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EmilyParsonsLord_2016X-_一种艺术：关于我们所呼吸的空气_
If I asked you to picture the air, what do you imagine? 如果我让你想像一下「空气」, 你脑海里会浮现出什么？
Most people think about either empty space or clear blue sky or sometimes trees dancing in the wind . 大多数人们会想到空闲的空间, 或者澄净的蓝天, 或者在风中起舞的树。
in the wind:即将发生;在进行;
And then I remember my high school chemistry teacher with really long socks at the blackboard, drawing diagrams of bubbles connected to other bubbles,and describing how they vibrate and collide in a kind of frantic soup. 我想到我穿着长袜的高中化学老师, 在黑板上画着一个圆圈 连着另一个圆圈的分析图, 描述着它们在某种疯狂混合物中, 是如何振动与碰撞的。
bubbles:n.泡; v.起泡; (bubble的第三人称单数和复数) describing:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的现在分词) vibrate:vi.振动;颤动;摇摆;踌躇;vt.使振动;使颤动; collide:vi.碰撞;抵触,冲突;vt.使碰撞;使相撞; frantic:adj.狂乱的,疯狂的;
But really, we tend not to think about the air that much at all. 事实上,我们并不会太常想到空气。
We notice it mostly when there's some kind of unpleasant sensory intrusion upon it, like a terrible smell or something visible like smoke or mist . 大部分情况我们会注意到它, 是当它产生了某种 令人不悦的感官冲击时。 比如难闻的气味, 或者一些可见的东西比如烟雾。
unpleasant:adj.令人不快的;不舒服的;不客气的 sensory:adj.感觉的;知觉的;传递感觉的; intrusion:n.侵入;闯入; visible:adj.明显的;看得见的;现有的;可得到的;n.可见物;进出口贸易中的有形项目; mist:n.薄雾; v.(使)结满雾气(模糊不清);
But it's always there. 事实上它无处不在。
It's touching all of us right now. 它现在正在和我们所有人接触着。
It's even inside us. 甚至存在于我们体内。
Our air is immediate, vital and intimate . 空气对我们而言是直接的、
vital:adj.至关重要的;生死攸关的;有活力的; intimate:n.知己; v.暗示; adj.亲密的;
And yet, it's so easily forgotten. 不可缺少而又亲密的。
So what is the air? 然而却这么容易被遗忘。
It's the combination of the invisible gases that envelop the Earth, attracted by the Earth's gravitational pull. 那么空气到底是什么？ 它是垄罩地球 表面不可见气体的集合, 被地心引力制约着。
combination:n.结合;组合;联合;[化学]化合; invisible:adj.看不见的;n.看不见的人或物; envelop:vt.包围;包封;遮盖;n.信封;包裹; gravitational:adj.[力]重力的,[力]引力的;
And even though I'm a visual artist, 尽管我是一位视觉艺术家,
visual:adj.视觉的,视力的;栩栩如生的;
I'm interested in the invisibility of the air. 却对空气的不可见性很有兴趣。
invisibility:n.看不见;看不见的东西;难看见;
I'm interested in how we imagine it, how we experience it and how we all have an innate understanding of its materiality through breathing. 我感兴趣于人们是怎么想像它, 怎样体验它, 以及我们如何通过呼吸, 对于空气的实体性做出自然的理解。
innate:adj.先天的;固有的;与生俱来的; materiality:n.物质性,重要性;物质;
All life on Earth changes the air through gas exchange , and we're all doing it right now. 地球上的所有生命 都通过气体交换改变着空气, 我们现在就是。
exchange:n.交换;交流;交易所;兑换;v.交换;交易;兑换;
Actually, why don't we all right now together take one big, collective , deep breath in. 那不如,我们现在所有人一起 深吸一口气, 准备好了么？吸气。
collective:adj.集体的;共同的;集合的;集体主义的;n.集团;集合体;集合名词;
Ready? In. (Inhales) （吸气）
And out. (Exhales) 然后吐气。（吐气）
That air that you just exhaled , you enriched a hundred times in carbon dioxide . 就是那些你刚刚呼出的空气, 你增加了 100 倍的二氧化碳。
exhaled:vt.呼气;发出;发散;使蒸发;vi.呼气;发出;发散; enriched:v.使丰富;使饱含(某物);使富有;(enrich的过去分词和过去式) carbon dioxide:二氧化碳;
