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ChrisAbani_2008-_人性的冥思_
My search is always to find ways to chronicle , to share and to document stories about people, just everyday people. 无论我干什么,我总是想办法记下来。 我愿意分享和记录人们的故事,就是普普通通老百姓的故事。
chronicle:n.编年史,年代记;记录;vt.记录;把…载入编年史;
Stories that offer transformation , that lean into transcendence , but that are never sentimental , that never look away from the darkest things about us. 这些故事给人们带来改变,这种改变又引导人们走向卓越, 但是从来都不伤感。 我也从来不会忘记我们生命中最黑暗的时光。
transformation:n.转变;(用于南非)民主改革; lean:v.前俯(或后仰):倾斜:adj.肉少的:难以赚钱的:贫乏的:n.瘦肉: transcendence:n.超越;卓越;超然存在; sentimental:adj.伤感的;多愁善感的;感情用事的;寓有情感的;
Because I really believe that we're never more beautiful than when we're most ugly . 因为我相信我们人生中的黑暗 永远比人生中的光明更加动人。
ugly:adj.丑陋的;邪恶的;令人厌恶的;
Because that's really the moment we really know what we're made of. 因为在黑暗中我们才真正知道我们的内心世界。
As Chris said, I grew up in Nigeria with a whole generation -- in the '80s -- of students who were protesting a military dictatorship which has finally ended. 就像克里斯说的那样,我生长在尼日利亚, 我出生在上世纪80年代, 我们这一代人,学生反对如今已经结束的军事独裁。
protesting:v.(公开)反对;抗议;坚决地表示;申辩;(protest的现在分词) military:adj.军事的;军人的;适于战争的;n.军队;军人; dictatorship:n.专政;独裁权;独裁者职位; finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地;
So it wasn't just me, there was a whole generation of us. 不仅仅是我,我们这一代人都是如此。
But what I've come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures , but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion , everyday acts of compassion. 但是我从中学到的 是世界从来不会因为摆出了一副救世主的姿态得救, 而是因为点点滴滴温和柔软,甚至看不到的出于同情的行动的积累, 每天出于同情的行动。
messianic:adj.弥赛亚的;救世主似的; gestures:n.手势; v.做手势; (gesture的第三人称单数和复数) accumulation:n.积聚,累积;堆积物; invisible:adj.看不见的;n.看不见的人或物; compassion:n.同情;怜悯;
In South Africa they have a phrase called ubuntu . 南非语有一个词叫乌班图,
ubuntu:n.乌班图;一种Linux操作系统;
Ubuntu comes out of a philosophy that says, the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me. 乌班图来源于哲学, 对于我来说它的意思就是我之所以成为人,唯一的解释是 你们将我人性的光辉重新折射在我的身上。
philosophy:n.哲学;哲理;人生观; reflect:v.反映;映出(影像);反射;表明,表达; humanity:n.人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科;
But if you're like me, my humanity is more like a window. 但是如果你们像我一样,我的人性更像一扇窗。
I don't really see it, I don't pay attention to it until there's a, you know, like a bug that's dead on the window. 我并没有看到人性,我也没有注意到, 直到……打个比方吧……有一只虫的尸体粘在窗子上面。
pay attention to:注意 bug:n.臭虫,小虫;故障;窃听器;v.烦扰,打扰;装窃听器;
Then suddenly I see it, and usually, it's never good. 忽然间我就看到了窗子,这种感觉并不好。
It's usually when I'm cussing in traffic at someone who is trying to drive their car and drink coffee and send emails and make notes. 通常堵车的时候,我就会咒骂 骂那些想法设法开车,喝咖啡, 发邮件和记笔记的人。
cussing:v.诅咒;咒骂;(cuss的现在分词)
