A History of American People 1

Part 1: A City on a Hill

这本书要讨论的三个基本问题，也是所有国家历史会面临的三个基本问题

P3

First, can a nation rise above the justices of its origins and by its moral purpose and performance, atone for them?

The second question provides the key to the first. In the process of nation-building, can ideals and altruism——the desire to build the perfect community——be mixed successfully with acquisitiveness and ambition, without which no dynamic society can be built at all? Have the Americans got the mixture right? Have they forged a nation where righteousness has the edge to over the needful self-interest? 

Thirdly, the Americans originally aimed to build an other-wordly 'City on a hill', but found themselves designing a republic of the people, to be a model for the entire planet. Have they made good their audacious claims? Have they indeed proved exemplars for humanity? And will they continue to be so in the new millennium?

P12

作者对典型美国人特征的理解

Ralegh (Humphrey Gilbert 在接受Hakluyt的挑战，代表英伊丽莎白女王向太平洋西北方向开拓殖民地途中，因风浪遇难，Ralegh是同去的5艘船之一的船主，也是其继任者）was, in a sense, a proto-American. He had certain strongly marked characteristics which were to be associated with the American Archetype. He was energetic, brash, hugely ambitious, money-conscious, none too scrupulous, far sighted and ahead of his time, with a passion for the new and, not least, a streak of idealism which clashed violently with his overweening desire to get on and make a fortune. 

为什么女王钟意他

What made her single him out from the crowd of smart-looking gallants who jostled for attention was his sheer brain-power and his grasp of new, especially scientific knowledge.

这话写当时那种男人们争宠真是看着简直像武则天呢

这个人总的来说就是出身好，没有钱，长得帅，脑筋快。好学又雄辩，靠称量烟草产生的烟的重量的这种小科学戏码获得了女王的欢心

man of action 实干家