A testing of oneself, a fear of giving in to the most banal and marketable of one’s talents, still draws many of the young to New York.
今天仍有许多青年被吸引到纽约来,因为他们想考验一下自己,怕让自己的才能沦为极其平庸而易于上市的商品。
That and, as always, the company of others fleeing something constricting where they came from.
除此之外,还有另外一些为逃避家乡某种束缚的年轻同伴,也总是被吸引到纽约来。
Together these young share a freedom, a community of inexpensive amusements, a casual living, and some rough times.
这些青年们在一起共享自由,同处于一个消费低廉的娱乐区,一起过着自由自在的生活,也共同度过了一些艰难时刻。
It can’t be the living conditions that appeal, for only fond memory will forgive the inconvenience, risk, and squalor.
吸引他们的不可能是纽约的生活条件,因为只有不合实际的乐观回忆才会忘记他们在那儿的生活中所遇到的不便、危险和贫困。
Commercial Broadway may be inaccessible to them, but there is off- Broadway, and then off-off-Broadway.
商业性的百老汇剧院可能不会向他们开门,但还有那些外百老汇剧院和外外百老汇剧院。
If painters disdain Madison Avenue’s plush art galleries, Madison Avenue dealers set up shop in the grubby precincts of Soho.
倘若画家们对麦迪逊大街上那些奢侈豪华的画廊不屑一顾,那些画廊老板们便会在索荷区陋巷之内开设小分店。
But the purity of a bohemian dedication can be exaggerated.
可是?也许是波希米亚式艺术献身的纯洁性被人渲染过甚,
The artistic young inhabit the same Greenwich Village and its fringes in which the experimentalists in the arts lived during the Depression, united by a world against them.
这些年轻艺术家们也住进了格林威治村及其外围地区。那是大萧条时期由于面对一个敌对的世界而团结在一起的一批艺术实验主义者住过的地方。
But the present generation is enough of a subculture to be a source of profitable boutiques and coffeehouses.
但今天的这一代青年艺术家已经形成了一个显著的亚文化群,以至于他们成了一些精品时装和咖啡馆的赚钱对象。
And it is not all that estranged.
他们已不再是那么与世隔绝了。
Manhattan is an island cut off in most respects from mainland America, but in two areas it remains dominant.
曼哈顿是一个在许多方面与美国大陆隔绝的孤岛,但在两个领域内它仍处于支配地位。
It is the banking and the communications headquarters for America.
它是美国金融和通讯的中枢。