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LemnSissay_2012X-_国家的孤儿_
Having spent 18 years as a child of the state in children's homes and foster care, you could say that I'm an expert on the subject, and in being an expert, I want to let you know that being an expert does in no way make you right in light of the truth. 我是一个孤儿,由国家抚育成人 在18岁之前都生活在“儿童之家”或者“寄养家庭”, 所以对于今天的话题,你可能会称我为专家, 不过作为专业人士,我希望你能理解 即使是专家也不一定能告知你
foster:vt.培养;养育,抚育;抱(希望等);adj.收养的,养育的; in no way:决不; in light of:根据;鉴于;从…观点;
If you're in care, legally the government is your parent, loco parentis . 如果你是被收养的孩子,法律上来说 政府就是你的父母。
loco:n.火车头;疯子;疯草病;adj.发疯的,发狂的;v.使发疯;用疯草毒害; parentis:n.代人尽父母责任;
Margaret Thatcher was my mother. (Laughter) 撒切尔夫人就是我的母亲。（笑声）
Thatcher:n.盖屋匠;
Let's not talk about breastfeeding . (Laughter)
breastfeeding:n.母乳哺育;v.用母乳喂养(breastfeed的现在分词);
Harry Potter was a foster child. 哈利·波特就是一个被收养的孩子。
Pip from "Great Expectations " was adopted; 《远大前程》里的皮普是个孤儿;
Expectations:n.预料;预期;期待;希望;指望;(expectation的复数)
Superman was a foster child; 超人也没有双亲;
Cinderella was a foster child; 灰姑娘受尽继母的虐待;
Cinderella:灰姑娘(童话中的一个形象)
Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo , was fostered and institutionalized;
dragon:n.龙;悍妇;母夜叉; tattoo:n.文身;连续急促的敲击;(尤指军事上的)击鼓号;v.将花纹刺在…上;给…文身; fostered:vt.培养;养育,抚育;抱(希望等);adj.收养的,养育的;
Batman was orphaned; 蝙蝠侠是孤儿;
Batman:n.勤务兵;传令兵;蝙蝠侠;
Lyra Belacqua from Philip Pullman's " Northern Lights " 菲利普·普尔曼所著《北极之光》中的贝拉奎亚
Lyra:n.天琴座; Northern Lights:n.北极光;
was fostered; 是被收养的;
Jane Eyre, adopted;
Roald Dahl's James from "James and the Giant Peach;"
Giant:n.巨人;伟人;巨兽;adj.巨大的;特大的
Matilda; Moses -- Moses! (Laughter)
Moses:n.摩西(《圣经》故事中犹太人古代领袖);立法者;领导者;
Moses! (Laughter) -- the boys in Michael Morpurgo's "Friend or Foe;" 迈克尔·莫波格所著《朋友或敌人》中的孩子们
Alem in Benjamin Zephaniah's " Refugee Boy;" 本杰明·泽范尼所著《逃难的男孩》中的阿雷姆;
Refugee:n.难民;避难者;逃亡者;v.避难;adj.避难的;
Luke Skywalker -- 天行者卢克——
Skywalker:n.天行者(星球大战中的人物名);
Luke Skywalker! (Laughter) --
Oliver Twist;
Cassia in "The Concubine of Shanghai" by Hong Ying; 虹影所著《上海王》中的小月桂;
Cassia:n.肉桂;桂皮; Concubine:n.妾;情妇;姘妇;
Celie in Alice Walker's "The Color Purple ."
Purple:n.紫色;紫袍;v.变紫;使成紫色;adj.紫色的;华丽的文辞;
All of these great fictional characters, all of them who were hurt by their condition, all of them who spawned thousands of other books and other films, all of them were fostered, adopted or orphaned . 都是生来因成长环境所伤害, 他们催生出数以千计的著作 以及影视作品,无一例外 都是被收养,收容或者流浪的。
fictional:adj.虚构的;小说的; spawned:v.产卵;引发;引起;导致;造成;(spawn的过去分词和过去式) adopted:adj.被收养的;被采用的;v.采用;接受;(adopt的过去式和过去分词); orphaned:v.使成为孤儿;(orphan的过去分词和过去式)
It seems that writers know that the child outside of family reflects on what family truly is more than what it promotes itself to be. 这早已超出它本身所能提供的温暖。
reflects:v.反映;映出(影像);反射;表明,表达;(reflect的第三人称单数) promotes:v.促进;推动;促销;推销;提升;晋升;(promote的第三人称单数)
That is, they also use extraordinary skills to deal with extraordinary situations on a daily basis. 又因他们运用超凡的写作技巧
extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的;
How have we not made the connection?
