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AndrewSolomon_2013P-_爱，不管是什么_
'"Even in purely non-religious terms, homosexuality represents a misuse of the sexual faculty . “就算抛开宗教信仰的因素, 同性恋也是性滥交的代名词
purely:adv.完全;仅仅; homosexuality:n.同性恋; represents:v.代表;维护…的利益;相当于;(represent的第三人称单数) misuse:vt.滥用;误用;虐待;n.滥用;误用;虐待; faculty:n.科,系;能力;全体教员;
It is a pathetic little second-rate substitute for reality -- a pitiable flight from life. 它是可悲的,次等的,一种现实的替代品 是人生中一段令人遗憾的旅程
pathetic:adj.可怜的,悲哀的;感伤的;乏味的; second-rate:adj.二流的;二等的;平庸的; substitute:v.取代;(以…)代替;n.代用品;代替物;代替者;替补(运动员); pitiable:adj.可怜的;
As such, it deserves no compassion , it deserves no treatment as minority martyrdom , and it deserves not to be deemed anything but a pernicious sickness." 因此,同性恋不值得同情 也不值得治疗 因为只有少数人为此受难 同性恋只值得视为一种有害的疾病
deserves:v.值得;应得;应受;(deserve的第三人称单数) compassion:n.同情;怜悯; treatment:n.治疗;疗法;对待;处理;讨论; minority:n.少数民族;少数派;未成年;adj.少数的;属于少数派的; martyrdom:n.殉难,牺牲;受苦,受难; deemed:v.认为;视为;相信;(deem的过去分词和过去式) pernicious:adj.有害的;恶性的;致命的;险恶的;
That's from Time magazine in 1966, when I was three years old. 上述的话选自1966年发行的《时代》杂志,那时我只有三岁.
And last year, the president of the United States came out in favor of gay marriage. 但是就在去年,美国总统 站出来表示支持同性恋婚姻
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
(Applause) (鼓掌)
And my question is, how did we get from there to here? 我的问题是,我们是如何实现这种态度的转变？
How did an illness become an identity ? 曾经的疾病是如何成为现在的一种身份认同？
identity:n.身份;同一性,一致;特性;恒等式;
When I was perhaps six years old, 当我差不多六岁的时候
I went to a shoe store with my mother and my brother. 我和妈妈还有弟弟去一家鞋店
And at the end of buying our shoes, the salesman said to us that we could each have a balloon to take home. 最后,当我们付款买鞋子的时候 售货员告诉我们,我们每个人可以挑选一个气球带回家
My brother wanted a red balloon, and I wanted a pink balloon. 我的弟弟想要一个红色的气球,我想要粉色的气球
My mother said that she thought I'd really rather have a blue balloon. 而我的母亲说她觉得我应该选一个蓝色的气球
But I said that I definitely wanted the pink one. 但是我说我想要的毫无疑问是粉色的气球
definitely:adv.清楚地,当然;明确地,肯定地;
And she reminded me that my favorite color was blue. 她提醒我,我最喜欢的颜色是蓝色
reminded:v.提醒;使想起;(remind的过去分词和过去式)
The fact that my favorite color now is blue, but I'm still gay -- 其结果是,我现在最喜欢的颜色是蓝色,但我依旧是个同性恋者
(Laughter) -- is evidence of both my mother's influence and its limits. (笑声) 这既反应了母亲对孩子的影响,也反应了这其中的局限性
evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明; influence:n.影响;势力;感化;有影响的人或事;v.影响;改变;
(Laughter) (笑声)
(Applause) (鼓掌)
When I was little, my mother used to say, "The love you have for your children is like no other feeling in the world. 当我很小的时候,母亲曾经说过 父母对子女的爱是世界上其它一切感情都无法比拟的,
And until you have children, you don't know what it's like." 只有当你拥有自己的孩子时,你才能体会到
And when I was little, I took it as the greatest compliment in the world that she would say that about parenting my brother and me. 我小的时候,把母亲讲的关于抚育我和弟弟的这段话 当成是世界上最高称赞
compliment:n.恭维;称赞;问候;致意;道贺;v.恭维;称赞;
And when I was an adolescent , I thought that I'm gay, and so I probably can't have a family. 当我成为一个青少年的时候,我想 我是同性恋,所以我可能不会有自己的家庭
adolescent:adj.青春期的;未成熟的;n.青少年;
And when she said it, it made me anxious. 当母亲说那些话的时候,我就会感到很焦虑
And after I came out of the closet , when she continued to say it, it made me furious . 当我的事公之于众后, 母亲还重提此事,我感到很恼火
out of the closet:出柜;衣柜外面;出柜者; furious:adj.激烈的;狂怒的;热烈兴奋的;喧闹的;
I said, "I'm gay. That's not the direction that I'm headed in. 我说:“我是同性恋。我不会走那条路。
And I want you to stop saying that." 我希望你不要再说那些话了。”
About 20 years ago, I was asked by my editors at The New York Times Magazine to write a piece about deaf culture. 大约二十年前,《纽约时报》主编让我 写一篇关于聋人文化的文章
And I was rather taken aback . 我感到很惊讶
taken aback:惊讶;
I had thought of deafness entirely as an illness. 我原以为耳聋就是一种疾病
deafness:n.聋;听力不佳;
Those poor people, they couldn't hear. 那些可怜的人呀,他们什么都听不见
They lacked hearing, and what could we do for them? 如果他们听不见,我们能为他们做什么呢？
And then I went out into the deaf world. 接下来,我走进了聋人世界
I went to deaf clubs. 我去了聋人俱乐部
I saw performances of deaf theater and of deaf poetry . 观看了聋人的表演
performances:n.演出;[法]履行(performance的复数形式); poetry:n.诗;诗意,诗情;诗歌艺术;
I even went to the Miss Deaf America contest in Nashville , Tennessee where people complained about that slurry Southern signing. 我甚至去了田纳西州纳什维尔的“美国聋人小姐”选秀赛 居然有人抱怨她们甜腻的南方手语“口音”
Nashville:n.那什维尔(美国田纳西州首府); Tennessee:n.田纳西州(美国州名); complained:v.抱怨;埋怨;发牢骚;(complain的过去分词和过去式) slurry:n.泥浆;悬浮液;
(Laughter) （笑声）
And as I plunged deeper and deeper into the deaf world, 随着越来越融入聋人世界
plunged:投入;跳进;使陷入;使投入(plunge的过去式和过去分词);
I become convinced that deafness was a culture and that the people in the deaf world who said, "We don't lack hearing, we have membership in a culture," 我开始相信耳聋是一种文化 并且聋人世界中的人也说, 我们不是听力不健全,我们是一种文化,
