There are rough fly three New York. There is ,first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter-the city that city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third ,there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last-the city of final destination, the city that is a goal .It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetical department, its dedication to the arts ,and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidarity and continuity, but the settlers, natives give it solidarity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors ,or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart ,it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love ,each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.
turbulence n. 骚乱,动荡,紊乱
commuter n. 通勤者,经常往返者
poetical adj. 诗的,理想化的
manuscript n. 手稿,原稿
译文
三个纽约
世上大致有三个纽约。首先，是当地人的纽约，他们想当然地把它看作是巨在和骚乱七八糟的城市是很自然的，不可避免的。其次，是在纽约办公而住在郊外的人的纽约—— 一个白天被蝗虫吞食而晚上遭诅咒的城市。再次，是生长在别处而来纽约谋生的人的纽约。这三个令人焦虑的城市，要算第三个最伟大—— 一个作为最终目标的城市。因为有了这三个纽约，才有那紧凑的安排，理想的举止，才有它对艺术的奉献，以及那无与伦比的成就。办公者给纽约带来的是潮汐的不平静，本地人给予的是整体性和持续性，而移居者带来的则是刺激。无论是来自贫民区开食品杂货店的意大利农民，还是为了逃避领居们无理监视而离开密西西比小镇的姑娘，或是从玉米地来的，提箱中放着手稿，内心充满面痛苦的男孩，这都没关系。他们各自用初恋的狂热紧紧拥抱纽约，以冒险家的新鲜眼光把纽约尽收眼底，各自发出光和热，使爱迪生联合电气公司相形见绌。
