The land of the lock
1. Years ago in American, it was customary for families to leave their doors unlocked, day and night. In this essay, Greene regrets that people can no longer trust each other and have to resort to elaborate security system to protect themselves and their valuables.Although the author is writing his opinion, he uses many examples to reinforce his ideas and to prove his thesis.
几年前在美国，许多美国家庭的门通常都是日夜不上锁的。在本文中，格林遗憾地指出人们已经不再彼此信任，不得不求助于各种复杂的安全设备来保护自身及其贵重物品。作者在提出自己观点的同时，举出了大量的事例来证实和强调自己的观点；
2. In the house where i grow up, it was our custom to leave the front door on the latch at night. I don't know if that was a local term or if is universal;"on the latch"meant the door was closed but not locked . None of us carried keys the last one in for the evening would close up,and that was it. 在我长大成人的家里，我们的习惯是晚上把前门闩上。我不知道这是个地区用语还是普遍的说法；“闩着门”的意思是关着门但却不上锁。我们都不带钥匙；晚上最后进来的人会把门关上，如此而巳。
3 .Those days are over. In rural areas as well as in cities, doors do not stay unlocked,even for part of an evening.
那样的日子已经一去不复返了。现在不管是城市还是乡村，门不再是不上锁了，甚至天一黑门就要上锁。
4 .Suburbs and country areas are, in many ways, even more vulnerable thanwell-patrolled urban streets. Statistic show the crime rate rising more dramatically in those allegedly tranquil areas than in cities. At any rate, the era of leaving the front door on the latch is over.
郊区及乡村地区在很多方面比巡视得很严密的城市街道还要容易出事。统计数字表明在那些据称是平静的地区，犯罪率的上升较之城市还要显著。不管怎么说，晚上闩着前门的日子已经结束了。
5. It has been replaced by locks , security chains, electronic alarm system and trip wires hooked up to a police station or private guard firm. Many suburban families have sliding glass doors on their patios,with steel bars elegantly built in so no one can pry the doors open.
门闩已经被锁，安全链、电子报警系统以及与警局或私人保镖公司相连的报警线所取代，许多郊区家庭在庭院里都装有滑动的玻璃门，很别致地装有暗藏的钢闩，这样就没人能橇开门了。
6. It is not uncommon, in the most pleasant of homes, to see pasted on the windows decals announcing that the premises are under surveillance by this
security force or that guard company.
这很正常，在很多漂亮的家里，经常能见到窗户上张贴着图案显示本宅受某保安部队
或某保镖公司的监护。
7. The lock is a new symbol of American. Indeed ,a recent public-service advertisement by a large insurance company featured not actuarial charts but a picture of a child's bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it.
锁是美国的新的象征。确实．最新的一家保险公司的公益广告显示的不是数据表格而是一幅画，画面上有一辆儿童自行车，其上挂着—把现在常见的挂锁。
8 The ad pointed out that,yes,it is the insurance companies that pay for stolen goods, but who is going to pay for what the new atmosphere of distrust and fear is doing to our way of life?who is going to make the psychic payment for the transformation of American from the land of the free to the land of the lock？ 诚然，广告显示的是保险公司会为你失窃的东西负责，但是又有谁会补偿这种不信任和恐惧的气氛给我们生活方式带来的改变呢，谁来补偿美国由自由大陆转变为上锁的大陆所造成的心理损失呢？
9 For that is what has happened.We have bcome so used to defending ourselves against the new atmosphere of America life,so used to putting up barriers,that we have not had time to think about what it may mean.
情况就是这样。我们已经非常习惯于保护自己不受美国生活新气氛的影响，习惯于围起屏障，却没有时间去考虑这一切意味着什么。
10 For some reason we are statisfied when we think we are well protected; it does not occur to us to ask ourselves: Why has this happened? Why are we having to barricade ourslves against our neighbors and fellow citizens,and when,exactly,did this start to take over our lives?
出干某种原因，当我们受到良好的保护时，我们自会心满意足；却从没想过问问自己：为什么会这样，为什么一定要在我们自己与邻居和同胞之间设立屏障呢，而且，我们的生活受制于这一现象，究竟是从何时开始的呢?
