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PeterSinger_2013-_为什么和如何做高效的利它主义者_
There's something that I'd like you to see. 我想先让大家看一段视频。
(Video) Reporter: It's a story that's deeply unsettled millions in China: footage of a two-year-old girl hit by a van and left bleeding in the street by passersby , footage too graphic to be shown. （录像）记者:这是发生在中国的 一宗令人深感不安的事故: 一名两岁大的小女孩 被一辆小型货车撞倒后血流满地而路人漠然置之, 现场惨不忍睹！
unsettled:adj.未决定的;怀疑的;未处理的;不整齐的; footage:n.英尺长度;连续镜头;以尺计算长度; van:n.厢式货车;客货车;v.选矿;用车搬运; bleeding:n.出血;渗色;adj.流血的;同情的;v.出血;渗出;(bleed的现在分词) passersby:n.过路人;经过者(passerby的复数); graphic:adj.形象的;图表的;绘画似的;
The entire accident is caught on camera. 整个事故被监控录像录了下来。
The driver pauses after hitting the child, his back wheels seen resting on her for over a second. 司机撞人后停了一下车（然后逃逸）, 汽车的后轮被录到停在小女孩的身上有一秒多时间。
Within two minutes, three people pass two-year-old Wang Yue by. 事故发生后两分种内,有三名路人从受害人王悦的身边经过。
The first walks around the badly injured toddler completely. 第一名路人直接从身受重伤的小女孩身边绕了过去。
injured:adj.受伤的:委屈的: v.伤害,使受伤: n.伤员; toddler:n.学步的小孩;幼童装;
Others look at her before moving off. 其余两人停下来看了一下然后走开了。
Peter Singer: There were other people who walked past Wang Yue, and a second van ran over her legs before a street cleaner raised the alarm. 彼得·辛格（Peter Singer）: 当时还有另外一些人 从王悦身边经过, 接着,另一辆小型货车又碾过她的双腿, 最后是一名捡垃圾的阿姨报的警。
She was rushed to hospital, but it was too late. She died. 小王悦被紧急送院,但为时已晚。她最后不治身亡。
I wonder how many of you, looking at that, said to yourselves just now, "I would not have done that. 我在想,看到这种情形,你们有多少人 (刚才)会对自己说:“我不会这样见死不救的,
I would have stopped to help." 我会停下来参与抢救“
Raise your hands if that thought occurred to you. 有过这样想法的听众麻烦举一下手。
occurred:v.发生;出现;存在于;出现在;(occur的过去分词和过去式)
As I thought, that's most of you. 不出我所料,你们大部分人都会伸出授手。
And I believe you. I'm sure you're right. 我相信大家。我敢肯定你做对了。
But before you give yourself too much credit, look at this. 但在表扬你自己之前, 我们来看看这个。
UNICEF reports that in 2011, 6.9 million children under five died from preventable , poverty-related diseases . 联合国儿童基金会报告说,2011年, 有六百九十万名五岁以下的儿童 死于可预防的、和贫穷有关的疾病。
preventable:adj.可预防的;可阻止的;可防止的; diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类;
UNICEF thinks that that's good news because the figure has been steadily coming down from 12 million in 1990. That is good. 联合国儿童基金会认为这是个好消息 因为这个数字已经从1990年的一千二百万 持续下降到目前位置。这是好消息。
steadily:adv.稳定地;稳固地;有规则地;
But still, 6.9 million is 19,000 children dying every day. 可人数还是有六百九十万之多, 这相当于每天死于非命的儿童多达一万九千人啊！
Does it really matter that we're not walking past them in the street? 与帮助这些孩子相比 我们在街头交通事故中救一个人就是小事一桩了吧？
Does it really matter that they're far away? 难道他们离我们很远我们就可以漠然置之吗？
I don't think it does make a morally relevant difference. 从道德层面来看,我认为两者没有很大的区别。
morally:adv.道德上;有道德地;确实地; relevant:adj.相关的;切题的;中肯的;有重大关系的;有意义的,目的明确的;
The fact that they're not right in front of us, the fact, of course, that they're of a different nationality or race, none of that seems morally relevant to me. 他们不发生在我们面前, 当然,他们和我们不同国籍和种族 这些对我来说并不重要。
