| American men don't cry because it is considered not characteristic of men to do so. 美国的男子汉一般都不会哭。因为男子汉要哭了，那就被认为这个人不具备男子汉的特征。 Only women cry. Cry is a "weakness" characteristic of the femele, and no American male wants to be identified with anything in the least weak or feminine. 只有妇女才哭。哭是女性软弱的表现。不论做什么事，没有任何一个美国男人想要让人家认为有丝毫懦弱或者像个老娘们似的。 Crying, in our culture, is identified with childishness, with weakness and dependence. 在我们的思想文化观念当中，哭哭涕涕总是跟孩子气、懦弱、不能自立联系在一起的。 No one likes a cryboby, and we disapprove of crying even in children, discouraging it in them as early as possible. 没有任何人会喜欢一个哭闹的孩子，所以即使对儿童们来说，我们也不赞成他们哭，尽可能从很小的时候起，越早越好，鼓励孩子们不要哭。 In a land so devoted to the pursuit of happiness as ours, crying really is rather un-American. 在像我们这样一个热衷于追求幸福快乐的国家里，哭哭涕涕实在不太合乎美国人的风度了。 Adults must learn not to cry in situations in which it is permissible for child to cry. 成年人都必须知道，凡在允许小孩子哭的情况下，成年人都不应该哭。 Women being the "weaker" and "dependent" sex, it is only natural that they should cry in certain emotional situations. 因为女性是一种"软弱的"、"依赖男人的"性别，女性在特定的环境下引起感情波动，若是哭一通也是很自然的。 In women, crying is excusable. But in men, crying is a mark of weakness. So goes the American belief with regard to crying. 对妇女们来说，哭是可以原谅的。可是对男人来说，哭就会给人留下软弱无能的印象。于是美国人对于哭泣的看法就这样产生了。 "A little man," we impress on our male children, "never cries. Only girls and crybobies do." 我们让我们的男性儿童铭记在心："一个小男子汉永也不会哭的，只有女孩子和刚刚生下来的小娃娃才会哭。" And so we condition males in America not to cry whenever they feel like doing so. 所以每当美国的男性想要哭的时候，我们就训练他们憋住别哭。 It is not that American males are unable to cry because of some biological time clock within them which causes them to run down in that capacity as they grow older, but that they are trained not to cry. 这并不是因为他们随着年龄的增长，体内某个生物钟上的哭的能力已经消耗殆尽，而是因为他们被训练的不许哭。 |
