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AnjaliKumar_2017W-_我失败的寻找上帝之旅——以及我的其它发现_
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| A few years ago, |
几年前, |
| I set out on a mission to find God. |
我曾试着寻找上帝, |
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mission:n.使命,任务;代表团;布道;v.派遣;向…传教;
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| Now, I'm going to tell you right up front that I failed, which, as a lawyer, is a really hard thing for me to admit. |
我得先承认,我失败了。 身为一名律师, 我很难接受这个事实。 |
| But on that failed journey , a lot of what I found was enlightening . |
但在这场失败的路途上, 我受到了很多启发 |
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journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行; enlightening:adj.富有启发性的;v.启发;开导;阐明;(enlighten的现在分词)
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| And one thing in particular gave me a lot of hope. |
尤其是有件事,让我重拾希望。 |
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in particular:尤其,特别;
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| It has to do with the magnitude and significance of our differences. |
这与我们差异的大小和意义有关。 |
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magnitude:n.大小;量级;[地震]震级;重要;光度; significance:n.意义;重要性;意思;
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| So, I was raised in America by Indian parents -- culturally Hindu , but practicing a strict and relatively unknown religion outside of India called Jainism. |
我在美国长大,父母是印度人, 我接受的是印度文化, 但信仰一种非印度本土,严格、不那么出名的 叫做耆那教的宗教。 |
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culturally:adv.从文化角度,文化意义上;在人文学方面; Hindu:adj.印度的;印度教的;n.印度人;印度教教徒; relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地;
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| To give you an idea of just how minority that makes me: people from India represent roughly one percent of the US population; |
告诉你们,我这个宗教是怎么一个少数派: 印度裔人大概占美国人口的1%; |
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minority:n.少数民族;少数派;未成年;adj.少数的;属于少数派的; represent:v.代表;表现;描绘;回忆;再赠送; roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地;
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| Hindus , about 0.7 percent; |
印度教教徒,大约有0.7%; |
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Hindus:n.印度教徒;印度教的;
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| Jains, at most .00046 percent. |
耆那教教徒最多只有0.00046%。 |
| To put that in context : more people visit the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory each year than are followers of the Jain religion in America. |
具体而言, 每年参观泰迪熊佛蒙特工厂的人数 都比美国耆那教教徒还多。 |
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context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉; Vermont:n.佛蒙特州(美国州名,略作VT); Teddy Bear:泰迪熊
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| To add to my minority mix, my parents then decided, "What a great idea! Let's send her to Catholic school" -- |
我的少数状况又再上一层楼, 因为我的父母决定: “真是好主意！那就把她送去天主教学校！” |
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Catholic:adj.天主教的;宽宏大量的;n.天主教徒;罗马天主教;
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声) |
| where my sister and I were the only non-white , non-Catholic students in the entire school. |
在那所学校,只有我和我的妹妹是非白人, 非天主教徒的学生。 |
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non-white:adj.非白种的; non-Catholic:非天主教徒;
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| At the Infant Jesus of Prague School in Flossmoor, Illinois -- yes, that's really what it was called -- we were taught to believe that there is a single Supreme Being who is responsible for everything, the whole shebang , from the creation of the Universe to moral shepherding to eternal life. |
在伊利诺斯州弗洛斯穆尔的布拉格少儿耶稣学校 是的,校名就是这样的—— 我们被教导要相信只有一位至高无上的神 他掌管着世间一切, 所有一切。 从宇宙的创造到道德引导到永垂不朽。 |
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Infant:n.婴儿;幼儿;未成年人;adj.婴儿的;幼稚的;初期的;未成年的; Jesus:int.上帝啊:天哪:n.耶稣:耶稣基督: Prague:n.布拉格(前捷克斯洛伐克首都); Illinois:n.伊利诺斯州(美国州名); Supreme Being:n.上帝;无上的天主; responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的; shebang:n.工作;事情;住所; creation:n.创造,创作;创作物,产物; moral:n.寓意;品行;教益;adj.道德的;道义上的;道德上的;品行端正的; shepherding:vt.牧羊;带领;指导;看管;n.牧羊人;牧师;指导者; eternal:adj.永恒的;不朽的;
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| But at home, |
但在家中, |
