In his classic novel, “The Pioneers",James Fenimore Cooper has his hero,a land developer, take his cousin on a tour of the city he is building. He describes the broad streets, rows of houses，a teeming metropolis. But his cousin looks around bewildered. All she sees is a forest. “Where are the beauties and improvements which you were to show me?” She asks. He's astonished she can't see them.
“Where! Why everywhere, ” he replies. For though they are not yet built on earth, he has built them in his mind, and they are as concrete to him as if they were already constructed and finished.
Cooper was illustrating a distinctly American trait, future-mindedness; the ability to see the present from the vantage point of the future; the freedom to feel unencumbered by the past and more emotionally attached to things to come. As Albert Einstein once said,“Life for the American is always becoming, never being. ”
背最及总体评析:这是ー篇关于美国文学的论说性语篇，虽然语言不算难，但涉及的典型的美国人的处事视角，对于中国读者很难预料。对于我们生疏的主题或事情，翻译时应注意尽量“直”，少些个人发挥。
「难点解析J
1. “The Pioneers”：小说名，《拓荒者》。
2. James Fenimore Cooper：詹姆斯•费尼莫尔•库柏，著名美国作家,1789〜 1851，以写边疆生活而驰名。
3. land developer：土地开发商(者）；土地发展商（者）„
4. a teeming metropolis:是对前面描写的总结或升华，拟译为“俨然一座繁华的大都市”。
5. the beauties and improvements:美丽〔的事物）和改善（的事物）。
6. concrete:具体的;实在;实实在在a
7. illustrating:展现;用实例说明;例解。
8. trait:特质;特有的品质。
9. future-mindedness:面向未来的心态;以未来为参照点的思维方式;从未来看现在的心理。
10. unencumbered:不受妨碍的；不受拖累的
11. Life for the American is always becoming, never being：难点主要是 becoming和being，前者指“未来”,后者指“现实”。
参考译文
（直译）
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