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FrancesLarson_2015G-_为什么公开斩首吸引了百万浏览量？_
For the last year, everyone's been watching the same show, and I'm not talking about "Game of Thrones ," 过去的一年中, 大家都在收看同一档节目, 我指的不是《权力的游戏》,
Thrones:n.座天使(圣经故事中天使名);
but a horrifying , real-life drama that's proved too fascinating to turn off. 而是现实生活中的一场闹剧, 它骇人听闻,却有让人无法抵挡的强大吸引力。
horrifying:adj.令人极其震惊的;v.惊吓;使厌恶;(horrify的现在分词) real-life:adj.现实的;实在的; drama:n.戏剧;戏剧艺术;戏剧文学;戏剧性事件; fascinating:adj.极有吸引力的;迷人的;v.深深吸引;迷住;(fascinate的现在分词)
It's a show produced by murderers and shared around the world via the Internet. 这是一场由杀人凶手摄制, 而后通过网络在世界范围内传播的表演。
via:prep.通过;经由;n.道路;[医]管道;
Their names have become familiar : 受害者的姓名我们都很熟悉了:
familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友;
James Foley, Steven Sotloff, David Haines, Alan Henning, Peter Kassig,
Haruna Yukawa, Kenji Goto Jogo.
Their beheadings by the Islamic State were barbaric , but if we think they were archaic , from a remote , obscure age, then we're wrong. 伊斯兰国对他们的处决 是野蛮残暴的, 但如果我们以为这些刽子手 一次绞刑的观众约有四五千人。 那就大错特错了。
Islamic:adj.穆斯林的; barbaric:adj.野蛮的,粗野的;原始的; archaic:adj.古代的;陈旧的;古体的;古色古香的; remote:adj.偏远的;偏僻的;遥远的;久远的; obscure:n.朦胧; adj.无名的; v.使模糊;
They were uniquely modern, because the murderers acted knowing well that millions of people would tune in to watch. 场面惨不忍睹。 因为他们的行为说明其深知 无数人将会观看他们的视频。
uniquely:adv.独特地;珍奇地; tune:n.曲调;和谐;心情;v.调整;使一致;为…调音;调谐;
The headlines called them savages and barbarians , because the image of one man overpowering another, killing him with a knife to the throat, conforms to our idea of ancient, primitive practices, the polar opposite of our urban , civilized ways. 新闻媒体将他们称作“野蛮人”, 因为屏幕上 一刀割喉以示征服的画面, 同我们对远古时期,原始行为的想象相吻合, 而与现代文明和道德伦理完全相悖。
savages:n.野蛮人(savage的复数);残酷的人;v.凶猛地攻击;激怒(savage的三单形式); barbarians:n.野蛮人;蛮夷(barbarian的复数形式); overpowering:adj.压倒性的;无法抵抗的; conforms:v.顺从,顺应;遵守;相符合;相吻合(conform的第三人称单数) primitive:adj.原始的,远古的;简单的,粗糙的;n.原始人; polar:adj.极地的;南极(或北极)的;n.极线;极面; urban:adj.城市的;都市的;城镇的;都市音乐的; civilized:adj.文明的; v.教化; (civilize的过去式和过去分词)
We don't do things like that. 我们绝不会做出类似的事情。
But that's the irony . 但这恰恰是讽刺之处。
irony:n.讽刺;反语;具有讽刺意味的事;adj.铁的;似铁的;
We think a beheading has nothing to do with us, even as we click on the screen to watch. 我们以为就算点击观看了视频, 一场斩首处决也与自己毫不相干。
beheading:v.将(某人)斩首(尤指刑罚);(behead的现在分词)
But it is to do with us. 但事实并非如此。
The Islamic State beheadings are not ancient or remote. 这场伊斯兰国的公开斩首 并不是发生在遥远的古代,
They're a global , 21st century event, a 21st century event that takes place in our living rooms, at our desks, on our computer screens. 这是21世纪全球性的事件, 它就在我们的客厅里,桌子上, 我们的电脑屏幕中发生着。
global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的;
They're entirely dependent on the power of technology to connect us. 杀人凶手们完全依靠技术手段与我们产生联系。
dependent on:依赖于;依靠; technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