| I was being taught something entirely different. |
父母教给我完全不一样的东西。 |
| Followers of the Jain religion don't believe in a single Supreme Being or even a team of Supreme Beings. |
耆那教教徒 并不信奉有这样一位全能神 也不相信有一群神灵。 |
| Instead, we're taught that God manifests as the perfection of each of us as individuals , and that we're actually spending our entire lives striving to remove the bad karmas that stand in the way of us becoming our own godlike , perfect selves. |
在耆那教,我们被教导 我们每一个人都是上帝的完美化身, 而我们这一生所要做的 就是摒弃阻挡前进的恶业 成就自我的神性,完美的自我 |
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manifests:vt.证明,表明; vi.显示,出现; n.载货单,货单; adj.显然的,明显的; perfection:n.完善;完美; individuals:n.[经]个人;[生物]个体(individual的复数); striving:n.努力;奋斗;v.努力;奋斗;力争;力求;(strive的现在分词) karmas:n.[宗]羯磨[梵文译音];因果报应;[女名]女子名;(karmas是karma的复数) stand in the way:妨碍;阻碍;拖…后腿; godlike:adj.上帝般的;似神的;庄严的;
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| On top of that, one of the core principles of Jainism is something called "non-absolutism." |
最重要的是,耆那教的核心教义是 “非绝对论”。 |
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core:n.核心;要点;果心;[计]磁心;vt.挖...的核; principles:n.原则;主义;本质;政策;(principle的复数)
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| Non-absolutists believe that no single person can hold ownership or knowledge of absolute truth, even when it comes to religious beliefs. |
非绝对论者认为没有人 能够掌控所有绝对真理, 即便是在宗教信仰上也一样。 |
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religious:adj.宗教的;虔诚的;严谨的;修道的;n.修道士;尼姑;
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| Good luck testing that concept out on the priests and nuns in your Catholic school. |
愿你可以找到一间天主学校 和那儿的神父和修女验证这个概念。 |
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priests:n.司祭,神父;教士,祭司,僧侣;(priest的复数) nuns:n.修女;尼姑;(nun的复数)
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| No wonder I was confused and hyperaware of how different I was from my peers . |
难怪我当时总感到困惑 并对我与同龄人的不同非常敏感。 |
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confused:adj.困惑的; v.使糊涂; (confuse的过去分词和过去式) peers:n.平辈,同事(peer的复数);v.凝视;比得上(peer的三单形式);
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| Cut to 20-something years later, and I found myself to be a highly spiritual person, but I was floundering . |
二十多年后, 我发现自己是一个高度灵性的人, 但是我有种苦苦挣扎的感觉。 |
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highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; spiritual:n.圣歌(尤指美国南部黑人的);adj.精神的,心灵的; floundering:v.不知所措;挠头;支吾;困难重重;艰苦挣扎;(flounder的现在分词)
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| I was spiritually homeless. |
我在精神上找不到归宿。 |
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spiritually:adv.在精神上地;
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| I came to learn that I was a "None," |
我开始意识到我是个“无”, |
| which isn't an acronym or a clever play on words, nor is it one of these. |
这并非某个缩略词或是诙谐的双关语, 也不是这些之一。 （注:修女nun,英语发音近似） |
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acronym:n.首字母缩略词;
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| It's simply the painfully uninspired name given to everyone who checks off the box "none" |
这不过是个痛苦且平淡的词, 当皮尤调查询问他们的宗教信仰时, |
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painfully:adv.痛苦地,费力地; uninspired:adj.无灵感的;缺乏创见的;平凡的;
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| when Pew Research asks them about their religious affiliation . |
用来让人勾选“无”的选项。 |
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affiliation:n.友好关系;加入;联盟;从属关系;
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| Now, a couple of interesting things about Nones are: there are a lot of us, and we skew young. |
关于无信仰者,有几个有趣的事情: 其实有很多无信仰者, 年龄偏年轻。 |
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Nones:n.古罗马历三,五,七或十月的第七天或其他月份的第五天; (一天七次祈祷中的)第五次祈祷; skew:n.斜交;歪斜;adj.斜交的;歪斜的;
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| In 2014, there were over 56 million religiously unaffiliated Nones in the United States. |
2014年,在美国有超过5600万人 属于无宗教信仰者。 |
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religiously:adv.虔诚地,笃信地; unaffiliated:adj.独立的;未结合的;非附属的; United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
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| And Nones account for over one-third of adults between the ages of 18 to 33. |
在18-33岁的成年人口中, 无宗教信仰者占人口的1/3。 |