convinced:adj.坚信; v.使确信; (convince的过去分词和过去式) membership:n.成员资格;(统称)会员;会员人数;
were saying something that was viable . 这是可行的
viable:adj.可行的;能养活的;能生育的;
It wasn't my culture, and I didn't particularly want to rush off and join it, but I appreciated that it was a culture and that for the people who were members of it, it felt as valuable as Latino culture or gay culture or Jewish culture. 这不是我的文化 我也没想冲过去加入这种文化 但我欣赏它是一种文化 对其中的成员而言 它的价值就如同拉美文化,同性恋文化或犹太文化
particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; appreciated:v.欣赏;感激;理解;(appreciate的过去分词和过去式) valuable:adj.有价值的;贵重的;可估价的;n.贵重物品; Latino:adj.拉丁美洲的;拉丁美洲人的;n.拉丁美洲人; Jewish:adj.犹太人的;犹太族的;
It felt as valid perhaps even as American culture. 它甚至可以和美国文化相媲美
valid:adj.有效的;有根据的;合法的;正当的;
Then a friend of a friend of mine had a daughter who was a dwarf . 我朋友的朋友有个女儿,是个小矮人
dwarf:v.变矮小;n.侏儒,矮子;adj.矮小的;
And when her daughter was born, she suddenly found herself confronting questions that now began to seem quite resonant to me. 当她女儿出生的时候 她突然发现她要面对很多问题 这些问题使我产生共鸣
confronting:v.直面;无法回避;降临于;处理;对抗;(confront的现在分词) resonant:adj.洪亮的,共振的;共鸣的;
She was facing the question of what to do with this child. 她当时面临的问题是--该如何对待这个孩子？
Should she say, "You're just like everyone else but a little bit shorter?" 她应该说“你和其他人一样,只是矮了点儿”？
Or should she try to construct some kind of dwarf identity, get involved in the Little People of America, become aware of what was happening for dwarfs ? 还是去试图建立某种小矮人身份认同 加入美国小个子联盟 开始了解矮人生活圈的那些事？
construct:v.建造;创建;建筑;修建;n.概念;构筑物;结构体;建造物; involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) Little People:n.小老百姓;异常矮小的人;侏儒;"袖珍"人; dwarfs:矮子;侏儒(dwarf的复数);
And I suddenly thought, most deaf children are born to hearing parents. 然后我突然想到 大多数耳聋孩子的父母都是听力健全的
Those hearing parents tend to try to cure them. 那些听力健全的父母总是试图去治愈他们的孩子
Those deaf people discover community somehow in adolescence . 那些聋人要差不多到青春期的时候才开始接触聋人群体
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体; somehow:adv.以某种方法;莫名其妙地; adolescence:n.青春期;
Most gay people are born to straight parents. 大多数同性恋者的父母是异性恋
Those straight parents often want them to function in what they think of as the mainstream world, and those gay people have to discover identity later on. 那些异性恋父母常常希望他们的孩子表现得 如他们认为的主流世界所期望的那样 那些同性恋者不得不长大后才寻找身份认同
mainstream:n.主流;
And here was this friend of mine looking at these questions of identity with her dwarf daughter. 再说说我的这个朋友 面对这些关于她小矮人女儿身份认同的问题
And I thought, there it is again: 然后我想,又是这样
A family that perceives itself to be normal with a child who seems to be extraordinary . 一个认为自己正常的家庭 有着一个特殊的孩子
perceives:vt.察觉,感觉;理解;认知;vi.感到,感知;认识到; extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的;
And I hatched the idea that there are really two kinds of identity. 我想,事实上身份认同分为两种类型
hatched:v.孵出;出壳;孵化;破壳;(hatch的过去分词和过去式)
There are vertical identities , which are passed down generationally from parent to child. 有垂直身份认同 从父母到孩子,代代相传
vertical:n.垂直线;垂直位置;adj.竖的;垂直的;直立的;纵向的; identities:n.身份;本身;本体;特征;同一性;相同;(identity的复数) generationally:一代人,同代人;
Those are things like ethnicity , frequently nationality, language, often religion. 也有像是种族,国际,语言,宗教
ethnicity:n.种族划分; frequently:adv.频繁地,经常地;时常,屡次;
Those are things you have in common with your parents and with your children. 你和你的父母,孩子拥有共同点,
in common with:与…一样;
And while some of them can be difficult, there's no attempt to cure them. 而有些身份较难识别, 但并不需要尝试去改变
attempt:n.企图,试图;攻击;v.企图,试图;尝试;
You can argue that it's harder in the United States -- our current presidency notwithstanding -- to be a person of color. 你可以争辩说,在美国 作为有色人种生存艰难 尽管我们现任的总统是有色人种
presidency:n.总统(或董事长,会长,大学校长等)的职位(任期);管辖;支配; notwithstanding:adv.尽管,仍然;prep.尽管,虽然;conj.虽然;
And yet, we have nobody who is trying to ensure that the next generation of children born to African-Americans and Asians come out with creamy skin and yellow hair. 确实,没人试图去保证 非洲裔美国人,亚洲裔的孩子们 生来就有着奶油色的皮肤和金黄的头发
ensure:vt.保证,确保;使安全; Asians:adj.亚洲的;亚洲人的;n.亚洲人; come out with:说出;发表;出版;供应,把…投入市场; creamy:adj.奶油色的;乳脂状的;含乳脂的;
There are these other identities which you have to learn from a peer group . 还有一些身份认同是你从同龄人群中获得的
peer group:n.同龄群体;社会地位相同的群体;
And I call them horizontal identities, because the peer group is the horizontal experience. 我称它们为水平身份认同 因为和同伴一起活动,接触,是所谓的一种经验
horizontal:n.水平线;水平面;横线;水平位置;adj.水平的;与地面平行的;横的;
These are identities that are alien to your parents and that you have to discover when you get to see them in peers . 这些身份认同与你从父母处得来的不同 你需要通过接触同伴自己发掘
peers:n.平辈,同事(peer的复数);v.凝视;比得上(peer的三单形式);
And those identities, those horizontal identities, people have almost always tried to cure. 这种身份认同,我指的是水平身份认同 就是人们最希望去治愈的部分
