Uncle Sam and the Rest of the Gang(a)|山姆、约翰、玛丽安，还有

by Matthew Brown

Many countries have recognizable figures that symbolize what that country is.

许多国家都有一个公认象征该国的人物。

At the height of World War I in 1916, an illustrator named James Montgomery Flagg created a drawing for the cover of a weekly magazine. It was meant to show US citizens that they had to be prepared to help with the war effort in any way they could. Flagg came up with a picture of an elderly man with a white goatee. The man is pointing his finger directly at the viewer and looks very serious. On his head is a tall, white top hat with stars on the band. In addition, he is wearing a big, red bow tie and a blue jacket. Together, his patriotic clothing looks like various parts of the US flag.

The image was striking, and soon a poster was made using Flagg's drawing. Between 1917 and 1918, over four million copies of the poster of Uncle Sam were printed. According to its creator, this poster soon became the most famous in the world. It certainly created one of the world's most famous national personifications—an image that is meant to stand for a country or its government.

Later, the poster became useful again when the US government decided to use Uncle Sam during World War II. Flagg had the chance to meet President Roosevelt and mentioned that he hadn't hired a model for the drawing. Instead, to save money, Flagg modeled Uncle Sam after his own image. President Roosevelt replied that this seemed like a smart way to save money and that this reminded him of something early US citizens would have done. Now, Uncle Sam is known around the globe as the one character that represents the United States.

   1916 年，正当第一次世界大战打得如火如荼之际，一位名为詹姆士‧蒙哥马利‧弗莱格的插画家为一本周刊的封面画了一幅画。这幅画的目的是要告诉美国公民，他们必须准备用任何他们可以做到的方法来支持这场战事。弗莱格画的是一位留着白色山羊胡的老先生。这位老先生的手指直指着观看者，神情严肃。他的头上戴着一顶白色的高礼帽，帽带滚着星星的图案。此外，他还打了一个又大又红的蝴蝶结，身上穿着蓝色外套。综合起来，他这身爱国服装看起来就像是一幅美国国旗各部分的组合。

　　这个形象很引人注目，很快地，弗莱格的画被制成了海报。在 1917年至 1918 年间，这幅『山姆大叔』海报印了 4百万份以上。根据海报的制作人说，它很快就成为世界上最出名的海报。这幅海报也确实创造出世界上最著名的国家拟人∕物化形象（用来代表国家或政府的一个形象）之一。

　　后来，美国政府决定在二次世界大战中使用山姆大叔的形象时，这幅海报再度派上用场。有一回，弗莱格有机会和罗斯福总统会面，他提到自己画这幅画时没有雇用模特儿。为了省钱的缘故，他依照自己的形象画出山姆大叔。罗斯福总统响应说，这是个省钱的好方法，这也使他想到早期美国公民的作风。今日，山姆大叔是全世界公认代表美国的人物。