11 And it has taken over.If you work for a medium-to large-size company, chances are that you don’t just wander in and out of work.You probably carry some kind of acccess card, electronic or otherwise,that allows in and out of your place of work.Maybe the front guard of the desk knows your face and will wave you in most days,but the fact remains that the business you work for feels threatened enough to keep outsiders away via these“keys”.
的确这一现象已经控制了我们的生活。如果你在—家大中型公司工作，你很有可能不能随便出入公司。你可能要携带某种电子或非电子的出入卡，才能进出工作单位。也许前台的保安认识你，平时挥挥手就让你进去了，但是事实仍然是你所供职的单位觉得受到了威胁，要通过这样一些“钥匙”挡住外来者。
12 It wasn’t always like this.Even a decade ago,most private businesses had a policy of free access.It simply didn’t occur to managers that the proper thing to do was to distrust people.
在过去是不曾这样的。就在10年前，大多数私人企业都是允许自由出入的。经理们从没想过怀疑别人是正常行为。
13 Look at the airports. Parents used to take children out to to departure gates to watch planes land and take off. That’s all gone. Airports are no longer a place of aducation and fun; they are the most sophisticated of security sites.
看看机场吧。过去父母经常带着孩子们到出站口去看飞机降落和起飞。这样的日子已经一去不复返了。机场不再是教育和娱乐的地方，而是高精尖的安全营地。
14 With electronic X-ray equipment,we seem finally to have figure out a way to hold the terrorists,real and imagined,at bay;it was such a relief to slove this problem that we did not think much about what a state of affairs about the quality of our lives.We now pass through these electronic friskers without so much as a sideway glance; the machines and what they stand for have won.
通过x 光设备，我们似乎最终找到了遏制真实的和想象中的恐怖分子的办法；解决这样的问题使我们松了一口气，以至于我们不去考虑这种情况对我们的生活质量意味着什么。我们现在无需侧目而视地通过电子检测仪；机器以及他们所代表的东西取得了胜利。
15 Businessmen, in increasing numbers, are purchasing new machines that hook up to the telephone and analyze a caller’s voice.The machines are supposed to tell the businessman,with a small margin of error,whether his friend or client is telling lies. 越来越多的商人都在购买一种新型机器，它与电话机连在一起就能分析出打电话者的声音。人们认为这种设备能在很小的误差范围内，判断出他的朋友或客户是否在撒谎.
16 All this in being done in the name of“security”;that ia what we tell ourselves.We are fearful ,and so we devise ways to lock the fear out,and that, we decide,is what security means.
所有这一切都是以“安全”的名义进行的；我们对自己就是这么告诫的。我们恐惧，因此我们想出办法把恐惧锁在外面，我们认为，这样就安全。
17 But no;with all this“security”,we are the most insecure nation in the history of civilized man. What better words to describe the way in which we have been forced to live? What sadder reflection on that we have become in this new and puzzling time?
恰恰相反。尽管有了所有这种“安全”，我们也许是人类文明史上最不安全的国度。有什么更好的词来形容强加于我们的这种生活方式呢，如何才能更好地谴责我们在这新潮而又令人迷惘的时代中的遭遇呢?
18 We trust no one.Suburban housewivs wear rape whistles on their station wagon key chains.We have become so smart about self-protection that,in the end,we have all outsmarted ourselves.We may have locked the evils out,but in so doing we have locked ourselves in.
我们不相信任何人。我们已经如此精于自我保护，以至于最终聪明反被聪明误。我
们也许把邪恶锁在了外面，但与此同时，我们也把自己锁在了里面。
19. That may be legacy we remember best when we book back on this age: in dealing with the unseen horrors among us, we become prisoners of ourselves. All of us prisoners ,in this time of our troubles.