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account for:对…负有责任;对…做出解释;说明…的原因;导致;(比例)占;
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| But the most interesting thing to me about Nones is that we're often spiritual. |
但对我而言,无宗教信仰者最有趣的一点是 我们往往很有灵性。 |
| In fact, 68 percent of us believe, with some degree of certainty , that there is a God. |
事实上,68%的人相信, 在一定程度上相信 神的存在。 |
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certainty:n.必然;确实;确实的事情;
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| We're just not sure who it is. |
我们只是不确定它是谁。 |
| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| So the first takeaway for me when I realized I was a None and had found that information out was that I wasn't alone. |
所以我获得的第一个启发是 当我意识我到作为无神论者,我发现 我并不孤单。 |
| I was finally part of a group in America that had a lot of members, which felt really reassuring . |
我终于成为美国群众的一员, 有很多的同伴, 这感觉真让人安心。 |
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finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; reassuring:adj.安心的;可靠的;鼓气的;v.使放心(reassure的现在分词);
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| But then the second, not-so-reassuring takeaway was that, oh, man, there are a lot of us. |
但我学到的第二点, 就不那么令人宽慰了 哦,这么多人无宗教信仰。 |
| That can't be good, because if a lot of highly spiritual people are currently godless , maybe finding God is not going to be as easy as I had originally hoped. |
这可不太好, 因为如果很多高灵性的人都是无神论者, 也许寻找神并不像我起初希望的那么简单。 |
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currently:adv.当前;一般地; godless:adj.不信神的,无神论者的;不敬神的; originally:adv.原来;起初;
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| So that is when I decided that on my spiritual journey, |
所以那时,我下定决心, 在我的心灵之旅中 |
| I was going to avoid the obvious places and skip the big-box religions altogether and instead venture out into the spiritual fringe of mediums and faith healers and godmen. |
我要避开那些显而易见的地方 跳过那些广为人知的宗教 而是冒险进入灵性的边缘 去探索灵媒, 信仰治疗师 和神人。 |
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obvious:adj.明显的;显著的;平淡无奇的; venture:v.敢于;冒险;投机;n.企业;风险;冒险; fringe:n.边缘;穗;刘海;adj.边缘的;附加的;vt.加穗于; mediums:n.手段;材料;媒介;环境;女巫(medium的复数形式); faith:n.信心;信任;宗教信仰; healers:n.医治者;治疗物(healer的复数);
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| But remember, I'm a non-absolutist, which means I was pretty inclined to keep a fairly open mind, which turned out to be a good thing, because I went to a witch's potluck dinner at the LGBT Center in New York City, where I befriended two witches; |
记住,我是个非绝对论者, 这意味着我非常乐意保持开放的心态, 结果显示这是件好事, 因为我去纽约市的LGBT多元中心参与了 （注:同性恋、双性恋和跨性别族群） 女巫的百乐餐, （每人自带一个菜的家庭聚会） 在那我结交了两位女巫; |
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inclined:adj.有…倾向; v.(使)倾向于,有…的趋势; (incline的过去分词和过去式) fairly:adv.相当地;公平地;简直; potluck:n.家常便饭;百乐餐(每人自带一个菜的家庭聚会); befriended:v.做(尤指需要帮助者)的朋友;友善对待;(befriend的过去分词和过去式)
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| drank a five-gallon jerrican full of volcanic water with a shaman in Peru; got a hug from a saint in the convention center -- she smelled really nice -- |
与秘鲁的萨满巫师喝了灌满5加仑 的火山水; 在会议中心得到一个圣人的拥抱。 她真的很香 |
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jerrican:油桶;四方形油罐;金属制液体容器; volcanic:adj.火山的;猛烈的;易突然发作的;n.火山岩; shaman:n.巫师;萨满教的道士;僧人; saint:n.圣人;圣徒;道德崇高的人;adj.神圣的;v.成为圣徒; convention:n.习俗;惯例;协定;常规;
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| chanted for hours in a smoke-filled , heat-infused sweat lodge on the beaches of Mexico; worked with a tequila-drinking medium to convene with the dead, who oddly included both my deceased mother-in-law and the deceased manager of the hip-hop group The Roots. |
在墨西哥海滩边烟雾缭绕、 蒸汽腾腾的蒸汗屋中 高颂圣歌好几个小时; 跟痛饮龙舌兰酒的灵媒一起召唤亡灵, 甚至包括我已过世的岳母 和嘻哈组合“The Roots”的经纪人。 |
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chanted:吟唱(chant的过去式和过去分词); smoke-filled:腾云驾雾; lodge:n.传达室; v.(向公共机构或当局)正式提出(声明等); convene:vt.召集,集合;传唤;vi.聚集,集合; oddly:adv.古怪地;奇妙地;单数地; deceased:adj.死去了的;已死的;n.死者; mother-in-law:n.岳母;婆母; hip-hop:n.街舞,即兴音乐;嘻哈;
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| Yeah, my mother-in-law told me she was really happy her son had chosen me for his wife. |
嗯,我岳母告诉我她很开心 她儿子选择和我结婚。 |
| Duh! But -- |
但...... |
| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| Yeah. |
是的。 |
