《英语学习》从本期开始推出“西方经济史话”栏目。本栏目旨在从社会历史的角度出发，透视经济现象，分析西方国家经济发展的历史背景和社会渊源。本期“西方经济史话”的焦点是美国的经济发展史。今后，我们还将陆续介绍其它西方经济强国的经济发展背景，给读者提供一个全新的观察经济发展的视角。

　　付美榕 编译

　　300多年前，当一队勇于冒险的盎格鲁·萨克森人漂洋过海踏上北美新大陆，在詹姆斯顿开辟了第一个英属殖民地时，他们做梦也未想到这会是人类历史上空前繁荣富强的美利坚合众国的奠基礼。几多沧桑，几度峥嵘。在此后的岁月中这个由外来移民及其后裔组成的新兴国家时时刻刻都发生着数量到质量的变化。在这片神奇的土地上,转瞬之间红了樱桃也绿了芭蕉：自1774年赢得独立后，美国人携手并肩大刀阔斧地完成了农业、工业、服务业居主导地位的历史变迁，成为二十世纪称霸全球的经济巨人，并一路高歌大步流星地走进知识经济的新时代。

　　人们不禁一次次地发问：美国何以在区区三百年间青云直上，成就如此辉煌？难道是得益于上帝过于宽厚的恩赐？的确，美国得天独厚的富足农业，实力雄厚的传统工业，叱咤风云的国际投资以及创造神话的信息产业举世无双。然而，辉煌与阴影总是相伴而生的。美国的经济最发达，但社会群体的贫富悬殊最大；美国的法制最健全，但犯罪率最高；美国提倡思想自由、观念创新，却保留着强烈的传统宗教气氛；美国在国内标榜民主、平等，提倡宽容、多元，却在国际事务中以强凌弱、霸道专横……这又引出一连串的为什么。不妨翻开美国经济发展史这部精彩的教科书，纵览这个年轻的巨人留下的一道道轨迹，答案似乎跃然纸上。透过历史的断面，我们会领略到美国生生不息、循环上升的经济发展经典模式背后的荆棘坎坷、浴血奋战、制度创新以及殖民掠夺、渔利战争、榨取能源的真实的记录。而串起这些历史的碎片能够联接我们对于未来的思考。

　　First British Settlements in North America

　　对欧洲殖民者来说，新大陆是他们本土的延伸，是远在西部的地盘。在各国争相开辟领地过程中，最终还是英国称雄北美。英国能取得主导地位在于其开放的移民与殖民政策。而美国人所继承下来的东西主要是英国式的，除了血统，还有语言、法律和习俗……

　　Two half-brothers, Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh, were the first Englishmen to undertake serious ventures in America.<注1> Gilbert, one of the more earnest seekers of the Northwest Passage<注2>, went to Newfoundland in 1578 and again in 1583 but failed to colonize the territory either time and lost his life on the return voyage to England after the second attempt. Raleigh, in turn, was granted<注3> the right to settle in "Virginia" and to have control of the land within a radius of 200 leagues<注4> from any colonists to the new continent. The first landed on the island of Roanoke off the coast of what is now North Carolina and stayed less than a year; anything but enthusiastic about their new home, these first colonists returned to England with Sir Francis Drake<注5> in the summer of 1586. Undaunted, Raleigh solicited the financial aid of asgroupsof wealthy Londoners and, in the following year, sent a second contingent of 150 people under the leadership of Governor John White. Raleigh had given explicit instructions that this colony was to be planted somewhere on the Chesapeake Bay, but Governor White disregarded thesgroupsand landed at Roanoke. White went back to England for supplies; when he returned after much delay in 1590, the settlers had vanished. Not a single member of the famed "lost colony" was ever found, not even a tooth.

　　After a long war between England and Spain<注6> from 1588 to 1603, England renewed attempts to colonize North America. In 1606, two charters were granted—one to asgroupsof Londoners, the other to merchants of Plymouth and other western port town. The London Company was given the right to settle the southern part of the English territory in America; the Plymouth Company was given jurisdiction over the northern part.

　　So two widely separated colonies were established in 1607: one at Sagadahoc, near the mouth of the Kennebec River, in Maine; the other in modern Virginia. Those who survived the winter in the northern colony gave up and went home, and the colony established at Jamestown won the hard-earned honor of being the first permanent English settlement in America.

　　Hard-earned indeed! When the London Company landed three tiny vessels at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in 1607, 105 people disembarked to found the Jamestown Colony. Easily distracted by futile "get rich quick" schemes, they actually sent shiploads of mica and yellow ore back to England in 1607 and 1608. Before the news reached their ears that their treasure was worthless "fool's gold," disease, starvation, and misadventure had taken a heavy toll: 67 of the original 105 Jamestown settlers died in the first year.