回首这一时代，留给我们最清楚的记忆就是：在对付我们人与人之间的无形恐怖时，我们成了自己的囚徒。我们所有的人，都成了这个多事之秋的囚徒。
The land of the lock
1. Years ago in American, it was customary for families to leave their doors unlocked, day and night. In this essay, Greene regrets that people can no longer trust each other and have to resort to elaborate security system to protect themselves and their valuables.Although the author is writing his opinion, he uses many examples to reinforce his ideas and to prove his thesis.
几年前在美国，许多美国家庭的门通常都是日夜不上锁的。在本文中，格林遗憾地指出人们已经不再彼此信任，不得不求助于各种复杂的安全设备来保护自身及其贵重物品。作者在提出自己观点的同时，举出了大量的事例来证实和强调自己的观点；
2. In the house where i grow up, it was our custom to leave the front door on the latch at night. I don't know if that was a local term or if is universal;"on the latch"meant the door was closed but not locked . None of us carried keys the last one in for the evening would close up,and that was it. 在我长大成人的家里，我们的习惯是晚上把前门闩上。我不知道这是个地区用语还是普遍的说法；“闩着门”的意思是关着门但却不上锁。我们都不带钥匙；晚上最后进来的人会把门关上，如此而巳。
3 .Those days are over. In rural areas as well as in cities, doors do not stay unlocked,even for part of an evening.
那样的日子已经一去不复返了。现在不管是城市还是乡村，门不再是不上锁了，甚至天一黑门就要上锁。
4 .Suburbs and country areas are, in many ways, even more vulnerable thanwell-patrolled urban streets. Statistic show the crime rate rising more dramatically in those allegedly tranquil areas than in cities. At any rate, the era of leaving the front door on the latch is over.
郊区及乡村地区在很多方面比巡视得很严密的城市街道还要容易出事。统计数字表明在那些据称是平静的地区，犯罪率的上升较之城市还要显著。不管怎么说，晚上闩着前门的日子已经结束了。
5. It has been replaced by locks , security chains, electronic alarm system and trip wires hooked up to a police station or private guard firm. Many suburban families have sliding glass doors on their patios,with steel bars elegantly built in so no one can pry the doors open.
门闩已经被锁，安全链、电子报警系统以及与警局或私人保镖公司相连的报警线所取代，许多郊区家庭在庭院里都装有滑动的玻璃门，很别致地装有暗藏的钢闩，这样就没人能橇开门了。
6. It is not uncommon, in the most pleasant of homes, to see pasted on the windows decals announcing that the premises are under surveillance by this
security force or that guard company.
这很正常，在很多漂亮的家里，经常能见到窗户上张贴着图案显示本宅受某保安部队
或某保镖公司的监护。
7. The lock is a new symbol of American. Indeed ,a recent public-service advertisement by a large insurance company featured not actuarial charts but a picture of a child's bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it.
锁是美国的新的象征。确实．最新的一家保险公司的公益广告显示的不是数据表格而是一幅画，画面上有一辆儿童自行车，其上挂着—把现在常见的挂锁。
8 The ad pointed out that,yes,it is the insurance companies that pay for stolen goods, but who is going to pay for what the new atmosphere of distrust and fear is doing to our way of life?who is going to make the psychic payment for the transformation of American from the land of the free to the land of the lock？ 诚然，广告显示的是保险公司会为你失窃的东西负责，但是又有谁会补偿这种不信任和恐惧的气氛给我们生活方式带来的改变呢，谁来补偿美国由自由大陆转变为上锁的大陆所造成的心理损失呢？
9 For that is what has happened.We have bcome so used to defending ourselves against the new atmosphere of America life,so used to putting up barriers,that we have not had time to think about what it may mean.
情况就是这样。我们已经非常习惯于保护自己不受美国生活新气氛的影响，习惯于围起屏障，却没有时间去考虑这一切意味着什么。
10 For some reason we are statisfied when we think we are well protected; it does not occur to us to ask ourselves: Why has this happened? Why are we having to barricade ourslves against our neighbors and fellow citizens,and when,exactly,did this start to take over our lives?
出干某种原因，当我们受到良好的保护时，我们自会心满意足；却从没想过问问自己：为什么会这样，为什么一定要在我们自己与邻居和同胞之间设立屏障呢，而且，我们的生活受制于这一现象，究竟是从何时开始的呢?
