Radio and television exhibit another element of this yearning for laziness: the idea of "push-button power";
广播和电视反映着这种追求懒散思想的另一方面,即"键钮万能"的思想。
by pushing a button, or turning a knob on my machine, I have the power to produce music, speeches, ball games, and on the television set, to command events of the world to appear before my eyes.
只需按一下按键,或拧一下旋钮,就可以播放出音乐、讲话、球赛实况,或是在电视机上将世界大事收之于眼前。
The pleasure of driving cars certainly rests partly upon this same satisfaction of the wish for push-button power.
驾驶汽车使人感到愉快,其部分的原因就是由于键钮万能的理想的实现所带来的满足感。
By the effortless pushing of a button, a powerful machine is set in motion; little skill and effort are needed to make the driver feel that he is the ruler of space.
只需轻轻一按按钮,便能发动一台大功率的发动机,驾车人无需掌握什么技艺,付出任何努力,便能体会到当空间的主宰的滋味。
But there is far more serious and deep-seated reaction to the meaninglessness and boredom of work.
然而,劳动变得毫无意义而且令人厌烦之后所带来的另一种结果却还要严重而根深蒂固得多。
It is a hostility toward work which is much less conscious than our craving for laziness and inactivity.
这就是对劳动的敌对心理。这种心理远不如追求懒散无为那样容易被人们意识到。
Many a businessman feels himself the prisoner of his business and the commodities he sells; he has a feeling of fraudulency about his product and a secret contempt for it.
许多商人觉得自己变成了自己所经营的企业及其所出售的商品的俘虏;他感觉到自己所售商品有骗人的味道,并从内心里蔑视它们。
He hates his customers, who force him to put up a show in order to sell.
他憎恨顾客,因为是他们迫使他弄虚作假来促销商品;
He hates his competitors because they are a threat; his employees as well as his superiors, because he is in a constant competitive fight with them.
他憎恨竞争对手,因为他们对他构成威胁;他憎恨自己的顾员和上司,因为他与他们永远处于一种互相倾轧的明争暗斗状况。
Most important of all, he hates himself, because he sees his life passing by, without making any sense beyond the momentary intoxication of success.
但他最为痛恨的还是他自己,因为他眼见着自己的有生之年,除了赢利而带来一时陶醉之外,都在毫无意义地白白流逝。
Of course, this hate and contempt for others and for oneself, and for the very things one produces, is mainly unconscious,
当然,这种对他人、对自己以及对自己的产品所怀有的憎恨和轻蔑,多半是无意识的,
and only occasionally comes up to awareness in a fleeting thought, which is sufficiently disturbing to be set aside as quickly as possible.
只是偶尔上升到意识中来,但也因憎怒过甚而一闪而过。
(from A Rhetorical Reader, Invention and Design,by Forrest D. Burt and E. Cleve Want)
(摘自福里斯特D伯特和E克利夫万特《修辞读物发明与设计》)