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ClemantineWamariya_2017W-_战争和战争之后_
Words matter. 字词是很重要的。
They can heal and they can kill ... 它们能治愈, 它们也能杀戮……
heal:v.复原;治疗(病人);使又愉快起来;(使)结束
yet, they have a limit. 然而,它们也有极限。
When I was in eighth grade, my teacher gave me a vocabulary sheet with the word " genocide ." 我读八年级的时候, 我的老师给我一张字彙表, 上面有「种族灭绝」这个词。
sheet:n.薄板;床单;纸张;报纸;v.覆盖;展开;给…铺床单;铺开;adj.片状的; genocide:n.种族灭绝;灭绝整个种族的大屠杀;
I hated it. 我很恨它。
The word genocide is clinical ... 种族灭绝这个词是无情的……
clinical:adj.临床的;诊所的;
overgeneral ... 过度概推的……
bloodless ... 残酷冷血的……
bloodless:adj.不流血的;无血色的;没有精神的;
dehumanizing . 毫无人性化可言的。
dehumanizing:vt.使成兽性;使失掉人性;
No word can describe what this does to a nation. 没有字词 能够描述 它对一个国家做了什么。
describe:v.描述;形容;把…称为;画出…图形;
You need to know, in this kind of war, husbands kills wives, wives kill husbands, neighbors and friends kill each other. 你们要知道, 在这种战争中, 丈夫会杀死妻子, 妻子会杀死丈夫, 邻居和朋友杀害彼此。
Someone in power says, "Those over there ... 某个 有权的人 说: 「那边的那些人……
they don't belong. 他们不属于这里。
They're not human." 他们不是人。」
And people believe it. 而大家就相信了。
I don't want words to describe this kind of behavior. 我不想要用任何词 来描述这种行为。
I want words to stop it. 我想要用字词来阻止它的发生。
But where are the words to stop this? 但能用来阻止它的语言在哪里？
And how do we find the words? 我们要如何找到那些字词？
But I believe, truly, we have to keep trying. 但我真心相信, 我们得要持续尝试。
I was born in Kigali, Rwanda. 我出生于卢安达的基加利。
I felt loved by my entire family and my neighbors. 我感受到我全家人的爱, 及我邻居对我的爱。
I was constantly being teased by everybody, especially my two older siblings . 我常常被每个人戏弄, 特别是两位比我年长的手足。
constantly:adv.不断地;时常地; teased:v.取笑;戏弄;寻开心;招惹;挑逗;(tease的过去分词和过去式) especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分; siblings:n.兄;弟;姐;妹;(sibling的复数)
When I lost my front tooth, my brother looked at me and said, "Oh, it has happened to you, too? 当我的门牙掉下来时, 我哥哥看着我,说: 「喔,你也遇到这状况了？
It will never grow back." 它永远不会长回来。」
(Laughter) （笑声）
I enjoyed playing everywhere, especially my mother's garden and my neighbor's. 我很享受到处玩耍, 特别是去我妈妈的花园 和邻居的花园里玩。
I loved my kindergarten . 我很爱我的幼稚园。
kindergarten:n.幼儿园;
We sang songs, we played everywhere and ate lunch. 我们会唱歌, 我们到处玩耍, 吃午餐。
I had a childhood that I would wish for anyone. 我拥有的童年, 是我希望大家都能拥有的。
childhood:n.童年;幼年;孩童时期
But when I was six, the adults in my family began to speak in whispers and shushed me any time that I asked a question. 但当我六岁时, 我家中的成人们开始窃窃私语, 当我问问题时就叫我安静。
shushed:n.嘘声;vt.使安静;vi.发嘘声;int.嘘(示意安静下来);
One night, my mom and dad came. 有天晚上, 我妈妈和爸爸来了。
They had this strange look when they woke us. 他们叫醒我们时,表情很奇怪。
They sent my older sister Claire and I to our grandparent's, hoping whatever was happening would blow away . 他们把我姐姐克莱儿和我 送到我们的祖父母家, 希望不论发生什么事都会烟消云散。
blow away:吹走;驱散;
Soon we had to escape from there, too. 很快我们也得逃离那里。
We hid, we crawled , we sometimes ran. 我们躲藏, 我们匍匐, 有时我们快跑。