And whether we like it or not, everyone who watches is a part of the show. 无论我们是否情愿, 每个观众都是这场表演的参与者。
And lots of people watch. 而观众的人数相当可观。
We don't know exactly how many. 我们没有确切的数据。
Obviously, it's difficult to calculate. 显然这实在难以统计。
But a poll taken in the UK, for example, in August 2014, estimated that 1.2 million people had watched the beheading of James Foley in the few days after it was released . 但通过2014年8月在伦敦的一项调查, 可以粗略估算出在对James Foley的处决视频 发布之后的短短几天内, 已有约120万人观看。
poll:n.投票; v.获得(票数); adj.当事人一方作成的; estimated:adj.估计的;预计的;估算的; released:v.释放;使免除;已发布;(release的过去分词和过去式)
And that's just the first few days, and just Britain. 这还只是刚开始的几天内, 而且仅仅在英国。
A similar poll taken in the United States in November 2014 found that nine percent of those surveyed had watched beheading videos, and a further 23 percent had watched the videos but had stopped just before the death was shown. 美国一项类似的调查表明, 9%的受访者 观看了斩首视频, 此外还有23%的人 点开了视频,但在受害者遇难前一刻退出了观看。
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式) surveyed:v.调查,俯视(survey的过去式和过去分词形式);考察,调研;
Nine percent may be a small minority of all the people who could watch, but it's still a very large crowd. 在所有可能观看的人中,9%也许只是个很小的部分, 但这个数字代表的仍是十分庞大的人群。
minority:n.少数民族;少数派;未成年;adj.少数的;属于少数派的;
And of course that crowd is growing all the time, because every week, every month, more people will keep downloading and keep watching. 并且人数还在不断增长, 因为每周、每月, 都会有更多的人下载、观看。
If we go back 11 years, before sites like YouTube and Facebook were born, it was a similar story. 其实在11年前, 在YouTube、Facebook这样的网站还没出现的时候, 就发生过类似的事情。
sites:n.网站(site的复数);遗址,举办地点;v.使...位于(site的单三形式);
When innocent civilians like Daniel Pearl , 这样的无辜平民被斩首时,
innocent:adj.无辜的;无罪的;无知的;n.天真的人;笨蛋; civilians:n.平民;市民;文官;无军职人员;(civilian的复数) Pearl:n.珍珠; v.使成小圆粒; adj.珍珠(制)的;
Nick Berg, Paul Johnson, were beheaded , those videos were shown during the Iraq War. 像Daniel Pearl,Nick Berg, Paul Johnson 相关视频在伊拉克战争期间被发布了出来。
beheaded:v.将(某人)斩首(尤指刑罚);(behead的过去分词和过去式)
Nick Berg's beheading quickly became one of the most searched for items on the Internet. 对Nick Berg的斩首视频 迅速成为了互联网上搜索次数最多的条目之一。
items:n.项目;一件商品(或物品);一则,一条(新闻)(item的复数)
Within a day, it was the top search term across search engines like Google , Lycos, Yahoo . 一天之内,就在Google, Lycos, Yahoo 这样的搜索引擎上登顶热搜榜。
Google:谷歌;谷歌搜索引擎; Yahoo:n.粗鲁的人;
In the week after Nick Berg's beheading, these were the top 10 search terms in the United States. 这些是Nick Berg被斩首后的一周内, 在美国排名前十的搜索项。
The Berg beheading video remained the most popular search term for a week, and it was the second most popular search term for the whole month of May, runner-up only to "American Idol ." Berg的斩首录像占据了搜索榜榜首整整一周, 还在整个五月份的搜索统计中排在第二。 仅次于“美国偶像”。
runner-up:n.亚军,第二名;亚军队; Idol:n.偶像,崇拜物;幻象;谬论;