And I wanted to look at what the process is through which people who have those identities come to a good relationship with them. 我想要研究的是,这是怎样的过程 有着这些身份认同的人们 是怎么和他们保持好的关系的
process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
And it seemed to me that there were three levels of acceptance that needed to take place . 在我看来,有三种 不同程度的接受
acceptance:n.验收;接受;认可;承认; take place:发生;举行;
There's self-acceptance , there's family acceptance, and there's social acceptance. 这三种是,自我接受,家庭接纳,社会接纳
self-acceptance:自承;
And they don't always coincide . 它们并不一定同步发生
coincide:v.同时发生;相同;相符;相交;同位;
And a lot of the time, people who have these conditions are very angry because they feel as though their parents don't love them, when what actually has happened is that their parents don't accept them. 很多时候,这样的人很易怒 因为他们觉得,他们的父母并不爱他们 真实的情况是,他的父母不接受他们
Love is something that ideally is there unconditionally throughout the relationship between a parent and a child. 最理想的爱就是父母和孩子 之间那种无条件的爱
ideally:adv.理想地;观念上地; unconditionally:adv.无条件地; throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及;
But acceptance is something that takes time. 但接受是需要时间
It always takes time. 接受总是需要时间的
One of the dwarfs I got to know was a guy named Clinton Brown. 我认识的一个小矮人名叫克林顿布朗
When he was born, he was diagnosed with diastrophic dwarfism , a very disabling condition, and his parents were told that he would never walk, he would never talk, he would have no intellectual capacity , and he would probably not even recognize them. 他出生的时候就被诊断为畸形侏儒症 他的残疾非常严重 他的父母被告知,他永久丧失行走能力和语言能力 他也没有获取知识的能力 他甚至也不会认识他的父母
diagnosed:v.诊断(疾病);判断(问题的原因);(diagnose的过去分词和过去式) diastrophic:弯曲变形的; dwarfism:n.[内科]侏儒症;矮小; disabling:v.使不能;使失去能力;致残疾(disable的ing形式); intellectual:n.知识分子;脑力劳动者;adj.智力的;脑力的;理智的;有才智的; capacity:n.能力;容量;资格,地位;生产力; recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
And it was suggested to them that they leave him at the hospital so that he could die there quietly. 医院给他父母的建议是把他留在医院 他可以在那里平静地离世
And his mother said she wasn't going to do it. 他的母亲说,她不会这样做
And she took her son home. 她把她的儿子带回了家
And even though she didn't have a lot of educational or financial advantages , she found the best doctor in the country for dealing with diastrophic dwarfism, and she got Clinton enrolled with him. 尽管她没有什么学历,也不是很富有 她还是找到了治疗畸形侏儒症 全国最顶级的医生 她让克林顿接受治疗
educational:adj.教育的;有关教育的;有教育意义的 financial:adj.金融的;财政的,财务的; advantages:n.有利条件; v.有利于; enrolled:v.(使)加入;注册;登记;(enroll的过去分词和过去式)
And in the course of his childhood , he had 30 major surgical procedures . 他的童年 经历了 30次重大外科手术
in the course of:在…过程中;在…期间; childhood:n.童年;幼年;孩童时期 surgical:adj.外科的;外科手术的; procedures:n.程序;规程(procedure的复数);
And he spent all this time stuck in the hospital while he was having those procedures, as a result of which he now can walk. 他一直待在医院里 而正是这些治疗过程 让他现在有了行走的能力
as a result:结果;
And while he was there, they sent tutors around to help him with his school work. 他在住院期间,医院请了家庭教师来指导他的功课
And he worked very hard because there was nothing else to do. 他学习非常努力,因为他没有别的事可做
And he ended up achieving at a level that had never before been contemplated by any member of his family. 最终,他达到了 他家庭内任何成员都从未达到过的高度
contemplated:v.考虑;思量;深思熟虑;沉思;(contemplate的过去式和过去分词)
He was the first one in his family, in fact, to go to college, where he lived on campus and drove a specially-fitted car that accommodated his unusual body. 他是他的家庭成员里第一个去上大学的人 他住在学校宿舍并且自己开车 一辆为他身体状况特别制造的汽车
campus:n.(大学)校园;大学,大学生活;校园内的草地; accommodated:v.使适应(accommodate的过去式及过去分词形式);安置;为…提供住宿;
And his mother told me this story of coming home one day -- and he went to college nearby -- and she said, "I saw that car, which you can always recognize, in the parking lot of a bar," she said. (Laughter) 他的母亲告诉我一个故事 他去了家附近的大学 她说 我看到了那部车,一眼就认出来是他的车子 停在一家酒吧的停车场, （笑声）
nearby:adj.附近的,邻近的;adv.在附近;prep.在…附近; parking lot:n.停车场;
'"And I thought to myself, they're six feet tall, he's three feet tall. 我想了想,他们六英尺高,他三英尺高
Two beers for them is four beers for him." 他们喝两瓶啤酒,在他那里就相当于四瓶啤酒 。
She said, "I knew I couldn't go in there and interrupt him, but I went home, and I left him eight messages on his cell phone." 她说, 我知道我不能走进去打扰他 但我回家之后,给他发了八条短信
interrupt:v.中断;打断;插嘴;妨碍;n.中断;
She said, "And then I thought, if someone had said to me when he was born that my future worry would be that he'd go drinking and driving with his college buddies -- " 她说, 我想 在他出生的时候,如果有人对我说, 我未来的担心是他会和他大学友人酒后驾车
buddies:n.伙伴,好朋友;v.交朋友;(buddy的第三人称单数和复数)
(Applause) （掌声）
And I said to her, "What do you think you did that helped him to emerge as this charming , accomplished , wonderful person?" 我对她说, 你觉得你做了什么 帮他成为一个有魅力、 成功、 精彩的人吗?
