Narrator: Listen to part of the lecture in a United States history class.

旁白：听一个美国历史的讲座。

Professor: It's interesting how much we can learn about culture in the United States by looking at how Christopher Columbus has been portrayed throughout United States' history.

纵观美国历史上对克里斯托弗·哥伦布的描绘， 我们可以了解到很多关于美国文化的知识，这很有趣。

So let's start at the beginning.

好，我们从头开始。

Columbus' ships first landed in a... landed in the Caribbean.

哥伦布的船只第一次登陆在加勒比海地区。

There's some debate about which island.

关于登陆在哪座岛屿有一些争论。

He landed in 1492, but it wasn't until 300 years later in 1792 that his landing was first commemorated.

他在1492年登陆，但是直到300年之后的1792年，才第一次纪念了他的登陆。

And this was the brainchild of John Pintard.

这是约翰宾塔的功劳。

Pintard was a wealthy New Yorker, the founder of the New York Historical Society.

宾塔是一个富有的纽约人，他是纽约历史协会的创始人。

And he decided to use his influence and wealth to find a great hero, a patron for the young country.

他决定用自己的财富和影响力去寻找一位伟大的英雄，一个保护这个年轻国家的人。

And he chose Columbus.

他选择了哥伦布。

And in New York, in 1792, the anniversary of Columbus's landing was commemorated for the first time.

1972年在纽约首次纪念了哥伦布登陆纪念日。

Now, other cities, uh, Philadelphia and Baltimore followed. And...

现在，其他城市，额，费城和巴尔的摩也紧随其后。然后……

Student: But why Columbus?

学生：但是为什么是哥伦布？

And why then?

为什么是那个时间？

Professor: Well, to Pintard it was a way to build patriotism in the young, politically fractured country.

教授：对宾塔而言，这是在一个年轻而又政治上支离破碎的国家建立爱国主义的一种方式。

Remember, the United States had only declared its independence from Britain 16 years earlier, and had yet to form a national identity.

记住，美国在此前16年才宣布从英国独立，还没有形成民族认同感。

Pintard also had a hand in helping to create Independence Day, you know, July 4th, as a national holiday.

宾塔还帮助创立了独立日，你知道的，7月4日，使它成为一个国家法定节日。

So you see that he was very involved in creating sort of a national story for Americans.

因此，你们可以看到他很积极的参与创造美国故事。

And Columbus, he felt Columbus could become a story that Americans could tell each other about their national origins that was outside of the British colonial context.

他觉得哥伦布可以成为一个故事，一个美国人可以告诉彼此关于他们民族起源的故事， 而这个故事脱离了英国殖民背景

The United States was in search of a national identity.

美国在寻求一个民族认同。

And its people wanted heroes.

美国人民想要他们的英雄。

Student: But why not some of the leaders of the revolution?

学生：但是，为什么不是一些革命的领导？

You know, like George Washington.

你知道，像乔治华盛顿那样的革命领导。

Professor: The leaders of the revolution were the natural candidates to be heroes, but many were still alive and didn't want the job.

革命的领导者们是成为英雄的天然候选人，但许多人还活着，不想接受这份责任

To them, being raised to hero status was undemocratic.

对他们而言，被提升至英雄的地位是不民主的。

So Columbus became the hero.

因此，哥伦布成了英雄。

And the link between Columbus and the United States took hold.

哥伦布与美国的联系就开始了。

Student: And so what was that link?

学生：什么联系？

Professor: Well, Columbus was portrayed as entrepreneurial, someone who took chances, who took risks, and he was cast as somebody who was opposed to the rule of kings and queens.

哥伦布被描绘成有开拓精神的人，一个敢于冒险、勇于冒险的人，他被塑造成一个反对国王和王后统治的人

Perhaps most of all, Columbus was portrayed as someone who was destined to accomplish things, just as America in those early years was coming to see itself as having a great destiny.

或者最重要的是，哥伦布被描述为注定有所作为的人，就像美国在早期就看到自己的伟大命运一样。

Student: But Columbus was supported by the king and queen of Spain.

学生：但是哥伦布受到西班牙国王和王后的支持，

He wasn't against them.

他没有反对他们。

Professor: True. To be historically accurate, the way Pintard thought about Columbus doesn't match up with the facts of his life at all.

教授：确实。从历史准确的角度讲，宾塔所认为的哥伦布和他的事实情况并不相符。

And I really have to stress this: the fact that Columbus became the hero of a young country had little to do with Columbus, anything he did, and a lot to do with what was happening in the United States 300 years later.

我要强调这一点：哥伦布成为一个年轻国家的英雄和他做了什么关系不大，但是和300年后美国发生了什么很有关系。

Columbus was extraordinarily adaptable to the purposes of America's nation builders, people like John Pintard in the early part of the 19th century.

哥伦布非常适应美国建设者的目的，就像19世纪初的约翰宾塔。

And since not a lot of facts were known about Columbus, because writings weren't available in North America until... until 1816.

很多关于哥伦布的事情不为大家所知因为直到1816年北美才有相关著作。

That might have actually helped the process of adapting him to American purposes.

这确实可能帮助了哥伦布更好的适应美国的目的。

Student: Since no one knew much about the real Columbus, it was easy to invent a mythical one?

学生：鉴于没人知道真正的哥伦布，就很容易创造一个传奇人物？

Professor: Exactly. And this mythical Columbus, it became a reflection of the society which chose him.

教授：确切的说，这个传奇般的哥伦布，他成了反映选择他的社会的代表。

So in the early history of the United States, Columbus represented an escape from the political institutions of Europe.

因此，在美国早期的历史中，哥伦布成了逃离欧洲政治统治的一种象征。

He was the solitary individual who challenged the unknown.

他是一个孤独的人，他敢于挑战未知。

And now there was this new democracy, this new country in a world without Kings.

现在有了新的民主，没有国王的新的民主国家。

Columbus became sort of the mythical founder of the country.

哥伦布成为这个国家传奇般的创始人。

So as historians, we wouldn't want to study these myths about Columbus and mistake them for facts about Columbus.

因此，作为历史学家，我们不想研究关于哥伦布的神话，不想把这些误认为是关于哥伦布的事实。

But if we are trying to understand American culture, then we can learn much by studying how America adapts Columbus for its own purposes.

但是，如果我们试图了解美国文化，我们可以通过研究美国如何使哥伦布适应于他自己的目的。

Evaluations of Columbus then will reflect what Americans think of themselves.

对哥伦布的评价将反映出美国人对自己的思考和评价。

Oh, there is a quote, something like, "societies reconstruct their past rather than faithfully record it."

噢，这里有一个引用，就像“社会重建他们的过去，而不是忠实地记录它”。

And how that reconstruction takes place and what it tells us, that's something we are going to be paying a lot of attention to.

以及重建如何发生，它告诉我们什么，这是我们要特别关注的。