What is really important is, can we reduce that death toll ? Can we save some of those 19,000 children dying every day? 重要的是, 我们能降低这些孩子的死亡率吗？ 我们能救救每天面临死亡威胁的19,000个孩子当中的一些人吗？
death toll:n.(事故、战争、灾难等的)死亡人数;
And the answer is, yes we can. 答案是肯定的。
Each of us spends money on things that we do not really need. 我们每一个人都有过 将钱花在无关紧要的事情上的经历。
You can think what your own habit is, whether it's a new car, a vacation or just something like buying bottled water when the water that comes out of the tap is perfectly safe to drink. 你可以思考一下你的爱好者是什么, 是不是一辆新车、一次度假 还是只买瓶装水 而你明明可以 饮用这些绝对符合饮用标准的自来水。
You could take the money you're spending on those unnecessary things and give it to this organization , the Against Malaria Foundation , which would take the money you had given and use it to buy nets like this one to protect children like this one, and we know reliably that if we provide nets, 你可以将这些花在无谓的事情上 过度开支省下来 将它捐给 防治疟疾基金会, 基金会将会用你的善款 买一些象这样的网 来防止象这样的孩子患上疟疾, 而我们明确知道如果我们能提供这种网,
organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体; Malaria:n.[内科]疟疾;瘴气; Foundation:n.基础;地基;基金会;根据;创立; reliably:adv.可靠地;确实地;
they're used, and they reduce the number of children dying from malaria, just one of the many preventable diseases that are responsible for some of those 19,000 children dying every day. 它们就能降低 孩子们死于疟疾的数量, 疟疾只是很多种可防可控的、 能导致每天19,000多名孩子 死于非命的疾病之一。
responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的;
Fortunately , more and more people are understanding this idea, and the result is a growing movement: effective altruism . 幸运的是,越来越多的人 意识到了这点, 由此滋生了越来越多的 高效的利它主义。
Fortunately:adv.幸运地; effective:adj.有效的,起作用的;实际的,实在的;给人深刻印象; altruism:n.利他;利他主义;
It's important because it combines both the heart and the head. 利它主义很重要,因为它是善心与智慧的结合。
The heart, of course, you felt. 当然,善心是可以看得到的。
You felt the empathy for that child. 你自己可以感觉得到你对孩子的同情心。
empathy:n.神入;移情作用;执着;
But it's really important to use the head as well to make sure that what you do is effective and well-directed, and not only that , but also I think reason helps us 但有同情心的同时还要有智慧 确保你所做的是高效的和正确的, 不仅如此,我认为,理性有助于我们
only that:只是;要不是;
to understand that other people, wherever they are, are like us, that they can suffer as we can, that parents grieve for the deaths of their children, as we do, 了解别人,无论他们来自哪里, 他们也都和我们一样会受到伤害 那些父母也会为孩子的逝去而悲伤 我们也会。
grieve:v.使悲伤,使苦恼;悲痛,哀悼;
and that just as our lives and our well-being matter to us, it matters just as much to all of these people. 这就象生命和健康对我们来说很重要一样, 这对大家来说都很重要。
well-being:n.幸福;康乐;
So I think reason is not just some neutral tool to help you get whatever you want. 所以,我认为理性不仅仅是一种中性的工具 帮助你获得你想要的。
neutral:n.中立国; adj.中立的;
It does help us to put perspective on our situation. 它确实有助于我们设心处地地为别人考虑
perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的;