emerge:v.浮现;显现;暴露;露出真相; charming:adj.令人着迷的;吸引人的;v.吸引;迷住;控制,保护;(charm的现在分词) accomplished:adj.完成的;有技巧的;有学问的;v.完成;(accomplish的过去分词和过去式)
And she said, "What did I do? I loved him, that's all. 她说, 我做了什么？我爱他,就这样
Clinton just always had that light in him. 克林顿一直都有这样的光芒,
And his father and I were lucky enough to be the first to see it there." 他的父亲和我很幸运,最早看见了他的光芒。”
I'm going to quote from another magazine of the '60s. 我要去引述1960年代另一家杂志刊载的话
quote:v.引用;报价;举例说明;开价;为(企业的股份)上市;n.引用;
This one is from 1968 -- The Atlantic Monthly , voice of liberal America -- written by an important bioethicist . 这是1968 年出版的大西洋月刊,美国的自由主义之声 作者是知名的生物伦理学专家
Atlantic:adj.大西洋的;巨人阿特拉斯的;n.大西洋; Monthly:n.月刊:adv.每个月:每月一次:adj.每月的: liberal:adj.宽宏大度的; n.理解且尊重他人意见的人; bioethicist:生命伦理学家;生物伦理学家;伦理学家们;
He said, "There is no reason to feel guilty about putting a Down syndrome child away, whether it is put away in the sense of hidden in a sanitarium or in a more responsible , lethal sense. 他说, 对于遗弃唐氏综合症的婴孩 我们不必感到内疚 无论是将其送到疗养院去 或者用更负责也更致命的方式
guilty:adj.有罪的;内疚的; syndrome:n.[临床]综合征;综合症状;并发症状;校验子;并发位; sanitarium:n.疗养院;疗养所; responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的; lethal:adj.致命的,致死的;n.致死因子;
It is sad, yes -- dreadful . But it carries no guilt. 这很可悲,也很可怕但不需要有罪恶感
dreadful:adj.可怕的;糟透的,令人不快的;
True guilt arises only from an offense against a person, and a Down's is not a person." 真正有内疚只源于侵犯人, 而唐氏综合症患者不是人。”
arises:v.出现;发生;站立; offense:n.犯罪,过错;进攻;触怒;引起反感的事物;
There's been a lot of ink given to the enormous progress that we've made in the treatment of gay people. 关于同性恋者处境的大幅度进步 已经有很多文章就此发表观点
enormous:adj.庞大的,巨大的;凶暴的,极恶的;
The fact that our attitude has changed is in the headlines every day. 每天都有头条报导人们对同性恋的态度已有所转变
attitude:n.态度;看法;意见;姿势;
But we forget how we used to see people who had other differences, how we used to see people who were disabled, how inhuman we held people to be. 但我们遗忘了过去是怎么看待不同于大众的人 忘了过去是怎么看待残障人士的 忘了我们曾经多么不人道
inhuman:adj.残忍的;野蛮的;无人性的;
And the change that's been accomplished there, which is almost equally radical , is one that we pay not very much attention to. 在那些方面的改变 几乎同样激进 我们却未给予更多的重视
radical:n.自由基;激进分子;游离基;adj.根本的;彻底的;完全的;全新的;
One of the families I interviewed , Tom and Karen Robards, were taken aback when, as young and successful New Yorkers, their first child was diagnosed with Down syndrome. 我采访过罗巴兹家族的汤姆和凯伦夫妇 他们当年是年轻有为的纽约人 在得知他们第一个孩子患有唐氏综合征时大为惊讶
interviewed:v.对(某人)进行面试(或面谈); (媒体)采访(interview的过去分词和过去式)
They thought the educational opportunities for him were not what they should be, and so they decided they would build a little center -- two classrooms that they started with a few other parents -- to educate kids with D.S. 他们认为儿子并未得到应有的教育 于是他们决定成立一个小型教育机构 两间教室里,他们开始和其他的父母 一起教育唐氏综合症儿童
And over the years, that center grew into something called the Cooke Center, where there are now thousands upon thousands of children with intellectual disabilities who are being taught. 多年后,该机构发展为库克中心 现在有成千上万的 智障儿童在这里接受教育
disabilities:n.残疾(disability的复数);身心障碍者;
In the time since that Atlantic Monthly story ran, the life expectancy for people with Down syndrome has tripled . 自从大西洋月刊刊载了那片文章以来 唐氏综合征患者的寿命增加了两倍
life expectancy:预期寿命; tripled:adj.三倍的;三方的;n.三倍数;三个一组;vi.增至三倍;vt.使成三倍;
The experience of Down syndrome people includes those who are actors, those who are writers, some who are able to live fully independently in adulthood . 唐氏综合征的人有些是演员 作家,有些在成年后能完全独立生活
independently:adv.独立地;自立地; adulthood:n.成年;成人期;
The Robards had a lot to do with that. 罗巴兹夫妇的贡献很大
And I said, "Do you regret it? 我问他们:“你们会遗憾吗？
Do you wish your child didn't have Down syndrome? 你们希望自己的孩子没有唐氏综合征吗？
Do you wish you'd never heard of it?" 是否希望从未听说过这种病症?