| But the manager of The Roots said that maybe I should cut back on all the pasta I was eating. |
但The Roots的经纪人 说我也许应该减少吃意大利面的分量。 |
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pasta:n.意大利面食;面团;
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| I think we can all agree that it was lucky for my husband that it wasn't his dead mother who suggested I lay off carbs . |
我想我们都会同意这点 我的丈夫很幸运,他死去的母亲 并没建议我减少碳水化合物。 |
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carbs:abbr.碳水化合物(carbohydrates);内燃机汽化器(carburetors);
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| I also joined a laughing yoga group out of South Africa; witnessed a woman have a 45-minute orgasm -- |
我也加入过南非的一个大笑瑜伽组织; 见到了一个高潮45分钟的女性 |
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yoga:n.瑜珈(意为"结合",指修行);瑜珈术;联想可360°翻转的平板电脑; witnessed:v.当场看到,目击;见证;作证;(witness的过去式和过去分词) orgasm:n.[生理]性高潮;极度兴奋;
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| I am not making this up -- as she tapped into the energy of the universe -- |
我没胡编乱造 当时她是在利用宇宙的能量 |
| I think I'm going to go back there -- |
我想我会回到那里 |
| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| called God from a phone booth in the Nevada desert at Burning Man, wearing a unitard and ski goggles; and I had an old Indian guy lie on top of me, and no, he wasn't my husband. |
火人节的时候 我在内华达州沙漠的电话亭里与上帝通话, 穿戴着紧身衣和滑雪镜; 我还让一个老印度人躺在我上面, 不,他不是我丈夫。 |
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phone booth:n.[游]电话亭; unitard:n.弹力全身紧身衣(一般指运动员或舞蹈演员穿的衣裤,也用作时装);
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| This was a perfect stranger named Paramji, and he was chanting into my chakras as he tapped into the energy forces of the Universe to heal my "yoni," |
这个素昧平生的人叫帕拉吉, 他在吟通我的任督二脉 借助宇宙的力量来治愈我的“Yoni” |
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chanting:念咒; chakras:n.能量中心;轮穴(身体上能量的进出口);
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| which is a Sanskrit word for " vagina ." |
这是“阴道”的梵文词。 |
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Sanskrit:adj.梵文的;n.梵文; vagina:n.[解剖]阴道;叶鞘;鞘;
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| I was going to have a slide here, but a few people suggested that a slide of my yoni at TED -- even TEDWomen -- not the best idea. |
我本打算在这里放张幻灯片, 但有人建议说 在TED里放映Yoni的幻灯片,即便是女性TED 也不是个好主意。 |
| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| Very early in my quest , |
在我探索之初, |
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quest:n.追求;寻找;vi.追求;寻找;vt.探索;
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| I also went to see the Brazilian faith healer John of God at his compound down in Brazil . |
我去见了巴西的信仰治疗师 约翰神仆, 在他巴西的院子里。 |
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compound:v.合成; adj.混合; n.大院; Brazil:n.巴西(拉丁美洲国家);
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| Now, John of God is considered a full-trance medium, which basically means he can talk to dead people. |
现在,约翰神仆被视为完全入定的灵媒, 这意味着他可以跟死人对话。 |
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full-trance:完全出神; basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
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| But in his case, he claims to channel a very specific group of dead saints and doctors in order to heal whatever's wrong with you. |
在他看来,他认为自己可以引导 一个特定的种群: 死去圣徒和医生 来治愈各种病痛。 |
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claims:v.宣称; n.声明; (claim的第三人称单数和复数) specific:adj.特殊的,特定的;明确的;详细的;[药]具有特效的;n.特性;细节;特效药; saints:n.圣徒(saint的复数); v.把…尊为圣人;
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| And although John of God does not have a medical degree or even a high school diploma , he actually performs surgery -- the real kind, with a scalpel , but no anesthesia . |
尽管约翰没有任何医学学位 甚至连高中文凭都没有, 他确实在做手术 真正的那种,要用解剖刀的, 但不打麻醉。 |
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high school diploma:高中文凭; performs:v.执行;表演;演出;履行(perform的第三人称单数) surgery:n.外科;外科手术;手术室;诊疗室; scalpel:n.解剖刀;外科手术刀; anesthesia:n.麻醉;麻木(等于anaesthesia);
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| Yeah, I don't know. |
我也不清楚 |
| He also offers invisible surgery, where there is no cutting, and surrogate surgery, where he supposedly can treat somebody who is thousands of miles away by performing a procedure on a loved one. |
