. The Wall Street Journal reported in December: “Schools have seen an increase in both minor incidents, like students talking in class, and more serious issues, such as fights and gun possession. In Dallas, disruptive classroom incidents have tripled this year compared with prepandemic levels, school officials said.”
教师们正面临着越来越多的破坏性行为。《华尔街日报》去年12月报道称：“在学校里，学生在课堂上讲话这样的小问题，以及打架斗殴、持有枪支等更严重的问题都有所增加。学校官员表示，在达拉斯，今年的课堂破坏事件比疫情前的水平增加了两倍。”
This month, the Institute for Family Studies published an essay called “The Drug Epidemic Just Keeps Getting Worse.” The essay noted that drug deaths had risen almost continuously for more than 20 years, but “overdoses shot up especially during the pandemic.” For much of this time the overdose crisis has been heavily concentrated among whites, but in 2020, the essay observed, “the Black rate exceeded the white rate for the first time.”
本月，美国家庭研究所发表了一篇名为《毒品流行越来越严重》的文章。其中指出，20多年来，因毒品死亡人数的上升几乎没停过，但“在大流行期间吸毒过量尤其出现激增”。在这个时期的大部分时间里，吸毒过量危机主要集中在白人当中，但该文指出，在2020年，“黑人的比例首次超过了白人的比例”。
In October, CNN ran a story titled, “Hate Crime Reports in U.S. Surge to the Highest Level in 12 Years, F.B.I. Says.” The F.B.I. found that between 2019 and 2020 the number of attacks targeting Black people, for example, rose to 2,871 from 1,972.
去年10月，CNN播出了一则报道，题为《联邦调查局称美国的仇恨犯罪报告激增至12年来最高水平》。例如，联邦调查局发现，2019年至2020年期间，针对黑人的袭击从1972起上升到2871起。
The number of gun purchases has soared. In January 2021, more than two million firearms were bought, The Washington Post reported, “an 80 percent year-over-year spike and the third-highest one-month total on record.”
枪支购买量也出现激增。据《华盛顿邮报》报道，2021年1月，美国枪支购买的数量超过200万支，“同比增长80%，是有记录以来单月购买量的第三高。”
As Americans’ hostility toward one another seems to be growing, their care for one another seems to be falling. A study from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy found that the share of Americans who give to charity is steadily declining. In 2000, 66.2 percent of households made a charitable donation. But by 2018 only 49.6 percent did. The share who gave to religious causes dropped as worship service attendance did. But the share of households who gave to secular causes also hit a new low, 42 percent, in 2018.
随着美国人对彼此的敌意似乎在增长，他们对彼此的关心似乎也在下降。印第安纳大学利里家族慈善学院的一项研究发现，美国人的慈善捐款比例正在稳步下降。2000年，66.2%的家庭做了慈善捐赠。但到2018年，只有49.6%的人这么做。对宗教事业捐款的比例随着礼拜仪式出席率的下降而下降。但在2018年，向世俗事业捐款的家庭比例也创下了42%的新低。
This is not even to mention the parts of the deteriorating climate that are hard to quantify — the rise in polarization, hatred, anger and fear. When I went to college, lo these many years ago, I never worried that I might say something in class that would get me ostracized. But now the college students I know fear that one errant sentence could lead to social death. That’s a monumental sea change.
这还不包括整体氛围恶化中难以量化的部分——两极分化、仇恨、愤怒和恐惧的加剧。许多年前，当我上大学的时候，我从来不担心自己在课堂上说的话会让我受到排斥。但现在，我认识的大学生们担心，说错一句话可能会导致社会性死亡。这是一个巨大的变化。
It has to be said that not every trend is bad. Substance use among teenagers, for example, seems to be declining. And a lot of these problems are caused by the presumably temporary stress of the pandemic. I doubt as many people would be punching flight attendants or throwing temper tantrums over cheese if there weren’t mask rules and a deadly virus to worry about.
不得不说，并非所有趋势都是坏的。例如，青少年的毒品使用似乎正在减少。而且这些问题当中，有很多都是由疫情带来的暂时压力造成的。我怀疑，如果没有戴口罩的规定和一种令人担忧的致命病毒，就不会有那么多人殴打空乘或是因为奶酪发脾气。
But something darker and deeper seems to be happening as well — a long-term loss of solidarity, a long-term rise in estrangement and hostility. This is what it feels like to live in a society that is dissolving from the bottom up as much as from the top down.
但一些更黑暗、更深层次的事情似乎也在发生——团结的长期丧失，隔阂与敌意的长期上升。生活在一个自下而上和自上而下都在解体的社会里，就是这样的感觉。
What the hell is going on? The short answer: I don’t know. I also don’t know what’s causing the high rates of depression, suicide and loneliness that dogged Americans even before the pandemic and that are the sad flip side of all the hostility and recklessness I’ve just described.
这到底是怎么回事？一句话：我不知道。我同样不知道是什么导致了抑郁、自杀和孤独感的高发率（这些问题其实在大流行之前就已经困扰着美国人），这是我刚才描述的那些敌意和鲁莽可悲的另一面。
We can round up the usual suspects: social media, rotten politics. When President Donald Trump signaled it was OK to hate marginalized groups, a lot of people were bound to see that as permission.
我们可以归纳出一些常见的嫌疑人：社交媒体、腐败的政治。当唐纳德·特朗普总统表示仇恨边缘化群体也没什么不可以的，很多人肯定会将其视为一种允许。
Some of our poisons must be sociological — the fraying of the social fabric. Last year, Gallup had a report titled, “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time.” In 2019, the Pew Research Center had a report, “U.S. Has World’s Highest Rate of Children Living in Single Parent Households.”
一些有害因素肯定是社会学方面的——社会结构的破裂。去年，盖洛普发表了一份报告，题为《美国教会成员在人口中首次不占多数》。2019年，皮尤研究中心发布了一份报告《美国单亲家庭儿童比例为世界最高》。
And some of the poisons must be cultural. In 2018, The Washington Post had a story headlined, “America Is a Nation of Narcissists, According to Two New Studies.”
一些有害因素肯定是文化上的。2018年，《华盛顿邮报》发表了一篇文章，题为《根据两项新研究，美国是一个自恋狂的国家》。
But there must also be some spiritual or moral problem at the core of this. Over the past several years, and over a wide range of different behaviors, Americans have been acting in fewer pro-social and relational ways and in more antisocial and self-destructive ways. But why?
但在这个问题的核心，肯定也存在着某种精神或道德问题。在过去的几年里，在各种不同的行为中，美国人支持社会、亲近他人越来越少，反社会和自我毁灭越来越多。但这是为什么呢？
As a columnist, I’m supposed to have some answers. But I just don’t right now. I just know the situation is dire.
作为一个专栏作家，我本应有一些答案。但我现在不知道。我只知道情况很糟糕。