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ElizabethLesser_2010W-_与“异见者”共进午餐_
This room may appear to be holding 600 people, but there's actually so many more, because in each one of us there is a multitude of personalities . 这个会场看起来 能容纳600人, 但事实上这里却有更多人, 因为我们中的每一个人 都有多重性格。
multitude:n.众多;大量;群众;民众;人群; personalities:n.性格;个性;人格;气质;名人;(personality的复数)
I have two primary personalities that have been in conflict and conversation within me since I was a little girl. 从我还是个小女孩时起,我就有两个主要性格。 这两个性格在我体内 不断有冲突与对话。
conflict:n.冲突;矛盾;争执;抵触;v.抵触;
I call them "the mystic " 我把它们称为“神秘者”
mystic:adj.神秘的;神秘主义的;n.神秘主义者;
and "the warrior ." 和“战士”。
warrior:n.勇士;
I was born into a family of politically active, intellectual atheists . 我出身于一个 在政治上十分活跃 并信仰无神论的知识分子家庭。
politically:adv.政治上; 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; atheists:n.无神论者;
There was this equation in my family that went something like this: 在我家有这样一个公式:
equation:n.方程式,等式;相等;[化学]反应式;
If you are intelligent , you therefore are not spiritual . 如果你有才智, 那么你就不会是个精神丰富的人。
intelligent:adj.有才智的;悟性强的;聪明的;有智力的 spiritual:n.圣歌(尤指美国南部黑人的);adj.精神的,心灵的;
I was the freak of the family. 我是家里的怪人。
freak:n.怪人,怪事;畸形人;反复无常;adj.奇异的,反常的;
I was this weird little kid who wanted to have deep talks about the worlds that might exist beyond the ones that we perceive with our senses. 我是一个奇特的小孩, 我想与 可能存在的另一个世界展开深入对话, 它超越了我们所能感知到的这个世界。
weird:adj.奇怪的;奇异的;离奇的;n.命运;宿命;命运女神; perceive:v.注意到;意识到;将…理解为;认为;
I wanted to know if what we human beings see and hear and think is a full and accurate picture of reality. 我想知道 我们人类所看到、 听到和想到的, 是不是与事物的真相 一模一样。
accurate:adj.精确的;
So looking for answers, 为了寻找答案,
I went to Catholic mass; 我做过天主教弥撒;
Catholic:adj.天主教的;宽宏大量的;n.天主教徒;罗马天主教;
I tagged along with my neighbors. 我尾随过我的邻居;
tagged:adj.标记的;示踪的;加标记的;v.附以签条(tag的过去分词);
I read Sartre and Socrates . 我读过萨特和苏格拉底。
Socrates:n.苏格拉底(古希腊哲学家);
And then a wonderful thing happened when I was in high school: 当我上高中时, 一件神奇的事情发生了:
Gurus from the East started washing up on the shores of America. 东方的精神导师 开始席卷美国沿岸。
Gurus:n.古鲁(指印度教等宗教的宗师或领袖);领袖;专家;
And I said to myself, "I wanna get me one of them." 我对自己说, “我想成为他们中的一员。”
And ever since, 自从那以后,
I've been walking the mystic path, trying to peer beyond what Albert Einstein called, "the optical delusion of everyday consciousness ." 我一直在神秘的道路上行进, 努力摆脱 爱因斯坦所说的 “日常生活中的 错觉幻象。”
peer:n.同辈;同龄人;身份(或地位)相同的人;(英国)贵族成员;v.仔细看;端详; optical:adj.光学的;眼睛的,视觉的; delusion:n.迷惑,欺骗;错觉;幻想; consciousness:n.意识;知觉;觉悟;感觉;
So what did he mean by this? I'll show you. 他这是指什么呢？让我展示给你。
Take a breath right now of this clear air in this room. 请呼吸, 吸入房间里的新鲜空气。
Now, see this strange, underwater , coral reef-looking thing? 现在,看到这个奇怪的, 生活在水下, 看上去像是珊瑚礁的东西了吗？
underwater:adj.在水中的;水面下的;adv.在水下;n.水下; coral:n.珊瑚;珊瑚虫;adj.珊瑚的;珊瑚色的;
It's actually a person's trachea . 这其实是人的气管。
trachea:n.[脊椎][解剖]气管;[植]导管;
And those colored globs are microbes that are actually swimming around in this room right now, all around us. 而这些彩色水珠 实际上是微生物, 它们现在就在这房间里, 就在我们周围。