他还提供无创的隐形手术 和代孕手术。 甚至可以通过对所爱的人执行手术来 治疗千里之外的人 |
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invisible:adj.看不见的;n.看不见的人或物; surrogate:n.代理;代表;代用品;adj.替代的;代用的;v.代理;代替; supposedly:adv.据说;据信;据传; treat:v.治疗;处理;招待;款待;n.款待;乐事;乐趣; performing:adj.表演的;演奏的;v.做;执行;演出;运转(perform的现在分词) procedure:n.步骤;手术;(商业、法律或政治上的)程序;
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| Now, when you go to visit John of God, there are all kinds of rules and regulations . |
现在,当你去拜访约翰, 会有各种条条框框。 |
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regulations:n.章程;规则;法规;管理,控制;(regulation的复数)
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| It's a whole complicated thing, but the bottom line is that you can visit John of God and present him with three things that you would like fixed, and he will set the dead saints and doctors to work on your behalf to get the job done. |
是一整套非常复杂的东西, 但至少你可以见到他 向他展示三件你想弥补的事, 他会让死去的圣徒和医生为你服务 帮你实现心愿。 |
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complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式) the bottom line:底线;本质内容;最底线; behalf:n.代表;利益;
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| Now, before you snicker , consider that, at least according to his website, over eight million people -- including Oprah , the Goddess of Daytime TV -- have gone to see John of God, and I was pre-wired to keep an open mind. |
现在,在你们窃笑前, 先想一下, 至少他的网站数据显示, 超过800万的人, 包括奥普拉在内, 就是那位日间电视的女主持 都去见过约翰神仆 我天生就抱着开放的心态。 |
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snicker:v.窃笑;暗笑;n.窃笑; according to:根据,据说; Oprah:n.奥普拉(美国电视节目主持人); pre-wired:事先接好电线的;
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| But to be honest, the whole thing for me was kind of weird and inconclusive , and in the end, I flew home, even more confused than I already started out. |
但老实讲,我对这些仍感到 奇怪和无所适从, 最终,我回家后, 甚至比出发时更困惑。 |
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weird:adj.奇怪的;奇异的;离奇的;n.命运;宿命;命运女神; inconclusive:adj.不确定的;非决定性的;无结果的;
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| But that doesn't mean I came home empty-handed . |
这并不意味着我回家时两手空空。 |
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empty-handed:adj.一无所获;空手的
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| In the weeks leading up to my trip to Brazil, |
在我去巴西的前几周, |
| I mentioned my upcoming plans to some friends and to a couple of colleagues at Google , where I was a lawyer at the time. |
我跟几个朋友和Google的同事 说了我接下来的计划, 当时我是那里的律师。 |
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upcoming:adj.即将来临的; colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); Google:谷歌;谷歌搜索引擎;
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| And I might have mentioned it to a couple more people because I'm chatty , including my neighbor, the guy who works at the local coffee shop I go to each morning, the checkout lady at Whole Foods and a stranger who sat next to me on the subway. |
我可能还向更多的人提到了这些 因为我是个爱闲聊的人, 包括我的邻居, 那个在我每天早上都去的咖啡店里的员工, 全食超市的收银员, 以及在地铁上坐我旁边的陌生人。 |
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chatty:adj.饶舌的;爱讲闲话的;非正式的; coffee shop:na.咖啡店;(一般的)小餐馆; checkout:检验,结帐
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| I told each of them where I was going and why, and I offered to carry three wishes of theirs down to Brazil, explaining that anyone going to see John of God could act as a proxy for others and save them the trip. |
我告诉他们每一个人我打算去哪里 以及为什么, 我告诉他们,我可以 带着他们的三个愿望去巴西, 因为每个去见约翰的人 都可以作为其他的人代表, 以减免众人的长途跋涉。 |
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proxy:n.代理人;委托书;代用品;
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| And to my surprise, my in-box overflowed . |
让我惊讶的是,我的邮箱爆炸了。 |
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in-box:n.邮件网站内的信箱;收件箱; overflowed:v.溢出;挤满了人;扩展出界;过度延伸;(overflow的过去分词和过去式)
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| Friends told friends who told friends, and those friends apparently told more friends, other strangers and the guys at their coffee shops, until it seemed that days before I left for Brazil that there was no one who did not have my email address. |
朋友们告诉了他们的朋友, 他们的朋友又告诉了更多的朋友、 陌生人、咖啡店里的其他人, 到我前往巴西的那天, 似乎没人不知道我的电子邮箱地址。 |
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apparently:adv.显然地;似乎,表面上;
