milkman vs mailman英語(yǔ)演講稿及翻譯
with the development of science and technology, change has penetrated into every aspect of our daily life. to illustrate that, i'd like to make a comparison of these two seemingly insignificant things: milkman and mailman, whose differences indicate our changing way of living with the times.
home milk delivery has almost gone extinct in china now, also gone with it are the milkmen, who once delivered bottled fresh milk door-to-door. on the other hand, mailman's business or the courier service has thrived as online shopping gains popularity. however, in retrospect, i find something has been lost in this transition, something shakespeare called as “the milk of human kindness”。
when i was a kid, milk wasn't for sale everywhere. for the families who need it, they depended on the milkmen to take it from the local dairy farms to their houses. in our neighborhood, there was such a milkman, whose arrival was much anticipated by the children and always brought us laughter and joy. he knew the name of every kid and could easily see through our tricks. if we didn't behave, he would side with our parents and threaten to rob us of the nutritious drink. the entire neighborhood was acquainted with him; saw him as a member of the community just like the many residents or street vendors. there was a bond between all of us for it was not only the commodities that been transacted, but also a sense of caring and dependability. and that small box fixed onto our door, other than being a drop-off point for milk; it was a communication junction between the people as we took the initiative to reach out to others.
fast forward to today, milk is ubiquitous with no dedicated delivery system. but the convenience level of our live has gone up a notch. almost everything is for sale online, which spares us all the travelling and talking. with a few ready clicks, shopping is done. the rest is left for those speed delivery companies. usually it's a grumpy mailman, who reaches us through cell phone, urging everyone to pick up their parcels as soon as possible. and the minute the receipt is signed, we rush back to unpack while the courier dashes to the next destination. there is barely a conversation carried out, nor do we feel the need to talk to such a stranger, who changes from time to time frequently. it seems that people are always in a hurry now, though we have more conveniences, still we run short of time to stop and stare, to speak and share.
call me an old-timer, but i think the personal touch represented by the milkman is what has been missing in the modern society. william wordsworth once wrote that “getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.” modern technology may have multiplied our possessions or gave us more conveniences, but we run the risk of reducing our values if we lay waste our power of interpersonal relationships.
隨著科學(xué)技術(shù)的發(fā)展，變化已經(jīng)滲透到我們?nèi)粘Ｉ畹姆椒矫婷�。要說(shuō)明的是，我想讓這兩個(gè)看似不起眼的東西比較：牛奶，郵遞員，其差異表明我們與時(shí)代生活方式的改變。
家里的牛奶幾乎已經(jīng)滅絕，現(xiàn)在在中國(guó)，它也消失了的送奶工，曾送瓶裝草原鮮奶送貨上門(mén)。另一方面，郵遞員的業(yè)務(wù)或快遞服務(wù)的蓬勃發(fā)展，網(wǎng)上購(gòu)物的普及。然而，回想起來(lái)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)在這一轉(zhuǎn)變中，有了一些東西，莎士比亞稱(chēng)之為“人類(lèi)之奶”。
當(dāng)我還是個(gè)孩子的時(shí)候，牛奶不是到處都賣(mài)。對(duì)于那些有需要的家庭來(lái)說(shuō)，他們只能依靠送奶工把它從當(dāng)?shù)氐娜槠忿r(nóng)場(chǎng)房子。在我們的附近，有這樣一個(gè)送牛奶的人，他們的到來(lái)，是孩子們期待已久的，總是給我們帶來(lái)笑聲和歡樂(lè)。他知道每一個(gè)孩子的名字，可以很容易地通過(guò)我們的把戲。如果我們不守規(guī)矩，他會(huì)和我們的父母一起威脅要搶我們的營(yíng)養(yǎng)飲料。整個(gè)社區(qū)都與他熟識(shí)，他認(rèn)為他是社會(huì)上的一員，就像許多居民和街頭小販一樣。有一個(gè)我們之間的結(jié)合不僅是被交易的商品，也有關(guān)心和信任。和那個(gè)小盒子固定在我們的門(mén)，而不是一個(gè)下降點(diǎn)牛奶，它是一個(gè)溝通的人之間的交界處，我們采取了主動(dòng)接觸其他人。
快速前進(jìn)到今天，牛奶是無(wú)處不在的沒(méi)有專(zhuān)門(mén)的交付系統(tǒng)。但是我們的生活便利程度已經(jīng)上升了一個(gè)缺口。幾乎所有的東西都在網(wǎng)上出售，這使我們所有的旅行和談話都有了。用幾點(diǎn)準(zhǔn)備，購(gòu)物就完成了。其余的則是留給那些快速交貨的公司。它通常是一個(gè)脾氣暴躁的郵遞員，他通過(guò)手機(jī)與我們聯(lián)系，希望每個(gè)人都拿起他們的包裹盡快。和一分鐘的收據(jù)簽字，我們趕回來(lái)打開(kāi)而快遞沖到下一個(gè)目的地。我們幾乎沒(méi)有進(jìn)行一次談話，也不覺(jué)得有必要對(duì)這樣一個(gè)陌生人說(shuō)話，他經(jīng)常改變時(shí)間。似乎人們總是在匆匆忙忙的現(xiàn)在，雖然我們有更多的方便，但我們卻沒(méi)有時(shí)間停下來(lái)盯著，說(shuō)，分享。
叫我老古董，但我認(rèn)為送奶工為代表的個(gè)人風(fēng)格是什么一直在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)中失蹤。華茲華斯威廉曾寫(xiě)道：“獲取和消費(fèi)，我們浪費(fèi)我們的權(quán)力�！爆F(xiàn)代科技可能會(huì)增加我們的財(cái)產(chǎn)，或者給我們更多的便利，但是我們冒風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的減少我們的價(jià)值，如果我們浪費(fèi)我們的人際關(guān)系的力量。