And interestingly his father said, "Well, for David, our son, I regret it, because for David, it's a difficult way to be in the world, and I'd like to give David an easier life. 有趣的是这位父亲说, 嗯,从我们的儿子大卫角度来看,我感到遗憾, 因为对于大卫来说,这个世界里唐氏患儿的路走得非常艰辛 我想要给大卫更轻松的生活
interestingly:adv.有趣地;
But I think if we lost everyone with Down syndrome, it would be a catastrophic loss." 但我认为,如果世界上不再有唐氏症患儿,会是很大的损失。”
catastrophic:adj.灾难的;悲惨的;灾难性的,毁灭性的;
And Karen Robards said to me, "I'm with Tom. 凯伦罗巴兹说:“我同意汤姆的看法
For David, I would cure it in an instant to give him an easier life. 为了让大卫活得更自在,我会想瞬间治愈他的唐氏综合症
in an instant:瞬间;马上;
But speaking for myself -- well, I would never have believed 23 years ago when he was born that I could come to such a point -- speaking for myself, it's made me so much better and so much kinder and so much more purposeful in my whole life, that speaking for myself, I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world." 但对我来说,23 年前他刚出生时,我绝不相信 我能走到今天这一步 对我来说,他的病让我成为更好,更善良的人 让我的人生更有意义 对我来说,这样的经验是世界上任何其他东西都换不来的
purposeful:adj.有目的的;有决心的;
We live at a point when social acceptance for these and many other conditions is on the up and up . 现代社会对这样那样的病症的接受程度 越来越高
on the up and up:诚实;走上坡路;
And yet we also live at the moment when our ability to eliminate those conditions has reached a height we never imagined before. 然而,此时此刻 我们治愈这些病症的能力 也已经达到一个前所未有的高度
eliminate:v.消除;排除;
Most deaf infants born in the United States now will receive Cochlear implants , which are put into the brain and connected to a receiver, and which allow them to acquire a facsimile of hearing and to use oral speech. 现在美国新生的耳聋婴儿 都会接受人工耳蜗植入手术, 将人工耳蜗植入大脑并连上接收器 通过接收信号,这让他们具有听说的能力
infants:n.婴儿(infant的复数);婴幼儿; Cochlear:adj.耳蜗的; implants:n.移植物;埋植剂(implant的复数);v.灌输(implant的第三人称单数); acquire:v.获得;取得;学到;捕获; facsimile:n.传真;复写;adj.复制的;vt.传真;临摹; oral:adj.口头的; n.(尤指外语考试中的)口试; (大学里的)口试;
A compound that has been tested in mice, BMN-111, is useful in preventing the action of the achondroplasia gene. 有一种叫 BMN-111的化合物,经老鼠实验 在抑制软骨发育不全基因方面非常有效
compound:v.合成; adj.混合; n.大院; achondroplasia:n.[医]软骨发育不全;
Achondroplasia is the most common form of dwarfism, and mice who have been given that substance and who have the achondroplasia gene, grow to full size. 软骨发育不全是侏儒症最常见的表现形式 有软骨发育不全基因的小鼠摄取BMN-11以后 可以生长到正常体型
substance:n.物质;实质;主旨;物品;
Testing in humans is around the corner. 临床试验指日可待
There are blood tests which are making progress that would pick up Down syndrome more clearly and earlier in pregnancies than ever before, making it easier and easier for people to eliminate those pregnancies, or to terminate them. 通过血液检测唐氏综合症的技术也在进步 可以在怀孕早期更明确地检测出唐氏综合症 使它更容易尽早终止 唐氏综合症胎儿妊娠
pregnancies:n.怀孕;丰富,多产;意义深长;
And so we have both social progress and medical progress. 我们的社会进步了,医学也发展了
And I believe in both of them. 我认同这两方面的进步
I believe the social progress is fantastic and meaningful and wonderful, and I think the same thing about the medical progress. 我相信社会的进步精彩且有意义 我认为医学的进步也是如此
fantastic:奇异的,空想的 meaningful:adj.严肃的;重要的;重大的;意味深长的;
But I think it's a tragedy when one of them doesn't see the other. 但我认为两者互不理解着实可悲
tragedy:n.悲惨的事;不幸;灾难;悲剧作品;
And when I see the way they're intersecting in conditions like the three I've just described , 当我看到他们交汇的方式 像我刚才描述的三个病例
intersecting:adj.交叉的;vt.交叉(intersect的现在分词); described:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的过去分词和过去式)
I sometimes think it's like those moments in grand opera when the hero realizes he loves the heroine at the exact moment that she lies expiring on a divan . 我有时觉得这就像那些悲壮的歌剧 当英雄意识到他爱上女主角的时候 就是女主角躺在长沙发上奄奄一息
grand opera:n.大歌剧; heroine:n.女主角;女英雄;女杰出人物; expiring:满期;到期; divan:n.咖啡馆;(无扶手和靠背的)长沙发椅;吸烟室;(东方国家的)会议厅;
(Laughter) （笑声）
We have to think about how we feel about cures altogether. 我们要全盘考量对于治愈的态度
And a lot of the time the question of parenthood is, what do we validate in our children, and what do we cure in them? 父母常常面对的问题是 孩子在哪些方面值得肯定 哪些方面需要治愈？
parenthood:n.亲子关系;父母身份; validate:v.证实;确认;使生效;批准;认可;
Jim Sinclair, a prominent autism activist , said, "When parents say 'I wish my child did not have autism,' what they're really saying is 'I wish the child I have did not exist 有名的自闭症专家,吉姆 · 辛克莱说, 当父母说*我希望我的孩子没有自闭症,* 他们真正的意思是* 我希望我的孩子并不存在
prominent:adj.突出的,显著的;杰出的;卓越的; autism:n.[心理][内科]孤独症;自我中心主义; activist:n.积极分子;激进主义分子;
and I had a different, non-autistic child instead.' 而希望有一个没有自闭症的孩子.*
Read that again. This is what we hear when you mourn over our existence. 听仔细了,当你们抱怨我们的存在,我们听到的就是这个意思
mourn:v.哀悼;忧伤;服丧;
This is what we hear when you pray for a cure -- that your fondest wish for us is that someday we will cease to be and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces." 你们祈祷奇迹出现的时候,我们听到的是 你们衷心希望 总有一天我们将不复存在 和我们长着相同面孔的陌生人将会取代我们,得到你们所有的爱
cease:v.(正式)停止;结束;中断;平息;n.(正式)不停地;不间断地;连续地;
It's a very extreme point of view , but it points to the reality that people engage with the life they have and they don't want to be cured or changed or eliminated . 这是一个非常极端的观点, 但它指出了一个现实,人们有自己的生活 他们不想要被治愈或改变或消灭
extreme:adj.极端的;极度的;偏激的;尽头的;n.极端;末端;最大程度;极端的事物; point of view:观点;见地;立场; engage:v.吸引,占用;使参加;雇佣;使订婚;预定; eliminated:v.排除;清除;消除;(比赛中)淘汰;消灭;(eliminate的过去式和过去分词)
They want to be whoever it is that they've come to be. 他们希望,不管是谁,都能保有与生俱来的天性
whoever:任何人:无论是谁:
One of the families I interviewed for this project was the family of Dylan Klebold who was one of the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre . 为了这个项目我采访了迪伦科莱柏德的家庭 迪伦柯莱柏德是哥伦拜恩校园惨案的罪犯之一