So what ubuntu really says is that there is no way for us to be human without other people. 实际上乌班图的意思是 没有别人,我们也就没法成为人。
It's really very simple, but really very complicated . 这很简单,但是事实上非常复杂。
complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式)
So, I thought I should start with some stories. 我想我应该用故事开头。
I should tell you some stories about remarkable people, so I thought I'd start with my mother. 我想给大家讲讲一些伟人的故事。 那么我就说说我的妈妈吧。
remarkable:adj.卓越的;非凡的;值得注意的;
(Laughter) （笑）
And she was dark, too. 她也是黑人。
My mother was English. 我的妈妈是个英国人。
My parents met in Oxford in the '50s, and my mother moved to Nigeria and lived there. 我的父母50年代在牛津相遇, 然后我妈搬到了尼日利亚,并且在那儿定居。
She was five foot two, very feisty and very English. 她只有5.2英尺高（约158厘米）,她精力很旺盛而且英国味十足。
feisty:adj.活跃的;好争吵的;烦躁不安的;坚决而据理力争的;
This is how English my mother is -- or was, she just passed. 给大家讲一个故事你们就知道了——但她最近才过世。
She came out to California to Los Angeles to visit me, and we went to Malibu, which she thought was very disappointing . 她来到加州来到洛杉矶来看我, 我们去马里布,她认为这家餐馆很令人失望。
disappointing:adj.令人失望的;v.使失望;使破灭;使落空(disappoint的现在分词)
(Laughter) （笑）
And then we went to a fish restaurant, and we had Chad the surfer dude serving us, and he came up and my mother said, "Do you have any specials, young man?" 然后我们又去一家海鲜餐厅, 一个叫查德的服务生,也是一个冲浪好手来给我们点菜, 他走过来,我妈妈问到, “小伙子,你们有什么特色菜吗？”
dude:n.男人,小伙子;(非正式)花花公子;
And Chad says, "Sure, like, we have this like, salmon , that's like rolled in this like, wasabi like, crust . 服务生说,“当然了,我们有大马哈鱼,” 卷起来吃,山葵还有面包。
salmon:n.鲑鱼;大马哈鱼;鲑肉色;鲑鱼肉;橙红色,粉橙色;adj.浅澄色的; wasabi:n.芥末酱; crust:n.壳;表面;厚颜无耻;[美国]雪壳;v.用外皮覆盖;结成硬皮;生痂儿;形成硬壳;
It's totally rad." 这简直酷毙了。”
And my mother turned to me and said, "What language is he speaking?" 我妈转过来对我说, “他说的是什么话？”
(Laughter) （笑）
I said, "English, Mum." 我说,“妈,是英语。”
And she shook her head and said, "Oh, these Americans, we gave them a language. 她摇摇头说, “天哪,这些美国人,我们把英语都给他们了。
Why don't they use it?" 他们为什么不用呢？”
(Laughter) （笑）
So, this woman, who converted from the Church of England to Catholicism when she married my father -- and there's no one more rabid than a Catholic convert -- decided to teach in the rural areas in Nigeria, particularly among Igbo women, the Billings ovulation method, which was the only approved birth control by the Catholic Church. 哎,我妈原本信仰英国国教, 但她嫁给了我爸以后,她就改信仰天主教了—— 没有任何人会比一个天主教的皈依者更急进的了—— 她决定在尼日利亚的农村地区普及知识, 特别是在伊博女人中间, 普及的知识是比林斯排卵法。 天主教只允许用这种方法来控制生育。
converted:adj.修改的;改变信仰的;v.转变;改变信仰(convert的过去式和过去分词形式); Church of England:n.英国国教会;英格兰圣公会; Catholicism:n.天主教;天主教义; rabid:adj.激烈的;狂暴的;偏激的;患狂犬病的; rural:adj.农村的,乡下的;田园的,有乡村风味的; particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; Billings:n.比林斯(美国蒙大拿州南部城市); ovulation:n.排卵;产卵作用; approved:adj.被正式接受的,被正式认可的; v.赞成; (approve的过去分词和过去式) birth control:adj.节育的;避孕的;