globs:n.一滴;水珠;一团; microbes:n.细菌,[微]微生物;微生物类(microbe的复数形式);
If we're blind to this simple biology , imagine what we're missing at the smallest subatomic level right now and at the grandest cosmic levels. 如果我们对这种基础的生物学一无所知, 想想看我们会错过多少 在最微小的亚原子间 和在最壮观的宇宙间的发现。
biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学; subatomic:adj.[化学]亚原子的;原子内的; cosmic:adj.宇宙的;
My years as a mystic have made me question almost all my assumptions . 我作为一个神秘者的岁月 几乎使我对自己所有的假设 都产生了疑问。
assumptions:n.假定;假设;承担;获得;(assumption的复数)
They've made me a proud I-don't-know-it-all. 它们让我勇于承认自己的无知。
Now when the mystic part of me jabbers on and on like this, the warrior rolls her eyes. 当我身上的神秘部分 含糊地这么说时, 战士翻了一下眼睛。
jabbers:vi.快而含糊地说;吱吱喳喳地叫;vt.快而含糊地说出;n.快而含糊不清的话; on and on:继续不停地;
She's concerned about what's happening in this world right now. 她现在关心 这世上发生的事。
concerned:adj.有关的;关心的;v.关心;与…有关;(concern的过去时和过去分词)
She's worried. 她很担忧。
She says, "Excuse me, I'm pissed off, and I know a few things, and we better get busy about them right now." 她说,“对不起,我很生气, 我知道一些事, 现在我们最好忙于此事。”
pissed:adj.烂醉的;怒冲冲的;v.撒尿;(piss的过去分词和过去式)
I've spent my life as a warrior, working for women's issues , working on political campaigns, being an activist for the environment. 我到目前为止都是一个战士, 为妇女权利而努力, 从事政治活动, 成为一名保护环境的积极分子。
issues:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;(issue的第三人称单数和复数) activist:n.积极分子;激进主义分子;
And it can be sort of crazy-making, housing both the mystic and the warrior in one body. 这可能有点疯狂, 让神秘者和战士同时存在 于我的身体内。
I've always been attracted to those rare people who pull that off, who devote their lives to humanity with the grit of the warrior and the grace of the mystic -- people like Martin Luther King Jr. 我一直被那些 杰出人物所吸引。 他们把自己的一生 都奉献给人道事业, 并能集战士的毅力 和神秘者的魅力于一身。 像马丁·路德·金,
devote:v.贡献;把…专用于;听任; humanity:n.人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科; grit:v.研磨;在…上铺砂砾;咬紧牙关;摩擦作声;n.粗砂,粗砂石;勇气;决心; grace:n.优雅;恩惠;魅力;慈悲;v.使优美;
who wrote, "I can never be what I ought to be, until you are what you ought to be. 他写道,“我永远无法成为 我要成为的人, 直到你成为了 你想要成为的人。
This," he wrote, "is the interrelated structure of reality." 这就是真理之间 相互关联的结构。“
interrelated:adj.相关的;互相联系的;v.使相互联系(interrelate的过去式); structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造;
Then Mother Teresa, another mystic warrior, who said, "The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small." 又例如特雷莎修女,另一个神秘家兼战士, 她说,“这个世界上的问题 是我们对家人的定义 太小了。”
And Nelson Mandela, who lives by the African concept of ubuntu , which means I need you in order to be me, and you need me in order to be you. 又比如纳尔逊·曼德拉, 他一直都信奉 非洲的Ubuntu概念, 意思是我需要你 才能成为我, 你也需要我来完善你自己。
ubuntu:n.乌班图;一种Linux操作系统;
Now we all love to trot out these three mystic warriors as if they were born with the saint gene . 我们所有人都爱拿 这三个神秘者兼战士举例, 好像他们自出生 就带有圣徒的印记。
trot:v.快步;疾走;小跑;骑马小跑;n.慢跑,小跑,小步快跑; warriors:n.(尤指旧时的)武士,勇士,斗士(warrior的复数) saint:n.圣人;圣徒;道德崇高的人;adj.神圣的;v.成为圣徒; gene:n.基因;遗传基因;遗传因子;
But we all actually have the same capacity that they do, and we need to do their work now. 但是事实上我们每个人都有 和他们一样的能力, 我们现在需要 继续他们的工作。
