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No one document, no handful of documents, can properly be said to reveal the character of a people or of their government. But when hundreds and thousands of documents strike a consistent note, over more than a hundred years, we have a right to say that is the keynote. When hundreds and thousands of documents address themselves in the same ways, to the same overarching problems, we have a right to read from them certain conclusions which we can call national characteristics.
没有哪一个文件或者少数文件可以准确地揭示一国人民或政府的特征。但当一百多年来成百上千的文件敲击出始终如一的音调时，我们可以说这就是基调。当成百上千的文件以相同的方式解说相同的包罗万象的问题时，从文件中确凿的推论，我们可以阅读出来被我们可称之为的国家特征。