And why have we not made the connection, between — How has that happened? — between these incredible characters of popular culture and religions, and the fostered, adopted or orphaned child in our midst ? It's not our pity that they need. 在我们身边的这些被收养或流浪荡孤儿
incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的; midst:n.当中,中间;prep.在…中间(等于amidst);
It's our respect.
I know famous musicians,
I know actors and film stars and millionaires and novelists and top lawyers and television executives and magazine editors and national journalists and dustbinmen and hairdressers , all who were 我认识演员和影星,百万富翁和作家 高级律师和电视高管
novelists:n.小说家(novelist的复数); executives:n.经理,主管领导,管理人员;领导层;行政部门(executive的复数) journalists:n.新闻记者(journalist的复数); hairdressers:n.美发师;
looked after children, fostered, adopted or orphaned, and many of them grow into their adult lives in fear of speaking of their background, as if it may somehow weaken their standing in the foreground , 他们中的绝大部分成年以后 都害怕谈论到这些背景,因为这样做可能会 或多或少会黯淡他们的表面光鲜,
somehow:adv.以某种方法;莫名其妙地; weaken:v.削弱;减弱;衰弱;动摇; foreground:n.前景;最显著的位置;
as if it were somehow Kryptonite , as if it were a time bomb strapped on the inside. Children in care, who've had a life in care, deserve the right to own and live the memory of their own childhood . 埋在内心深处。那些生来得到呵护的孩子, 注定有权享受被关爱的人生,
Kryptonite:n.氪星石; time bomb:定时炸弹; strapped:adj.缺钱的; v.用带子系; (strap的过去分词和过去式) deserve:vi.应受,应得; childhood:n.童年;幼年;孩童时期
It is that simple.
My own mother — and I should say this here — she same to this country in the late '60s, and she was, you know, she found herself pregnant , as women did in the late '60s. You know what I mean? 我的生母——在这里不得不这么说 然后,你们都能理解,她发现自己怀孕了, 如同60年代女性那样,你们应该知道我指的是什么？
pregnant:adj.怀孕的;富有意义的;
They found themselves pregnant.
And she sort of, she had no idea of the context in which she'd landed. 她是那种,浑然不觉, 对自己所来到的国家毫无概念。
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉;
In the 1960s -- I should give you some context -- in the 1960s, if you were pregnant and you were single, you were seen as a threat to the community . 在60年代,我应该给你们一些那个时期的背景描述,
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
You were separated from your family by the state. 你会被国家赶出你的家庭。
You were separated from your family and placed into mother and baby homes. 母婴看护所。
You were appointed a social worker .
appointed:adj.(时间)指定的,约定的; v.任命; (appoint的过去分词和过去式) social worker:n.社会工作者;
The adoptive parents were lined up.
adoptive:adj.采用的;有收养关系的;
It was the primary purpose of the social worker, the aim, to get the woman at her most vulnerable time in her entire life, to sign the adoption papers. 这一社工的基本目的和目标, 就是趁一个女人在她一生中
vulnerable:adj.易受攻击的,易受…的攻击;易受伤害的;有弱点的; adoption:n.采用;收养;接受;
So the adoption papers were signed. 就这样,我的收养协议被签下了。
The mother and baby's homes were often run by nuns .
nuns:n.修女;尼姑;(nun的复数)
The adoption papers were signed, the child was given to the adoptive parents, and the mother shipped back to her community to say that she'd been on a little break. 在收养协议被签署之后, 重返她所在的社区 告诉大家,她刚刚休了个假。
A little break.
A little break.
The first secret of shame for a woman for being a woman, "a little break."
The adoption process took, like, a matter of months, so it was a closed shop , you know, sealed deal, an industrious , utilitarian solution : the government, the farmer, the adopting parents, the consumer , the mother, the earth, and the child, the crop. 所以这是一个闭门企业,敲定协议, 政府扮演了农民, 生母是大地,而孩子,就是那庄稼。
process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的; closed shop:n.只雇用某工会会员的工厂(或企业等); industrious:adj.勤奋的;勤劳的;忙碌的; utilitarian:adj.功利的;功利主义的;实利的;n.功利主义者; solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答; adopting:v.收养;领养;采用;表决采纳;(adopt的现在分词) consumer:n.[经]消费者;[生,生态]消费者;
It's kind of easy to patronize the past, to forego our responsibilities in the present.