The al-Qaeda-linked website that first showed Nick Berg's beheading had to close down within a couple of days due to overwhelming traffic to the site. 最初发布Nick Berg斩首录像的基地组织相关网站, 甚至还因难以负荷巨大的访问量不得不关闭了两天。
close down:关闭;停止播音; overwhelming:adj.势不可挡的; v.压倒; (overwhelm的现在分词)
One Dutch website owner said that his daily viewing figures rose from 300,000 to 750,000 every time a beheading in Iraq was shown. 一位荷兰的网站所有人表示, 他的网站日访问量从30万增加到了75万人次, 每一次点击都意味着在伊拉克的处刑又被播放了一次。
Dutch:adj.荷兰的; n.荷兰人; v.费用平摊地;
He told reporters 18 months later that it had been downloaded many millions of times, and that's just one website. 一年半后,他告诉记者 该视频已被下载了数百万次, 这还只是一家网站的数据。
A similar pattern was seen again and again when videos of beheadings were released during the Iraq War. 伊拉克战争期间其他的斩首录像公布之后, 发生的事情如出一辙。
again and again:adv.再三地,反复地;
Social media sites have made these images more accessible than ever before, but if we take another step back in history, we'll see that it was the camera that first created a new kind of crowd in our history of beheadings as public spectacle . 社交媒体给这些影像的传播带来了前所未有的便利, 可是倘若我们回顾更早的历史就会发现, 在那段公开处刑被当做聚众狂欢的时期, 最先创造出一种新型“围观人群”的,是照相机。
media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉; images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数) accessible:adj.易接近的;可进入的;可理解的; spectacle:n.景象;场面;奇观;壮观;公开展示;表相,假相n.(复)眼镜;
As soon as the camera appeared on the scene, a full lifetime ago on June 17, 1939, it had an immediate and unequivocal effect. 1939年6月17日, 相机一登上历史舞台, 就立刻产生了显着的影响。
As soon as:一…就; unequivocal:adj.明确的;不含糊的;
That day, the first film of a public beheading was created in France. 那一天,第一支公开斩首的影像在法国诞生。
It was the execution , the guillotining, of a German serial killer , Eugen Weidmann, outside the prison Saint-Pierre in Versailles . 其内容是对德国籍连环杀手Eugen Weidmann 在凡尔赛圣皮埃尔监狱外的断头台上执行的处决。
execution:n.执行,实行;完成;死刑; serial killer:n.连环杀手; Versailles:n.凡尔赛(法国城市);
Weidmann was due to be executed at the crack of dawn , as was customary at the time, but his executioner was new to the job, and he'd underestimated how long it would take him to prepare. 按当时的习惯, Weidmann本应在凌晨被处死, 但当天的行刑者是位新手, 他低估了自己做好准备所需的时间。
executed:v.(尤指依法)处决,处死;实行;执行;实施;(execute的过去分词和过去式) the crack of dawn:破晓; customary:adj.习惯的;通常的;n.习惯法汇编; executioner:n.刽子手,死刑执行人; underestimated:v.低估;对…估计不足;轻视(underestimate的过去分词和过去式)
So Weidmann was executed at 4:30 in the morning, by which time on a June morning, there was enough light to take photographs, and a spectator in the crowd filmed the event, unbeknownst to the authorities . 因此Weidmann在早晨4:30才被处决, 在六月的这个时间, 已经有足够的日光来拍摄相片了。 人群中一名观众瞒着当局, 对这一事件进行了摄像。
spectator:n.观众;旁观者; unbeknownst:adv.不知地;adj.不知的; authorities:n.权力;威权;职权;批准;(authority的复数)
Several still photographs were taken as well, and you can still watch the film online today and look at the photographs. 同时还拍了几张照片, 时至今日,你仍然可以在网上找到这段影像, 浏览这些照片。
