If many of those same viewers who have been impressed by China’s successes in Beijing now also find themselves recoiling at the idea of a stronger and more prideful China, that is understandable. For strength unalloyed by checks and balances – and by a capacity for self-critical reflection about the rightness and wrongness of state action – can be unnerving.
假如那些对北京奥运会印象深刻的观众同时担忧中国更为强大和自傲的话，那时可以理解的。没有对国家行为的对错自我反省的能力以及没有制衡的强力会让人害怕。许多美国人最近也是了解了这一点。