patronize:v.光顾;资助;摆出高人一等的派头;赞助; forego:vt.放弃;居先;在…之前;
What happened then is a direct reflection of what is happening now. Everybody believed themselves to be doing the right thing by God and by the state for the big society, fast-tracking adoption.
reflection:n.反映;沉思;映像;深思;
So anyway, she comes here, 1967, she's pregnant, and she comes from Ethiopia that was celebrating its own jubilee at the time under the Emperor Haile Selassie, 来纪念希利王,
Ethiopia:n.埃塞俄比亚; jubilee:n.(尤指25周年或50周年的)周年纪念,周年大庆,周年庆祝;
and she lands months before the Enoch Powell speech, the "Rivers of Blood" speech. 她来到这里的几个月后
Powell:n.鲍威尔(英国物理学家);
She lands months before the Beatles release "The White Album," 她来到这里的几个月后,披头士发行了《白色专辑》
Beatles:n.披头士合唱(摇滚乐队); release:v.释放;发射;让与;允许发表;n.释放;发布;让与;
months before Martin Luther King was killed. 她来到这里的几个月后,马丁·路德·金的遇害。
It was a summer of love if you were white.
If you were black, it was a summer of hate.
So she goes from Oxford, she's sent to the north of England to a mother and baby home, and appointed a social worker. 所以她离开牛津,被送到了英国北部的 一个母婴看护所,并被指派了一个社工。
It's her plan. You know, I have to say this in the Houses --
It's her plan to have me fostered for a short period of time while she studies. But the social worker, he had a different agenda . 在她这么考虑时,那位社工, 他却有着另一个计划。
agenda:n.议事日程;
He found the foster parents, and he said to them, " Treat this as an adoption. He's yours forever. “把这当成一次收养,他将永远都是你们的,
Treat:v.治疗;处理;招待;款待;n.款待;乐事;乐趣;
His name is Norman." (Laughter) 他的名字就叫做诺曼。“（笑声）
Norman! (Laughter)
Norman!
So they took me. I was a message, they said.
I was a sign from God, they said.
I was Norman Mark Greenwood . 我从此就成了诺曼·马克·格林伍德。
Greenwood:n.绿林;未枯干的树;
Now, for the next 11 years, all I know is that this woman, this birth woman, should have her eyes scratched out for not signing the adoption papers. She was an evil woman too selfish to sign, so I spent those 11 years kneeling and praying. 太过自私,以至于那11年
scratched:adj.受抓损的;有刮痕;v.抓;搔;(scratch的过去式及过去分词) evil:adj.邪恶的;不幸的;有害的;讨厌的;n.罪恶,邪恶;不幸; kneeling:v.跪;跪着;跪下;(kneel的现在分词)
I tried praying. I swear I tried praying. 我试着祈祷,我发誓我这么做过。
'"God, can I have a bike for Christmas?"
But I would always answer myself, "Yes, of course you can." 我总听到内心中有声音回答,“行,你当然可以。”
(Laughter)
And then I was supposed to determine whether that was the voice of God or it was the voice of the Devil . 这样,我就想来确认,这声音是来自 上帝？还是来自魔鬼。
supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式) determine:v.决定;确定;测定;查明;形成;影响;裁决;安排; Devil:n.魔鬼;撒旦;家伙;恶棍;淘气鬼;冒失鬼;v.虐待,折磨;扯碎;做助手;
And it turns out I've got the Devil inside of me. 结果证明,那是魔鬼的欺骗。
Who knew? (Laughter) 谁知道呢？（笑声）
So anyway, two years sort of passed, and they had a child of their own, and then another two years passed, and they had another child of their own, and then another time passed 总之,收养我之后过去了两年, 又过去了几年
and they had another child that they called an accident, which I thought was an unusual name. (Laughter) 他们迎来了第三个孩子,给他起名“意外”,
And I was on the cusp of, sort of, adolescence , so I was starting to take biscuits from the tin without asking.
cusp:n.尖头;尖端; adolescence:n.青春期;
I was starting to stay out a little bit late, etc., etc. 我开始在户外玩而晚回家,等等,等等
Now, in their religiosity , in their naivete , my mom and dad, which I believed them to be forever, as they said they were, my mom and dad conceived that I had the Devil inside of me. 我的母亲和父亲,我曾经以为是永远的父母,
religiosity:n.虔诚;宗教狂;虚伪信仰; naivete:n.天真;质朴;纯真无邪;天真烂漫; conceived:v.构思;设想;(conceive的过去式);
And what -- I should say this here, because this is how they engineered my leaving. 策划着让我离去。
They sat me at a table, my foster mom, and she said to me, "You don't love us, do you?" At 11 years old. 他们让我坐在桌前,我的养母开始对我说, “你不爱我们了,是不是？”,那时我11岁。
They've had three other children. I'm the fourth. The third was an accident. 他们已经有了三个孩子,我是第四个。第三个是个意外。
And I said, "Yeah, of course I do." Because you do.
