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JohnKoenig_2016X-_为什么女性应该讲全人类的故事_
Today I want to talk about the meaning of words, how we define them and how they, almost as revenge , define us. 今天我想说一说词语的意义, 说一说我们如何定义它们 以及它们如何反过来 定义了我们。
define:v.定义;使明确;规定; revenge:n.报复;复仇;v.报复;替…报仇;洗雪;
The English language is a magnificent sponge . 英语这门语言是座大熔炉。
magnificent:adj.高尚的;壮丽的;华丽的;宏伟的; sponge:v.抹掉;用海绵擦拭;讨得;n.海绵;海绵状物;
I love the English language.I'm glad that I speak it. 我喜爱英语,我也乐意说英语。
But for all that , it has a lot of holes. 但尽管如此,英语有许多缺陷。
for all that:尽管;虽然如此;
In Greek, there's a word, "lachesism" 在希腊,有一个单词叫「lanchesism」,
which is the hunger for disaster . 意思是对灾难的渴望。
disaster:n.灾难,灾祸;不幸;
You know, when you see a thunderstorm on the horizon and you just find yourself rooting for the storm. 当你在远处地平线看到狂风暴雨, 你却发现你在为狂风暴雨喝彩。
thunderstorm:n.[气象]雷暴;雷暴雨;大雷雨; horizon:n.地平线;(欲望、知识或兴趣的)范围;
I'm not pronouncing that correctly — which means the longing to feel intensely again the way you did when you were a kid. 我的发音不是很标准—— 意思是渴望再一次强烈感受到 儿少时最初的感动。
intensely:adv.强烈地;紧张地;热情地;
In Polish , they have a word "jouska" 在波兰语中,他们有一个单词叫「jouska」,
Polish:n.磨光,擦亮;擦亮剂;优雅,精良;v.磨光,使发亮;使完美;改进;adj.波兰的;
which is the kind of hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head. 意思是在你脑海中被迫出现的 假设性对话。
hypothetical:adj.假设的;爱猜想的; compulsively:adv.强制地,强迫地;
And finally , in German, of course in German,they have a word called "zielschmerz" 最后,当然,在德语中, 有一个词叫做「zielschmerz」,
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地;
which is the dread of getting what you want. 意思是对你 很想得到的东西感到敬畏。
dread:n.恐惧;可怕的人(或物);vi.惧怕;担心;vt.惧怕;担心;adj.可怕的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Finally fulfilling a lifelong dream. 虽然你最后实现了梦想……
fulfilling:adj.让人感觉有意义的; v.实现; (fulfill的现在分词)
I'm German myself, so I know exactly what that feels like. 我自己是德国人, 所以我知道那是什么样的感觉。
Now, I'm not sure if I would use any of these words as I go about my day, but I'm really glad they exist. 我并不清楚我是否在日常生活中 会使用这些单词, 但是我对这些单词的存在而感到高兴。
But the only reason they exist is because I made them up. 但其实它们存在的原因是 这些字都是我编造出来的。
I am the author of "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows," 我是「The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows」网站创始人,
Obscure:n.朦胧; adj.无名的; v.使模糊;
which I've been writing for the last seven years. 在过去七年中我一直在编写这个字典。
And the whole mission of the project is to find holes in the language of emotionand try to fill them so that we have a way of talking about all those human peccadilloes and quirks of the human condition that we all feel but may not think to talk about because we don't have the words to do it. 这个计划的总体的目标是发现情感语言的漏洞, 并且尝试着将漏洞补上, 如此我们就有了一种可以讨论 人类种种过失与怪癖状态的方法, 而那种状态我们经常都能感受到, 但却不知道该如何形容它, 因为我们并没有相对应的词语去描绘当下的状态。
mission:n.使命,任务;代表团;布道;v.派遣;向…传教; peccadilloes:n.轻罪;小过失;小瑕疵; quirks:怪癖;急转;借口(quirk的复数);
And about halfway through this project, 在这个计划的中途,
I defined "sonder," 我定义了一个词「sonder」,
defined:adj.有定义的,确定的; v.使明确;
the idea that we all think of ourselves as the main character and everyone else is just extras . 意思是我们都认为我们自己是主角, 其他人只是临时演员。
extras:n.额外的事物;另外收费的事物;群众演员;(extra的复数)
But in reality,we're all the main character, and you yourself are an extra in someone else's story. 但是现实是,你认为自己是主角, 可是你在别人的故事里却只是配角罢了。
And so as soon as I published that, 然后我一发布这个词语的定义,
as soon as:一…就;
I got a lot of response from people saying, "Thank you for giving voice to something I had felt all my life but there was no word for that." 我就收到了来自人们许多的回覆, 说到「谢谢您给了我一生都感觉到, 却无法用单词去 表达的感觉下了定义。」
