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JonMooallem_2014-_关于泰迪熊的奇怪故事，以及它所揭示的我们与动物之间的关系_
So it was the fall of 1902, and President Theodore Roosevelt needed a little break from the White House , so he took a train to Mississippi to do a little black bear hunting outside of a town called Smedes. 1902年的秋天 西奥多·罗斯福总统 需要一个暂别白宫的小假期 于是他坐火车去了密西西比 在一个镇外狩猎黑熊 这个镇叫斯密德思
White House:n.白宫(美国总统官邸,位于首都华盛顿);
The first day of the hunt, they didn't see a single bear, so it was a big bummer for everyone, but the second day, the dogs cornered one after a really long chase, but by that point, the president had given up and gone back to camp for lunch, so his hunting guide cracked the animal on the top of the head with the butt of his rifle , and then tied it up to a tree and started tooting away on his bugle to call Roosevelt back so he could have the honor of shooting it. 在打猎的第一天他们没有看到熊 大家都觉得很无奈 然而第二天 猎犬在很长的追逐后把一只熊逼进角落 总统已经放弃了追逐 并回到营帐吃午餐 于是他的狩猎指导敲昏了动物 用他步枪的尾部去敲击熊头顶 然后把它绑在一棵树上 随后吹着号角嘟嘟地走了 他想让罗斯福回来时 享受射击的乐趣
bummer:n.懒汉;游手好闲的人;吸食迷幻药的反效果; cracked:adj.疯狂;破裂的;有裂纹的;v.破裂;裂开;断裂;(crack的过去分词和过去式) butt:n.屁股;烟头;笑柄;靶垛;粗大的一端;v.以头抵撞;碰撞; rifle:n.步枪;来复枪;v.快速搜寻;匆忙翻找;偷窃;盗取; tooting:v.狂饮;吸入可卡因;吹奏出;使发出嘟嘟声(toot的ing形式); bugle:n.喇叭;军号;筋骨草属植物;vt.吹号集合;vi.吹号;吹喇叭;
The bear was a female . 这是一只母熊
female:adj.女性的;雌性的;柔弱的,柔和的;n.女人;[动]雌性动物;
It was dazed , injured , severely underweight , a little mangy-looking, and when Roosevelt saw this animal tied up to the tree, he just couldn't bring himself to fire at it. 它有些迷糊 也受了伤 体重严重不足 看起来脏脏的 当罗斯福看到这个动物 被绑在树上时 他实在不忍心朝它开枪
dazed:adj.(由于震惊或打击)神志不清的,茫然的 injured:adj.受伤的:委屈的: v.伤害,使受伤: n.伤员; severely:adv.严重地;严格地,严厉地;纯朴地; underweight:adj.重量不足的;n.重量不足;不符合要求的重量;
He felt like that would go against his code as a sportsman . 他觉得这样做会违反他的行为准则 和运动员精神
go against:不利于;违反;反对; sportsman:n.运动员;运动家;冒险家;
A few days later, the scene was memorialized in a political cartoon back in Washington. 几天后 这个情景被记录了下来 出现在华盛顿的一个政治卡通中
memorialized:vt.纪念;请愿;提出请愿书;
It was called Drawing a Line in Mississippi, and it showed Roosevelt with his gun down and his arm out, sparing the bear's life, and the bear was sitting on its hind legs with these two big, frightened , wide eyes and little ears pricked up at the top of its head. 它叫做《在密西西比划清底线》 画面展现了罗斯福放下了他的枪 给熊留了一条生路 这只熊坐在它的后腿上 两只大眼睛 睁得圆圆的 充满了恐惧 它的耳朵竖在头顶上
sparing:adj.节约的;贫乏的;保守的;n.抽出;宽恕;免去;给予(spare的现在分词); hind:adj.后部的;n.雌鹿; frightened:adj.害怕的;受惊的;惊吓的;v.使惊吓;使惊恐;(frighten的过去分词和过去式) pricked:v.扎;刺;戳;扎破,刺破(皮肤);(prick的过去分词和过去式)
It looked really helpless , like you just wanted to sweep it up into your arms and reassure it. 它看起来很无助 你恨不得 想把它拥入怀中 让它不要担心
helpless:adj.无助的;无能的;没用的; reassure:vt.使…安心,使消除疑虑;
It wouldn't have looked familiar at the time, but if you go looking for the cartoon now, you recognize the animal right away : 在那时它看起来不太眼熟 但如果你现在看这个卡通 你能马上认出这个动物:
familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友; recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到; right away:立刻;
It's a teddy bear . 它就是泰迪熊
teddy bear:泰迪熊
And this is how the teddy bear was born. 这就是泰迪熊诞生的故事
Essentially , toymakers took the bear from the cartoon, turned it into a plush toy, and then named it after President Roosevelt -- Teddy's bear. 简单说 玩具制造商将这个卡通中的熊 做成了毛绒玩具 并用罗斯福总统的名字 给它命了名:泰迪熊
Essentially:adv.本质上;本来; plush:adj.豪华的;长毛绒做的;舒服的;n.长毛绒;