But her Igbo wasn't too good. 她的伊博语不好。
So she took me along to translate . 所以她拉上我帮她翻译。
translate:v.翻译;被翻译;被译成;(使)转变;
I was seven. 那时我才7岁。
(Laughter) （笑）
So, here are these women who never discuss their period with their husbands, and here I am telling them, "Well, how often do you get your period?" 这些女人 从来不和他们的丈夫讨论月经, 所以只有我去问他们,“额,你月经多久来一次？”
(Laughter) （笑）
And, do you notice any discharges ? 你看到什么液体了吗？
discharges:n.责任解除文件(discharge复数); v.卸下;
(Laughter) （笑）
And, how swollen is your vulva ? 你的阴户有多肿？
swollen:adj.肿胀的,浮肿的;浮夸的;激动兴奋的; vulva:n.阴户;[解剖]女阴;孔;
(Laughter) （笑）
She never would have thought of herself as a feminist , my mother, but she always used to say, "Anything a man can do, I can fix." 她从来不把自己当成一个女权主义者, 但是她总是说, “男人能做的任何事,我都能搞定。”
feminist:n.男女平等主义者;adj.主张男女平等的;
(Applause) （鼓掌）
And when my father complained about this situation, where she's taking a seven-year-old boy to teach this birth control, you know, he used to say, "Oh, you're turning him into, you're teaching him how to be a woman." 我爸对此发过牢骚, 她居然带一个7岁大的男孩 去普及节育知识, 他总是说,“我的天,你在把他变成” 不对,你在教他如何做一个女人。”
complained:v.抱怨;埋怨;发牢骚;(complain的过去分词和过去式)
My mother said, "Someone has to." 我妈说,“总有人要牺牲。”
(Laughter) （笑）
This woman -- during the Biafran war, we were caught in the war. 在比亚法拉战争中,我妈 和她的子女都被捕。
It was my mother with five little children. 我妈妈当时带着五个孩子。
It takes her one year, through refugee camp after refugee camp, to make her way to an airstrip where we can fly out of the country. 一年当中,她从一个难民营到另一个难民营, 最后终于到了机场,我们最终逃离了这个国家。
refugee:n.难民;避难者;逃亡者;v.避难;adj.避难的; airstrip:n.飞机跑道;
At every single refugee camp, she has to face off soldiers who want to take my elder brother Mark, who was nine, and make him a boy soldier. 在每一个难民营,她都不得不和士兵周旋, 这些士兵想把我的哥哥马克带走,他当时才9岁, 让他去当童子兵。
Can you imagine this five foot two woman, standing up to men with guns who want to kill us? 你能想象这个5.2英尺的女人 是如何对抗那些拿着枪想置我们于死地的士兵的吗？
All through that one year, my mother never cried one time, not once. 那一年, 我妈从没哭过,一次也没有。
But when we were in Lisbon , in the airport , about to fly to England, this woman saw my mother wearing this dress, which had been washed so many times it was basically see through , with five really hungry-looking kids, came over and asked her what had happened. 我们后来到了里斯本的机场, 准备飞到英国, 一个女人看到我妈妈穿着一条 洗得发白发透的裙子, 还拖着5个面黄肌瘦的孩子时, 她走过来问我妈发生了什么。
Lisbon:n.里斯本(葡萄牙首都); airport:n.机场;航空港; basically:adv.主要地,基本上; see through:adj.透明的;穿透的;
And she told this woman. 我妈把这一切都告诉了她。
And so this woman emptied out her suitcase and gave all of her clothes to my mother, and to us, and the toys of her kids, who didn't like that very much, but -- 这个女人紧接着就掏空了她的旅行箱 把她所有的衣服给了我的妈妈 然后又给我们她孩子不喜欢的玩具,但是——?