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| And at the time, all I could conclude was that I had offered too much to too many. |
那个时候,我能得出的结论只有 我向太多人 允诺了太多事情。 |
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conclude:v.断定:得出结论:终止:达成:缔结(协定)
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| But when I actually reread those messages a few years later, |
但当我几年后重新阅读这些信息时, |
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reread:vi.重读,再读;vt.重读;再读;n.重读;
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| I noticed something completely different. |
我注意到一些完全不同的事情。 |
| Those emails actually shared three commonalities , the first of which was rather curious . |
这些电子邮件其实有三个共同点, 第一点是相当奇怪的。 |
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commonalities:n.公共;共性;老百姓;平民; curious:adj.好奇的,有求知欲的;古怪的;爱挑剔的;
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| Almost everyone sent me meticulous details about how they could be reached. |
几乎每个人都向我详细地介绍了 他们的联系方式。 |
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meticulous:adj.一丝不苟的;小心翼翼的;拘泥小节的;
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| I had told them, or their friends had told them, that along with the list of the three things they wanted fixed, |
我告诉过他们, 或者他们的朋友告诉过他们, 除了三个他们想弥补的事情外, |
| I needed their photo, their name and their date of birth. |
我需要他们的照片,名字和出生日期。 |
| But they gave me full addresses, with, like, apartment numbers and zip codes, as if John of God was going to stop by their house and see them in person or send along a package. |
但他们给了我完整的地址, 包括房间号和邮编, 就好像是约翰神仆会造访他们 亲自会见他们或者给他们寄快递似的。 |
| It was as if, in the highly unlikely event that their wishes were granted by John of God, they just wanted to make sure that they weren't delivered to the wrong person or the wrong address. |
这就好像,如果他们的愿望会被约翰神仆实现 虽然不太可能, 他们仍想确认这些愿望不会 被送错对象或弄错地址。 |
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unlikely:adj.不大可能发生的;非心目中的;非想象的;难以相信的; granted:v.不错,的确; conj.因为; v.同意,准予,允许; (grant的过去分词和过去式)
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| Even if they didn't believe, they were hedging their bets . |
即便他们不相信, 他们也在两边下注。 |
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hedging:v.避免正面回答;拐弯抹角;包围;限制;(hedge的现在分词) bets:v.下赌注(于);用…打赌;敢说;八成儿(bet的第三人称单数)
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| The second commonality was just as curious, but far more humbling . |
第二个共同点也很奇怪, 但更谦卑。 |
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commonality:n.公共;共性;平民; humbling:adj.令人羞辱的;v.羞辱(humble的ing形式);使…谦恭;使…卑贱;
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| Virtually everyone -- the stranger on the subway, the guy at the coffee shop, the lawyer down the hall, the Jew , the atheist , the Muslim, the devout Catholic -- all asked for essentially the same three things. |
几乎所有人—— 地铁里的陌生人, 咖啡店里的伙计, 走道另一头的律师, 犹太人,无神论者,穆斯林,虔诚的天主教徒—— 所有人都在追寻同样三件事。 |
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Virtually:adv.事实上,几乎;实质上; Jew:v.(集合词)犹太人;犹太人的世界;犹太教;-dom;n.犹太人;犹太教徒; atheist:n.无神论者; devout:adj.虔诚的;衷心的; essentially:adv.本质上;本来;
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| OK, there were a couple of outliers , and yes, a few people asked for cash. |
好吧,有几个例外, 有些人追求金钱。 |
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outliers:n.[分化]异常值;离群值;离开本体的东西;局外人(outlier的复数);
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| But when I eliminated what were ultimately a handful of anomalies , the similarities were staggering . |
但是当我排除了一些反常要求后, 相似度是惊人的。 |
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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) ultimately:adv.最终;最后;归根结底;终究; anomalies:n.异常现象,反常现象(anomaly复数形式); similarities:n.相仿性;类似性;相像处;(similarity的复数) staggering:adj.惊人的; v.蹒跚; (stagger的现在分词)
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| Almost every single person first asked for good health for themselves and their families. |
几乎每个人 都祈求自己和家人身体健康。 |
| Almost universally , they next asked for happiness and then love, in that order: health, happiness, love. |
几乎每个人, 都祈求幸福 然后是爱情。 顺序如下: 健康,幸福,爱情 |
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universally:adv.普遍地;人人;到处;
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| Sometimes they asked for a specific health issue to be fixed, but more often than not , they just asked for good health in general . |