The crowd on the day of Weidmann's execution was called " unruly " and " disgusting " by the press, but that was nothing compared to the untold thousands of people who could now study the action over and over again , freeze-framed in every detail. 当天围观Weidmann处决的群众 被媒体称作是“难以控制的”和“令人作呕的”, 但这与如今能够一遍又一遍研究这出情节, 能够在每个细节处定格画面的 成百上千不知名的 人们相比,简直不值一提。
unruly:adj.不守规矩的;任性的;难驾驭的; disgusting:adj.令人不快的;令人厌恶的;v.使作呕;使厌恶;使反感;(disgust的现在分词) compared:adj.比较的,对照的; v.相比; (compare的过去式和过去分词) untold:adj.数不清的;未说过的;未透露的;无限的; over and over again:adv.一再地;反复不断地; freeze-framed:n.定格;vt.把(图像)定格;
The camera may have made these scenes more accessible than ever before, but it's not just about the camera. 照相机或许能让公众更方便地获得这些影像, 但这并不是唯一的影响因素。
If we take a bigger leap back in history, we'll see that for as long as there have been public judicial executions and beheadings, there have been the crowds to see them. 再向前追溯一段更久远的历史, 我们会发现 哪里有公开司法处刑和斩首, 哪里就有围观群众。
leap:n.跳越;跳跃;跳高;骤变;v.跳;跳跃;跳越;猛冲; as long as:conj.只要;长达;如果;既然; judicial:adj.公正的,明断的;法庭的;审判上的; executions:n.死刑(execution的复数形式);实行;完成;
In London, as late as the early 19th century, there might be four or five thousand people to see a standard hanging. 在19世纪早期的伦敦, 一次绞刑的观众约有四五千人。
standard:n.标准;水准;旗;度量衡标准;adj.标准的;合规格的;公认为优秀的;
There could be 40,000 or 50,000 to see a famous criminal killed. 倘若被处死的罪犯臭名昭着,那么人数有可能增加到四五万。
And a beheading, which was a rare event in England at the time, attracted even more. 而在那时的英国,十分罕见的斩首 则具有更大的吸引力。
In May 1820, five men known as the Cato Street Conspirators were executed in London for plotting to assassinate members of the British government. 1820年5月, 五位“卡托街的阴谋家” 因密谋刺杀不列颠政府成员 在伦敦被处决。
Conspirators:n.阴谋者;同谋者(conspirator的复数); plotting:v.密谋;暗中策划;(在地图上)标出;绘制(图表);(plot的现在分词) assassinate:vt.暗杀;行刺;
They were hung and then decapitated . 他们先被绞死而后又被砍头。
decapitated:v.斩首;杀头(decapitate的过去分词);
It was a gruesome scene. 场面惨不忍睹。
gruesome:adj.可怕的;阴森的;
Each man's head was hacked off in turn and held up to the crowd. 五个罪犯的脑袋被轮流砍下而后展示给围观者。
hacked:v.砍;劈;猛踢;非法侵入(hack的过去分词和过去式)
And 100,000 people, that's 10,000 more than can fit into Wembley Stadium , had turned out to watch. 有整整10万人 前来观看,比整个温布利球场可容纳的观众 还要多1万人。
Stadium:n.[体]露天大型体育场;[病]病期;[生]生长期;龄期;
The streets were packed. 一时间万人空巷。
People had rented out windows and rooftops . 有人向外出租（看得见行刑台的）窗户和屋顶。
rooftops:n.屋顶;adj.屋顶上的;
People had climbed onto carts and wagons in the street. 有人爬上路边的马车。
carts:n.运货马车; v.用马车运送; (cart的第三人称单数和复数) wagons:货车;[车辆]手推车;
People climbed lamp posts. 有人攀上街边的路灯。
lamp:n.灯;台灯;(理疗用的)发热灯;
People had been known to have died in the crush on popular execution days. 还有的人据说在行刑日拥挤的人群中丧生。
crush:v.压碎;弄皱,变形;使…挤入;n.粉碎;迷恋;压榨;拥挤的人群;
Evidence suggests that throughout our history of public beheadings and public executions, the vast majority of the people who come to see are either enthusiastic or, at best, unmoved . 证据表明纵观公开行刑 与公开斩首的历史, 绝大多数前来观看受刑的人 就算不是特别狂热,也至少是持麻木的态度。
Evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明; throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及; majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: enthusiastic:adj.热情的;热心的;狂热的; unmoved:adj.无动于衷的;不动摇的;
Disgust has been comparatively rare, and even when people are disgusted and are horrified , it doesn't always stop them from coming out all the same to watch. 极少有人觉得恶心、厌恶, 就算真的感到恶心和恐惧, 通常也并不妨碍他们加入围观人群。
comparatively:adv.比较地;相当地; disgusted:adj.厌恶的;反感的;v.使作呕;使厌恶;使反感;(disgust的过去式和过去分词) horrified:adj.惊骇的;带有恐怖感的;v.惊骇(horrify的过去式和过去分词);使…战悚; all the same:仍然:依然:照样:
Perhaps the most striking example of the human ability to watch a beheading and remain unmoved and even be disappointed was the introduction in France in 1792 of the guillotine , that famous decapitation machine. 有关人们看到砍头, 却能保持无动于衷,甚至感到还够不过瘾的 最典型的事件, 恐怕是在1792年的法国,那架着名的斩首机器, “断头台”的面世。
guillotine:n.断头台; vt.于断头台斩首; decapitation:n.斩首;解雇;撤职;
To us in the 21st century, the guillotine may seem like a monstrous contraption , but to the first crowds who saw it, it was actually a disappointment. 对于21世纪的我们, 断头台可能算得上是骇人听闻的诡异装置, 但它却令它的第一批观众大失所望。
monstrous:adj.巨大的;怪异的;荒谬的;畸形的; contraption:n.奇妙的装置;精巧的设计;
They were used to seeing long, drawn-out , torturous executions on the scaffold , where people were mutilated and burned and pulled apart slowly. 他们已经习惯于观看行刑台上持续长时间的折磨, 看着人们被砍断手脚、活活烧死、慢慢撕裂。
drawn-out:adj.延长的;持续很久的; torturous:adj.折磨人的,痛苦的; scaffold:n.脚手架;鹰架;绞刑台;vt.给…搭脚手架;用支架支撑; mutilated:adj.残缺的;破坏的;v.切断;使残废(mutilate的过去分词);
To them, watching the guillotine in action, it was so quick, there was nothing to see. 对他们而言,断头台上的演出 结束得太快了,没什么好看的。
The blade fell, the head fell into a basket, out of sight immediately, and they called out, "Give me back my gallows , give me back my wooden gallows." 刀身下落,头颅掉进一只篮子就立刻不见了踪影, 于是他们喊道, “还我们绞刑架！把木绞架抬回来！”
blade:n.叶片;刀片,刀锋;剑; out of sight:看不见;在视野之外;在看不见的地方; gallows:n.绞刑;绞刑架;承梁; wooden:adj.木制的;木头的;木头似的;死板的
The end of torturous public judicial executions in Europe and America was partly to do with being more humane towards the criminal, but it was also partly because the crowd obstinately refused to behave in the way that they should. 欧美范围内残酷的公开司法处刑的终结, 一部分是出于对罪犯的人道主义关怀, 但同时也是因为围观人群的行为举止 着实太有悖常理和人性。
humane:adj.仁慈的,人道的;高尚的; obstinately:adv.顽固地;固执地; behave:v.表现;(机器等)运转;举止端正;(事物)起某种作用; in the way:妨碍;挡道;
All too often, execution day was more like a carnival than a solemn ceremony . 一而再,再而三的, 行刑日与其说是严肃的仪式,不如说变成了狂欢节。
carnival:n.狂欢节,嘉年华会;饮宴狂欢; solemn:adj.庄严的,严肃的;隆重的,郑重的; ceremony:n.典礼,仪式;礼节,礼仪;客套,虚礼;
Today, a public judicial execution in Europe or America is unthinkable , but there are other scenarios that should make us cautious about thinking that things are different now and we don't behave like that anymore. 今天,无论在欧洲还是美国,一场公开处决已是不可想象的了, 但我们仍然无法简单地认为 一切都不同了, 这样的惨剧不会再重演了。