And I do feel a little ridiculous that I'm up here on this stage and I'm choosing to use my time to tell you about a 100-year-old story about the invention of a squishy kid's toy, 我觉得自己有点傻 我站在这个舞台上 并决定用我的时间 来告诉你们一个一百年前的故事 关于一个软绵绵的儿童玩具的发明
ridiculous:adj.可笑的;荒谬的; squishy:adj.粘糊糊的;湿软的;
but I'd argue that the invention of the teddy bear, inside that story is a more important story, a story about how dramatically our ideas about nature can change, and also about how, on the planet right now, the stories that we tell are dramatically changing nature. 但我想说在泰迪熊的发明的故事里 有个更重要的故事 这个故事关系到我们对自然的想法 可以如此戏剧化的变化 这也关系到此时在这个星球上 我们所讲述的故事 正戏剧化地改变自然
dramatically:adv.戏剧地;引人注目地;adv.显著地,剧烈地;
Because think about the teddy bear. 您想想泰迪熊
For us, in retrospect , it feels like an obvious fit, because bears are so cute and cuddly , and who wouldn't want to give one to their kids to play with, but the truth is that in 1902, bears weren't cute and cuddly. 对于我们来说它像一个自然的产物 因为熊那么可爱 让人忍不住想抱 谁不想自己的孩子跟其玩耍呢？ 而在1902年 熊并不那么可爱 也不让人想拥抱
retrospect:n.回顾,追溯;vi.回顾,追溯;回想;vt.回顾;追忆; obvious:adj.明显的;显著的;平淡无奇的; cuddly:adj.令人想拥抱的;喜欢搂搂抱抱的;逗人喜爱的;
I mean, they looked the same, but no one thought of them that way. 我是说他们看起来一样 可是当时没人这么看待他们
In 1902, bears were monsters. 在1902年熊是野兽
Bears were something that frickin' terrified kids. 熊当时是让孩子们异常害怕的动物
For generations at that point, the bear had been a shorthand for all the danger that people were encountering on the frontier, and the federal government was actually systematically exterminating bears and lots of other predators too, like coyotes and wolves. 对几代人来说 熊一直象征着所有 人们在前线遇到的危险 联邦政府其实曾经 系统性地灭绝狗熊 以及其它捕食动物 比如说小狼和野狼
shorthand:n.速记;速记法;adj.速记法的; encountering:v.遭遇,遇到;偶然碰到;意外地遇见;(encounter的现在分词) federal:adj.联邦的;同盟的;联邦政府的;联邦制的;adv.联邦政府地; systematically:adv.有系统地;有组织地; exterminating:vt.消灭;根除; predators:n.捕食性动物;实行弱肉强食的人(或机构);掠夺者;(predator的复数) coyotes:n.土狼(coyote的复数);
These animals, they were being demonized . 这些动物当时被妖魔化
demonized:vt.妖魔化;使…成为魔鬼;
They were called murderers because they killed people's livestock . 它们被称为杀人犯 因为它们杀害人们的家禽
livestock:n.家畜;牲畜;
One government biologist , he explained this war on animals like the bear by saying that they no longer had a place in our advancing civilization , and so we were just clearing them out of the way. 一个政府生物学家解释说 针对动物的战争 比如说熊 是因为在我们日益发展的文明中 它们不再有一席之地 所以我们将它们清除掉
biologist:n.生物学家; civilization:n.文明;文明社会;文明世界;(特定时期和地区的)社会文明;
In one 10-year period, close to half a million wolves had been slaughtered . 在十年之间 将近50万只狼被屠杀
slaughtered:v.屠宰;宰杀;屠杀;杀戮;使惨败;(slaughter的过去分词和过去式)
The grizzly would soon be wiped out from 95 percent of its original territory , and whereas once there had been 30 million bison moving across the plains, and you would have these stories of trains having to stop for four or five hours so that these thick, 在95％的原本属于灰熊的领地上 在那些曾经一时有3千万野牛穿越的平原上 你会听说这样的事儿:
grizzly:adj.灰色的;n.灰熊; soon be wiped out:很快被消灭; original:n.原件;原作;原物;原型;adj.原始的;最初的;独创的;新颖的; territory:n.领土,领域;范围;地域;版图; whereas:conj.然而;鉴于;反之; bison:n.北美野牛;欧洲野牛;
living rivers of the animals could pour over the tracks , now, by 1902, there were maybe less than 100 left in the wild. 活生生的动物如潮水一般穿过轨道 到1902年 这里只剩下不到100只野牛存活于野外
pour:v.倒; n.流出; (已熔金属的)一次浇注量; tracks:n.小道;足迹;车辙;轨道;v.追踪;跟踪;(track的第三人称单数和复数)
