In New York, like seeks like, and by economy of effort excludes the rest as stranger.This distancing, this uncaring in ordinary encounters, has another side: in no other American city can the lonely be as lonely.So much more needs to be said. New York is a wounded city, declining in its amenities. Overloaded by its tax burdens.But it is not dying city; the streets are safer than they were five years ago;Broadway, which seemed to be succumbing to the tawdriness of its environment, is astir again.The trash-strewn streets, the unruly schools, the uneasy feeling or menace, the noise, the brusquenessall confirm outsiders in their conviction that they wouldn’t live here if you gave them the place.Yet show a New Yorker a splendid home in Dallas, or a swimming pool and cabana in Beverly Hills, and he will be admiring but not envious.So much of well-to-do America now lives antiseptically in enclaves, tranquil and luxurious, that shut out the world.Too static, the New Yorker would say.Tell him about the vigor of your outdoor pleasures; he prefers the unhealthy hassle and the vitality of urban life.He is hopelessly provincial.To him New York- despite its faults, which her will impatiently concede (“so what else is new?”) ― is the spoiler of all other American cities.
在纽约，人以群分，人们对于自己圈子以外的人一律视同路人，以免浪费精力。人们在日常交往中的这种保持距离、冷漠无情的态度还有一种影响：那些有孤独感的人在纽约比在其他任何美国城市都更觉孤独。要说的情况还有很多。总之，纽约是一个受了创伤的城市，它重税压身，不堪负担，好景不再，江河日下。但纽约并不是一个就要死的城市;与五年前相比较，如今纽约的街道更安全了，曾一度似乎是在繁华旖旎的环境包围之下一蹶不振的百老汇大街如今又呈现出勃勃的生机。街道上布满垃圾，学校里毫无秩序，市民们个个惶惶不安，到处噪声不绝于耳，人人讲话粗声大气这一切都会使局外人更加坚定决心：就算把纽约送给他们，他们也不愿意在这里居住。然而，你如果让一个纽约人去看达拉斯市的一所富丽堂皇的住宅，或是贝弗利希尔斯市的一个带小屋的游泳池，他一定会表示赞赏，但却不会眼红。现在有许多美国有钱人在安静、豪华、与世隔绝的小天地里过着世外桃源式的生活。纽约人会说，这太沉闷了。可是，你如果对他讲起户外游山玩水的劲头，他又会说他更欣赏都市生活那种虽有害于健康但却热热闹闹的活泼气氛。他有着无可改变的乡土观念。对他来说，纽约--就算连他自己也无可奈何地承认有一些缺点("还有什么新的吗?")--使他对所有其他美国城市都不屑一顾。
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