So roughly five liters of air per breath, 17 breaths per minute of the 525,600 minutes per year, comes to approximately 45 million liters of air, enriched 100 times in carbon dioxide, just for you. 粗略算来每次呼吸包含 5 升空气, 每分钟呼吸 17 次, 在一年的 52 万 5 千 6 百分钟里, 呼吸了近 4 千 5 百万升空气, 增加了 100 倍的二氧化碳, 仅仅因为你。
roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地; liters:n.(计量)公升(容量单位)(liter的复数) approximately:adv.大约,近似地;近于;
Now, that's equivalent to about 18 这相当于 18 个
equivalent:adj.等价的,相等的;同意义的;n.等价物,相等物;
Olympic-sized swimming pools. 奥林匹克游泳池大小。
For me, air is plural . 对我而言,空气不是一个单一概念。
plural:n.复数形式;adj.复数的;复数形式的;多样的;多元的;
It's simultaneously as small as our breathing and as big as the planet. 它同时可以小到我们的呼吸, 又大到整个星球。
simultaneously:adv.同时地;
And it's kind of hard to picture. 有点难去描述。
Maybe it's impossible, and maybe it doesn't matter. 也许根本无法形容, 也许本来就无须形容。
Through my visual arts practice, 在我的视觉艺术实践中,
I try to make air, not so much picture it, but to make it visceral and tactile and haptic . 我尝试着,不是去描述它, 而是去让它变得可以感知。
visceral:adj.内脏的;出于本能的;发自肺腑的;粗俗的; tactile:adj.[生理]触觉的,有触觉的;能触知的; haptic:adj.触觉的;
I try to expand this notion of the aesthetic , how things look, so that it can include things like how it feels on your skin and in your lungs, and how your voice sounds as it passes through it. 我试着去拓宽 局限于外观的审美观念, 审美也可以包括, 比如你皮肤所感受到的, 你的肺部所感受到的, 当空气流动时你声音的变化。
expand:v.扩张;使膨胀;详述;发展;张开,展开; notion:n.观念;信念;理解; aesthetic:adj.美的;美学的;审美的,具有审美趣味的;
I explore the weight, density and smell, but most importantly, 我探索空气的重量、密度、 味道,更重要的是,
explore:v.探索:探测:探险: density:n.密度;
I think a lot about the stories we attach to different kinds of air. 我想了许多 与不同类型空气相关的故事。
attach:v.贴上;重视;把…固定,把…附(在…上);参加;与…有联系;
This is a work I made in 2014. 这是我 2014 年的一个作品。
It's called "Different Kinds of Air: A Plant's Diary," 叫作「多样的空气:植物的日记」。 我重现了地球进化中
where I was recreating the air from different eras in Earth's evolution , and inviting the audience to come in and breathe them with me. 不同纪元的空气, 并且邀请观众来与我一起呼吸。
recreating:v.再现;再创造;(recreate的现在分词) eras:n.[天]纪元,时代;年代(era的复数形式); evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进;
And it's really surprising, so drastically different. 令人惊讶的是, 它们竟然有这么大的差别。
drastically:adv.彻底地;激烈地;
Now, I'm not a scientist, but atmospheric scientists will look for traces in the air chemistry in geology , a bit like how rocks can oxidize , and they'll extrapolate that information and aggregate it, such that they can pretty much form a recipe for the air at different times . 诚然,我不是科学家, 但是大气学家 会在地质学与空气化学中找寻踪迹, 就像岩石如何氧化, 他们会推算并求出总和, 这样他们对于不同时代的空气,能够推断出其组成成分,
atmospheric:adj.大气的,大气层的; traces:v.跟踪;探索;n.痕迹;踪迹;(trace的复数和第三人单数) geology:n.地质学;地质情况; oxidize:vt.使氧化;使生锈;vi.氧化; extrapolate:vt.外推;推断;vi.外推;进行推断; aggregate:vi.集合; vt.集合; n.合计; adj.聚合的; recipe:n.食谱;方法;诀窍;烹饪法; at different times:在不同的时间;在不同的时代;
Then I come in as the artist and take that recipe and recreate it using the component gases. 然后我以艺术家的身份 获得空气的「配方」, 用各种气体成分重新制造它。
recreate:vt.再现;再创造 component:n.成分;部件;组成部分;adj.构成的;