And I think that's why many of the most significant people in effective altruism have been people who have had backgrounds in philosophy or economics or math. 这就是为什么 很多在利它主义事业中做得比较成功的人士 都是一些有着 哲学或经济学背景的人。
significant:adj.重大的;有效的;有意义的;值得注意的;意味深长的;n.象征;有意义的事物; philosophy:n.哲学;哲理;人生观;
And that might seem surprising, because a lot of people think, "Philosophy is remote from the real world; economics, we're told, just makes us more selfish, and we know that math is for nerds ." 这看起来可能有些奇怪, 因为很多人会想 “哲学离现实生活很远; 而经济学会让我们变得更自私, 我们还知道,学数学的都是些书呆子。”
remote:adj.偏远的;偏僻的;遥远的;久远的; nerds:n.书呆子;网虫;讨厌鬼(nerd的复数);
But in fact it does make a difference , and in fact there's one particular nerd who has been a particularly effective altruist because he got this. 可,事实上,学没学过这些学科差异是巨大的, 事实上,有一种书呆子 却是一种非常高效的利它主义者 因为他有这些素养。
make a difference:有影响,有关系; particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; altruist:n.爱他主义者;利他主义者;
This is the website of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and if you look at the words on the top right-hand side, it says, "All lives have equal value." 这是比尔和梅林达·盖茨基金会的网站, 其网页右上角上有一句话是这样说的 “所有的生命都有同等的价值”
right-hand:adj.得力的;右手的,用右手的;
That's the understanding, the rational understanding of our situation in the world that has led to these people being the most effective altruists in history, 这就是我们对我们所生存的世界的理解 ----理性的理解 而这种理解 使得这些人成了史上最高效的利它主义者-----
rational:n.理性;人类;合理的事物;[数]有理数;adj.合理的;理性的;明智的;理智的; altruists:n.爱他主义者;利他主义者;
Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. 比尔和梅林达·盖茨和沃伦·巴菲特。
Warren:n.养兔场;大杂院;拥挤的地区;
(Applause) （掌声）
No one, not Andrew Carnegie, not John D. Rockefeller, has ever given as much to charity as each one of these three, and they have used their intelligence to make sure that it is highly effective. 无论是安德鲁·卡内基还是约翰·D·洛克菲勒, 从来都没有一个人 象这三个人一样为慈善事业作出如此巨大的贡献, 而他们用的是他们的聪明才智 来确保他们所做的是最高效的。
charity:n.慈善;施舍;慈善团体;宽容;施舍物; intelligence:n.智力;智慧;才智;(尤指关于敌国的)情报; highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地;
According to one estimate , the Gates Foundation has already saved 5.8 million lives and many millions more, people, getting diseases that would have made them very sick, even if eventually they survived. 据估计,比尔和梅林达·盖茨基金会 已经救了五百八十万生命 或更多 患了很严重疾病的人, 最终这些病人活了下来。
According to:根据,据说; estimate:v.估计;估算;估价;n.估价;(对大小、数量、成本等的)估计;估计的成本; eventually:adv.最后,终于;
Over the coming years, undoubtably the Gates Foundation is going to give a lot more, is going to save a lot more lives. 将来,毫无疑问,比尔和梅林达·盖茨基金会 将会发挥更大的作用, 抢救更多的生命。
Well, you might say, that's fine if you're a billionaire , you can have that kind of impact . 可能你会说,如果你是一名亿万富翁 你才有那种影响力。
billionaire:n.亿万富翁; impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响;
But if I'm not, what can I do? 可我不是,我能帮得上什么呢？
So I'm going to look at four questions that people ask that maybe stand in the way of them giving. 所以,我们来看看人们常问的 成为他们捐赠障碍的四个问题。
stand in the way:妨碍;阻碍;拖…后腿;
They worry how much of a difference they can make. 他们担心他们的善款如杯水车薪一般帮不上什么忙。