perpetrators:n.作恶者;行凶者;犯罪者;(perpetrator的复数) Columbine:adj.鸽的;似鸽的;鸽色的;n.耧斗菜; massacre:n.屠杀;残杀;惨败;v.屠杀;杀戮;使惨败;
It took a long time to persuade them to talk to me, and once they agreed, they were so full of their story that they couldn't stop telling it. 我花了很长的时间说服他们跟我对话 他们同意了,有太多的故事 一开口就无法停下来
persuade:v.说服;劝说;使信服;使相信;
And the first weekend I spent with them -- the first of many -- 我第一次和他们共度周末,后来还有许多次
I recorded more than 20 hours of conversation. 我录了20 多个小时的谈话内容
And on Sunday night, we were all exhausted . 到了周日晚上,大家都精疲力竭
exhausted:adj.筋疲力尽的; v.使筋疲力尽; (exhaust的过去分词和过去式)
We were sitting in the kitchen. Sue Klebold was fixing dinner. 我们坐在厨房里,苏在做晚饭
Sue:v.控告;提起诉讼;(尤指在法庭上)提出请求;
And I said, "If Dylan were here now, do you have a sense of what you'd want to ask him?" 我说, 如果现在,迪伦还在这里 你们想要问他些什么?
And his father said, "I sure do. 他的父亲说, 当然
I'd want to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing." 我想问问他究竟为什么这样做 。
And Sue looked at the floor, and she thought for a minute . 苏望着地板,思考了一会儿
for a minute:一会儿;
And then she looked back up and said, "I would ask him to forgive me for being his mother and never knowing what was going on inside his head." 然后抬起头来说, “我会请他原谅我不是合格的好母亲 从来不知道他的脑袋里想的是些什么”
forgive:v.原谅;免除(债务,义务等);
When I had dinner with her a couple of years later -- one of many dinners that we had together -- she said, "You know, when it first happened, 几年后,我再度与她吃晚餐 那是我们曾经许多共同的晚餐之一 她说, 你知道,当事情发生的时候
I used to wish that I had never married, that I had never had children. 我曾经希望我没有结过婚,也没有孩子
If I hadn't gone to Ohio State and crossed paths with Tom, this child wouldn't have existed and this terrible thing wouldn't have happened. 如果我没有到俄亥俄州立大学,没遇见汤姆 这个孩子就不会存在,这可怕的惨案就不会发生
But I've come to feel that I love the children I had so much that I don't want to imagine a life without them. 但我觉得我太爱孩子们了 我不愿想象没有他们的生活
I recognize the pain they caused to others, for which there can be no forgiveness , but the pain they caused to me, there is," she said. 我承认他们对其他人造成的痛苦是不可饶恕的 但我能宽恕他们对我造成的痛苦。 她说
forgiveness:n.宽恕;原谅;宽宏大量
'"So while I recognize that it would have been better for the world if Dylan had never been born, 所以虽然我承认,如果迪伦未曾出现在这个世界上 世界会更美好
I've decided that it would not have been better for me." 但我认为那样对我并非更有好处
I thought it was surprising how all of these families had all of these children with all of these problems, problems that they mostly would have done anything to avoid, and that they had all found so much meaning in that experience of parenting. 令人惊讶的是,这些家庭有这么多子女教育的问题 这些问题又是他们常常不惜代价去避免的 但她们都发现养儿育女的经验很有意义
And then I thought, all of us who have children love the children we have, with their flaws . 然后我想,我们这些有孩子的人 不管孩子如何,我们都疼爱无比
flaws:n.[材]缺陷;[力]裂缝(flaw的复数);v.有裂纹;使有裂缝(flaw的单三形式);
If some glorious angel suddenly descended through my living room ceiling and offered to take away the children I have and give me other, better children -- more polite, funnier, nicer, smarter -- 如果带着光环的天使突然从客厅天花板降落 提议要带走我的孩子 还给我一个更好的孩子,更有礼貌,风趣,友善,聪明
glorious:adj.光荣的;辉煌的;极好的; descended:adj.出身于...的;从一个祖先传下来的; living room:n.客厅;起居室;
I would cling to the children I have and pray away that atrocious spectacle . 我会紧抓住我自己的孩子,祈祷残忍地事情不要发生
cling:v.依附;抓紧;紧抱;粘住;依恋; atrocious:adj.凶恶的,残暴的; spectacle:n.景象;场面;奇观;壮观;公开展示;表相,假相n.(复)眼镜;
And ultimately I feel that in the same way that we test flame-retardant pajamas in an inferno to ensure they won't catch fire when our child reaches across the stove , 我最终明白 就如同我们在火焰中测试防火睡衣 以确保孩子手伸到炉子上时不会着火
ultimately:adv.最终;最后;归根结底;终究; flame-retardant:阻燃的; pajamas:n.睡衣;宽长裤; inferno:n.阴间,地狱; catch fire:着火; stove:n.火炉;窑;烘房;[园]温室;v.用火炉烤[烘干];把…放入温室内培育;
so these stories of families negotiating these extreme differences reflect on the universal experience of parenting, which is always that sometimes you look at your child and you think, where did you come from? 这些处理特殊情况的家庭的故事 反映了普世的育儿经验 有时候你看着孩子,心里想 你从哪里来？
negotiating:v.谈判;磋商;协商;商定;达成协议;(negotiate的现在分词) reflect on:仔细考虑,思考;反省;回想,回顾;怀疑; universal:adj.普遍的;全体的;全世界的;共同的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
It turns out that while each of these individual differences is siloed -- there are only so many families dealing with schizophrenia , there are only so many families of children who are transgender , there are only so many families of prodigies -- who also face similar challenges in many ways -- 尽管他们各自面对不同的境况 只有一些家庭有精神分裂症患者 只有一些家庭的孩子做了变性手术 只有一些家庭出现神童 在许多方面也面临着相似的挑战
individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的; siloed:n.筒仓;青贮窖;飞弹发射井;vt.把…存入青贮窖;把…储存在筒仓内; schizophrenia:n.[内科]精神分裂症; transgender:n.跨性别;跨性别者; prodigies:n.奇迹,奇事;奇才;奇观;预兆;
there are only so many families in each of those categories -- but if you start to think that the experience of negotiating difference within your family is what people are addressing, then you discover that it's a nearly universal phenomenon . 每个类别也仅有一些家庭 但如果你开始思考 那些处理家人间分歧的经验 是出现在每个人生活中的 然后你发现这是一个普遍的现象
categories:n.(人或事物的)类别,种类(category的复数) phenomenon:n.现象;杰出的人;非凡的人(或事物);
Ironically , it turns out, that it's our differences, and our negotiation of difference, that unite us. 讽刺的是,事实证明,正是我们的不同和我们协商彼此的不同 将我们连结起来
Ironically:adv.讽刺地;说反话地; negotiation:n.谈判;转让;顺利的通过;
I decided to have children while I was working on this project. 当我做这个项目的时候我决定要孩子
And many people were astonished and said, "But how can you decide to have children in the midst of studying everything that can go wrong?" 很多人对此感到惊奇 你怎么能做出要孩子的决定 当你的研究是关于不如意的,且只进行到一半?
