美國(guó)的象征之一——國(guó)旗

 

One of our great symbols is the American flag,13 red and white stripes corresponding to the number of original stats on a rectangular piece of color, one corner blue with 50 white stars for 50 states.

美國(guó)的象征之一是國(guó)旗，長(zhǎng)方形布上13道紅白相間的條紋表示美國(guó)原來的州數(shù)，藍(lán)色一角上印著的50顆白星代表50個(gè)州。

The color of our flag and the numbers of stars and stripes are ordained, but there is no rule regarding dimension. There are tiny flags on sticks made in China. This grand flag is so big on a building in New York that it had to be continued around the corner.

美國(guó)國(guó)旗的顏色、星星的數(shù)目、橫條都是規(guī)定好了的，但尺寸大小就沒有限制。也有中國(guó)制造的小簽國(guó)旗。紐約一棟大樓外的國(guó)旗巨大得要轉(zhuǎn)彎接著掛起。

Everyone wants to be associated with the flag. America and Yale, America and Episcopalians, America and J.P.Morgan, America and Maxell, America and the Ritz Tower.

人人都想跟國(guó)旗扯上關(guān)系：美國(guó)和耶魯、美國(guó)和圣公會(huì)教徒、美國(guó)和摩根、美國(guó)和萬勝、美國(guó)和麗晶大廈。

There are inevitably people who are more anxious to appear patriotic than to be patriotic. They treat a fine line between patriotism and commerce. The flag is everywhere in close proximity to a business interest. It sells shoes and shoe repair, women's dresses. The American flag invites diners to foreign restaurants, Japanese, Italian, even Afghan.

難免也有人擺出愛國(guó)姿態(tài)而非真正愛國(guó)。他們?cè)趷蹏?guó)主義和商業(yè)間徘徊。隨處可見對(duì)國(guó)旗感興趣的商家：賣鞋和修鞋的，女士的裙子。美國(guó)國(guó)旗吸引顧客到外國(guó)餐館用餐――日本餐館、意大利餐館、甚至阿富汗餐館。

There is an official flag code but it is routinely ignored. It is not to be used as a awning or a canopy or plastered to the hood of a car. The code says the American flag is not to be used as decorative clothing. Some find it irresistibly fashionable though and we are more amused than they.

政府有國(guó)旗用法的規(guī)定,但常給人們忽視了：國(guó)旗不能拿來當(dāng)餐布、不能做遮篷、檐篷或汽車貼條。美國(guó)國(guó)旗按規(guī)定是不能用來設(shè)計(jì)服裝的――有些人卻覺得難以抵制此誘惑，我們比他們還更樂在其中。