《北欧向左，美国向右？》芬兰记者阿努•帕塔宁2008年搬到美国，她本来是充满自信的人，有成功的事业和充实的社交生活，可是来美国后不久就变得谨小慎微，充满自我怀疑。她发现，这里的日常生活中的一切——从购买一部手机到为教育和儿童保育进行税务申报——和自己的北欧老家相比都更复杂和充满压力。起初，她把自己严重的焦虑归因于自己难以适应自由的新环境。但是随着越来越了解更多的美国人，她发现他们也和她一样倍感压力。为了理解美国和芬兰为什么会有这么大的差异，她开始仔细观察这两个国家的日常生活，从政经文化、育儿教育、社会福利、医疗健保、两性关系、工作税制等政策差异优劣，在清晰详实的调查研究基础上给出具体建议。她澄清了那些说北欧国家是“大政府”“高税收”“福利国家养懒人”的常见误解，指出美国社会的金钱至上原则造成公民生活更大的风险性和更强的依赖性，普通人维持基本生计的成本也远比北欧国家更高。北欧生活方式让人的生活更加舒适，自由，这也说明了人类追求卓越的愿望并不像美国人对利润动机的信念所暗示的那样脆弱和软弱。也许生活比金钱更重要，这在全球各地都是一致的。
作者简介
阿努·帕塔宁，1975年生，芬兰记者、专栏作家，曾经做过教师和广播评论员。她从2008年到美国生活，2009年通过斯坦福大学的创新新闻奖学金成为《财富》杂志的客座记者，并为《纽约时报》、《大西洋月刊》、《财富杂志》和芬兰的主流出版物撰稿，同时也是英国广播公司(BBC)世界频道的定期广播评论员。在纽约生活了十年之后，她与美国丈夫、孩子一起搬回了芬兰。
Northern Europe to the Left, America to the Right? When Finnish journalist Anu Patanen moved to the U.S. in 2008, she was a confident person with a successful career and a fulfilling social life. But soon after arriving, she became cautious and full of self-doubt. She found that everything in daily life -- from buying a mobile phone to filing tax returns for education and child care -- was more complicated and stressful than in her northern European home. At first, she attributed her severe anxiety to her difficulty adjusting to her new environment of freedom. But as she got to know more Americans, she found that they were just as stressed as she was. In order to understand the differences between the United States and Finland, she began to take a close look at the daily life of the two countries, the advantages and disadvantages of political and economic culture, child care and education, social welfare, health care, gender relations, work tax and other policies, and gave specific recommendations based on clear and detailed research. She clarified the common misconception that Nordic countries are "big government," "high taxes," and "welfare states feed lazy people," pointing out that the money-oriented principles of American society lead to greater risks and greater dependence on citizens' lives, and the cost of basic livelihoods for ordinary people is far higher than in Nordic countries. The Nordic way of life makes for a more comfortable, free life, which also illustrates that the human desire for excellence is not as fragile and weak as the American belief in the profit motive would suggest. Perhaps there is more to life than money, and this is consistent across the globe.
About the author
Anu Patanen (born 1975) is a Finnish journalist, columnist, and former teacher and radio commentator. She lived in the United States from 2008, became a guest correspondent for Fortune magazine in 2009 through a Stanford University Fellowship in Innovative Journalism, and has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Fortune Magazine and major publications in Finland, as well as being a regular radio commentator for the BBC World Service. After ten years in New York, she moved back to Finland with her American husband and children.
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