astonished:adj.吃惊的; midst:n.当中,中间;prep.在…中间(等于amidst);
And I said, "I'm not studying everything that can go wrong. 我说, 我研究的不是那些不如意
What I'm studying is how much love there can be, even when everything appears to be going wrong." 我研究的是,有多少爱可以给予 甚至当一切似乎都是个错误的情况下 。
I thought a lot about the mother of one disabled child I had seen, a severely disabled child who died through caregiver neglect . 我想起我见过的一个残疾孩子的母亲 这个有严重残疾的孩子因为照料不周而去世
severely:adv.严重地;严格地,严厉地;纯朴地; caregiver:n.照料者,护理者; neglect:v.忽视;忽略;疏忽;疏于照顾;n.忽视;忽略;未被重视;
And when his ashes were interred , his mother said, "I pray here for forgiveness for having been twice robbed, once of the child I wanted and once of the son I loved." 当他的骨灰被安葬的时候,他的母亲说 我在这里祈祷宽恕,我失去了两个 一个是我想要的孩子,一个是我所爱着的儿子”
interred:vt.埋;葬;
And I figured it was possible then for anyone to love any child if they had the effective will to do so. 我以为任何一个人都可以去爱任何孩子 如果他们有能力就会这样做
effective:adj.有效的,起作用的;实际的,实在的;给人深刻印象;
So my husband is the biological father of two children with some lesbian friends in Minneapolis . 我的丈夫是两个孩子的亲生父亲 这两个孩子的母亲是他在明尼阿波利斯市的女同性恋朋友
biological:adj.生物学的;生物的;与生命过程有关的;加酶的;n.[药]生物制品; lesbian:adj.[心理]女同性恋的;n.女同性恋者; Minneapolis:n.明尼阿波里斯市(美国一座城市);
I had a close friend from college who'd gone through a divorce and wanted to have children. 我大学时期有一个亲密的朋友,她离了婚却也想要孩子
divorce:n.离婚;分离;v.与某人离婚;使分离;
And so she and I have a daughter, and mother and daughter live in Texas. 所以我和她生了一个女儿 母亲和女儿居住在德克萨斯州
And my husband and I have a son who lives with us all the time of whom I am the biological father, and our surrogate for the pregnancy was Laura, the lesbian mother of Oliver and Lucy in Minneapolis. 我丈夫和我有个儿子和我们一起生活 我是他的生父 为我们代孕的女士是劳拉 她是明尼阿波利斯市奥利弗和露西的女同性恋母亲
surrogate:n.代理;代表;代用品;adj.替代的;代用的;v.代理;代替; pregnancy:n.怀孕;丰富,多产;意义深长;
(Applause) （掌声）
So the shorthand is five parents of four children in three states. 五位父母,生了四个孩子,生活在三个不同的州
shorthand:n.速记;速记法;adj.速记法的;
And there are people who think that the existence of my family somehow undermines or weakens or damages their family. 当然有些人会认为,这样的家庭的存在 在某种程度上破坏或削弱甚至损害了他们的家庭
undermines:暗中破坏; weakens:vt.减少;使变弱;使变淡;vi.变弱;畏缩;变软弱;
And there are people who think that families like mine shouldn't be allowed to exist. 也有些人认为像我们这样的家庭 不应该被允许存在
And I don't accept subtractive models of love, only additive ones. 我不接受消减中的爱,只求递增的爱
subtractive:adj.减去的;负的;有负号的; additive:n.添加剂,添加物;adj.附加的;[数]加法的;
And I believe that in the same way that we need species diversity to ensure that the planet can go on, so we need this diversity of affection and diversity of family in order to strengthen the ecosphere of kindness. 同时我也相信,我们需要物种的多样性 来确保地球可以延续下去 因此,我们需要这种多样化的感情和家庭 来强化仁慈的生物圈
species:n.[生物]物种;种类; diversity:n.差异(性):多样性:多样化: ecosphere:n.生态层,[生态]生物圈;
The day after our son was born, the pediatrician came into the hospital room and said she was concerned . 在我们儿子出生后的第二天 儿科医生走进病房说她很担心
pediatrician:n.儿科医师(等于pediatrist); concerned:adj.有关的;关心的;v.关心;与…有关;(concern的过去时和过去分词)
He wasn't extending his legs appropriately . 他没有适当地伸展他的双腿
extending:v.使伸长;扩大;扩展;延长;(extend的现在分词) appropriately:adj.适当地;合适地;相称地;
She said that might mean that he had brain damage . 她说这可能意味着他有脑损伤
brain damage:n.(疾病、事故导致的)脑损伤;
In so far as he was extending them, he was doing so asymmetrically , which she thought could mean that there was a tumor of some kind in action. 当他伸腿时,又很不对称 她以为这可能意味着有某种类型的肿瘤
In so far as:至于; asymmetrically:adv.不对称地(不平衡地); tumor:n.肿瘤;肿块;赘生物;
And he had a very large head, which she thought might indicate hydrocephalus . 他的头非常大,她认为这可能意味着他有脑积水
indicate:v.表明;显示;象征;暗示; hydrocephalus:n.[内科]脑积水;
And as she told me all of these things, 当她告诉我这些事情的时候
I felt the very center of my being pouring out onto the floor. 我觉得我的身体要倒下去似的
pouring:v.倾倒;倾泻;连续流出;倒出;喷发;(pour的现在分词)