I was particularly interested in moments of time that are examples of life changing the air, but also the air that can influence how life will evolve , like Carboniferous air. 我对于一些时间点特别有兴趣, 这有几个关于生命改变空气的例子, 也有空气影响生命演化的例子, 比如石炭纪空气,
particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; influence:n.影响;势力;感化;有影响的人或事;v.影响;改变; evolve:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成; Carboniferous:adj.石炭纪的,石炭系的;n.石炭纪,石炭层;
It's from about 300 to 350 million years ago. 它在 3 到 3.5 亿年前。
It's an era known as the time of the giants . 那是以巨大生物而知名的时代。
giants:n.巨人;大汉;巨兽;巨树;(giant的复数)
So for the first time in the history of life, lignin evolves . 生命历史上第一次, 木质素开始进化。
lignin:n.[木]木质素; evolves:v.进化,进展(evolve的第三人称单数形式);
That's the hard stuff that trees are made of. 木质素是组成树木的硬质材料。
stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
So trees effectively invent their own trunks at this time, and they get really big,bigger and bigger, and pepper the Earth, releasing oxygen, releasing oxygen, releasing oxygen, such that the oxygen levels are about twice as high as what they are today. 因此这时树木高效地 形成了它们的躯干, 它们变得越来越大, 覆盖了地球, 释放氧气,释放氧气,释放氧气, 因此氧气量 比我们现在的多约 2 倍。
pepper:n.胡椒;辣椒;胡椒粉;v.加胡椒粉于;使布满; releasing:n.释放;松释动作;脱扣释放;v.释放;排放;(release的现在分词);
And this rich air supports huge spiders and dragonflies with a wingspan of about 65 centimeters . 这样富足的空气孕育了 大型的蜘蛛, 翼展有 65 公分的蜻蜓。
spiders:n.蜘蛛(spider的复数) dragonflies:n.[昆]蜻蜓(dragonfly的复数); wingspan:n.翼展;翼幅; centimeters:n.[计量]厘米(centimeter的复数);
To breathe, this air is really clean and really fresh. 对于呼吸而言,这种空气非常干净和新鲜。
It doesn't so much have a flavor , but it does give your body a really subtle kind of boost of energy. 它没有味道, 但是它给了你身体真正的能量。
flavor:n.情味,风味;香料;滋味;v.加味于; subtle:adj.微妙的;精细的;敏感的;狡猾的;稀薄的; boost:n.提高;增长;帮助;激励;v.使增长;使兴旺;偷窃;
It's really good for hangovers . 它对于宿醉者再好不过。
hangovers:n.[内科]宿醉;遗物;残留物(hangover的复数);
(Laughter) （笑声）
Or there's the air of the Great Dying — that's about 252.5 million years ago, just before the dinosaurs evolve. 或者是大灭绝时期的空气—— 约 2.525 亿年前, 就在恐龙演化之前。
It's a really short time period, geologically speaking, from about 20- to 200,000 years. 地质学上讲,它是相当短的时间, 在 20 到 20 万年之间。
short time:adj.短暂的;快速的(shorttime的变形); geologically:adv.从地质学角度;
Really quick. 真的很短。
This is the greatest extinction event in Earth's history, even bigger than when the dinosaurs died out. 这是地球历史上的大灭绝事件, 甚至比恐龙灭绝更甚。
extinction:n.绝种;
Eighty-five to 95 percent of species at this time die out, and simultaneous to that is a huge, dramatic spike in carbon dioxide, that a lot of scientists agree comes from a simultaneous eruption of volcanoes and a runaway greenhouse effect . 85~95% 的物种灭絶, 随之而来的是, 二氧化碳量急剧增加, 很多科学家都认为 是由于许多火山噴发造成, 迅速导致了温室效应。
species:n.[生物]物种;种类; dramatic:adj.突然的;巨大的;令人吃惊的;激动人心的; spike:n.长钉,道钉;钉鞋;细高跟;vt.阻止;以大钉钉牢;用尖物刺穿; eruption:n.爆发,喷发;火山灰;出疹; volcanoes:n.火山爆发,火山;火山群(volcano复数); runaway:adj.逃亡的;逃走的;n.逃跑;逃走的人; greenhouse effect:n.温室效应;
Oxygen levels at this time go to below half of what they are today, so about 10 percent. 氧气含量少于当今的一半, 大约 10%。