有的人请求解决一个具体的健康问题, 但一般而言,他们只要求整体上的身体健康。 |
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issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行; more often than not:通常;多半; in general:总之,通常;一般而言;
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| When it came to happiness, they each phrased it slightly differently, but they all asked for the same specific subtype of happiness, too -- the kind of happiness that sinks in and sets down roots in your soul; the kind of happiness that could sustain us, even if we were to lose absolutely everything else. |
当涉及到幸福时, 他们的措辞略有不同, 但是他们都祈求同样的特定幸福类型, 这种幸福感渗入肌肤 深入灵魂; 那种即便我们失去所有其他东西, 亦能支撑着我们的幸福。 |
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slightly:adv.些微地,轻微地;纤细地; subtype:n.图表类型; sustain:v.支持;支撑;遭受;证实; absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
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| And for love, they all asked for the kind of romantic love, the soul mate that we read about in epic romantic novels , the kind of love that will stay with us till the end of our days. |
至于爱情, 他们都追求浪漫的爱情, 那种我们在史诗浪漫小说中读到的灵魂伴侣, 那种天长地久永相伴的爱情。 |
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romantic:adj.浪漫的;爱情的;n.浪漫的人;耽于幻想的人; epic:adj.史诗的,叙事诗的;n.史诗;叙事诗;史诗般的作品; novels:n.小说;(novel的复数)
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| Sorry, that's my husband. |
抱歉,那是我丈夫。 |
| Crap ! Now I forgot my place. |
天啦！我忘了我说到哪儿了。 |
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Crap:n.废话;废物;屎;拉屎;vi.掷骰子;拉屎;
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| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| (Applause) |
（鼓掌） |
| So by and large , all of these friends and strangers, regardless of their background, race or religion, all asked for the same things, and they were the same things that I really wanted, the simplified version of the basic human needs identified by social scientists like Abraham Maslow and Manfred Max-Neef. |
所以总的来说, 这些朋友和陌生人, 无论他们的背景,种族和宗教是什么, 他们都追寻着同样的东西, 和我想要的东西是一样的, 就是那种人类的基本需求 由马斯洛和曼弗雷德等社会科学家发现的需求。 |
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by and large:大体上,总的来说; regardless:adj.不管的; v.不顾后果地; simplified:v.简化; (simplify的过去式) identified:v.确认;认出;找到;发现;说明身份;(identify的过去式和过去分词)
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| No one asked for answers to the big existential questions or for proof of God or the meaning of life like I had set out to find. |
没有人寻求重大存在问题的答案 或证明上帝的存在, 或是我想找的生命意义。 |
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existential:adj.存在主义的;有关存在的;存在判断的; proof:n.证据;证实;adj.能抵御;可防护;
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| They didn't even ask for an end to war or global hunger. |
甚至也没人要求结束战争或全球饥荒。 |
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global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的;
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| Even when they could have asked for absolutely anything, they all asked for health, happiness and love. |
即便他们可以要求任何事情, 他们都祈求健康,幸福和爱情。 |
| So now those emails had a third commonality as well. |
这些电子邮件还有第三个共同点。 |
| Each of them ended in the exact same way. |
每封邮件结束的方式都基本一样。 |
| Instead of thanking me for carting their wishes all the way to Brazil, everyone said, "Please don't tell anyone." |
不是感谢我把他们的愿望一路带到巴西, 每个人都说, “请不要告诉别人”。 |
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carting:n.马车运输;运出;v.载运(cart的ing形式);
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| So I decided to tell everyone -- |
所以我打算告诉每一个人。 |
| (Laughter) |
（笑声） |
| right here on this stage, not because I'm untrustworthy , but because the fact that we have so much in common feels especially important for us all to hear, especially now, when so many of the world's problems |
就在这个舞台上, 不是因为我不可信, 而是因为这些非常相似的事实, 对我们大家而言尤其重要,尤其是现在, 当下世界的很多问题 |
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untrustworthy:adj.靠不住的;不能信赖的; especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分;
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| seem to be because we keep focusing on the things that make us different, not on what binds us together. |
看起来源于我们太关注于我们的不同之处, 而不是我们的相同之处。 |
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binds:v.约束;捆绑;系;装订;n.窘境;(binds是bind的第三人称单数)