unthinkable:adj.不能想象的;过分的; scenarios:n.情节;脚本;情景介绍(scenario的复数); cautious:adj.谨慎的;十分小心的;
Take, for example, the incidents of suicide baiting . 我们不妨说说“诱导自杀”。
suicide:n.自杀;自杀行为;自杀者;adj.自杀的;v.自杀;vi.自杀; baiting:v.下诱饵;激怒;纵犬袭击(野兽);(bait的现在分词)
This is when a crowd gathers to watch a person who has climbed to the top of a public building in order to kill themselves, and people in the crowd shout and jeer , " Get on with it! Go on and jump!" 这指的是人们聚集起来 围观那些爬上高层公共建筑顶楼 企图自杀的人, 而人群中时常冒出 “快点儿啊！”“跳下去啊！”之类的叫嚷和嘲讽。
jeer:n.嘲笑;戏弄;揶揄的言语;vi.嘲笑;戏弄;vt.嘲笑;戏弄; Get on with:v.在…获得成功,于…友好相处;继续干;
This is a well-recognized phenomenon . 这种现象早就屡见不鲜了。
phenomenon:n.现象;杰出的人;非凡的人(或事物);
One paper in 1981 found that in 10 out of 21 threatened suicide attempts , there was incidents of suicide baiting and jeering from a crowd. 1981年的一篇论文指出,每21起受到威胁的自杀行为中, 就有10起出现了人群中的讥笑,也就是所谓的诱导自杀。
attempts:n.企图,试图;尝试(attempt的复数);v.试图;努力去做(attempt的三单形式); jeering:adj.嘲弄的;v.嘲弄(jeer的ing形式);
And there have been incidents reported in the press this year. 今年的报纸中也出现过相关报道。
This was a very widely reported incident in Telford and Shropshire in March this year. 这是今年3月在特尔福德和什罗普郡 被广泛报道的事件。
Telford:n.泰尔福特路面(由大石与碎石作基础,再用小石经辗压坚实筑成平滑面层的一种路面); adj.泰尔福特大石块基层路面的;
And when it happens today, people take photographs and they take videos on their phones and they post those videos online. 这种情况发生在当今, 人们通常会掏出手机拍照、摄像, 再把影像上传到网络。
When it comes to brutal murderers who post their beheading videos, the Internet has created a new kind of crowd. 类似的,当残暴的刽子手在网上传播录制好的斩首视频, 互联网又创造了一批新的围观人群。
brutal:adj.残忍的;野蛮的,不讲理的;
Today, the action takes place in a distant time and place, which gives the viewer a sense of detachment from what's happening, a sense of separation . 正因为这些事情发生在触不可及的时间和地点, 从而让观众产生了与之毫不相干的心理, 一种疏离感。
distant:adj.遥远的;远处的;久远的; detachment:n.分离,拆开;超然;分遣;分遣队; separation:n.分离;分开;分割;隔离;
It's nothing to do with me. “这和我没有关系”。
It's already happened. “这一切已经发生了”。
We are also offered an unprecedented sense of intimacy . 同时我们还获得了前所未有的亲密感。
unprecedented:adj.空前的;无前例的; intimacy:n.亲密;密切;关系密切;性行为;
Today, we are all offered front row seats. 我们仿佛身处贵宾席。
We can all watch in private , in our own time and space, and no one need ever know that we've clicked on the screen to watch. 能够在空闲时间、私人空间里独自观看, 并且没人知道我们到底浏览过什么。
in private:私下地;秘密地;
This sense of separation -- from other people, from the event itself -- seems to be key to understanding our ability to watch, and there are several ways 这种疏离感—— 不论是与他人还是与事件本身—— 似乎成了理解我们为何能够观看这些残暴行径的关键, 而互联网通过
in which the Internet creates a sense of detachment that seems to erode individual moral responsibility. 产生疏离感而逐渐侵蚀 个人道德责任感的例子还有不少。
erode:vt.腐蚀,侵蚀;vi.侵蚀;受腐蚀; individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的; 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;