suitcase:n.[轻]手提箱;衣箱;
(Laughter) （笑）
That was the only time she cried. 那是她第一次哭。
And I remember years later, I was writing about my mother, and I asked her, "Why did you cry then?" 我记得几年后,我写到我妈的时候, 我问她,“当时你为什么哭？”
And she said, "You know, you can steel your heart against any kind of trouble, any kind of horror . 她说,“在面对任何困难和恐惧时,你可以 把你的心铸成铁。
horror:n.恐惧;厌恶;震惊;对某事物的强烈畏惧(或憎恨);
But the simple act of kindness from a complete stranger will unstitch you." 但是陌生人任何一点善举 却能让你瞬间融化。”
The old women in my father's village, after this war had happened, memorized the names of every dead person, and they would sing these dirges, made up of these names. 战争开始后,我爸爸村子里年老的女人 记住了每个逝者的名字, 她们唱挽歌,挽歌是由这些名字组成的。
memorized:v.记忆;记住(memorize的过去分词和过去式) made up of:由…组成,由…构成;
Dirges so melancholic that they would scorch you. 挽歌非常忧沉,会将你灼伤。
melancholic:adj.忧郁的;抑郁的;患忧郁症的;n.忧郁症患者; scorch:vt.烧焦;使枯萎;挖苦;vi.烧焦;枯萎;n.烧焦;焦痕;
And they would sing them only when they planted the rice, as though they were seeding the hearts of the dead into the rice. 她们只有在播种粮食的时候才唱, 就好像她们将逝者的心 植入了粮食。
seeding:n.播种;晶种;v.播种(seed的ing形式);
But when it came for harvest time, they would sing these joyful songs, that were made up of the names of every child who had been born that year. 但是等到收获的时节, 她们又会唱一些愉快的歌, 歌词是由当年出生的 每个孩子的名字组成的。
joyful:adj.欢喜的;令人高兴的;
And then the next planting season, when they sang the dirge , they would remove as many names of the dead, that equaled as many people that were born. 到了下一次播种的时候,她们也会唱挽歌, 当然她们去掉了很多逝者的名字, 去掉名字的数量等于新生儿出生的数量。
dirge:n.挽歌;哀悼歌; equaled:adj.平等的;相等的;胜任的;vt.等于;比得上;n.对手;匹敌;同辈;相等的事物;
And in this way, these women enacted a lot of transformation, beautiful transformation. 通过这种方式,这些女人转变了许多, 这是一种美丽的转变。
enacted:n.制定,颁布;
Did you know, that before the genocide in Rwanda the word for rape and the word for marriage was the same one? 大家知道吗,在卢旺达种族灭绝发生以前,他们的语言里 强奸和婚姻 是同一个单词？
genocide:n.种族灭绝;灭绝整个种族的大屠杀; rape:n.强奸罪;强奸案;v.强奸;强暴;
But today women are rebuilding Rwanda. 但是今天妇女在重振卢旺达。
Did you also know that after apartheid , when the new government went into the parliament houses, there were no female toilets in the building? 大家知道吗,在种族隔离以后, 新政府进入国会大楼以后, 发现大楼里没有女厕所。
apartheid:n.种族隔离; parliament:n.议会,国会; female:adj.女性的;雌性的;柔弱的,柔和的;n.女人;[动]雌性动物;
Which would seem to suggest that apartheid was entirely the business of men. 这似乎也暗示了种族隔离 完全是男人弄出的事。
All of this to say that despite the horror, and despite the death, women are never really counted. 这些都说明了,除了恐怖,除了死亡, 妇女都被排斥开。
despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱;
Their humanity never seems to matter very much to us. 她们的人性似乎对我们来说从未有太大的影响。
When I was growing up in Nigeria -- and I shouldn't say Nigeria, because that's too general, but in Urhobo, the Igbo part of the country where I'm from, there were always rites of passage for young men. 我在尼日利亚的时候—— 我不应该说尼日利亚的,因为这个概念太宽泛, 应该是乌尔霍伯,是伊博的一个村庄,我来自那里。 每个小伙子成人时都要举行成人典礼。
rites:n.仪式(rite的复数);