response:n.响应;反应;回答;
So it made them feel less alone. 所以这使得他们不再那么孤单。
That's the power of words, to make us feel less alone. 这就是词语的魅力, 使得我们也不那么孤单。
And it was not long after that that I started to notice sonder being used earnestly in conversations online, and not long after I actually noticed it, 不久之后, 我开始注意到「sonder」这个词 被热烈地用在网络交流当中, 就在我注意到这个之后没过多久,
earnestly:adv.认真地;诚挚地;
I caught it next to me in an actual conversation in person. 我就发现这个词用在 我身边人与人之间的对话当中了。
There is no stranger feeling than making up a word and then seeing it take on a mind of its own. 没有什么感觉比整理出一个词彙 并且看着它被人们接受 来的更加奇怪了。
I don't have a word for that yet, but I will. 我还没有一个词语 对这种感觉进行解释,但是早晚我会的。
(Laughter) （笑声）
I'm working on it. 我已经开始做这件事了。
I started to think about what makes words real, because a lot of people ask me, the most common thing I got from people is, "Well, are these words made up? 我开始思考是什么原因 让这些词语成真, 因为有许多人问我, 人们经常提出的问题是: 「那么,这些词语是编造的吗？
I don't really understand." 我真的不理解啊。」
And I didn't really know what to tell them because once sonder started to take off, who am I to say what words are real and what aren't. 我真的不知道怎么回答他们, 因为当「sonder」这个词开始流行时, 我算老几,能跟别人说 哪些词语是真的、哪些不是真的？
And so I sort of felt like Steve Jobs, who described his epiphany as when he realized that most of us, as we go through the day, we just try to avoid bouncing against the walls too much and just sort of get on with things. 而我觉得我有点像史蒂夫·乔布斯 在形容他自己顿悟时所描写道的, 他意识到,大部分人在生活中 都在试图避免碰壁麻烦的事, 并且希望万事都很顺利。
described:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的过去分词和过去式) epiphany:对事物真谛的顿悟; get on with:v.在…获得成功,于…友好相处;继续干;
But once you realize that people — that this world was built by people no smarter than you, then you can reach out and touch those walls and even put your hand through them and realize that you have the power to change it. 但,一旦你了解那些人—— 了解这个世界是由那些 不比你聪明的人所建构成时, 那么你就可以跨过那道墙壁, 甚至伸出手幫他们一把, 并且意识到自己就是那个 有能力改变这些麻烦的人。
And when people ask me, "Are these words real?" 当人们问我, 「这些词语是真的吗？」
I had a variety of answers that I tried out. 我曾经有过许多的答案 去试着回答这个问题。
variety:n.多样;种类;杂耍;变化,多样化;
Some of them made sense. 有一些答案说得通。
Some of them didn't. 有一些答案说不通。
But one of them I tried out was, "Well, a word is real if you want it to be real." 但是有一个答案是, 「如果你认为它是真的, 那它就会变真的。」
The way that this path is real because people wanted it to be there. 这个道理（路）之所以会存在 就是因为人们想要它存在。
(Laughter) （笑声）
It happens on college campuses all the time. 这一幕在大学校园里经常发生。
campuses:(大学)校园;大学;校园内的草地(campuse的复数);
It's called a "desire path." 这叫做「渴望的小道」。
(Laughter) （笑声）
But then I decided, what people are really asking when they're asking if a word is real, they're really asking, "Well, how many brains will this give me access to?" 但是之后我发现 当他们问这个词语是否真实存在时, 他们其实在问的是, 「那么,通过这个词语 我能敞开多少人的心扉呢？ 」
Because I think that's a lot of how we look at language. 因为我觉得这就是我们 看待语言作用的方式。
A word is essentially a key that gets us into certain people's heads. 词语是一把可以开启人们大脑、 明白他人在想什么的关键钥匙。
essentially:adv.本质上;本来;
And if it gets us into one brain, it's not really worth it, not really worth knowing. 如果这把钥匙只有一个人了解, 那它就没啥价值, 也不值得去了解。
Two brains, eh, it depends on who it is. 如果两个人了解的话,就要取决于是谁了。
A million brains, OK, now we're talking. 如果是一百万个人能了解的话,
And so a real word is one that gets you access to as many brains as you can. 是的,我们的对话才有意义。 因此一个真实存在的词语能幫助你了解更多人。
That's what makes it worth knowing. 这就是了解词语魅力的所在。
