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《悉尼晨锋报》Julian Lee
11 August 2011
Stop whingeing, we've got it pretty good here
Julian Lee is Deputy Editor of the National Times.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/stop-whingeing-weve-got-it-pretty-good-here-20110811-1iob6.html
If, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, then these past few days in England have ensured that my love affair with my birth country is well and truly over.
俗语有云，小别胜新婚。但过去几天发生在伦敦的一切却宣告着我与那个生我养我的国家---英国的“恋情”正式结束。
Any vestiges of looking back at it with rose-tinted spectacles have evaporated in the flames of the riots that have rocked the country.
任何有关英国的美好印象全在连日的暴乱中灰飞烟灭。
Selfish, divided, celebrity-obsessed and with a gaping hole where there was once a sense of community – this is the England of today.
现下，英国社会充斥着自私、分裂和追名逐利的浮躁之风，曾经团结一致的社区归属感也出现了裂痕。
It's why more than seven years ago I left those shores for here with my Australian wife in tow. To a country that carried none of the baggage of England, and represented the hope and optimism that all too briefly came and went in the wake of Tony Blair's New Labour revolution.
而这正是我7年前带着澳籍妻子从英国漂洋过海投奔澳洲的原因。因为这个国家卸去了英国所背负的所有重担，带给我的是Tony Blair新工党革命没能守住的、迅速夭折的希望和乐观。
Just as the riots have confirmed to me that English society is deeply flawed, it has also prompted me to reflect on my adopted country and to conclude just how lucky we are.
伦敦暴乱不仅让我确信英国社会存在的深层缺陷，更让我意识到能够生活在澳洲是一件多么幸运的事情。
Not that you'd know it. The collective bleating of Australians who forget just how fortunate they are is almost deafening. Trust me, it takes an Englishman to recognise whingeing when he hears it.
Our economy is the envy of the world, our nation is a peaceful one, unemployment is low, we enjoy some of the highest living standards in the world, and by and large multiculturalism has worked. And yet ...
澳洲经济发展令举世艳羡，我们的政治稳定，失业率低下，生活水准全球名列前茅，多元化社会发展和谐……但澳洲人却显然身在福中不知福，人们多的是喋喋不休的抱怨。
And yet still we complain:
of the hours we work;
of the cost of living and real estate;
of the number of "boat people" who are flocking to "our shores";
of the service we get in shops or the prices we pay for our iPods;
of the traffic jams on our roads or the delays on trains.
And, of course, the insult of not being able to get a good cup of coffee when we venture abroad on our biannual holidays. When such things are considered rights, it is little wonder that we protest so loudly when they are under threat.
工作时间太长，澳洲人怨；
房价和生活成本高，澳洲人怨；
太多的船民涌入“我们的海岸”，澳洲人怨；
商店服务越来越差，iPods价格太贵，澳洲人也怨；
生活成本和房价飞涨，澳洲人更是怨。
口口怨气憋着，连交通也看不顺眼，塞车就罢了，为什么列车也经常晚点？
还有，我们好不容易一年有两次假期出国游玩了，为什么倒霉到连杯咖啡都这么难以入口？
如果这些事情被当成理所当然的权利，那也难怪澳人稍有不顺便要高声抗议。
Were you to search for something to complain about then you would not have to look hard.
To Greece, where a generation of Greeks face rebuilding an entire social order;
to Ireland, where the roar of the Celtic tiger has turned into a whimper;
to Norway, Christchurch, tsunami-wrecked Japan,
and to America, finally coming to terms with the fact that its days as a world leader are over and saddled with an economy that threatens to sit in the doldrums.
And finally to Britain, which has been forced to confront the ugly truth of its social malaise and the hate that has long festered in its society.
放眼全球，比澳洲人更倒霉的比比皆是：
希腊人正面临着重建社会秩序的重任；
爱尔兰人的怒吼也变成了呜咽之声；
挪威、基督城和日本正缓慢而艰难地走出天灾人祸的重击；
美国则面临着其全球经济霸主地位的终结；
而现在英国也被扳过脸来正视社会不满的丑陋事实以及早就暗自疯长的社会仇恨……
I won't even bother to compare the hardships that many in this country believe they are enduring to what is going on in the Horn of Africa, so removed is it from our "world of pain".
The fact is that, far from appreciating what this country has going for it, our default position is to ask for more and moan when we can't get it.
我已懒得将澳洲与索马里或埃塞俄比亚拿来做比较了。所以澳洲人啊，不要再拿你们所谓的痛苦和不满来瞎折腾了！对现有的一切不知感激，还伸手索要更多，一旦欲求不满就开口哀嚎，这不是我们应该做的事情。
That's not to say problems don't exist in this country but let's put these into perspective. This week's riots reminded me of a friend, a correspondent here for an English newspaper, who was sent to report on the riots in Macquarie Fields in Sydney's west. Back at his desk he called his editor in London to report that it was nothing more than a few scuffles, the like of which could be found in any English town after the pubs have closed on a Saturday night. "Well it's trouble in paradise though, isn't it?" was his editor's response.
我并不否认澳洲社会所存在的问题，但不妨换个角度看待这一切。上周的骚乱让我想起了我的一位朋友，他是英国一家报社的通讯员，曾责报道悉尼西区Macquarie Fields的暴动。在回到办公室后，我的这位朋友却向伦敦的编辑部轻描淡写地表示：只不过是小打小闹，这种小事每周六晚都会在很多英国小镇的酒吧里上演。而当时伦敦的编辑部回应称：“所以这只是天堂里的烦恼，不是大事嘛！”
Discourse around how to solve our country's problems is centred usually on the "me" rather than the "us" and is increasingly conducted against a backdrop of shrill tones of outrage by maniacal radio hosts and tabloid headlines.
在解决各种问题时，澳人关注的是“我”而不是“我们”，且越来越容易被语出惊人的电台主持人和小报的头条新闻激起万丈怒火。
I am deeply suspicious of people who continually raise the catch cry of "fair go" in defence of this nation. It is nothing more than a safety blanket for a culture that knows it is no more a true reflection of Australia today thanJohn Bull and the Blitz is of England in 2011.
我很怀疑这么多人成天叫嚷着 “社会公平”真的是为了捍卫澳洲的利益吗？
I make these points because I care and because, like many others who find themselves lucky enough to live here, are able to value what we have by looking at what we left behind. Unfortunately, I fear many Australians have lost the ability for self-analysis, assuming they had it in the first place.
我阐述这些观点是因为我在乎，是因为和其他发现自己很幸运的澳人一样，我能珍惜现有的一切和已被我们抛诸脑后的一切。不幸的是，恐怕很多澳人已经失去了自我分析能力---如果他们曾经有的话。
At the risk of taking liberties with Donald Horne's oft-quoted line, this week more than any should remind us just how lucky we are.
一句话，上周发生在伦敦的一切应该让我们对Donald Horne那句广为人知的名言体会更深：澳洲是幸运之邦。
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