So this air would definitely not support human life, but it's OK to just have a breath. 因此这种空气不能满足 人类的生理需求, 但是勉强可供呼吸。
definitely:adv.清楚地,当然;明确地,肯定地;
And to breathe, it's oddly comforting. 而且对呼吸而言,有一种奇怪的舒适感。
oddly:adv.古怪地;奇妙地;单数地;
It's really calming, it's quite warm and it has a flavor a little bit like soda water . 它很平静,很温热, 它有一点苏打水的味道。
soda water:苏打水,汽水;
It has that kind of spritz ,quite pleasant. 它有那种愉悦的气泡。
spritz:v.喷;n.喷,细的喷流;
So with all this thinking about air of the past, it's quite natural to start thinking about the air of the future. 带着所有这些关于 过去时代的空气的思考, 开始思考未来时代的 空气是很自然的。
And instead of being speculative with air and just making up what I think might be the future air, 我并不是对于空气成分进行猜测, 然后制造自己所认为的 「未来空气」,
speculative:adj.投机的;推测的;思索性的;
I discovered this human-synthesized air. 而是发现了这些人类合成的空气。
That means that it doesn't occur anywhere in nature, but it's made by humans in a laboratory for application in different industrial settings. 那意味着它在自然界不会出现, 仅仅是在人类的实验室, 为了不同工業环境的应用而制造。
occur:v.发生;出现;存在于;出现在; laboratory:n.实验室,研究室; application:n.应用;申请;应用程序;敷用; industrial:adj.工业的,产业的; n.工业股票;
Why is it future air? 为什么它是未来的空气？
Well, this air is a really stable molecule that will literally be part of the air once it's released ,for the next 300 to 400 years,before it's broken down. 好,这种空气是稳定的分子, 它一经释放,就会融入空气中, 维持 300~400 年,直到它被降解。
stable:n.马厩;牛棚;adj.稳定的;牢固的;坚定的;vi.被关在马厩;赶入马房; molecule:n.[化学]分子;微小颗粒,微粒; literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地: released:v.释放;使免除;已发布;(release的过去分词和过去式)
So that's about 12 to 16 generations. 所以大约是 12 到 16 代那么长的时间。
And this future air has some very sensual qualities. 这种未来的空气有一些可感知的特性。
sensual:adj.感觉的;肉欲的;世俗的;感觉论的;
It's very heavy. 它很重。
It's about eight times heavier than the air we're used to breathing. 大约是我们通常呼吸空气的 8 倍重。
It's so heavy, in fact,that when you breathe it in, whatever words you speak are kind of literally heavy as well, so they dribble down your chin and drop to the floor and soak into the cracks . 它如此重,事实上,当你呼吸时, 不管你说什么, 还是会感觉重, 所以它会沿着你的下巴 流下掉到地上, 流入地板上的缝隙。
dribble:v.连击;使滴下;运球;n.点滴;运球; chin:n.下巴;颏;v.(口)用下巴夹住(提琴等);(单杠)引体向上使下巴高过横杠;谈话; soak:v.浸泡;浸湿;浸透;湿透;n.浸泡;浸渍;湿透;洗澡; cracks:n.裂纹; v.破裂; (crack的第三人称单数和复数)
It's an air that operates quite a lot like a liquid. 它是像液体一般的空气。
Now, this air comes with an ethical dimension as well. 现在,这种空气产生了道德问题。
ethical:adj.伦理的;道德的;凭处方出售的;n.处方药; dimension:n.方面;[数]维;尺寸;次元;容积vt.标出尺寸;adj.规格的;
Humans made this air, but it's also the most potent greenhouse gas that has ever been tested. 人类制作了这种空气, 但是从测试看来, 它也是最具温室效应潜质的空气。
potent:adj.有效的;强有力的,有权势的;有说服力的; greenhouse gas:n.温室气体(尤指二氧化碳);
Its warming potential is 24,000 times that of carbon dioxide, and it has that longevity of 12 to 16 generations. 它的增温效果是二氧化碳的二万四千倍, 它的寿命有 12 到 16 代。
potential:n.潜能;可能性;[电]电势;adj.潜在的;可能的;势的; longevity:n.长寿,长命;寿命;
So this ethical confrontation is really central to my work. 所以这伦理上的对抗 是我工作的重点。