Incidentally , the realest word of all by this measure is this. 顺带一提,用这种判断方式 得出的最真实词语是这个:
Incidentally:adv.顺便;偶然地;附带地;
[O.K.] 【O.K.】
That's it. 就是这个。
The realest word we have. 这就是我们最真实的词语。
That is the closest thing we have to a master key . 这就是我们最熟悉、熟练的词语。
master key:n.万能钥匙;
That's the most commonly understood word in the world, no matter where you are. 这就是世界上最简单易懂的单词, 无论你来自哪里。
The problem with that is, no one seems to know what those two letters stand for. 问题是, 似乎没有人知道这两个单词字母代表什么意思。
(Laughter) （笑声）
Which is kind of weird , right? 这有一点不可思议,不是吗？
weird:adj.奇怪的;奇异的;离奇的;n.命运;宿命;命运女神;
I mean, it could be a misspelling of "all correct," I guess, or "old kinderhook." 我猜它可能是 「all correct」的错误拼写, 或者是「old kinderhook」的错误拼写。
misspelling:n.[语]拼错;v.[语]拼错(misspell的过去式和过去分词);
No one really seems to know, but the fact that it doesn't matter says something about how we add meaning to words. 似乎没有人真的知道答案, 但这个无关紧要的事实 说明了我们是如何给 词语赋予含义的。
The meaning is not in the words themselves. 词语的含义不在于词语本身。
We're the ones that pour ourselves into it. 而是在于那个赋予词语意义的人。
pour:v.倒; n.流出; (已熔金属的)一次浇注量;
And I think, when we're all searching for meaning in our lives, and searching for the meaning of life, 并且我觉得, 当我们都在寻找我们生命中的意义、 寻找生活的意义时,
I think words have something to do with that. 我觉得词语和我们寻找的东西 有着千丝万缕的关系。
have something to do with:有点关系;与...有关系;
And I think if you're looking for the meaning of something, the dictionary is a decent place to start. 而且我觉得如果 你在寻找某些东西的含义时, 字典是一个开始寻找的好地方。
decent:adj.正派的;得体的;相当好的;
It brings a sense of order to a very chaotic universe. 字典为你打开了一扇 通向混沌宇宙的门。
chaotic:adj.混沌的;混乱的,无秩序的;
Our view of things is so limited that we have to come up with patterns and shorthands and try to figure out a way to interpret it and be able to get on with our day. 我们对事物的了解真的很有限, 以至于我们不得不想出 用一些形态或者是速记的方式 去尝试寻找该词语的解释, 如此才可以让 我们的每一天继续下去。
limited:adj.有限的; n.高级快车; v.限制; (limit的过去分词和过去式) come up with:提出;想出;赶上; interpret:v.诠释;说明;口译;把…理解为;
We need words to contain us, to define ourselves. 我们需要词语来蕴含我们自己, 来定义我们自己。
I think a lot of us feel boxed in by how we use these words. 我认为我们当中的许多人都感觉 被我们所用的词语给束缚住了。
We forget that words are made up. 我们忘记了这些词语是被编造出来的。
It's not just my words. 不光光是我用的词语。
All words are made up, but not all of them mean something. 所有的词语都是编造出来的, 但不是所有的词语都含有意义的。
We're all just sort of trapped in our own lexicons that don't necessarily correlate with people who aren't already like us, and so I think I feel us drifting apart a little more every year, the more seriously we take words. 我们只是都有点 被困在自己的词典里, 而我们的词典与不同道人的词典 没有必然的关系, 因此让我感觉到 我们每一年越来越疏远, 我们对待词语也越来越严肃认真。
trapped:adj.受困的;受限制的;v.使落入险境;使陷入困境;(trap的过去分词和过去式) necessarily:adv.必要地;必定地,必然地; correlate:vi.关联;vt.使有相互关系;互相有关系;n.相关物;相关联的人;adj.关联的; drifting:v.漂流;漂移;缓慢行走;顺其自然地做;(drift的现在分词)
Because remember, words are not real. 但要记得,词语不是真实的。
They don't have meaning. We do. 它们没有任何的意义。是我们赋予它意义。
And I'd like to leave you with a reading from one of my favorite philosophers , 最后我想与各位分享一段 我最喜欢的其中一位哲学家
philosophers:n.哲学家(philosopher的复数);
Bill Watterson, who created "Calvin and Hobbes." 他的一句名言,《凯文的幻虎世界》的作者, 比尔·沃特森,
He said, "Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. 他说, 「创造一个能反映你价值 并且能使你灵魂满足的生活 是一件了不起的成就。
reflects:v.反映;映出(影像);反射;表明,表达;(reflect的第三人称单数)
To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it is still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble." 去创造你自己生活的意义 不是一件简单的事, 但它仍值得你一试, 并且我觉得,你会很开心 自找过这种麻烦。」
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）