But you don't have to be a billionaire. 可做善事你不必非得是一名亿万富翁。
This is Toby Ord. He's a research fellow in philosophy at the University of Oxford. 这是Toby Ord。 他是牛津大学哲学研究员。
Toby:n.托比(男子名);矮胖老人形啤酒杯;
He became an effective altruist when he calculated that with the money that he was likely to earn throughout his career , an academic career , he could give enough to cure 80,000 people of blindness in developing countries and still have enough left for a perfectly adequate standard of living . 他之所以成为一名高效的利它主义者,是他算出 凭他一辈子从职业生涯中挣来的钱 ---也就是他在大学里挣的薪水--- 他可以捐出足够的钱来救治 发展中国家的8万名眼疾患者,让他们不至失明 而他自己仍然可以留出足够 维持正常生活水平的资金。
throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及; career:n.职业;事业;生涯;经历; academic:adj.学术的;理论的;学院的;n.大学生,大学教师;学者; adequate:adj.充足的;适当的;胜任的; standard of living:n.生活水平;
So Toby founded an organization called Giving What We Can to spread this information, to unite people who want to share some of their income, and to ask people to pledge to give 10 percent of what they earn over their lifetime to fighting global poverty . 所以,Toby创立了一个 名叫 能捐多少算多少(Giving What We Can) 的组织来传播这一信息, 其目的是团结那些想与别人分享自己的薪水的人 并呼吁人们承诺 捐出自己一生所挣薪水的10% 来解决全球的贫困问题。
unite:v.联合;团结;统一;n.由奈特; pledge:n.誓言;保证;抵押;抵押品;v.保证给予(或做);正式承诺;抵押; global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的; poverty:n.贫困;困难;缺少;低劣;
Toby himself does better than that. Toby 自己捐出的善款式远不止10%。
He's pledged to live on 18,000 pounds a year -- that's less than 30,000 dollars -- and to give the rest to those organizations . 他承诺每年只给自己留出一万八千英镑的生活费用 ----不足三万美金---- 然后把其余薪水捐给那些组织机构。
pledged:v.保证给予(或做);正式承诺;抵押(pledge的过去分词和过去式) organizations:n.组织,构造,有机体(organization的复数);组织机构;
And yes, Toby is married and he does have a mortgage . 当然,Toby也是一名已婚人士,也有银行按揭要还。
mortgage:vt.抵押;n.抵押;房屋抵押贷款;
This is a couple at a later stage of life, 这是一对年纪比较大的夫妇,
Charlie Bresler and Diana Schott , who, when they were young, when they met, were activists against the Vietnam War, fought for social justice , and then moved into careers , as most people do, 查理·布雷斯勒和戴安娜肖特, 年轻时,他们相识于 反对越南战争 争取社会公正的活动中, 然后他们象我们很多人一样开始自己的事业
Schott:n.浅盐湖;沙漠盐盆(等于shott); justice:n.公平;公正;司法制度;审判; careers:n.职业(career的复数);事业;职业生涯;v.全速前进(career的三单形式);
didn't really do anything very active about those values, although they didn't abandon them. 并不再做一些与上述价值观相关的事情, 尽管他们并没有完全放弃。
abandon:n.狂热;放任;v.遗弃;放弃;
And then, as they got to the age at which many people start to think of retirement , they returned to them, and they've decided to cut back on their spending, to live modestly , and to give both money and time to helping to fight global poverty. 然后,当他们差不多到了很多人考虑退休的年龄时 他们又重操旧业 他们决定减少开支, 过简单的生活,将省下来的钱和时间 投入到解决全球穷困问题当中去。
retirement:n.退休;退职;退休年龄;退休生活; modestly:adv.谨慎地;适当地;
Now, mentioning time might lead you to think, "Well, should I abandon my career and put all of my time into saving some of these 19,000 lives that are lost every day?" 说到时间,可能你会想: “ 我真要放弃我的事业,然后将的我时间 投入到挽救那些 每天死亡19,000条生命中去吗？”