Our activities online are often contrasted with real life, as though the things we do online are somehow less real. 我们在网上的行为举止往往与现实生活反差巨大, 似乎互联网上的行为并不那么真实。
contrasted:比较;对比; somehow:adv.以某种方法;莫名其妙地;
We feel less accountable for our actions when we interact online. 在网上,我们会觉得不必 对自己的行为负责。
accountable:adj.有责任的;有解释义务的;可解释的; interact:v.互相影响;互相作用;n.幕间剧;幕间休息;
There's a sense of anonymity , a sense of invisibility , so we feel less accountable for our behavior. 由于网络匿名带来的隐形感, 我们感到并不需要为自己的言行负太多责任。
anonymity:n.匿名;匿名者;无名之辈; invisibility:n.看不见;看不见的东西;难看见;
The Internet also makes it far easier to stumble upon things inadvertently , things that we would usually avoid in everyday life. 在网上也更容易发现一些 真实生活中我们会尽力避免的东西。
stumble:v.踌躇,蹒跚;失足;犯错;n.绊倒;蹒跚而行; inadvertently:adj.非故意地,无心地;
Today, a video can start playing before you even know what you're watching. 现在,有些视频甚至在你还没意识到在看什么的时候,就会开始播放。
Or you may be tempted to look at material that you wouldn't look at in everyday life or you wouldn't look at if you were with other people at the time. 又或者我们会浏览平时不会去关注, 以及有旁人时不会去观看的内容。
tempted:adj.想做…的; v.引诱; (tempt的过去分词和过去式)
And when the action is pre-recorded and takes place in a distant time and space, watching seems like a passive activity. 于是,当整件事已经事先被拍摄, 并发生在遥远的时空距离之外, 观看貌似成为了一种被动行为。
pre-recorded:adj.预录的;预制的; passive:adj.被动的,消极的;被动语态的;n.被动语态;
There's nothing I can do about it now. “我现在对此无能为力”。
It's already happened. “这一切已经发生了”。
All these things make it easier as an Internet user for us to give in to our sense of curiosity about death, to push our personal boundaries , to test our sense of shock, to explore our sense of shock. 所有这些都让作为互联网用户的我们更轻易地 屈从于自己对死亡的好奇, 拉低自己的个人道德底线, 去考验、去探究自己对冲击感的承受力。
curiosity:n.好奇,好奇心;珍品,古董,古玩; personal:adj.个人的;身体的;亲自的;n.人事消息栏;人称代名词; boundaries:n.边界;分界线;(boundary的复数) explore:v.探索:探测:探险:
But we're not passive when we watch. 然而事实上我们并非被动的观众。
On the contrary , we're fulfilling the murderer's desire to be seen. 恰恰相反,正是我们在满足杀人犯的表现欲。
On the contrary:正相反; fulfilling:adj.让人感觉有意义的; v.实现; (fulfill的现在分词)
When the victim of a decapitation is bound and defenseless , he or she essentially becomes a pawn in their killer's show. 斩首中受害者被绑住无力反抗的时候, 他或她本质上已经变成了刽子手的表演道具。
victim:n.受害人;牺牲品;牺牲者; defenseless:adj.无防备的; essentially:adv.本质上;本来; pawn:v.典当;质押;n.被利用的人;走卒;
Unlike a trophy head that's taken in battle, that represents the luck and skill it takes to win a fight, when a beheading is staged, when it's essentially a piece of theater, the power comes from the reception the killer receives as he performs . 传统战争中作为战利品砍下的头颅, 象征着胜者蒙受的上天眷顾和超凡的战斗技能, 与此不同的是,当斩首作为表演被呈上舞台, 当它已然成为一出戏剧, 这些罪犯的表演得到的反响,正是操控力的来源。
trophy:n.奖品,奖杯;奖;纪念品,战利品;adj.炫耀的;摆阔的;招摇的; represents:v.代表;维护…的利益;相当于;(represent的第三人称单数) performs:v.执行;表演;演出;履行(perform的第三人称单数)
In other words, watching is very much part of the event. 换言之,观看行为实际上是这一事件中相当关键的部分。