crawled:v.爬;爬行;(昆虫)爬行;缓慢行进(crawl的过去分词和过去式)
Sometimes I heard laughter and then screaming and crying and then noise that I had never heard. 有时,我听见笑声, 接着是尖叫声和哭声, 接着是我从来没有听过的噪音。
You see, 是这样的,
I did not know what those noises were. 我当时不知道 那些噪音是什么。
They were neither human -- and also at the same time , they were human. 它们不是人类的声音── 但同时,它们又是人类的声音。
at the same time:同时;另一方面;与此同时;
I saw people who were not breathing. 我看到没有呼吸的人,
I thought they were asleep. 我以为他们在沉睡。
I still didn't understand what death was, or killing in itself. 我当时并不了解死亡是什么, 或者杀戮是什么。
When we would stop to rest for a little bit or search for food, 当我们停下来休息一下, 或是寻找食物时,
I would close my eyes, hoping when I opened them, 我会闭上我的眼睛, 希望当我睁开眼睛时,
I would be awake. 我会醒来。
I had no idea which direction was home. 我不知道哪个方向才是家。
Days were for hiding and night for walking. 白天要躲藏, 晚上才能行走。
You go from a person who's away from home to a person with no home. 你会从一个远离家的人, 变成一个没有家的人。
The place that is supposed to want you has pushed you out, and no one takes you in. 应该要接纳你的那个地方, 把你赶出来, 没有人肯收留你。
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)
You are unwanted by anyone. 没有人 想要你。
unwanted:adj.不需要的;有害的;讨厌的;空闲的;
You are a refugee . 你是个难民。
refugee:n.难民;避难者;逃亡者;v.避难;adj.避难的;
From age six to 12, 从六岁到十二岁,
I lived in seven different countries, moving from one refugee camp to another, hoping we would be wanted. 我住过七个不同的国家, 从一个难民营搬到另一个, 希望会有人要我们。
My older sister Claire, she became a young mother ... 我姐姐克莱儿, 她成了年轻的母亲……
and a master at getting things done. 以及是个能把各种事物都搞定的大师。
When I was 12, 我十二岁时,
I came to America with Claire and her family on refugee status . 我和克莱儿及她的家人 以难民的身份来到美国。
status:n.地位;状态;情形;重要身份;
And that's only the beginning, because even though I was 12 years old, sometimes I felt like three years old and sometimes 50 years old. 那只是开端, 因为,即使我当时十二岁, 有时我感觉自己才三岁, 有时却是五十岁。
My past receded , grew jumbled , distorted . 我的过去变淡了, 变混乱了, 变扭曲了。
receded:vi.后退;减弱;vt.归还; jumbled:adj.乱七八糟的;vt.搞乱(jumble的过去分词); distorted:adj.歪曲的;受到曲解的;v.扭曲(distort的过去式和过去分词);
Everything was too much and nothing. 一切都难以承受, 却又微不足道。
Time seemed like pages torn out of a book and scattered everywhere. 时间就像是从书上撕下来的页面, 散在各处。
scattered:adj.零散的; v.撒; (scatter的过去分词和过去式)
This still happens to me standing right here. 就连我现在站在这里, 都还有这种感觉。
After I got to America, 在我到了美国之后,
Claire and I did not talk about our past. 克莱儿和我避而不谈我们的过去。
In 2006, after 12 years being separated away from my family, and then seven years knowing that they were dead and them thinking that we were dead, we reunited ... 2006 年, 我与我的家人 分离了十二年, 知道他们已经死亡了七年, 他们也以为我死了, 终于,我们重聚了……
reunited:v.重聚;使再结合(reunite的过去式和过去分词);
in the most dramatic , American way possible. 以最戏剧性的美式方法重聚了。
dramatic:adj.突然的;巨大的;令人吃惊的;激动人心的;
Live, on television -- 电视 实况转播──
(Laughter) （笑声）
on "The Oprah Show." 在《欧普拉秀》上。
Oprah:n.奥普拉(美国电视节目主持人);
(Laughter) （笑声）
(Applause) （掌声）
