帮忙概括一下这篇文章的段意
第一篇
Much of the American anxiety about old age is a purposeful distance from the reality of death.One of the striking qualities of the American character is the unwillingness to face either the fact or meaning of death.On the contrary,in the novels of many famous American writers-from Hawthorne to Faulkner and Hemingway-one finds a tragic depth that is under the surface thinness of the ordinary American death attitudes.By an effort of the artistic imagination,the great writers faced death topic which the general public are reluctant to face-the fact of death,its mystery,and its place in life.Scenes about death,such as the conflicts death brings in Greek times and the religious celebration of death in the rich farming cultures of some parts of Europe,are vividly described and discussed in their novels,although these scenes are difficult to find in the real American life.
Out of fear of the emotional sufferings,the American ordinary people avoid topics about death.They surround death with word avoidance.Americans never “die.” They “pass away.” A “funeral hall” is decorated to look like a bank.Everything in a funeral ceremony is done in low tones,as if it were something secret,to be hidden from the world.There is so much emphasis on being dignified that the ceremony often loses its quality of dignity.
In some parts of the world,there’s difficulty in understanding the causes of death.It’s difficult to explain death in these cultures.Living in a modern society,Americans have a ready enough explanation of how death comes,yet they show little ability to accept the fact of death itself and the emotional pain it brings.“To my disappointment,we,American people,sing over birth and dance at weddings,” says Margaret Mead,a famous American anthropologist（人类学家）,“but more and more push the death off the scene without ceremony,without an opportunity for young and old to know that death is as much a fact of life as is birth.”
呀、忘记说了、是每一段的段意、一共三段...