One of our great symbols is the American flag,13 red and white stripes corresponding to the number of original stats on a rectangular piece of color, one corner blue with 50 white stars for 50 states.

美国的象征之一是国旗，长方形布上13道红白相间的条纹表示美国原来的州数，蓝色一角上印着的50颗白星代表50个州。

The color of our flag and the numbers of stars and stripes are ordained, but there is no rule regarding dimension. There are tiny flags on sticks made in China. This grand flag is so big on a building in New York that it had to be continued around the corner.

美国国旗的颜色、星星的数目、横条都是规定好了的，但尺寸大小就没有限制。也有中国制造的小签国旗。纽约一栋大楼外的国旗巨大得要转弯接着挂起。

Everyone wants to be associated with the flag. America and Yale, America and Episcopalians, America and J.P.Morgan, America and Maxell, America and the Ritz Tower.

人人都想跟国旗扯上关系：美国和耶鲁、美国和圣公会教徒、美国和摩根、美国和万胜、美国和丽晶大厦。

There are inevitably people who are more anxious to appear patriotic than to be patriotic. They treat a fine line between patriotism and commerce. The flag is everywhere in close proximity to a business interest. It sells shoes and shoe repair, women's dresses. The American flag invites diners to foreign restaurants, Japanese, Italian, even Afghan.

难免也有人摆出爱国姿态而非真正爱国。他们在爱国主义和商业间徘徊。随处可见对国旗感兴趣的商家：卖鞋和修鞋的，女士的裙子。美国国旗吸引顾客到外国餐馆用餐――日本餐馆、意大利餐馆、甚至阿富汗餐馆。

There is an official flag code but it is routinely ignored. It is not to be used as a awning or a canopy or plastered to the hood of a car. The code says the American flag is not to be used as decorative clothing. Some find it irresistibly fashionable though and we are more amused than they.

政府有国旗用法的规定,但常给人们忽视了：国旗不能拿来当餐布、不能做遮篷、檐篷或汽车贴条。美国国旗按规定是不能用来设计服装的――有些人却觉得难以抵制此诱惑，我们比他们还更乐在其中。