And I thought, here I had been working for years on a book about how much meaning people had found in the experience of parenting children who are disabled, and I didn't want to join their number. 我想,我花很多年写的书 关于人们养育残疾子女的经验 给他们带来了怎样的意义 但我还是不想加入他们
Because what I was encountering was an idea of illness. 我想到的是疾病
encountering:v.遭遇,遇到;偶然碰到;意外地遇见;(encounter的现在分词)
And like all parents since the dawn of time, 就像所有的父母那样,从孩子出生那刻起
dawn:n.黎明;开端;vt.破晓;出现;被领悟;
I wanted to protect my child from illness. 我想要我的孩子健康
And I wanted also to protect myself from illness. 同时我也想自己远离疾病
And yet, I knew from the work I had done that if he had any of the things we were about to start testing for, that those would ultimately be his identity, 我的工作经验让我得知 如果经过哪些检查,发现他有什么问题 那将永久成为他的特性
were about to:眼看就要;即将;正要;行将;
and if they were his identity they would become my identity, that that illness was going to take a very different shape as it unfolded . 如果这是他的特性,也将会是我的特性
unfolded:v.(使)展开;打开;展示;透露;(unfold的过去分词和过去式)
We took him to the MRI machine, we took him to the CAT scanner , we took this day-old child and gave him over for an arterial blood draw. 我们带他做核磁共振,带他做计算机化X射线轴向分层造影 我们带着这个出生仅一天的孩子做动脉抽血
scanner:n.[计]扫描仪;扫描器;光电子扫描装置; arterial:adj.[解剖]动脉的;干线的;像动脉的;
We felt helpless . 我们感到无助
helpless:adj.无助的;无能的;没用的;
And at the end of five hours, they said that his brain was completely clear and that he was by then extending his legs correctly. 五个小时后, 医生们说他的大脑完全没问题 也可以完全正常伸展他的双腿
And when I asked the pediatrician what had been going on, she said she thought in the morning he had probably had a cramp . 当我问儿科医生这是怎么回事, 她说,她觉得早上他可能抽筋了
cramp:n.痉挛,绞痛; v.束缚,限制; adj.狭窄的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
But I thought how my mother was right. 我认为我的母亲是正确的
I thought, the love you have for your children is unlike any other feeling in the world, and until you have children, you don't know what it feels like. 我以为你对自己孩子的爱 是不同于世界上任何其他感觉的 直到你有孩子,你才知道那是什么样的感觉
I think children had ensnared me the moment I connected fatherhood with loss. 我想是孩子让我 认为自己不是个称职的父亲
ensnared:vt.诱捕;诱入陷阱;进入罗网; fatherhood:n.父亲的身分;父权;父性;父道;
But I'm not sure I would have noticed that if I hadn't been so in the thick of this research project of mine. 但我不确定自己会注意到 要不是我做了这么繁复的研究项目,
I'd encountered so much strange love, and I fell very naturally into its bewitching patterns. 我遇到了太多奇怪的爱, 然后我很自然地陷入其迷人的模式
encountered:v.遭遇,遇到;偶然碰到;意外地遇见;(encounter的过去分词和过去式) naturally:adv.自然地;自然而然地;轻而易举;天生地;大方地; bewitching:adj.迷人的; v.迷住; (bewitch的现在分词)
And I saw how splendor can illuminate even the most abject vulnerabilities . 我看到光彩如何照亮最不幸的脆弱之处
splendor:n.光彩;壮丽;显赫; illuminate:照明;照亮;照射;解释;使容光焕发; abject:adj.卑鄙的;可怜的;不幸的; vulnerabilities:n.缺陷(vulnerability的复数形式);脆弱点;
During these 10 years, I had witnessed and learned the terrifying joy of unbearable responsibility, and I had come to see how it conquers everything else. 在这 10 年期间,我曾目睹和了解到 那些难以承受的责任, 我也看到了它如何克服一切苦难
witnessed:v.当场看到,目击;见证;作证;(witness的过去式和过去分词) terrifying:adj.令人恐惧的;骇人的;极大的;v.使害怕,使恐怖;(terrify的现在分词) unbearable:adj.难以忍受的;承受不住的; conquers:克服;征服;
And while I had sometimes thought the parents I was interviewing were fools, enslaving themselves to a lifetime's journey with their thankless children and trying to breed identity out of misery , 我曾经有时会想,我正在采访的父母是傻瓜 让自己踏上给不知感恩的孩子们一生为奴的旅程 试图从痛苦中获得身份认同
interviewing:v.对(某人)进行面试;(媒体)采访,访问;(interview的现在分词) enslaving:v.使成为奴隶;奴役;使受控制;征服;(enslave的现在分词) journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行; thankless:adj.不感谢的;忘恩的;不领情的;吃力不讨好的; breed:v.繁殖;孕育;培育(动植物);导致;以…方式教育;n.品种; misery:n.痛苦,悲惨;不幸;苦恼;穷困;
I realized that day that my research had built me a plank and that I was ready to join them on their ship. 我意识到,从研究开始那天起,我已建造了一块踏板 随时准备着与他们同舟共济
plank:n.[木]厚木板;支架;政纲条款;v.在…上铺板;撂下;立刻付款;
Thank you. 谢谢
(Applause) （掌声）