And so what I'm saying is, the teddy bear was born into the middle of this great spasm of extermination , and you can see it as a sign that maybe some people deep down were starting to feel conflicted about all that killing. 所以我想说的是 泰迪熊诞生于 一个异常严峻的灭绝时代 你可以把它看成一个征兆 也许有些人从心底 开始对这些屠杀感到矛盾
spasm:n.[临床]痉挛;抽搐;一阵发作; extermination:n.消灭;根绝; conflicted:adj.因心理冲突而不知所措的;v.冲突,抵触;(conflict的过去分词和过去式)
America still hated the bear and feared it, but all of a sudden , America also wanted to give the bear a great big hug. 美国始终痛恨熊 也害怕它 但突然间 美国也想要 给熊一个大拥抱
all of a sudden:突然地,出乎意料地;
So this is something that I've been really curious about in the last few years. 这是我在过去几年来很好奇的事
curious:adj.好奇的,有求知欲的;古怪的;爱挑剔的;
How do we imagine animals, how do we think and feel about them, and how do their reputations get written and then rewritten in our minds? 我们如何想像动物 我们如何思考和感受它们 它们的名声如何形成 又是如何在我们的头脑里被改写
We're here living in the eye of a great storm of extinction where half the species on the planet could be gone by the end of the century, and so why is it that we come to care about some of those species and not others? 我们生活在一个灭绝风暴迫在眉睫的时代 这个星球上一半的生物种类 都可能在这个世纪末消失 那么为什么我们会关心 其中一部分种类 而不是其它的呢
extinction:n.绝种; species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
Well, there's a new field, a relatively new field of social science that started looking at these questions and trying to unpack the powerful and sometimes pretty schizophrenic relationships that we have to animals, and I spent a lot of time looking through their academic journals , and all I can really say is that their findings are astonishingly wide-ranging . 社会科学有一个新的领域 一个相对新的领域 研究这些问题 具有神奇力量 却也令人费解的 这种关系 我花了很多时间来阅读 他们的学术期刊 我能说的是他们的发现 广泛得让人吃惊
relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地; social science:n.社会科学;社会科学学科; unpack:vt.卸下…;解除…的负担;vi.打开包裹; schizophrenic:adj.精神分裂症的;n.精神分裂症的患者; academic:adj.学术的;理论的;学院的;n.大学生,大学教师;学者; journals:n.学术期刊(journal的复数);日记;日记账; findings:n.调查发现;判决;裁决;(finding的复数) astonishingly:adv.令人惊讶地; wide-ranging:adj.广泛的;
So some of my favorites include that the more television a person watches in Upstate New York, the more he or she is afraid of being attacked by a black bear. 我最喜欢的一些发现包括 一个人在纽约北部看越多的电视 他或她就越害怕 受到黑熊的攻击
Upstate:adj.北部的;偏僻的;n.州的北部;adv.在州的北部;在州内远离大城市地区;
If you show a tiger to an American, they're much more likely to assume that it's female and not male. 如果你给一个美国人看一只老虎 他们更可能假设它是母的 而不是公的
assume:v.承担;假定;采取;呈现;
In a study where a fake snake and a fake turtle were put on the side of the road, drivers hit the snake much more often than the turtle, and about three percent of drivers who hit the fake animals seemed to do it on purpose . 在一个研究中 一条假的蛇 和一只假的乌龟被放在路边 驾驶者撞击蛇的比例远大于乌龟 而在撞击假动物的驾驶者中有3% 是故意这么做的
fake:n.假货;骗子;假动作;v.捏造;假装…的样子;adj.伪造的; turtle:海龟,乌龟 on the side of:拥护…;站在…一边;赞助; on purpose:有目的地,故意地;
Women are more likely than men to get a magical feeling when they see dolphins in the surf . 相对于男人 女人更有可能 在冲浪时看到海豚而有美妙的感觉
surf:v.冲浪;进行冲浪运动;(互联网上)浏览;n.激浪;拍岸浪花;
Sixty-eight percent of mothers with high feelings of entitlement and self-esteem identified with the dancing cats in a commercial for Purina. (Laughter) 68％具有强烈的权利和自尊感的母亲们 在观看Purina广告时 [猫粮品牌] 能和跳舞的猫能产生同鸣（笑声）
entitlement:n.权利;津贴; self-esteem:n.自尊;自负;自大; identified:v.确认;认出;找到;发现;说明身份;(identify的过去式和过去分词) commercial:adj.贸易的;商业的;赢利的;以获利为目的的;n.(电台或电视播放的)广告;
Americans consider lobsters more important than pigeons but also much, much stupider. 美国人觉得龙虾 比鸽子更重要 但也更加愚蠢
lobsters:n.龙虾;(供食用的)龙虾肉;(lobster的复数) pigeons:n.鸽子(pigeon的复数);杂波;