11 And it has taken over.If you work for a medium-to large-size company, chances are that you don’t just wander in and out of work.You probably carry some kind of acccess card, electronic or otherwise,that allows in and out of your place of work.Maybe the front guard of the desk knows your face and will wave you in most days,but the fact remains that the business you work for feels threatened enough to keep outsiders away via these“keys”.
的确这一现象已经控制了我们的生活。如果你在—家大中型公司工作，你很有可能不能随便出入公司。你可能要携带某种电子或非电子的出入卡，才能进出工作单位。也许前台的保安认识你，平时挥挥手就让你进去了，但是事实仍然是你所供职的单位觉得受到了威胁，要通过这样一些“钥匙”挡住外来者。
12 It wasn’t always like this.Even a decade ago,most private businesses had a policy of free access.It simply didn’t occur to managers that the proper thing to do was to distrust people.
在过去是不曾这样的。就在10年前，大多数私人企业都是允许自由出入的。经理们从没想过怀疑别人是正常行为。
13 Look at the airports. Parents used to take children out to to departure gates to watch planes land and take off. That’s all gone. Airports are no longer a place of aducation and fun; they are the most sophisticated of security sites.
看看机场吧。过去父母经常带着孩子们到出站口去看飞机降落和起飞。这样的日子已经一去不复返了。机场不再是教育和娱乐的地方，而是高精尖的安全营地。
14 With electronic X-ray equipment,we seem finally to have figure out a way to hold the terrorists,real and imagined,at bay;it was such a relief to slove this problem that we did not think much about what a state of affairs about the quality of our lives.We now pass through these electronic friskers without so much as a sideway glance; the machines and what they stand for have won.
通过x 光设备，我们似乎最终找到了遏制真实的和想象中的恐怖分子的办法；解决这样的问题使我们松了一口气，以至于我们不去考虑这种情况对我们的生活质量意味着什么。我们现在无需侧目而视地通过电子检测仪；机器以及他们所代表的东西取得了胜利。
15 Businessmen, in increasing numbers, are purchasing new machines that hook up to the telephone and analyze a caller’s voice.The machines are supposed to tell the businessman,with a small margin of error,whether his friend or client is telling lies. 越来越多的商人都在购买一种新型机器，它与电话机连在一起就能分析出打电话者的声音。人们认为这种设备能在很小的误差范围内，判断出他的朋友或客户是否在撒谎.
16 All this in being done in the name of“security”;that ia what we tell ourselves.We are fearful ,and so we devise ways to lock the fear out,and that, we decide,is what security means.
所有这一切都是以“安全”的名义进行的；我们对自己就是这么告诫的。我们恐惧，因此我们想出办法把恐惧锁在外面，我们认为，这样就安全。
17 But no;with all this“security”,we are the most insecure nation in the history of civilized man. What better words to describe the way in which we have been forced to live? What sadder reflection on that we have become in this new and puzzling time?
恰恰相反。尽管有了所有这种“安全”，我们也许是人类文明史上最不安全的国度。有什么更好的词来形容强加于我们的这种生活方式呢，如何才能更好地谴责我们在这新潮而又令人迷惘的时代中的遭遇呢?
18 We trust no one.Suburban housewivs wear rape whistles on their station wagon key chains.We have become so smart about self-protection that,in the end,we have all outsmarted ourselves.We may have locked the evils out,but in so doing we have locked ourselves in.
我们不相信任何人。我们已经如此精于自我保护，以至于最终聪明反被聪明误。我
们也许把邪恶锁在了外面，但与此同时，我们也把自己锁在了里面。
19. That may be legacy we remember best when we book back on this age: in dealing with the unseen horrors among us, we become prisoners of ourselves. All of us prisoners ,in this time of our troubles.
回首这一时代，留给我们最清楚的记忆就是：在对付我们人与人之间的无形恐怖时，我们成了自己的囚徒。我们所有的人，都成了这个多事之秋的囚徒。