　　The few remaining survivors (one of whom was convicted of cannibalism) were joined in 1609 by 800 new arrivals, sent over by the reorganized and renamed Virginia Company.<注7> By the following spring, frontier hardships had cut the number of settlers from 838 to 60. That summer, those who remained were found fleeing down river to return home to England by new settlers with fresh supplies, who encouraged them to reconsider. This was Virginia's "starving time".

　　Inadequately supplied and untutored in the art of colonization, the earliest frontier pioneers routinely suffered and died. In 1623, a royal investigation of the Virginia experience was launched in the wake of an Indian attack that took the lives of 500 settlers. The investigation reported that of the 6,000 who had migrated to Virginia since 1607, 4,000 had died. The life expectancy of these hardy settlers upon arriving was two years.

　　The heavy human costs of first settlement were accompanied by substantial capital losses. Without exception, the earliest colonial ventures were unprofitable. Indeed, they were financial disasters. Neither the principal nor the interest on the Virginia Company's accumulated investment of more than￡200,000 was ever repaid (approximately ,000,000 in today's values). The investments in New England were less disappointing, but overall, English capitalists were heavy losers in their quest to tame the frontier.

　　北美最早的英属殖民地

　　Humphrey Gilbert爵士与Walter Raleigh爵士这两个同母异父兄弟是最先在美洲进行真正的冒险之旅的英国人。Gilbert更热衷于寻找西北通道，他曾于1578和1583年前往加拿大纽芬兰(岛)开辟殖民地，两度尝试均遭失败，并且在第二次历险的归国途中壮志未酬身先去。而Raleigh获准在弗吉尼亚开辟领地并对新大陆上建立的所有半径不超过的殖民地享有管辖权。Raleigh带来的第一批拓居者在今天的北卡罗来纳州的罗阿诺克岛登陆并住了不到一年时间；由于对新家园毫无热情，第一批的殖民地开拓者于1586年夏随Francis Drake爵士返回英国。Raleigh毫不退缩、大胆地请求一批富有的伦敦人资助于次年派出150人的团队，由John White总督带队前行。Raleigh明确指示要在切萨皮亚湾开辟殖民地，但White总督自行其是，在罗阿诺克登了陆。此后White曾回英国办理供给，而当他经过一段时间的耽搁一路风尘于1590年赶回原地时，拓居者们早已不见踪影。盛传的“失落的拓居地”的“居民”尸骨难寻。在1588-1603年英国与西班牙之间漫长的战争之后，英国继续尝试在北美开辟殖民地。1606年，两个特许状分别给予一批伦敦人和一批普利茅斯及其他西部港口城镇的商人。伦敦公司有权在美洲大陆的英国领地的南部定居；普利茅斯公司获得对北部的管辖权。

　　于是两个相距甚远的殖民地于1607年建立起来了：一个在靠近缅因州肯纳贝克河口的Sagadahoc,另一个位于今天的弗吉尼亚州。那些在北方殖民定居地熬过了北方殖民地的严冬活下来的人们自甘放弃，打道回府了，而在詹姆斯顿建立的拓居地则赢得了美洲第一个永久性英属殖民地的难得美名。

　　的确不简单！1607年，当伦敦公司的三只小船到达切萨皮克湾口时，105人上岸开始建立詹姆斯顿殖民地。由于“迅速发财”的不切实际的想法的驱使，他们在1607和1608年竟然把成船的云母和黄铁矿石运回英国。结果，还未等听到他们的财宝不过是些不值钱的“假金子”的坏消息，饥饿、疾病、灾难就使一大批人命丧黄泉。詹姆斯顿殖民地最早的105个拓居者在第一年里竟死去了67人。

　　剩下为数不多的幸存者(据说其中有一位是食人狂)在1609年与新来的800个拓居者汇集起来。这些后来者是由重组后更名为弗吉尼亚的公司运来的。到第二年春天，开辟疆土的艰难困苦使拓居者从838人骤减至60人。那年夏天，带着给养刚刚到来的拓居者发现前期的幸存者们顺着河流逃往英国，便劝说他们三思而行。这段时间为弗吉尼亚的“饥饿年代”。供给不足以及欠缺开辟殖民地的经验使早期边疆开拓者大都因历经苦难而撒手人寰。1623年，英国皇室对一次印第安人袭击造成500名拓居者死亡之后的弗吉尼亚情况进行了一次调查。该调查表明，自1607年移民到弗吉尼亚的6000人中有4000人已死去。这些饱尝磨难的拓居者到达新大陆后的寿命只有两年。

　　早期拓居殖民地付出惨重人员代价的同时还有巨大的资金损失。早期殖民历险无一例外地无利可图。事实上，这是经济大灾难。弗吉尼亚公司累计投入的200,000多英镑(约合今天的2000万美元)本利无归。在新英格兰的投资情况稍好些，但总的来说，英国资本家在致力征服边疆的过程中是地地道道的失败者。