The fact that theme parks and bowling alleys have been conspicuous victims of the economic shutdown has underscored how popular they remain. Disney World’s winning struggle to reopen in plague-ridden Florida this month was a major economic event. Fast food, another 1950s signature, is similarly pre-eminent, and the coronavirus has re-emphasised its most iconic form, the hamburger served to the car-window. McDonald’s, America’s favourite restaurant now as then, collected 70% of its revenues from drive-thrus even before the pandemic made them more popular.
主题公园和保龄球馆一直是经济衰退的明显受害者，这一事实凸显了它们仍然很受欢迎。本月，迪士尼世界在疫情肆虐的佛罗里达州重新开放，这是一个重大的经济事件。快餐是另一个20世纪50年代的标志，而冠状病毒再次强调了快餐具有标志性的形式，即车窗上的汉堡。麦当劳是美国最受欢迎的餐厅，疫情使它更受欢迎，而在这之前，其70%的收入都来自于外卖车道。
Pent up in suburbia, where a third of Americans lived in 1960 and over half live today, families have been rediscovering the 1950s combination of board games before the kids go to bed and cocktails afterwards (and sometimes before; unless that is a British version). Sales of Scrabble—patented in 1948—and liquor are through the roof. With flying not advised, many are also taking vintage holidays. Lexington is currently on a family road-trip in New England, an undertaking synonymous with the 1950s, which also helps explain why the decade’s culture is so enduring.
在1960年，有三分之一的美国人生活在郊区，而现在有超过一半的人生活在郊区，这些家庭重新找到了20世纪50年代的生活方式，在孩子们睡觉前玩棋盘游戏，然后喝鸡尾酒（有时也在孩子睡觉前；除非是英国版本）。拼字游戏（1948年获得专利）以及烈性酒的销量暴涨。尽管不建议乘坐飞机，许多人也在度假。列克星顿的专栏作家目前正在新英格兰进行家庭自驾游，这也是20世纪50年代人们经常做的事，这也有助于解释这十年期的文化为何经久不衰。
Millions made for America’s beaches and parks back then, because they suddenly had the means to do so: 1950 was the first year the average household owned a car. The country’s two most famous bears, Smokey, a wildfire-orphaned cub who became a sensation in 1950, and Yogi, who hit televisions in 1958, were also alluring. And whereas citizens of drearier rich countries have been liberated by foreign holidays, Americans’ vast backyard remains too wonderful to be supplanted. Americans are much less likely to travel abroad than rich Asians or Europeans—not only, or mostly, because they are afraid to, but because they don’t need to.
当时，数百万人前往美国的海滩和公园，这是因为他们突然有了做这件事情的途径：1950年，普通家庭第一年拥有汽车。1950年轰动一时的防火护林熊Smokey和1958年上电视的Yogi，这两只美国最著名的熊也同样魅力四射。尽管这些富裕但无聊的国家的民众们通过出国度假获得了解放，但是美国国内也十分美妙，无可取代。相较于富裕的亚洲人或者欧洲人，美国人很少出国旅游，不仅因为他们害怕，而且他们也不需要。
This rationale has helped preserve the recreational culture of the 1950s. It is especially evident in the state parks that have provided an alternative to shuttered pools this summer.Generally smaller, more accessible and more crowded than national parks, many were converted from forestry land around the 1950s. And they retain, with their roped-off swimming lakes and pedalos, a distinctive mid-century feel. After a summer of surveying America from such vintage vantages, your columnist has these reflections.
这一理论有助于保护20世纪50年代的休闲文化。尤其是今年夏天，去州立公园替代了关闭的游泳池，成了人们更好的选择。一般来说，州立公园比国家公园更小，更容易进入，也更拥挤，许多公园是在20世纪50年代从林地改建而来的。在这些公园中有被围起来的游湖和脚踏船，保留了一种独特的中世纪的感觉。在这个夏天，列克星顿的专栏作家从这样一个古老的视角审视美国之后，有了这些思考。
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