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| And look -- I am the first to admit that I am not a statistician , and that the data I presented to you that I just accumulated in my in-box is more anecdotal than scientific , more qualitative than quantitative . |
还有,我首先要承认我不是统计学家, 我给你们展示的数据是我在收件箱里发现的 是定性的,不是科学的和定量的。 |
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statistician:n.统计学家,统计员; accumulated:v.积累;积聚;(数量)逐渐增加;(accumulate的过去式和过去分词) anecdotal:adj.轶事的;轶事一样的;多轶事的; scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; qualitative:adj.定性的;质的,性质上的; quantitative:adj.定量的;量的,数量的;
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| It is, as anyone who works with data would tell you, hardly a statistically significant or demographically balanced sample. |
数据统计者会告诉你 这几乎不具有统计上的显著性 在人口样本上也不平衡。 |
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statistically:adv.统计地;统计学上; significant:adj.重大的;有效的;有意义的;值得注意的;意味深长的;n.象征;有意义的事物; demographically:人口统计地;
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| But nonetheless , I find myself thinking about those emails every time I reflect back on the bias and prejudice that I've faced in my life, or when there's another hate crime or a senseless tragedy that underscores the disheartening sense that our differences might be insurmountable . |
尽管如此,每次回想起在生活中遇到 偏见和歧视, 或者又一起仇恨犯罪或无意义的悲剧发生时, 我们的分歧无法克服 而让人备感沮丧时。 我发现我总会想起这些邮件, |
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nonetheless:adv.尽管如此,但是; reflect:v.反映;映出(影像);反射;表明,表达; bias:adv.使有偏见;n.偏见;偏心;偏爱;v.使有偏见;使偏向;adj.斜的;[电]偏动的; prejudice:n.偏见;侵害;vt.损害;使有偏见; hate crime:n.(因种族、同性恋等歧视引起的)仇恨犯罪;仇恨犯罪行为; senseless:adj.愚蠢的;无知觉的;无意识的; tragedy:n.悲惨的事;不幸;灾难;悲剧作品; underscores:vt.划线于…下(underscore复数); disheartening:adj.令人灰心的;令人气馁的; insurmountable:adj.不能克服的;不能超越的;难以对付的;
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| I then remind myself that I have evidence that the humbling, unifying commonality of our humanity is that, even when presented with the opportunity to ask for anything at all, most of us want the same things, and that this is true no matter who we are, what name we call our god, or which religion, if any, we call home. |
我会提醒自己我有证据 我们的人性当中 让人谦卑且一致的共同性是 即便我们拥有机会 去追寻任何东西, 我们大多数人想要的仍然是同样的东西, 这点是确切的,不管我们是谁, 我们的神叫什么, 我们是什么宗教,或者, 我们的归属是哪里。 |
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remind:v.提醒;使想起; evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明; unifying:使统一;(unify的现在分词)使成一体; humanity:n.人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科;
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| I then also note that apparently some of us want these things so badly that we would email a None, a spiritually confused None like me -- some might say otherwise confused as well -- |
我还注意到 很明显,我们中的一些人非常想要这些东西 我们甚至会给“无神论者”发邮件, 一个精神上的困惑者,像我这样的“无神论者” 一些人可能也有其他困惑—— |
| and that we would seek out this stranger and email her our deepest wishes, just in case there is the remote possibility that they might be granted by someone who is not a god, much less our god, |
我们会寻找这个陌生人 并向她传达我们最深的祝福, 以防万一,万一这些愿望 会被一个不是上帝的人实现, 可能不是我们的神, |
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seek:v.寻求;寻找;谋求; just in case:以防万一;作为准备; remote:adj.偏远的;偏僻的;遥远的;久远的;
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| someone who is not even a member of our chosen religion, someone who, when you look at him on paper, seems like an unlikely candidate to deliver. |
一个甚至不是我们所选择的宗教的成员, 一个当你在报纸上看到时, 觉得似乎不太可能替你实现的人。 |
| And so now, when I reflect back on my spiritual quest, even though I did not find God, |
所以现在, 当我回想起我的这段旅程, 尽管我没有找到上帝, |
| I found a home in this: even today, in a world fractured by religious, ethnic , political, philosophical , and racial divides, even with all of our obvious differences, at the end of the day, and the most fundamental level, we are all the same . |
我在当中找到了家园。 即使在今天,在一个被宗教, 种族、政治、哲学和种族分离的世界里, 即使我们有明显的差异, 到头来, 在最基本的层面, 我们都是一样的。 |
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fractured:v.(使)断裂,折断,破裂;(使)分裂;(fracture的过去式和过去分词) ethnic:adj.种族的;人种的; philosophical:adj.哲学的(等于philosophic);冷静的; racial:adj.种族的;人种的; fundamental:n.基础; adj.十分重大的; all the same:仍然:依然:照样:
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| Thank you. |
谢谢。 |
| (Applause) |
（鼓掌） |