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What is ultimately most worrisome is not that a lot of old people have to stand on buses but that all of the millions of individual instances of self-absorption threaten to undermine the American tradition of generosity that historically has characterized us as a people. There is a shocking lack of compassion in the land for the unemployed and underprivileged, even among their traditional defenders.
最让人担心的并不是很多老年人得站在公交车上，而是那些数以百万计的只关心自我的个例可能正侵蚀着美国人慷慨的传统，而这传统在历史上曾是我们这个民族的特点之所在。在这片土地上，对失业族和贫困阶层缺乏关爱已经达到了令人震惊的地步，甚至在那些传统上一直维护他们的人群中也是如此。
What is particularly curious about all of this is that there is a good deal more warmth in the air now than ever before. Every time we dial Information, some operator tells us to have a good day; "Have a Coke and a smile," recommends one electronic voice; "Reach out, reach out and touch someone," advises another. It is almost as if the reduction to ad copy of expressions of human need has rendered us less capable of responding to others at all. Incessantly bombarded by platitudes, we simply don't listen so well anymore or see so clearly or, finally, feel so deeply.
让这一切显得尤其怪异的是，表面的气氛倒是比以前多了很多温情。每次我们拨打问讯处，某个话务员就会祝我们一天愉快，“喝杯可乐笑一笑”，一个电子声音提议；“伸出手臂，伸出手臂，伸出你的援助之手，”另一个声音建议。把人类的需求简化成广告噱头，这似乎已使我们难以再回应他人的需求。被陈词滥调一刻不停地轰炸，我们听得就不那么认真了，看得就不那么清晰了；到头来，感受也没有那么深刻了。
It is, to be sure, a grim picture, and there is little reason to believe it will soon change. So we are left with our conscience, each of us having to choose whether we will, in fact, reach out and touch someone or simply continue to look out for ourselves.
这肯定是一幅可怕的图景，而且也没多少理由能相信很快会有改变。所以我们只剩下良知与我们做伴，每个人都必须选择，我们是真的主动伸出手去帮助别人，还是继续关注自己。
Those who choose right can do an inestimable amount of good -- can, indeed, set even cynical strangers to speculating on the possibilities of the human heart.
那些做出正确选择的人能够带来不可估量的好处——实际上，甚至可以让愤世嫉俗的陌生人感到人心或许尚存。