I told you, I told you. 我说过了,我说过了。
(Laughter) （笑声）
But after the show, as I spent time with my mom and dad and my little sister and my two new siblings that I never met, 但在节目之后, 当我花时间和我爸妈、 妹妹,还有 两个我没见过的手足相处,
I felt anger. 我感到愤怒。
I felt every deep pain in me. 我感到内在所有深刻的痛苦。
And I know that there is absolutely nothing, nothing, that could restore the time we lost with each other and the relationship we could've had. 我知道绝对没有可能, 没有可能, 可以弥补我们本来 应该给彼此的时间, 以及本来可以拥有的关系。
absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地; restore:v.恢复;修复;恢复(某种情况或感受);使复原;
Soon, my parents moved to the United States, but like Claire, they don't talk about our past. 没多久,我父母搬到美国, 但就像克莱儿, 他们也不谈我们的过去。
They live in never-ending present. 他们活在永无止境的现在。
never-ending:adj.不停的;无限的;
Not asking too many questions, not allowing themselves to feel -- moving in small steps. 不问太多问题, 不允许他们自己去感受── 以小步伐移动。
None of us, of course, can make sense of what happened to us. 当然,我们都无法将 发生在我们身上的事真正化解。
make sense of:搞清…的意思;
Though my family is alive -- yes, we were broken, and yes, we are numb and we were silenced by our own experience. 虽然我的家人还活着── 是的,我们是破碎的, 是的,我们是麻木的, 而且我们因为所经历的事而沈默。
It's not just my family. 不只有我的家人如此。
Rwanda is not the only country where people have turned on each other and murdered each other. 并不只有在卢安达 大家才会攻击彼此, 谋杀彼此。
The entire human race , in many ways, is like my family. 所有人类, 在许多层面上, 就和我的家人一样。
human race:n.人类;
Not dead; yes, broken, numb and silenced by the violence of the world that has taken over. 没有死; 是的,因为世界的暴力 而破碎、麻木,及沉默。 那暴力占据了一切。
violence:n.暴力;侵犯;激烈;歪曲;
You see, the chaos of the violence continues inside in the words we use and the stories we create every single day. 你们知道吗, 暴力的混乱持续着, 就在我们使用的字词中, 以及我们每天创造的故事中。
chaos:n.混沌,混乱;
But also on the labels that we impose on ourselves and each other. 但也在我们贴在彼此身上的 标签裏。
labels:n.标签;分类(label的复数形式);v.贴标签于;把…称为(label的三单形式); impose:v.推行;迫使;强制实行;把…强加于;
Once we call someone "other," 一旦我们称某人是「其他人」、
'"less than," 「处于劣势」、
'"one of them" 「他们的一员」,
or "better than," 或「处于优势」,
believe me ... 相信我……
under the right condition, it's a short path to more destruction . 在合适的条件下, 它就是通往更多毁灭的捷径。
destruction:n.破坏,毁灭;摧毁;
More chaos and more noise that we will not understand. 更多的混乱, 和更多的喧嚣 就这样无法理解地发生了。
Words will never be enough to quantify and qualify the many magnitudes of human-caused destruction. 字词永远不足以 量化、质化许多程度重大 人类所造成的毁灭。
quantify:vt.量化;为…定量;确定数量;vi.量化;定量; qualify:vt.限制;使具有资格;证明…合格;vi.取得资格,有资格; magnitudes:n.大小;量级;[地震]震级;重要;光度;
In order for us to stop the violence that goes on in the world, 为了让我们能够 阻止世界上不断发生的暴力,
I hope -- at least I beg you -- to pause. 我希望── 至少我恳求各位── 暂停下来。
Let's ask ourselves: 让我们问问自己:
Who are we without words? 没有了字词,我们是谁？
Who are we without labels? 没有了标签,我们是谁？
Who are we in our breath? 在我们呼吸裏,我们是谁？
Who are we in our heartbeat ? 在我们心跳时,我们又是谁？
heartbeat:n.心跳;情感;
(Applause) （掌声）