capacity:n.能力;容量;资格,地位;生产力;
I'm deeply disturbed by the ways in which all of our cultures are demonizing the Other by the voice we're giving to the most divisive among us. 我对于通过 我们自身的文化来妖魔化那些 与己不同的文化而深感不安, 我们恶语相向, 在我们之中造成最大的分歧。
disturbed:adj.不安的; v.干扰; (disturb的过去分词和过去式) demonizing:vt.妖魔化;使…成为魔鬼; divisive:adj.分裂的;区分的;造成不和的;
Listen to these titles of some of the best-selling books from both sides of the political divide here in the U.S. 听听这些 畅销书的书名, 它们来自美国政治立场 的两方面。
best-selling:adj.最畅销的;畅销作品的;n.畅销品;
'" Liberalism is a Mental Disorder ," 《自由主义是一种精神缺陷》
Liberalism:n.自由主义;开明的思想或见解; Mental:adj.精神的;脑力的;疯的;n.精神病患者; Disorder:n.混乱;骚乱;vt.使失调;扰乱;
'"Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot ," 《拉什·林堡是个大白痴》
Idiot:n.笨蛋,傻瓜;白痴;
'" Pinheads and Patriots ," 《笨蛋与爱国者》
Pinheads:n.针头;微不足道的东西; Patriots:n.爱国者(patriot的复数);深海截击战;
'"Arguing With Idiots ." 《与白痴争论》
Idiots:n.蠢人;笨蛋;白痴;(idiot的复数)
They're supposedly tongue-in-cheek , but they're actually dangerous. 它们大概是挖苦人的, 但这么说却很危险。
supposedly:adv.据说;据信;据传; tongue-in-cheek:adj.不认真的,半开玩笑的;不当真的;adv.无诚意地;
Now here's a title that may sound familiar , but whose author may surprise you: "Four and a Half Years of Struggle 下面这个书名听上去或许觉得耳熟, 但它的作者可能会把你吓一跳: 《对抗谎言、愚蠢
familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友;
Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice ." 和胆怯 的四年半》
Stupidity:n.愚蠢;糊涂事; Cowardice:n.怯懦;胆小;
Who wrote that? 这是谁写的？
That was Adolf Hitler's first title for " Mein Kampf" -- "My Struggle" -- the book that launched the Nazi party. 这是阿道夫·希特勒 《我的奋斗》的最初书名, 一本由纳粹党发行的书。
Mein:pron.(德)我的; launched:v.发射;发起;开展;开始;(launch的过去式和过去分词)
The worst eras in human history, whether in Cambodia or Germany or Rwanda, they start like this, with negative otherizing. 人类历史上最糟糕的年代, 无论是在柬埔寨、德国 或者卢旺达, 都是通过丑化异见人士而开始。
eras:n.[天]纪元,时代;年代(era的复数形式); Cambodia:n.柬埔寨(位于亚洲); negative:adj.[数]负的;消极的;否定的;阴性的;n.否定;负数;[摄]底片;v.否定;拒绝;
And then they morph into violent extremism . 这之后就会升级 成为暴力的极端主义。
morph:n.词态;语素;变体;vt.在屏幕上变换图像;改变; violent:adj.暴力的;猛烈的; extremism:n.极端主义(尤指政治上的极右或极左);极端性;过激主义;
This is why I'm launching a new initiative . 这也是我有一个新举动的原因。
launching:n.发射;开办;起飞;v.开始从事,发起,发动;(launch的现在分词) initiative:n.倡议;主动性;积极性;主动权;adj.起始的;
And it's to help all of us, myself included, to counteract the tendency to otherize. 它对我们所有人都有益处, 包括我自己, 它可以抵消我们 排斥异见者的趋势。
counteract:vt.抵消;中和;阻碍; tendency:n.倾向,趋势;癖好;
And I realize we're all busy people, so don't worry, you can do this on a lunch break. 我意识到我们都是非常忙的人, 所以不必担心,你可以在午休时做这件事。
I'm calling my initiative, "Take the Other to Lunch." 我把这个举动称为 “与异见者共进午餐”。
If you are a Republican , you can take a Democrat to lunch, or if you're a Democrat, think of it as taking a Republican to lunch. 如果你是 一个共和党人, 你可以和一个民主党人一起吃午饭; 又比如说 你是个民主党人, 那就和一个共和党人一起吃午饭吧。
Republican:adj.共和国的;共和政体的;共和主义的;拥护共和政体的;n.共和主义者; Democrat:n.民主党人;民主主义者;民主政体论者;
Now if the idea of taking any of these people to lunch makes you lose your appetite , 如果和这些人一起吃午饭的想法 会使你失去胃口,
appetite:n.食欲;嗜好;