Wild turkeys are seen as only slightly more dangerous than sea otters, and pandas are twice as lovable as ladybugs . 野生火鸡被认为比海獭更危险一点点 熊猫比瓢虫可爱两倍
slightly:adv.些微地,轻微地;纤细地; lovable:adj.可爱的,讨人喜欢的; ladybugs:n.瓢虫(等于ladybeetle);
So some of this is physical , right? 这其中有些是因为外表的关系对吗？
physical:adj.[物]物理的;身体的;物质的;符合自然法则的;n.体格检查;
We tend to sympathize more with animals that look like us, and especially that resemble human babies, so with big, forward-facing eyes and circular faces, kind of a roly-poly posture . 我们更同情看起来像我们的动物 尤其是那些像人类婴儿的 大而朝前的眼睛 圆形脸 类似不倒翁的姿势
sympathize:v.同情;赞同;支持; especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分; resemble:v.看起来像;显得像;像; forward-facing:前向的; circular:adj.圆形的; n.(同时送达很多人的)印刷信函(或通知、广告); roly-poly:n.卷布丁;矮胖的人;adj.矮胖的; posture:n.姿势;态度;看法;立场;处理方式;v.故作姿态;装样子
This is why, if you get a Christmas card from, like, your great aunt in Minnesota , there's usually a fuzzy penguin chick on it, and not something like a Glacier Bay wolf spider . 这就是为什么如果你收到 你在明尼苏达州的姑姑寄来的圣诞卡 上面更可能有一只带绒毛的小企鹅 而不是冰川湾狼蜘蛛 [笑声]
Christmas card:n.圣诞贺卡; Minnesota:n.明尼苏达州(美国中北部洲); fuzzy:adj.模糊的;失真的;有绒毛的; penguin:n.企鹅; Glacier:n.冰河,冰川; spider:n.蜘蛛;
But it's not all physical, right? 但这也不完全是因为外表 对吧？
There's a cultural dimension to how we think about animals, and we're telling stories about these animals, and like all stories, they are shaped by the times and the places in which we're telling them. 我们对动物的想法有文化的一面 我们讲述关于这些动物的故事 这些故事像所有故事一样 当我们讲故事的时候 用时间和地点给故事塑形
cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的; dimension:n.方面;[数]维;尺寸;次元;容积vt.标出尺寸;adj.规格的;
So think about that moment back in 1902 again where a ferocious bear became a teddy bear. 所以请想想那个时刻 回到1902年 一只凶猛的熊 成为一只泰迪熊
ferocious:adj.残忍的;惊人的;
What was the context ? Well, America was urbanizing . 当时是什么环境？美国正经历城市化
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉; urbanizing:vt.使都市化;使文雅;
For the first time, nearly a majority of people lived in cities, so there was a growing distance between us and nature. 历史上第一次 大部分人住到了城市 我们与自然的距离日益剧增
majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人:
There was a safe space where we could reconsider the bear and romanticize it. 我们有了一个安全的空间 可以重新想象熊 并将其浪漫化
romanticize:v.使浪漫化;使传奇化;使更加富有吸引力;
Nature could only start to seem this pure and adorable because we didn't have to be afraid of it anymore. 于是自然开始显得这么纯粹和可爱 因为我们不再害怕
adorable:adj.可爱的;可敬重的,值得崇拜的;
And you can see that cycle playing out again and again with all kinds of animals. 你可以看到这个循环不断上演 一遍又一遍出现在所有动物身上
again and again:adv.再三地,反复地;
It seems like we're always stuck between demonizing a species and wanting to wipe it out, and then when we get very close to doing that, empathizing with it as an underdog and wanting to show it compassion . 我们似乎总是这样 妖魔化然后灭绝一个物种 而当我们快要成功时 又开始怜惜弱者 展现出无限的同情心
demonizing:vt.妖魔化;使…成为魔鬼; empathizing:移情;神会; underdog:n.比赛中不被看好者;失败者;受压迫者;斗败了的狗; compassion:n.同情;怜悯;
So we exert our power, but then we're unsettled by how powerful we are. 我们人类乐于运用自己的力量 却又为这能量之大 而惶惶不安起来
exert:v.施加;努力;运用;行使; unsettled:adj.未决定的;怀疑的;未处理的;不整齐的;
So for example, this is one of probably thousands of letters and drawings that kids sent to the Bush administration, begging it to protect the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act, and these were sent back in the mid-2000s, when awareness of climate change was suddenly surging . 举个例子 这是 几千封信件和图画之一 请求政府遵循《濒危动物保护法案》 保护北极熊 这些信是在2000至2010年寄出的 当时我们对气候变化的关注剧增