My foster mother asked me to go away to think about love and what it is and to read the Scriptures and to come back tomorrow and give my most honest and truthful answer. 我的养母要求我离开去想一想什么是爱
Scriptures:n.经文,经典著作;
So this was an opportunity. If they were asking me whether I loved them or not, then I mustn't love them, which led me to the miracle of thought that I thought they wanted me to get to. 我是否爱着他们,然后我又不能回答爱着他们,
miracle:n.奇迹,奇迹般的人或物;惊人的事例;
'"I will ask God for forgiveness and His light will shine through me to them. How fantastic ." This was an opportunity. 照耀到他们。多么美好啊！”这一定是一个机会。
forgiveness:n.宽恕;原谅;宽宏大量 fantastic:奇异的,空想的
The theology was perfect, the timing unquestionable , and the answer as honest as a sinner could get. 理论是完美的,时机也是恰到好处的,
theology:n.神学;宗教体系; unquestionable:adj.毫无疑问的;确实的;无可挑剔的; sinner:n.罪人;有错者;
'"I mustn't love you," I said to them. "But I will ask God for forgiveness." “我不能爱你们”,我对他们说。“但是我会恳求上帝的原谅。”
'"Because you don't love us, Norman, clearly you've chosen your path."
Twenty-four hours later, my social worker, this strange man who used to visit me every couple of months, he's waiting for me in the car as I say goodbye to my parents. 二十四小时之后,我的那位社工,
I didn't say goodbye to anybody, not my mother, my father, my sisters, my brothers, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my grandparents, nobody. 但我没对任何一个人说再见,没有对妈妈,没有对爸爸, 我的堂弟们,我的祖父母,没和任何一个人。
On the way to the children's home, I started to ask myself, "What's happened to me?"
It's not that I'd had the rug pulled from beneath me as much as the entire floor had been taken away. 这种感觉不仅仅是从我脚下抽走地毯
rug:n.小地毯;垫子;(盖腿的)厚毯子;v.用厚毯包; beneath:prep.在…之下;adv.在下方;
When I got to the — 当我到了——
For the next four, five years, 在接下来的四、五年
I was held in four different children's homes. 我到了四个不同的儿童收容所,
On the third children's home, at 15,
I started to rebel , and what I did was,
rebel:n.反政府的人;叛乱者;造反者;反抗权威者;v.造反;反抗;背叛;adj.造反的;
I got three tins of paint, Airfix paint that you use for models, and I was -- it was a big children's home, big Victorian children's home -- and I was in a little turret at the top of it, and I poured them, red, yellow and green, the colors of Africa, down the tiles . 我拿到三罐油漆,是那种用于做模型的蚀刻片漆, 我在一个小角楼的顶部, 那种非洲的色彩,沿着砖墙着落。
tins:abbr.炮塔综合夜间瞄准镜(TurretIntegratedNightSight); turret:n.炮塔;角楼;小塔;攻城用仰冲车; poured:v.使(液体)连续流出;倾倒;倒出;喷发;(pour的过去分词和过去式) tiles:n.[建]瓷砖(tile的复数形式);v.铺砖(tile的第三人称单数形式);
You couldn't see it from the street, because the home was surrounded by beech trees. 被山毛榉树重重包围。
beech:n.山毛榉;adj.山毛榉木材的;
For doing this, I was incarcerated for a year in an assessment center which was actually a remand center. It was a virtual prison for young people. 因为做了这样的事,我被关了一年禁闭 事实上是一个羁押所,一个虚拟的监狱
incarcerated:v.监禁;关押;禁闭;(incarcerate的过去式和过去分词) assessment:n.评定;估价; remand:n.送还,遣回;还押;vt.还押,还押候审;遣回; virtual:adj.[计]虚拟的;实质上的,事实上的(但未在名义上或正式获承认);
By the way , years later, my social worker said that I should never have been put in there. 我其实不应该被囚禁在那里,
By the way:顺便说一下;
I wasn't charged for anything. I hadn't done anything wrong.
