The air-conditioned Puritan
Transcription
The air-conditioned Puritan
The air-conditioned Puritan Why Americans, and those who are 5 employed to write about them, cannot enjoy holidays “LET's take a boat to Bermuda, Let's take a 40Americans do not even take all the days they 10plane to St Paul, Let's take a kayak to Quincy are allowed. In 2009, harrumphs Expedia, or Nyack, Let's get away from it all.” That Americans “gave back” a total of 436m may be all very well if you are not Lexington. vacation days. In fairness, America does For reasons only the flinty-hearted editor of indulge its children: their school year is one this newspaper can explain, there will be no 45of the shortest in the world, as is their school 15summer break this year for your columnist. day. But the indulgence ends with adulthood. True, Lexington has been allowed to saddle up his ultimate driving machine and motor Even when Americans do take time off, they north to join friends in a cabin in the find it hard to relax. Having holidayed for Adirondacks. But get away from it all? No sir, many years with the family of a Wall Street 20this is a space that must be filled week in 50lawyer, your columnist’s slumber has all too and week out this summer, come what may. often been disturbed in the early hours by the murmur of writs, affidavits and In a way, of course, it is fitting that a Brit threatening letters being dictated by phone writing about America should not be allowed to New York from Provence, Tuscany and holiday. 55other otherwise tranquil locations. It may be 25Having a complete break would make it that without this unremitting industry the harder to understand the natives. As all the lawyer and his family could not have afforded world knows, Americans find taking time off, quite so many hops across the Atlantic. But it let leisure, seems pretty clear that something cultural— website, 60that famous Puritan fear of idle hands and actual relaxation alone filling painfully hard. on a that One summer time with travel 30expedia.com, believes (what a surprise) that easeful nights—is at work as well. “everyone deserves and needs a vacation.” comparative That is certainly the argument of “Working at international data on the scandal of “vacation Play”, Cindy Aron’s aptly named social history deprivation”. These show that in 2009 the of vacations in the United States, which 35average American adult received about 13 65argues that (up to 1940 at least, when her Indeed, it has compiled days of holiday, whereas the average Briton story enjoyed average themselves trapped in a love-hate battle with “working” Frenchman, infuriatingly, had 38 their holiday and have made a point of filling days. Worse yet, more than a third of their leisure with various sorts of work— a luxurious 26. The ends) Americans have found 70religious, intellectual and therapeutic. The history is another way to stiffen the laxity of middle classes did not start to take holidays a vacation: famous buildings, battlefields and in a big way until the late 19th century, at a 115landmarks are popular and lucrative draws. time when the values that mattered were still Not even Disney believes it can prosper by industry and discipline, and when leisure and selling escapism alone. Hence its proposal for 75idleness were perceived as sources of moral, an American-history theme park outside spiritual, financial and political danger. Many Washington, DC (a scheme thwarted by the a modern holiday resort, such as Martha’s 120objections of local residents). And if the Vineyard in Cape Cod, sprang out of a educational holiday fails, there is always the Methodist summer camp created to offer pilgrimage. 80spiritual rather than physical comfort. Like all theories about America as a whole, Saddle up and think very hard this one has its holes. How to explain Las Vegas? Besides, not all immigrants to 125Of which Lexington’s journey to the America brought Puritanism in their hearts. Adirondacks is one. It would be simpler to 85From the 1930s onwards Jews living in New hop on a plane, but how else, if not on York started to holiday in the hundreds of wheels, to delve into the psyche of the rooming houses and hotels that sprouted in holidaying the nearby Catskill mountains. By all 130enjoined American? Americans Teddy to Roosevelt rediscover the they “strenuous life”, and your columnist embarks 90created there every summer was dedicated (in his air-conditioned BMW) in that spirit on unabashedly to pleasure. They danced the this adventure with intimations of Steinbeck, rumba, and later the bossa nova, and thrilled Kerouac, “Easy Rider” and Lewis and Clark accounts the self-contained world to crooners and comedians from Manhattan, 135thrown in. Brooklyn and the Bronx. Though the posher Beyond being part of the American passion 95hotels had swimming pools, golf courses and for mobility, the road trip is a quest, less a nightclubs, this was a magnet for Jews of all search classes, and many families and their friends returned to the same hotels or rooming houses year after year, until air conditioning, 100affluence and alternatives cheap available air and travel brought for pleasure than an act of exploration, not just of the land but also of 140the self. Cross the continent on one of its endlessly unspooling east-west highways and made you will encounter many a pilgrim—solitary the bikers on Harleys, hopeful families in their