Bush:n.灌木; v.以灌木装饰; adj.如灌木般长得低矮的; polar bear:n.北极熊;白熊; Endangered:v.使遭危险;危及;危害;(endanger的过去分词和过去式) awareness:n.意识,认识;明白,知道; surging:v.汹涌;使强烈地感到;急剧上升;激增;(surge的现在分词)
We kept seeing that image of a polar bear stranded on a little ice floe looking really morose . 我们一直看到这样一个画面 一只北极熊被困在一小块冰上 看起来非常惆怅
stranded:adj.搁浅的; v.搁浅; (strand的过去式和过去分词); ice floe:n.浮冰; morose:adj.郁闷的;孤僻的;
I spent days looking through these files. 我花了很多天看这些文件
I really love them. This one's my favorite. 我非常喜欢它们 这张是我的最爱
If you can see, it's a polar bear that's drowning and then it's also being eaten simultaneously by a lobster and a shark. 您可以看到这是只被淹没的北极熊 与此同时它正被 一只龙虾和鲨鱼吃掉
drowning:v.溺水;淹没;淹死,溺死;浸泡;(drown的现在分词) simultaneously:adv.同时地;
This one came from a kid named Fritz , and he's actually got a solution to climate change. 这个来自于叫一个叫弗利兹的孩子 他实际上已经找到对付气候变化方法
Fritz:n.德国人;德国佬; solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答;
He's got it all worked out to an ethanol-based solution. 在乙醇的基础上他研究出了方案
He says, I feel bad about the polar bears. 他说 我为北极熊感到难过
I like polar bears. 我喜欢北极熊
Everyone can use corn juice for cars. From Fritz. 大家可以用玉米汁来开车 -弗利兹
So 200 years ago, you would have Arctic explorers writing about polar bears leaping into their boats and trying to devour them, even if they lit the bear on fire, but these kids don't see the polar bear that way, and actually they don't even see the polar bear the way that I did back in the '80s. 200年前 极地探险家 会记载说北极熊跳到他们的船上 尝试活吞他们 即使他们在熊身上点火 然而这些孩子们不这么看北极熊 实际上他们看待北极熊的角度 也不同于我在80年代的看法
Arctic:adj.北极的;北极地区的;极冷的;严寒的;n.北极;北极地区; explorers:n.探险者;勘探者;考察者;(explorer的复数) leaping:adj.跳跃的,跳跃而行的;n.跳跃;v.跳跃(leap的ing形式); devour:v.狼吞虎咽地吃光;津津有味地看;吞没;毁灭;
I mean, we thought of these animals as mysterious and terrifying lords of the Arctic. 我们认为这些动物 是北极神秘而恐怖的主人
mysterious:adj.神秘的;不可思议的;难解的; terrifying:adj.令人恐惧的;骇人的;极大的;v.使害怕,使恐怖;(terrify的现在分词) lords:n.(英国)贵族,大人,大臣;v.使成贵族;作威作福;(lord的第三人称单数和复数)
But look now how quickly that climate change has flipped the image of the animal in our minds. 然而你看现在气候快速地变化 这已经颠倒了我们对动物的看法
flipped:v.(使)快速翻转;按(开关);轻掷;(flip的过去分词和过去式)
It's gone from that bloodthirsty man-killer to this delicate , drowning victim , and when you think about it, that's kind of the conclusion to the story that the teddy bear started telling back in 1902, because back then, America had more or less conquered its share of the continent . 它们从嗜血的杀人犯 变成了纤弱垂死的受害者 如果你仔细想想 这也算泰迪熊的故事的 一个结论 因为在那时 美国或多或少 征服了属于它的领地
bloodthirsty:adj.嗜杀的;残忍的; delicate:adj.精致的,微妙的,脆弱的,熟练的,柔和的; victim:n.受害人;牺牲品;牺牲者; conclusion:n.结论;结局;推论; more or less:或多或少; conquered:v.攻克;征服;击败,战胜;控制;(conquer的过去分词和过去式) continent:n.大陆,洲,陆地;adj.自制的,克制的;
We were just getting around to polishing off these last wild predators. 我们当时正接近 消灭这些最后的野外捕食者
polishing:v.擦光;修改;润饰;润色;(polish的现在分词)
Now, society's reach has expanded all the way to the top of the world, and it's made even these, the most remote , the most powerful bears on the planet, seem like adorable and blameless victims. 现在 社会的影响已经扩大 一路通往世界的最顶端 这使那些甚至最遥远 世界上最凶猛的熊 看起来也像可爱的和无辜的受害者
expanded:adj.扩充的;展开的;vt.扩大(expand的过去式); remote:adj.偏远的;偏僻的;遥远的;久远的; blameless:adj.清白的;无可责备的;无过失的;
But you know, there's also a postscript to the teddy bear story that not a lot of people talk about. 其实 泰迪熊故事还有一个 不为人知的后记