But because I had no family to inquire about me, they could do anything to me.
inquire:v.询问;打听;调查;(古)质问;
I'm 17 years old, and they had a padded cell . 在我17岁的时候, 他们有一个墙四周塞满软垫的囚室。
padded cell:n.(精神病院的)软壁病房;
They would march me down corridors in last-size order.
corridors:n.廊道,[建]走廊(corridor的复数形式);
They -- I was put in a dormitory with a confirmed Nazi sympathizer .
dormitory:n.宿舍,学生宿舍;adj.住宅区的; sympathizer:n.赞同者;支持者;
All of the staff were ex-police -- interesting -- and ex-probation officers. 以及“前试用官员”。
The man who ran it was an ex-army officer.
Every time I had a visit by a person who I did not know who would feed me grapes, once every three months, 每一次我都由一个不认识的人来探望 他将喂我一些葡萄,三个月一次,
I was strip-searched . 我被当成嫌疑犯进行裸身搜查。
strip-searched:vt.对(嫌疑犯)进行光身搜查;
That home was full of young boys who were on remand for things like murder. 犯有类似谋杀的罪行。
And this was the preparation that I was being given after 17 years as a child of the state. 结束了17年作为一个国家的孩子的身份。
I have to tell this story. 我不得不向大家述说这个故事。
I have to tell it, because there was no one to put two and two together. 我不得不述说这些,因为这里没有一个人
I slowly became aware that I knew nobody that knew me for longer than a year. 我慢慢的开始意识到,我发现没有人 会和我在一起超过一年。
See, that's what family does. 看,这就是家庭所能带来的。
It gives you reference points. 它能给你参考点。
reference:n.参考,提及;参考书目;证明书;v.引用;
I'm not defining a good family from a bad family. 我不去区分哪些好的家庭或坏的家庭。
defining:v.解释(词语)的含义;给(词语)下定义;阐明;界定;(define的现在分词)
I'm just saying that you know when your birthday is by virtue of the fact that somebody tells you when your birthday is, a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, a grandparent. It matters to someone, and therefore it matters to you. Understand, 会有人来告诉你,生日到了, 会有母亲,父亲,姐姐,哥哥,婶婶,叔叔, 也因此牵系着你。请理解,
by virtue of:由于,凭借;
I was 14 years old, tucked away in myself, into myself, and I wasn't touched either, physically touched. 我不去与人交往,也没有肢体接触。
tucked:v.塞进,折叠,卷起;把…藏入;收藏;(tuck的过去分词和过去式)
I'm reporting back. I'm reporting back simply to say that when I left the children's home I had two things that I wanted to do. One was to find my family, and the other was to write poetry . 另一个是写诗。
poetry:n.诗;诗意,诗情;诗歌艺术;
In creativity I saw light. 在创作中,我看到了曙光。
In the imagination I saw the endless possibility of life, the endless truth, the permanent creation of reality, the place where anger was an expression in the search for love, a place where dysfunction is a true reaction to untruth . 在想象中,我看到了生命无穷尽的可能性, 在那里,愤怒是用来表现 是真诚对谎言的揭穿。
imagination:n.想象;想象力;创造力;想象的事物; endless:adj.无止境的;连续的;环状的;漫无目的的; permanent:adj.永久的,永恒的;n.烫发; creation:n.创造,创作;创作物,产物; expression:n.表现,表示,表达; dysfunction:n.功能紊乱;机能障碍;官能不良;vi.功能失调;出现机能障碍;垮掉; reaction:n.反应,感应;反动,复古;反作用; untruth:n.虚假,不真实;谎言;
I've just got to say it to you all: I found all of my family in my adult life. I spent all of my adult life finding them, and I've now got a fully dysfunctional family just like everybody else. 我想告诉你们的是:我已经找到了我所有的家人 现在和在座各位一样,我已经有了虽然不健全但却完整的家庭。
dysfunctional:机能失调的,功能障碍的;
But I'm reporting back to you to say quite simply that you can define how strong a democracy is by how its government treats its child. 我还是要再向大家做一个简单的总结 你可以定义一个国家的民主程度 通过观察它的政府是如何对待它的孩子。
define:v.定义;使明确;规定; democracy:n.民主,民主主义;民主政治; treats:v.以…态度对待; n.乐事;
I don't mean children. I mean the child of the state. 我不是说所有的孩子,而是那些“国家孤儿”。
Thanks very much. It's been an honor. (Applause) 非常感谢,非常荣幸。（掌声）
(Applause) （掌声）