enchanted little world to an end. RVs—whose grail is not the Michelin-starred And yet neither affluence nor diversity seem 145restaurant (fat chance) or the perfect beach to have made it as easy for Americans to but something at once simpler and loftier: 105relax on holiday in the way that guilt-free “freedom”, perhaps. There are exceptions. vacationer Mark Twain sought only ham, eggs and unable to silence his inner Puritan for those scenery, “a fragrant pipe and a contented paltry 13 days a year must combine his 150heart”. He was lucky not to work for The holiday with some self-improving experience. Economist’s flinty-hearted editor. (A problem Europeans do. The American easily solved. Ed.) 110Children are sent to camp to learn the Great Outdoors, or taught to fish or light fires by over-earnest fathers. Communing with 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 200 205 210 Useful vocabulary flinty-hearted = with a hard heart saddle up = to get started ( analogy of the saddle of a horse) fitting = convenient let alone = even less infuriatingly = in an annoying manner harrumph = clear throat noisily( figuratively here: express dissatisfaction grumpily) indulge = usually to indulge IN stg but here: to satisfy/ yield(=céder) to the demand of slumber = sleep writ = legal document ordering so. to do stg affidavit = written document which you swear is true (can be used in court) unremitting = ceaseless hop = jump : here short trips idle ≠ busy therapeutic θɛrəˈpjʊːtik spring out of = come from rooming houses = private houses you can rent sprout = come out unabashedly = without embarrassment thrill to = to be excited by posh = rich magnet = piece of attracting iron, here: attraction paltry = small stiffen = make harder draw = here: attraction thwart = prevent delve into = inquire enjoin = encourage intimation = hint unspooling = straight (without many curves) grail = earnestly pursued goal fat chance = ironical expression meaning it is quite unlikely lofty = noble, admirable fragrant = that has a pleasant smell Version 215 Translate the following passages into French: L 5-13 _____________________________________________________________________________________ 220_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 225 L 18-26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 230_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 235 L 47-53 _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 240_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ L 58-62 245_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 250L 95-101 _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 255_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ L 132-139 _____________________________________________________________________________________ 260_____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 265 270 Certaines constructions verbales 275 I’d rather + do (BV) I’d rather you+ preterite To allow so. To +BV 280She had better + BV I happened to see her yesterday I can’t help +ING To enable so. To+BV To talk so into +ING 285To admit to +ING To look forward to +ING To object to+ING To accuse so. OF +ING To blame so. FOR +ING 290To have so. do stg. This policy needs/wants rethinking To succeed in +ING To warn so. not to do stg. I don’t mind / I mind +ING 295Please remember to tell him (axé vers l’avenir) I remember talking to her. (axé vers le passé) To want/expect so./stg to +BV To let so. +BV To forbid so. To+ BV 300To agree to +BV I didn’t mean to+BV To insist on (so.’s)+ING To stop +ING To stop to+BV 305To cause to + BV to be made to + BV 310 315 320 je préfererais faire … je préfererais que vous… autoriser qqn à elle ferait mieux de… je l’ai par hasard vue hier. je ne peux pas m’empêcher de… permettre à qqn de … convaincre qqn (en leur parlant) admettre de… languir de… être contre le fait de… accuser qqn de ‘’ faire faire qqch. (par qqn) il faut repenser cette politique… réussir à mettre qqn en garde de ne pas faire qqch. cela m’est égal de…/ ne m’est pas égal de souviens toi de lui dire. je me souviens de lui avoir parlé. vouloir/ s’attendre à …que/ à ce que… laisser qqn. +verbe interdir à qqn de… accepter de… je n’avais pas l’intention de… insister pour/ pour que s’arrêter de… s’arrêter pour… causer qqch être forcé à Thème grammatical 325 330 335 340 345 1. C'est comme si une voix intérieure leur disait: " je préfèrerais que tu ne restes pas là à rien faire!" 2. Si les Américains ne veulent pas que leur vie entière se résume à leur travail, alors ils feraient mieux de s'octroyer plus de temps libre et d'apprendre à en profiter pleinement sans la moindre culpabilité. 3. Ils ne peuvent pas s'empêcher de travailler tout le temps, même durant le peu de jours de congé qu'ils arrivent à prendre. 4. De réelles vacances leur permettraient cependant d'être encore plus efficace dans leur travail au retour. 5. Malheureusement, on force tout le monde à croire que " l'oisiveté est mère de tous les vices." 6. On accuse les adultes américains de ne jamais travailler assez alors que leurs jeunes ont une des années scolaires les plus courtes du monde! 7. J'ai finalement réussi à le convaincre (en lui parlant) de faire une véritable coupure avec sa vie professionnelle. Ce qui devrait lui faire le plus grand bien s'il veut bien suivre mes conseils. 8. Je l'avais pourtant prévenu, qu'à ce rythme là, il allait tout droit à la dépression!