I suggest you start more local, because there is no shortage of the Other right in your own neighborhood . 我建议你从身旁的人开始, 因为你的左邻右舍中并不缺少 和你意见不同的人。
shortage:n.短缺;不足;缺少; neighborhood:n.附近;地区;街坊;adj.附近的;
Maybe that person who worships at the mosque , or the church or the synagogue , down the street; or someone from the other side of the abortion conflict; or maybe your brother-in-law who doesn't believe in global warming -- anyone whose lifestyle may frighten you, or whose point of view makes smoke come out of your ears. 或许是一个 在清真寺做礼拜的人; 或许是一个基督徒或犹太教徒; 或许那个人和你 对于堕胎持有不同意见; 甚至可能是你姐姐的那位 不相信全球变暖的丈夫; 或者一个与你的生活方式截然不同的人; 或者是一个人,他的观点 让你听了后会怒不可遏。
worships:n.崇拜; v.崇拜(上帝或神); (worship的第三人称单数和复数) mosque:n.清真寺; synagogue:n.犹太教会堂;犹太人集会; abortion:n.流产,小产;流产的胎儿;(计划等)失败,夭折; brother-in-law:n.姐夫;妹夫;内弟;内兄;小叔;大伯; global warming:n.全球(气候)变暖;地球大气层变暖; frighten:v.使惊吓;吓唬…;害怕,惊恐; point of view:观点;见地;立场;
A couple of weeks ago, 几个星期前,
I took a Conservative Tea Party woman to lunch. 我与一个参加茶话会的保守党女人共进午餐。
Conservative:adj.保守的;n.保守派,守旧者; Tea Party:n.茶话会;(下午)茶会;在美国各地抗议高额税收;
Now on paper, she passed my smoking ears test. 从表面上看,她的观点会让我怒不可遏。
She's an activist from the Right, and I'm an activist from the Left. 她是一个右翼活动家, 而我是一个左翼活动家。
And we used some guidelines to keep our conversation elevated , and you can use them too, because I know you're all going to take an Other to lunch. 我们使用一些原则 使得我们的对话进行下去, 你也可以使用它们, 因为我知道大家都会 与持有不同观点的人共进午餐。
guidelines:n.指导方针;参考; elevated:adj.提高的;高尚的;欢欣的;v.提高;振奋;提拔;(elevate的过去分词和过去式)
So first of all , decide on a goal: to get to know one person from a group you may have negatively stereotyped . 首先,确定一个目标: 那就是要去了解一个人, 并且你对他所在的团体有成见。
first of all:adv.首先; negatively:adv.消极地;否定地; stereotyped:adj.用铅版印刷的; v.把…浇铸成铅版;
And then, before you get together , agree on some ground rules. 然后,在你们见面之前, 就这些基本原则达成一致。
get together:聚会
My Tea Party lunchmate and I came up with these: 我的午饭伙伴和我 一同想出这些原则:
lunchmate:用法,发音,音标,搭配,同义词,反义词和例句等在线英语服务。;
Don't persuade , defend or interrupt . 不要试图说服、捍卫 或者中途打断。
persuade:v.说服;劝说;使信服;使相信; interrupt:v.中断;打断;插嘴;妨碍;n.中断;
Be curious , be conversational , be real. 要保有好奇, 要有真诚的交流,
curious:adj.好奇的,有求知欲的;古怪的;爱挑剔的; conversational:adj.对话的;健谈的;
And listen. 要聆听。
From there, we dove in. 达成一致后,我们用下面几个问题
dove:n.鸽子;鸽派人士;v.潜水(dive的过去式);
And we used these questions: 开始深入交流:
Share some of your life experiences with me. 请和我分享一些你的生活经历。
What issues deeply concern you? 你最关注 哪些事件？
And what have you always wanted to ask someone from the other side? 你一直想从与你不同的人 身上了解什么？
My lunch partner and I came away with some really important insights , and I'm going to share just one with you. 我和我午饭伙伴 得出一些重要的启示, 我想和大家分享其中的一个。
insights:n.洞察力;眼力;深刻见解(insight的复数);
I think it has relevance to any problem between people anywhere. 我想这个观点 与人们之间的问题 无论何时何地都有关联。
relevance:n.关联;适当;中肯;
I asked her why her side makes such outrageous allegations and lies about my side. 我问她为什么她所在的阵营 对我们进行无理的指控 以及编造谎言。
outrageous:adj.粗暴的;可恶的;令人吃惊的; allegations:n.(无证据的)说法,指控;(allegation的复数)
'"What?" she wanted to know. 她想知道具体的例子。