The event no longer takes place in a single location at a certain point in time as it used to and as it may still appear to. 这件事不再如同以往或是它今后仍将呈现出的那样, 仅仅发生在特定的时间与地点。
location:n.地方;地点;位置;定位
Now the event is stretched out in time and place, and everyone who watches plays their part. 如今它在时空中得到了延伸, 使得每一位观众都变成参与者。
stretched:v.拉长;撑大;有弹性(或弹力);拉紧;(stretch的过去式和过去分词)
We should stop watching, but we know we won't. 我们真的应该拒绝观看。 但我们知道自己做不到。
History tells us we won't, and the killers know it too. 历史说我们做不到, 刽子手们也对此一清二楚。
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）
Bruno Giussani: Thank you. Let me get this back. Thank you. 布鲁诺 吉桑尼(BG):谢谢。我来拿着这个吧。谢谢。
Let's move here. While they install for the next performance , 我们往前站一些。趁着工作人员准备下一场演讲,
install:v.安装;设置;安置;建立(程序); performance:n.性能;表现;业绩;表演;
I want to ask you the question that probably many here have, which is how did you get interested in this topic? 我想问一个可能在座很多人都会好奇的问题, 为什么你会对这个话题感兴趣呢？
Frances Larson: I used to work at a museum called the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, which was famous for its display of shrunken heads from South America . 弗朗西斯 拉森 (FL):我以前在一家博物馆工作, 牛津的皮特河博物馆, 那里来自南美的头颅标本非常有名。
display:n.显示;炫耀;vt.显示;表现;陈列;vi.[动]作炫耀行为;adj.展览的;陈列用的; shrunken:adj.缩小的,缩拢的;v.收缩,缩短(shrink的过去分词); South America:n.南美洲;
People used to say, "Oh, the shrunken head museum, the shrunken head museum!" 人们总说,“噢,头颅博物馆,头颅博物馆！”
And at the time, I was working on the history of scientific collections of skulls . 那时候我恰好在研究用于 科学方面的头骨收藏史。
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; skulls:n.头骨(skull的复数);v.击中…的头颅(skull的第三人称单数);
I was working on the cranial collections, and it just struck me as ironic that here were people coming to see this gory , primitive, savage culture that they were almost fantasizing about and creating 正当我研究这些颅骨藏品时, 我突然意识到一件讽刺的事, 人们到这儿来是想感受他们可能在脑中构想过的 血腥、残忍的原始文明,
cranial:adj.头盖的; ironic:adj.讽刺的;反话的; gory:adj.血淋淋的;残酷的; fantasizing:v.想象;幻想;做白日梦;(fantasize的现在分词)
without really understanding what they were seeing, and all the while these vast -- I mean hundreds of thousands of skulls in our museums, all across Europe and the States -- were kind of upholding this Enlightenment pursuit of scientific rationality . 却从未真正理解他们眼前的展品, 而一直以来我们博物馆里那些 遍及欧美大陆的数以万计的头骨藏品—— 从某种程度上说,成为了推进思想启蒙运动的科学基础。
upholding:v.支持,维护(正义等);维持,确认;(uphold的现在分词) Enlightenment:n.启迪;启蒙运动;教化; pursuit:n.追求;追赶;追捕;跟踪; rationality:n.合理性;合理的行动;
So I wanted to kind of twist it round and say, "Let's look at us." 所以我希望能够调转人们的目光,来“看看我们自己”。
twist:v.捻;扭转;曲折;扭动;n.捻;拧;扭动;搓;
We're looking through the glass case at these shrunken heads. 我们和这些头颅标本一样,都在透过玻璃罩子观察对方。
Let's look at our own history and our own cultural fascination with these things. 让我们开始省视自己的历史文化,以及对这些事物的想象吧。
cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的; fascination:n.魅力;魔力;入迷;
BG: Thank you for sharing that. BG:感谢你的演讲。
FL: Thank you. FL:谢谢！
(Applause) （掌声）