One person who's thought quite a bit about this issue of how you can have a career that will have the biggest impact for good in the world is Will Crouch . 有一个人,曾考虑过这个问题 你怎么可能从事一个职业 又让它能最大程度地影响世界的人是威尔克劳奇。
issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行; Crouch:v.蜷缩;蹲;蹲伏;蹲下;n.蹲着的姿势;
He's a graduate student in philosophy, and he's set up a website called 80,000 Hours, the number of hours he estimates most people spend on their career, to advise people on how to have the best, most effective career. 他是一名哲学系的研究生, 他创办了一个名叫八万小时的网站, 据他估算, 大多数人一生中花在事业上的时间大约是8万小时, 建议别人怎么获得最好的、 最有效的职业生涯。
estimates:n.估计;估价;估计的成本;v.估价;估算(estimate的第三人称单数和复数) advise people on:就…提出建议;
But you might be surprised to know that one of the careers that he encourages people to consider, if they have the right abilities and character, is to go into banking or finance . 但是,你可能会惊奇地发现 他鼓励人们考虑的职业之一是, 如果他们拥有相关的能力和性格特征, 从事银行或金融方面的工作。
finance:n.财政,财政学;金融;v.负担经费,供给…经费;
Why? Because if you earn a lot of money, you can give away a lot of money, and if you're successful in that career, you could give enough to an aid organization 为什么呢？因为如果你赚到足够的钱, 你可以捐更多的钱, 如果你成了那个行业中的佼佼者, 你可以为一个支援机构提供足够的资金
so that it could employ , let's say, five aid workers in developing countries, and each one of them would probably do about as much good as you would have done. 这样它就可以雇佣5名 来自于发展中国家的支援工作者, 他们当中的每一个人将可能做得 和你们一样好。
employ:vt.使用,采用;雇用;使忙于,使从事于;n.使用;雇用;
So you can quintuple the impact by leading that kind of career. 所以,你可以将这种影响放大五倍 通过这种职业。
quintuple:adj.五倍的;五部分组成的;n.五倍量;五个一组;vt.使成五倍;vi.成五倍;
Here's one young man who's taken this advice. 以下这名年青人采用了他的建议。
His name is Matt Weiger. 他的名字叫马特微格。
He was a student at Princeton in philosophy and math, actually won the prize for the best undergraduate philosophy thesis last year when he graduated. 他是普林斯顿大学的一名哲学和数学系的学生, 实际上,去年他毕业时,他获得了最佳哲学论文奖 他获得了最佳哲学毕业论文奖。
Princeton:n.普林斯顿(美国新泽西州中部的自治市镇); for the best:出于好意; undergraduate:n.本科生; thesis:n.论文;论点;
But he's gone into finance in New York. 可他却在纽约从事金融方面的工作。
He's already earning enough so that he's giving a six-figure sum to effective charities and still leaving himself with enough to live on. 他赚了不少钱 所以,他给一些高效的慈善捐了六位数的善款 而自己过得还相当富裕。
charities:n.慈善机构;宽大(charity的复数);
Matt has also helped me to set up an organization that I'm working with that has the name taken from the title of a book I wrote, "The Life You Can Save," 马特还帮助我创办了一个组织 组织的名字来自 我写的一本书的题目: ”你可以挽救的生命“
which is trying to change our culture so that more people think that if we're going to live an ethical life, it's not enough just to follow the thou-shalt-nots and not cheat, steal, maim , kill, 书的愿意是要试图改变我们的文化 这样子,会有更多的人会想 如果我们能过一种道德的生活, 只做好自己的本份、 不欺诈、还偷窃、不残害和不杀戮是不够的,
ethical:adj.伦理的;道德的;凭处方出售的;n.处方药; maim:vt.使残废;
but that if we have enough, we have to share some of that with people who have so little. 如果我们有足够的财力,我们应该分离其中的部分 和那些几乎一无所有的人分享部分。
