美国是个年轻的国家,其一切都在不停地变动。它永远背朝过去,面向未来。美国人随时都有弃旧图新甚至另起炉灶的准备。十九世纪法国政治家兼历史学家托克维尔曾描述说:身处边疆的美国人会考虑到自己晚年的需要而建一所房屋。可是屋顶还没有盖上他就搬到别处去了。亨利·福特说道:“我们要生活在现在,只有我们今天创造的历史才是唯一有点儿价值的历史。”这种自信心在美国人的血液里都可找到。美国社会给外国人的印象是它已抛弃了传统,盛行的是性事和精神病学,男男女女都离婚数次,儿女们则时常顶撞甚至虐待父母。美国人会在自己事业的中途弃职而去,搭上一辆汽车前往亚利桑那或阿拉斯加。律师可以成为木匠,木匠可以成为律师。在一个劝诫人们勤奋劳动并崇拜金钱的国家,许多美国人竟能不把心目中自己所具的价值同所从 The United States is a young country, and everything is constantly changing. It will always face back and face to the future. Americans at any time have to abandon the old plans even new stove. Tocqueville, a 19th-century French politician and historian, described that Americans living in frontiers would build a home, taking into account the needs of their later years. But the roof had not been covered before he moved elsewhere. Henry Ford said: “We want to live in the present, only the history we create today is the only value of a little history.” This confidence can be found in the blood of the Americans. American society gives foreigners the impression that it has abandoned its traditions and is prevalent in sex and psychiatry. Men and women are divorced several times, while children often hit or even mistreated their parents. Americans will abandon their careers midway and take a car to Arizona or Alaska. Lawyers can become carpenters, carpenters can become lawyers. In a country that exhorts people to work diligently and to worship money, many Americans fail to understand what they value