'"Like we're a bunch of elitist , morally corrupt terrorist lovers ." “好像我们是一群 道德败坏 爱好恐怖主义的精英。”
a bunch of:一群;一束;一堆; elitist:n.优秀人才;杰出人物;adj.优秀人才的;杰出人才的; morally:adv.道德上;有道德地;确实地; corrupt:v.损坏;破坏;使腐化;使堕落;adj.贪污的;受贿的;腐败的;营私舞弊的; lovers:n.情人(lover的复数形式);
Well she was shocked. 她相当震惊。
She thought my side beat up on her side way more often, that we called them brainless , gun-toting racists . 她认为是我们 更经常地抨击他们。 比如我们称他们为无脑的 持枪种族主义者。
brainless:adj.无头脑的,愚蠢的; gun-toting:adj.[美国口语]带枪的; racists:n.种族主义者;种族主义的;
And we both marveled at the labels that fit none of the people we actually know. 我们都惊讶于 这些标签 不适用于 我们认识的任何一个人。
marveled:n.奇迹;vt.对…感到惊异;vi.感到惊讶; 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);
And since we had established some trust, we believed in each other's sincerity . 因为我们已建立起某种信任, 我们相信彼此的真诚。
established:adj.已确立的;著名的;v.建立;创立;设立;(establish的过去分词和过去式) sincerity:n.真实,诚挚;
We agreed we'd speak up in our own communities when we witnessed the kind of otherizing talk that can wound and fester into paranoia and then be used by those on the fringes to incite . 我们都同意当下次 在自己所在的阵营里听到 可能造成伤害或过于偏执 甚至被别有用心的人利用 进而煽动人群的排他言论时, 我们要出言制止 这种情况。
communities:n.社区;社会;团体;共有(community的复数) witnessed:v.当场看到,目击;见证;作证;(witness的过去式和过去分词) wound:n.创伤,伤口;v.使受伤;受伤,伤害; fester:v.溃烂;化脓;更加苦恼;愈益恶化;n.恶化;溃烂; paranoia:n.[心理]偏执狂,[内科]妄想狂; fringes:n.额前短垂发; v.形成…的边缘; (fringe的第三人称单数和复数) incite:vt.煽动;激励;刺激;
By the end of our lunch, we acknowledged each other's openness . 在我们的午餐结束时, 我们感谢彼此的坦诚。
openness:n.公开;宽阔;率真;
Neither of us had tried to change the other. 我们谁也不试图去改变对方。
But we also hadn't pretended that our differences were just going to melt away after a lunch. 但我们也不必假装 彼此间的差异会随着午餐而 消失不见。
melt away:v.消失;融掉;
Instead, we had taken first steps together, past our knee-jerk reactions , to the ubuntu place, which is the only place where solutions to our most intractable-seeming problems will be found. 相反,我们一同 迈出了第一步, 突破我们的下意识反应, 来到一个Ubuntu的境界, 只有这样, 我们才能找到 解决表面上最棘手的问题 的方法。
knee-jerk:n.下意识,自动反应;膝反射;adj.下意识的,自动反应的;膝反射的; reactions:n.反应;回应;抗拒;生理反应;副作用(reaction的复数)
Who should you invite to lunch? 那么你会和谁共进午餐呢？
Next time you catch yourself in the act of otherizing, that will be your clue . 下一次当你碰到 某种排他行为时, 那会是一个提示。
clue:n.提示;迹象;(纵横填字谜、游戏或问题的)提示词语;v.提示;为…提供线索;
And what might happen at your lunch? 在你午饭时会发生什么？
Will the heavens open and "We Are the World" play over the restaurant sound system? 天堂会敞开吗？ 音响里会传来“四海一家”的音乐吗？
Probably not. 很可能不会。
Because ubuntu work is slow, and it's difficult. 因为Ubuntu的进程十分缓慢, 并且很难。
It's two people dropping the pretense of being know-it-alls . 要有两个人 解除无所不知 的伪装;
pretense:n.借口;虚假;炫耀;自吹(等于pretence); know-it-alls:adj.自称无所不知的;n.假装博学多闻的人(等于knowall);
It's two people, two warriors, dropping their weapons and reaching toward each other. 要有两个人, 两个战士, 放下他们的武器 彼此互相接近。
Here's how the great Persian poet Rumi put it: "Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. 伟大的波斯诗人鲁米是这么说的: “超越思想上的 坏与好, 有一片天地,
Persian:n.波斯人;波斯语;adj.波斯的;波斯人的;波斯语的; wrong-doing:n.坏事;不道德行为;
I'll meet you there." 你我将会相遇。”
(Applause) （掌声）