And the organization draws together people of different generations, like Holly Morgan, who's an undergraduate, who's pledged to give 10 percent of the little amount that she has, and on the right, Ada Wan , who has worked directly for the poor, but has now gone to Yale to do an MBA to have more to give. 这一机构将 不同年龄阶层的人团结在一起, 比如说荷利摩根,她是一名本科生, 她承诺在自己微溥的工资中 捐出10%, 右边这位是Ada Wan, 她直接为穷人服务,但现在 为了能赚到更多的钱,她去了耶鲁大学生读MBA。
Holly:n.[植]冬青;[名]霍莉; Wan:adj.无血色的,苍白的;病态的;暗淡的;vi.变苍白;vt.使变苍白;使呈病态; directly:adv.直接地;立即;马上;正好地;坦率地;conj.一…就;
Many people will think, though, that charities aren't really all that effective. 可是,很多人会认为 慈善机构并不是那么有准备效率的。
So let's talk about effectiveness . 所以,让我们来看看效率问题。
effectiveness:n.效力;
Toby Ord is very concerned about this, and he's calculated that some charities are hundreds or even thousands of times more effective than others, so it's very important to find the effective ones. Toby Ord很关心这一点, 经过他的计算发现,一些慈善机构 会比另外一些慈善机构的效率 高出成百上千倍, 所以,找到高效的慈善机构很重要。
concerned:adj.有关的;关心的;v.关心;与…有关;(concern的过去时和过去分词)
Take, for example, providing a guide dog for a blind person. 让我们从为一名盲人提供导盲犬为例。
guide dog:n.导盲犬;领路狗;
That's a good thing to do, right? 这是一件好事,对吧？
Well, right, it is a good thing to do, but you have to think what else you could do with the resources . 对,这确实是一件好事, 但你得想一想,用这些资源你还可以做些什么。
resources:n.[计][环境]资源; v.向…提供资金(resource的第三人称单数);
It costs about 40,000 dollars to train a guide dog and train the recipient so that the guide dog can be an effective help to a blind person. 训练一头导盲犬 和他的使用者以便它能更好地为盲人服务 大约要花费4万美元.
recipient:n.容器,接受者;容纳者;adj.容易接受的,感受性强的;
It costs somewhere between 20 and 50 dollars to cure a blind person in a developing country if they have trachoma . 而我们大约只需要花20到50美元 就可以治好一名发展中国家的盲人 如果他们是因为沙眼致盲的话。
trachoma:n.颗粒性结膜炎,[眼科]沙眼;
So you do the sums , and you get something like that. 所以,如果你稍为计一下数,你就会发现
sums:n.算术题;总数;全部;v.归纳;总计;(sum的第三人称单数和复数)
You could provide one guide dog for one blind American, or you could cure between 400 and 2,000 people of blindness. 你为一名美国盲人 提供一头导盲犬的花费, 可以治好400 至2000位盲人。
I think it's clear what's the better thing to do. 我相信,我们应该做什么这是最明显不过的了。
But if you want to look for effective charities, this is a good website to go to. 但如果你想寻找高效的慈善, 你可以上这个网站看看。
GiveWell exists to really assess the impact of charities, not just whether they're well-run, and it's screened hundreds of charities and currently is recommending only three, of which the Against Malaria Foundation is number one. GiveWell这个网站是一个专业的慈善评估网站, 它不仅仅评估慈善机构是否经营良好, 它筛选出了数百个慈善团体 而目前它为我们推介了三个, 排第一的是反疟疾基金会。
assess:vt.评定;估价;对…征税; currently:adv.当前;一般地; recommending:v.推荐,举荐;介绍;劝告;建议;使受欢迎;(recommend的现在分词)
So it's very tough. If you want to look for other recommendations , thelifeyoucansave.com and Giving What We Can both have a somewhat broader list, but you can find effective organizations, and not just in the area of saving lives from the poor. 所以,它很不错。如果你想找其它的, thelifeyoucansave.com 和 Giving What We Can. 都可以为你提供一些选择, 但你可以找到高效的组织, 也不一定做拯救贫穷地区人们生命的领域。