Men were taught to be men in the ways in which we are not women, that's essentially what it is. 教导男人成为男人的方法是要我们知道我们不是女人, 这是问题的关键。
essentially:adv.本质上;本来;
And a lot of rituals involved killing, killing little animals, progressing along, so when I turned 13 -- and, I mean, it made sense, it was an agrarian community , somebody had to kill the animals, 很多仪式和杀有关,就是杀死小动物, 贯穿整个仪式,我满13岁的时候—— 恩……这是一个农业社会, 必须有人来捕杀动物,
involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) agrarian:adj.土地的;耕地的;有关土地的; community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
there was no Whole Foods you could go and get kangaroo steak at -- so when I turned 13, it was my turn now to kill a goat. 那里没有全食市场你可以去烤袋鼠—— 我满13岁的时候,该我来杀一只山羊。
kangaroo:袋鼠
And I was this weird , sensitive kid, who couldn't really do it, but I had to do it. 我当时是一个非常古怪、敏感的孩子,根本无法做到, 但是我不得不做到。
weird:adj.奇怪的;奇异的;离奇的;n.命运;宿命;命运女神; sensitive:adj.敏感的;感觉的;易受影响的;n.敏感的人;有灵异能力的人;
And I was supposed to do this alone. 而且我还必须一个人完成。
supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式)
But a friend of mine, called Emmanuel, who was significantly older than me, who'd been a boy soldier during the Biafran war, decided to come with me. 但是我的一个朋友叫伊曼纽尔, 比我大得不多, 他在比亚法拉战争中当过童子兵。 他决定和我去。
significantly:adv.意味深长地;值得注目地;
Which sort of made me feel good, because he'd seen a lot of things. 这让我松了一口气, 因为他见多识广。
Now, when I was growing up, he used to tell me stories about how he used to bayonet people, and their intestines would fall out, but they would keep running. 他原来总是告诉我 他怎么去刺别人, 那些人的肠子掉出来了都还在跑。
bayonet:n.刺刀;卡销;vt.用刺刀刺;vi.用刺刀;劈刺; intestines:n.[解剖]肠(intestine的复数);内脏;下水;
So this guy comes with me, and I don't know if you've ever heard a goat, or seen one -- they sound like human beings, that's why we call tragedies "a song of a goat." 他当时就陪着我。 我不知道你们有人听过羊叫或者是看到过羊没有—— 他们叫起来就像人一样, 这也就是为什么我们把灾难叫做“羊之歌”。
tragedies:n.悲惨的事;不幸;灾难;悲剧作品;(tragedy的复数)
My friend Brad Kessler says that we didn't become human until we started keeping goats. 我的朋友布拉德?凯斯勒说直到我们开始养羊 我们才成为人。
Anyway, a goat's eyes are like a child's eyes. 不管怎么说,一只羊的眼睛就像一个孩子的眼睛。
So when I tried to kill this goat and I couldn't, 我尽力去杀这只羊,但是我做不到,
Emmanuel bent down, he puts his hand over the mouth of the goat, covers its eyes, so I don't have to look into them, while I kill the goat. 伊曼纽尔弯下身,他把手放到羊的嘴上, 蒙上它的眼睛,所以我不用看它们。 这些都是在我杀这只羊的时候他做的。
It didn't seem like a lot, for this guy who'd seen so much, and who -- to whom the killing of a goat must have seemed such a quotidian experience, still found it in himself to try to protect me. 对于这样一个见多识广的人来说,这是小菜一碟, 杀一只羊简直 是家常便饭, 但是我发现他内心上想保护我。
quotidian:adj.每日的;平凡的;每日发作的;n.每天发生的事;日发疟;
I was a wimp . 我是个窝囊废。
wimp:n.懦弱的人;无能的人;
I cried for a very long time. 我哭了很久。
And afterwards, he didn't say a word, he just sat there watching me cry for an hour. 我哭的时候他没说一句话, 他只是坐在那里看我哭了一个小时。