postscript:n.附言;又及;
We're going to talk about it, because even though it didn't really take long after Roosevelt's hunt in 1902 for the toy to become a full-blown craze , most people figured it was a fad , it was a sort of silly political novelty item 我想讲给大家听 因为即使没有过多久 在1902年罗斯福打猎之后 这个玩具成为完全的热潮 大多数人认为它只是一时流行 它只是一种无聊的政治新奇物品
full-blown:adj.成熟的;(花)盛开的;(帆等)张满的; craze:n.狂热;vi.发狂;产生纹裂;vt.使发狂;使产生纹裂; fad:n.时尚;一时的爱好;一时流行的狂热; novelty:n.新奇;新奇的事物;新颖小巧而廉价的物品; item:n.条款,项目;一则;一件商品(或物品);adj.又,同上;
and it would go away once the president left office, and so by 1909, when Roosevelt's successor , 在总统退职后就会消失 所以在1909年 当罗斯福的后任
successor:n.继承者;后续的事物;
William Howard Taft, was getting ready to be inaugurated , the toy industry was on the hunt for the next big thing. 威廉·霍华德·塔夫脱 准备任职 玩具界开始寻找 下一个流行产品
inaugurated:v.开始;开幕(inaugurate的过去分词);使正式就任;
They didn't do too well. 他们没有成功
That January, Taft was the guest of honor at a banquet in Atlanta , and for days in advance , the big news was the menu. 在那年一月份 塔夫脱作为嘉宾 参加在亚特兰大的一个舞会 在这之前的几天来 最大的新闻就是菜单
banquet:n.宴会,盛宴;宴请,款待;vt.宴请,设宴款待;vi.参加宴会; Atlanta:n.亚特兰大(美国城市); in advance:adv.预先,提前;
They were going to be serving him a Southern specialty , a delicacy , really, called possum and taters . 他们打算为他准备 一道特别而美味的南方菜肴 叫做红薯烤负鼠
specialty:n.专业,专长;特产;特性;招牌菜;adj.特色的;专门的;独立的; delicacy:n.美味;佳肴;微妙;精密;精美;敏锐,敏感;世故,圆滑; possum:n.负鼠; taters:n.马铃薯(等于potato);
So you would have a whole opossum roasted on a bed of sweet potatoes, and then sometimes they'd leave the big tail on it like a big, meaty noodle. 一整只负鼠 放在一堆红薯上烤 有时候他们会把大尾巴留在上面
opossum:n.负鼠;装死; roasted:v.烘烤,焙,炒;严厉批评(roast的过去分词和过去式) meaty:adj.肉的;多肉的;似肉的;
The one brought to Taft's table weighed 18 pounds. 放在塔夫特桌上的那只 重达18磅
So after dinner, the orchestra started to play, and the guests burst into song, and all of a sudden, Taft was surprised with the presentation of a gift from a group of local supporters , and this was a stuffed opossum toy, all beady-eyed and bald-eared, and it was a new product they were putting forward to be the William Taft presidency's answer to Teddy Roosevelt's teddy bear. 在晚宴结束后 乐团开始演奏 客人们开始唱歌 突然间塔夫特惊讶地 收到一份礼物 来自于一群当地的支持者 那是一个填充的负鼠玩具 珠状眼睛和光秃秃的耳朵 这是他们推荐的新产品 作为威廉·塔夫特担任总统的答案 呼应泰迪·罗斯福的泰迪熊
orchestra:n.管弦乐队;乐队演奏处; burst into:闯入;情绪的突然发作; presentation:n.展示;描述,陈述;介绍;赠送; supporters:n.拥护者;(运动队的)支持者;(supporter的复数) stuffed:adj.饱;装满的;v.填满;装满;给…装馅;(stuff的过去分词和过去式) beady-eyed:adj.目光锐利的;眼睛如珠的;
They were calling it the billy possum. 他们称它为比利负鼠
Within 24 hours, the Georgia Billy Possum Company was up and running, brokering deals for these things nationwide, and the Los Angeles Times announced, very confidently , The teddy bear has been relegated to a seat in the rear , and for four years, possibly eight, the children of the United States will play with billy possum. 24小时之内 乔治比利负鼠公司 成立并开始运营 在全国进行中介交易 当时洛杉矶时报 非常自信地宣称 泰迪熊 已经退到后幕 在将来的四年 甚至八年 美国的儿童 将和比利负鼠一起玩耍”
brokering:v.安排,协商;(broker的现在分词) confidently:adv.自信地;安心地; relegated:v.使贬职;使降级;降低…的地位;(relegate的过去分词和过去式) rear:adj.后方的;后面的;n.后部;屁股;臀部;v.抚养;培养;饲养;用后腿直立; United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
So from that point, there was a fit of opossum fever. 从那时起 负鼠的流行具备了条件
There were billy possum postcards , billy possum pins , billy possum pitchers for your cream at coffee time. 有比利负鼠名信片、比利负鼠顶针、 比利负鼠奶油罐 喝咖啡的时候用
postcards:n.明信片;(postcard的复数) pins:n.插脚,针;精确的综合导航系统; pitchers:n.水罐(pitcher的复数);瓷渣;
