By Adolf Hitler’s definition, New York is a mongrel city.It is in fact the first truly international metropolis.No other great city- not London, Paris, Rome or Tokyo- plays host (or hostage) to so many nationalities.The mix is much wider- Asians, Africans, Latins - that when that tumultuous variety of European crowded ashore at Ellis Island.The newcomers are never fully absorbed, but are added precariously to the undigested many.New York is too big to be dominated by any group, by Wasps or Jews or blacks, or by Catholics of many origins ― Irish, Italian, Hispanic.All have their little sovereignties, all are sizable enough to be reckoned with and tough in asserting their claims, but none is powerful enough to subdue the others.Characteristically, the city swallows up the United Nations and refuses to take it seriously, regarding it as an unworkable mixture of the idealistic, the impractical, and the hypocritical.But New Yorkers themselves are in training in how to live together in a diversity of races- the necessary initiation into the future.The diversity gives endless color to the city, so that walking in it is constant education in sights and smells.
按照阿道夫希特勒的定义，纽约是一个杂种城市。事实上，它是第一个真正的国际大都市。没有别的大城市--无论是伦敦、巴黎、罗马还是东京--能接纳(或是收容)这么多的民族。现在比当时各种各样的欧洲人吵吵嚷嚷登上埃利斯岛的时候更为混杂一一又有了亚洲人、非洲人和拉丁系人。新来者永远不会被完全同化。只是不稳定地加入到未被消化的多数中去。纽约太大了，无法为任何一个集团所控制，不论是盎格鲁撤克逊新教的白人还是犹太人、黑人或来源不同的天主教徒--爱尔兰人、意大利人、西班牙血统的人。所有这些集团都有他们小小的天地，人数相当多，不容忽视;在维护他们的要求方面都很坚韧，但没有一个强大到足以制服其他集团。这个城市很典型地把联合国加以吞没，不把它当一回事，把它看作一个空想、不切实际、虚伪、无法运转的混合体。但是纽约人却在训练自己如何在一个多民族的社会里共同生活--这是迈向未来必要的开端。多样化使这个城市色彩无穷。漫步此城，可以不断受到情景与风味方面的教育。
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