And then afterwards he said to me, it will always be difficult, but if you cry like this every time, you will die of heartbreak . 哭完了他对我说, 这确实很难,但是如果你每次都像这样哭的话, 你会因心碎而死。
heartbreak:n.心碎;伤心事;
Just know, that it is enough sometimes to know that it is difficult. 有时候知道难 就够了。
Of course, talking about goats makes me think of sheep, and not in good ways. 当然了,说到山羊让我想到了绵羊, 是不好的联想。
(Laughter) （笑）
So, I was born two days after Christmas. 我的生日是在圣诞节后的两天。
So growing up, you know, I had a cake and everything, but I never got any presents, because -- born two days after Christmas. 每年我都有蛋糕和其他所有的东西, 但我从来没得到过生日礼物,就因为我出生在圣诞节后两天。
So, I was about nine, and my uncle had just come back from Germany, and we had the Catholic priest over, my mother was entertaining him with tea, and my uncle suddenly says, "Where are Chris' presents?" 大约在我九岁那年,我舅舅从德国回来, 天主教的神父当时也在家里, 我的母亲给他上茶的时候, 我的舅舅忽然问道,“克瑞斯的礼物呢？”
priest:n.司祭,神父;教士,祭司,僧侣;v.使成为教士;任命…为祭司;
And my mother said, "Don't talk about that in front of guests." 我妈妈说,“别在客人面前提礼物。”
But he was desperate to show that he'd just come back, so he summoned me up, and he said, "Go into the bedroom, my bedroom. 但是他很绝望地显示出他刚刚回来, 所以他喊我过去对我说, “到我的卧室里。
desperate:adj.不顾一切的;令人绝望的;极度渴望的; summoned:v.传唤,传讯(出庭);召集,召开;(summon的过去式和过去分词)
Take anything you want out of the suitcase. 打开行李箱,想拿什么拿什么。
It's your birthday present." 就当作你的生日礼物。”
I'm sure he thought I'd take a book or a shirt, but I found an inflatable sheep. 我肯定他以为我拿了一本书或者是一件衬衣, 但是我发现了一只充气绵羊。
inflatable:adj.膨胀的,可充气的;得意的;
(Laughter) （笑）
So I blew it up and ran into the living room , my finger where it shouldn't have been, 我吹好气,跑进客厅, 我的手指放到了不应该放的地方,
I blew it:我真失策; living room:n.客厅;起居室;
I was waving this buzzing sheep around, and my mother looked like she was going to die of shock. 我把这只羊到处晃来晃去, 我妈当时看起来要被我雷死了。
buzzing:v.发出嗡嗡声;发出蜂鸣声;充满兴奋(或活动等);(buzz的现在分词)
(Laughter) （笑）
And Father McGetrick was completely unflustered, just stirred his tea and looked at my mother and said, "It's all right Daphne, I'm Scottish." 神父McGetric却很镇静, 只是搅拌下他的茶,看着我妈说, “没事,达芙妮,我是苏格兰人。”
stirred:v.搅动;搅和;搅拌;(使)微动;(stir的过去分词和过去式)
(Laughter) （笑）
(Applause) （鼓掌）
My last days in prison, the last 18 months, my cellmate -- for the last year, the first year of the last 18 months -- 我在监狱的最后的日子,一年半吧, 我的狱友——最后一年,一年半的第一年——
cellmate:n.同牢房的人;
My cellmate was 14 years old. 我的狱友只有14岁。
The name was John James, and in those days if a family member committed a crime, the military would hold you as ransom till your family turned themselves in. 他的名字是约翰?詹姆斯 那时候如果家里面一个人犯罪, 军方会把你当人质关押起来 直到你的家人进监狱。
committed:adj.坚信的; v.做出错事; (commit的过去分词和过去式) ransom:n.赎金;v.(为某人)交付赎金;
So, here was this 14-year-old kid on death row . 当时这个14岁的男孩在死囚区。
death row:n.死囚牢房;死囚区;
And not everybody on death row was a political prisoner -- there were some really bad people there. 并不是死囚区的每个人都是政治犯—— 上面当然也有真的很坏的人。
And he had smuggled in two comics, two comic books -- 他走私了两本漫画书——
smuggled:v.走私;私运;偷运(smuggle的过去分词和过去式)
Spiderman and X-men.