There were smaller billy possums on a stick that kids could wave around like flags. 还有更小的比利负鼠 攀在一根棍子上 小孩子们可以把它当旗子一样挥动
possums:n.负鼠;(possum的复数)
But even with all this marketing, the life of the billy possum turned out to be just pathetically brief. 即使借助这些市场营销手段 比利负鼠的生命 结果还是短暂得可怜
pathetically:adv.可怜地;感伤地;悲哀地;情绪上地;
The toy was an absolute flop , and it was almost completely forgotten by the end of the year, and what that means is that the billy possum didn't even make it to Christmastime , which when you think about it is a special sort of tragedy for a toy. 这个玩具彻底地失败了 到那年的年底 它几乎完全地被遗忘了 这意味着比利负鼠 甚至没有持久到圣诞节 你可以想像 这对一个玩具来说是个悲催的灾难
flop:v.沉重地躺下;移动;砸锅;完全失败;n.失败,不成功;adv.噗地一声 Christmastime:n.圣诞节期(等于Christmastide) tragedy:n.悲惨的事;不幸;灾难;悲剧作品;
So we can explain that failure two ways. 对于这个失败 我们有两种解释
The first, well, it's pretty obvious. 第一 很明显
I'm going to go ahead and say it out loud anyway: 我就明说吧:
Opossums are hideous . (Laughter) 负鼠太狰狞了
Opossums:n.负鼠;装死; hideous:adj.可怕的;丑恶的;
But maybe more importantly is that the story of the billy possum was all wrong, especially compared to the backstory of the teddy bear. 但也许更重要的是 比利负鼠的故事完全错了 尤其是比起 泰迪熊的背景故事
compared:adj.比较的,对照的; v.相比; (compare的过去式和过去分词) backstory:背景故事;
Think about it: for most of human's evolutionary history, what's made bears impressive to us has been their complete independence from us. 大多数人类进化历史 让我们觉得熊很厉害的是 他们完全独立于我们
evolutionary:adj.进化的;发展的;渐进的; impressive:adj.感人的;令人钦佩的;给人以深刻印象的; independence:n.独立;独立性;自恃心;独立不羁的精神;
It's that they live these parallel lives as menaces and competitors. 他们过着与我们平行的生活 如同威胁和竞争者
parallel:adj.平行的; v.与…相似; n.极其相似的人(或情况、事件等); menaces:n.威胁;恐吓;vi.恐吓;进行威胁;vt.威胁;恐吓;
By the time Roosevelt went hunting in Mississippi, that stature was being crushed , and the animal that he had roped to a tree really was a symbol for all bears. 当罗斯福在密西西比打猎时 这个印象完全被破灭了 那个被他绑在树上的动物 成为了所有熊的象征
stature:n.身高,身材;(精神,道德等的)高度; crushed:v.压坏;压伤;挤压变形;(crush的过去分词和过去式) symbol:n.象征;符号;标志;
Whether those animals lived or died now was entirely up to the compassion or the indifference of people. 这些动物现在是死是活 完全取决于人们是给予同情心 还是漠然无视
indifference:n.漠不关心;冷淡;不重视;中立;
That said something really ominous about the future of bears, but it also said something very unsettling about who we'd become, if the survival of even an animal like that was up to us now. 这预示了一种不详的 熊的未来 它也预示了发展中的人类 现在完全取决于我们
ominous:adj.预兆的;不吉利的; unsettling:adj.使人不安的;(消息)扰乱的;v.动乱不定;心绪不宁(unsettle的现在分词) survival:n.幸存,残存;幸存者,残存物;
So now, a century later, if you're at all paying attention to what's happening in the environment, you feel that discomfort so much more intensely . 那现在 一个世纪以后 如果你还关注环境的发展 你会感觉到更强烈的不适
discomfort:n.不适,不安;不便之处;vt.使…不舒服;使…不安; intensely:adv.强烈地;紧张地;热情地;
We're living now in an age of what scientists have started to call conservation reliance , and what that term means is that we've disrupted so much that nature can't possibly stand on its own anymore, and most endangered species are only going to survive if we stay out there in the landscape riggging the world around them in their favor. 我们住在一个这样的时代 科学家称之为“保护依赖” 这意味着我们已经过度的破坏了自然 大多数濒临灭绝的种类 唯一能生存的条件是 人类必须置身野外 监控着环境 并把环境改造得利于动物的生存
conservation:n.保存,保持;保护; reliance:n.信赖;信心;受信赖的人或物; disrupted:破坏;使瓦解;使分裂;使中断;使陷于混乱(disrupt的过去分词形式); landscape:n.景观;乡村风景画;(文件的)横向打印格式;v.对…做景观美化;美化…的环境;