confrontation:n.对抗;面对;对质;
(In a lowered voice) It has another quite surprising quality. （降低声调）它有另外一个 令人惊讶的特性。
It changes the sound of your voice quite dramatically . 它能戏剧性地改变你的声音。
dramatically:adv.戏剧地;引人注目地;adv.显著地,剧烈地;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So when we start to think — ooh! 所以当你开始思考——
It's still there a bit. 哦,还有一点点。
(Laughter) （笑声）
When we think about climate change, we probably don't think about giant insects and erupting volcanoes or funny voices. 当我们思考气候变化, 我们可能没有想到 巨大的昆虫,噴发的火山, 或者有趣的声音。
erupting:v.爆发;(岩浆、烟等)喷出;突然发生;爆发;(erupt的现在分词)
The images that more readily come to mind are things like retreating glaciers and polar bears adrift on icebergs . 那些更可能跳出的形象 是消融的冰川, 以及在冰块上漂流的北极熊。
images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数) readily:adv.容易地;乐意地;无困难地; retreating:v.撤退;离开;离去;后退;退缩;(retreat的现在分词) glaciers:n.[地理][水文]冰川(glacier的复数);[地理][水文]冰河; polar:adj.极地的;南极(或北极)的;n.极线;极面; adrift:adj.漂泊的;漂浮着的;adv.随波逐流地;漂浮着; icebergs:na.冰山; (iceberg的复数)
We think about pie charts and column graphs and endless politicians talking to scientists wearing cardigans . 我们想到是饼状图和柱状图, 以及政治家与穿开襟毛衣的科学家 无休止的谈论。
column:n.栏目,纵队; endless:adj.无止境的;连续的;环状的;漫无目的的; politicians:n.政治家;(蔑)政客;(美)政治贩;(politician的复数) cardigans:n.羊毛衫;开身毛衣(cardigan的复数形式);
But perhaps it's time we start thinking about climate change on the same visceral level that we experience the air. 但是也许是时候 该以我们身体体验空气的方式 来考虑气候变化,
Like air, climate change is simultaneously at the scale of the molecule, the breath and the planet. 像空气一样,气候变化 在分子尺度、呼吸过程、 地球环境等方面同时体现。
scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢;
It's immediate, vital and intimate, as well as being amorphous and cumbersome . 它直接、重要而又亲密, 同时无形的、难于处理的。
as well as:也;和…一样;不但…而且; amorphous:adj.无定形的;无组织的;[物]非晶形的; cumbersome:adj.笨重的;累赘的;难处理的;
And yet, it's so easily forgotten. 尽管,它容易被忘却。
Climate change is the collective self-portrait of humanity . 气候变化是人类行为 集合的自我反映。
self-portrait:n.自画像; humanity:n.人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科;
It reflects our decisions as individuals , as governments and as industries. 它反映了我们作为个人的决定、 政府的决定以及产業的决定。
reflects:v.反映;映出(影像);反射;表明,表达;(reflect的第三人称单数) individuals:n.[经]个人;[生物]个体(individual的复数);
And if there's anything I've learned from looking at air, it's that even though it's changing, it persists . 如果我们反观空气能学到什么的话, 那就是,即便它不断变化, 它仍存在。
persists:vi.存留,坚持;持续,固执;vt.坚持说,反复说;
It may not support the kind of life that we'd recognize , but it will support something. 它也许不能维持 我们熟知的生活型态, 但是它能养活某些型态。
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
And if we humans are such a vital part of that change, 如果人类是那种变化中 重要的一员的话,
I think it's important that we can feel the discussion. 我想,我们能感受 关于它的讨论,这是重要的。
Because even though it's invisible, humans are leaving a very vibrant trace in the air. 因为尽管它不可见, 人类却在空气中留下了 十分鲜明的印记。
vibrant:adj.振动的;充满生气的;响亮的;战栗的;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）