Spiderman:n.高空作业的建筑工人;
He was obsessed .
obsessed:v.使痴迷;使迷恋;使着迷;(obsess的过去式和过去分词)
And when he got tired of reading them, he started to teach the men in death row how to read with these comic books.
And so, I remember night after night, you'd hear all these men, these really hardened criminals, huddled around John James, reciting , "Take that, Spidey!"
hardened:adj.变硬的;坚定的;v.坚定,变硬(harden的过去分词); huddled:v.挤成一团;胡乱堆积(huddle的过去式及过去分词形式); reciting:v.背诵,吟诵,朗诵;列举;逐一讲述;(recite的现在分词)
(Laughter)
It's incredible .
incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的;
I was really worried.
He didn't know what death row meant.
I'd been there twice, and I was terribly afraid that I was going to die.
And he would always laugh, and say, "Come on man, we'll make it out."
Then I'd say, "How do you know?"
And he said, "Oh, I heard it on the grapevine ."
grapevine:n.葡萄树;葡萄藤;小道消息;秘密情报网;
They killed him.
They handcuffed him to a chair, and they tacked his penis to a table with a six-inch nail.
handcuffed:v.给…戴上手铐(handcuff的过去式和过去分词); tacked:[水运]抢风行驶;[五金]平头钉; penis:n.阴茎;
Then left him there to bleed to death.
bleed:v.流血;失血;放掉;散开;n.[印]出血版
That's how I ended up in solitary , because I let my feelings be known.
solitary:adj.孤独的;独居的;n.独居者;隐士;
All around us, everywhere, there are people like this.
The Igbo used to say that they built their own gods.
They would come together as a community, and they would express a wish.
express:v.表达; adj.特快的; n.特快列车; v.使用快速服务;
And their wish would then be brought to a priest who would find a ritual object, and the appropriate sacrifices would be made, and the shrine would be built for the god.
ritual:n.仪式;惯例;礼制;adj.仪式的;例行的;礼节性的; appropriate:adj.适当的;恰当的;v.占用,拨出; sacrifices:n.牺牲,损失; v.牺牲,损失(sacrifice的单三形式); shrine:n.圣地;神殿;神龛;圣祠;v.将…置于神龛内;把…奉为神圣;
But if the god became unruly and began to ask for human sacrifice, the Igbos would destroy the god.
unruly:adj.不守规矩的;任性的;难驾驭的;
They would knock down the shrine, and they would stop saying the god's name.
knock down:adj.最低的;可拆卸的;不可抵抗的;压倒一切的;n.打倒的一击;混战;降低;
This is how they came to reclaim their humanity.
reclaim:v.开拓;回收再利用;改造某人,使某人悔改;n.改造,感化;再生胶;
Every day, all of us here, we're building gods that have gone rampant , and it's time we started knocking them down and forgetting their names.
rampant:adj.猖獗的;蔓延的;狂暴的;奔放的;
It doesn't require a tremendous thing.
tremendous:adj.极大的,巨大的;惊人的;极好的;
All it requires is to recognize among us, every day, the few of us that can see, are surrounded by people like the ones I've told you.
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
There are some of you in this room, amazing people, who offer all of us the mirror to our own humanity.
I want to end with a poem by an American poet called Lucille Clifton.
The poem is called " Libation ," and it's for my friend Vusi who is in the audience here somewhere.
Libation:n.饮酒;奠酒祭神仪式(形容词libationary);
'"Libation,"
North Carolina , 1999.
Carolina:n.卡罗莱纳州(在美国东南部);
'"I offer to this ground, this gin .
gin:n.杜松子酒; vi.喝杜松子酒;
I imagine an old man crying here, out of the sight of the overseer .
overseer:n.监督;工头;
He pushes his tongue through a hole where his tooth would be, if he were whole.
It aches in that space where his tooth would be, where his land would be, his house, his wife, his son, his beautiful daughter.
He wipes sorrow from his face, and puts his thirsty finger to his thirsty tongue, and tastes the salt.
I call a name that could be his, this is for you, old man.
This gin, this salty earth."
Thank you.
(Applause)