So we've gone hands-on and we can't ever take our hands off, and that's a hell of a lot of work. 我们必须亲自参与 我们永远不能放手不管 这个工作量太大了
hands-on:adj.亲身实践的,亲自动手的;
Right now, we're training condors not to perch on power lines. 现在我们正在训练秃鹰 不在电线上歇脚
condors:n.秃鹫,秃鹰; perch:n.鲈鱼;高处;(鸟的)栖息处;高座;v.栖息;停留;置于(顶上或边上);
We teach whooping cranes to migrate south for the winter behind little ultra-light airplanes . 我们开着小型的超光波飞机 领着鹤在冬季移居南方
cranes:n.起重机; v.伸长(脖子)以便看得更清楚; (crane的复数) migrate:vi.移动;随季节而移居;移往;vt.使移居;使移植; airplanes:n.(美)[航]飞机(airplane的复数);
We're out there feeding plague vaccine to ferrets . 我们给鼬注射瘟疫疫苗
plague:n.瘟疫;灾祸;麻烦;讨厌的人;vt.折磨;使苦恼;使得灾祸; vaccine:n.疫苗;牛痘苗;adj.疫苗的;牛痘的; ferrets:n.雪貂;v.搜索,四处搜寻,翻找(ferret的第三人称单数和复数)
We monitor pygmy rabbits with drones . 我们用无人机器监视侏儒兔
pygmy:n.[内科]侏儒; adj.矮小的; drones:v.嗡嗡叫;嗡嗡响;(drone的第三人称单数)
So we've gone from annihilating species to micromanaging the survival of a lot of species indefinitely , and which ones? 我们从试图灭绝一些物种 到无限期地 微观地管理许多种类的生存
annihilating:v.消灭;歼灭;毁灭;彻底击败;(annihilate的现在分词) micromanaging:微观管理;微观处理;管头管脚地监控(micromanage的现在分词); indefinitely:adv.不确定地,无限期地;模糊地,不明确地;
Well, the ones that we've told compelling stories about, the ones we've decided ought to stick around . 那些我们已经说过的 在精彩的故事里出现的 那些我们决定应该继续存活的
compelling:adj.引人入胜的; v.强迫; (compel的现在分词) to stick around:别走开;
The line between conservation and domestication is blurred . 保护和驯化之间的界限 变得模糊
domestication:n.驯养;教化; blurred:adj.模糊不清的; v.玷污; (blur的过去式和过去分词)
So what I've been saying is that the stories that we tell about wild animals are so subjective they can be irrational or romanticized or sensationalized . 所以我一直在讲的是 这些故事 这些关于野外动物的故事是很主观的 它们可能是非理性的、 浪漫化的、或情绪化的
subjective:adj.主观的;个人的;自觉的; irrational:adj.不合理的;无理性的;荒谬的;n.[数]无理数; romanticized:vi.浪漫化;传奇化;vt.使浪漫化;使传奇化; sensationalized:vt.以耸人听闻的手法处理;使引起轰动;
Sometimes they just have nothing to do with the facts. 有时它们跟事实毫无相关
have nothing to do with:与…无关;
But in a world of conservation reliance, those stories have very real consequences , because now, how we feel about an animal affects its survival more than anything that you read about in ecology textbooks. 在一个“保护依赖”的世界 这些故事会有很真实的后果 因为现在 我们对一种动物的看法 对它生存的影响 大于你在生态课本中 读到的任何信息
consequences:n.后果,结果;影响(consequence的复数);
Storytelling matters now. 如今讲故事很关键
Storytelling:n.讲故事;说谎话;adj.讲故事的;说谎的;
Emotion matters. 情绪很重要
Emotion:n.强烈的感情;激情;情感;
Our imagination has become an ecological force. 我们的想象已经成为一股生态力量
imagination:n.想象;想象力;创造力;想象的事物; ecological:adj.生态的,生态学的;
And so maybe the teddy bear worked in part because the legend of Roosevelt and that bear in Mississippi was kind of like an allegory of this great responsibility that society was just beginning to face up to back then. 也许泰迪熊营销的成功 一部分归功于 这个罗斯福的传说 和那只密西西比的熊 就好像一个寓言 讲述了人类意识到 自己对于社会的巨大责任的过程
legend:n.传奇;说明;图例;刻印文字; allegory:n.寓言; face up to:勇敢地面对;
It would be another 71 years before the Endangered Species Act was passed, but really, here's its whole ethos boiled down into something like a scene you'd see in a stained glass window. 那时还要71年 《濒危动物保护法案通过》才会通过 但事实上 这是整个社会思潮 浓缩成的一个景象 就像一副琉璃画
ethos:n.民族精神;气质;社会思潮; stained glass:na.有色[彩色]玻璃;
The bear is a helpless victim tied to a tree, and the president of the United States decided to show it some mercy . 熊是个被绑在树上的无辜的受害者 而美国总统 决定怜惜它
mercy:n.仁慈,宽容;怜悯;幸运;善行;
Thank you. 谢谢
(Applause) （掌声）
[Illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton] [插画:温迪 马克诺顿]