recommendations:n.推荐;推荐信;推荐规范(recommendation的复数形式); somewhat:n.几分;某物;adv.有点;多少;几分;稍微;
I'm pleased to say that there is now also a website looking at effective animal organizations. 我很高兴地告诉你,现在有一个网站 会提供一些高效的动物组织机构。
That's another cause that I've been concerned about all my life, the immense amount of suffering that humans inflict on literally tens of billions of animals every year. 那是我一生一直在关注的另一项事业 由人类每年 给那些亿万的动物带来的 巨大痛苦。
immense:adj.巨大的,广大的;无边无际的;非常好的; inflict:vt.造成;使遭受(损伤,痛苦等);给予(打击等); literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地:
So if you want to look for effective organizations to reduce that suffering, you can go to Effective Animal Activism . 所以,如果你想找高效的机构 来降低这些动物的伤害, 你可以访问 Effective Animal Activism网站。
Activism:n.行动主义;激进主义;
And some effective altruists think it's very important to make sure that our species survives at all. 一些利它主义都认为 确保所有物种的共存很重要。
species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
So they're looking at ways to reduce the risk of extinction . 所以,他们花了大量的心血来降低动物灭绝的风险。
extinction:n.绝种;
Here's one risk of extinction that we all became aware of recently , when an asteroid passed close to our planet. 而最近我们大家都知道的一个巨大风险就是 一个小行星接近地球。
recently:adv.最近;新近; asteroid:n.[天]小行星;[无脊椎]海盘车;小游星;adj.星状的;
Possibly research could help us not only to predict the path of asteroids that might collide with us, but actually to deflect them. 研究不仅可以帮助我们预测 这颗小行星可能撞击地球的轨道, 而且还可以改变它的运行轨道。
predict:v.预报;预言;预告; asteroids:n.[天]小行星(asteroid的复数); collide:vi.碰撞;抵触,冲突;vt.使碰撞;使相撞; deflect:v.偏转,转移;偏斜,转向;引开;阻止;
So some people think that would be a good thing to give to. 所以,有人觉得很值得为些捐款。
There's many possibilities. 可这事有很多可能性的。
My final question is, some people will think it's a burden to give. 我的最后一个问题是, 有些人认为,捐赠是一种负担。
burden:n.负担;责任;船的载货量;v.使负担;烦扰;装货于;
I don't really believe it is. 我不这样认为。
I've enjoyed giving all of my life since I was a graduate student. 我一直都在乐善布施 这习惯是自从我研究生毕业时就开始了的。
It's been something fulfilling to me. 捐赠对我来说有某种成就感。
fulfilling:adj.让人感觉有意义的; v.实现; (fulfill的现在分词)
Charlie Bresler said to me that he's not an altruist. 查理·布雷斯勒对我说他并不是一个利它主义者。
He thinks that the life he's saving is his own. 他认为他的挽救的那些人的命就是他自己的命。
And Holly Morgan told me that she used to battle depression until she got involved with effective altruism, and now is one of the happiest people she knows. Holly Morgan 告诉我,她过去患有严重的抑郁症 直到她成为一名高效的利它主义者之前都这样, 而现在她成了世界上最快乐的人。
depression:n.沮丧;洼地;不景气;忧愁; involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词)
I think one of the reasons for this is that being an effective altruist helps to overcome what I call the Sisyphus problem. 我想原因之一就是 作为一名高效的利它主义者有助于克服 那种被我称为“西西弗斯问题”。
overcome:vt.克服;胜过;vi.克服;得胜;
Here's Sisyphus as portrayed by Titian, condemned by the gods to push a huge boulder up to the top of the hill. 这是提香画的西西弗斯, 他触犯了众神,诸神惩罚他把一块巨石 推上山顶。
portrayed:v.描绘;描画;描写;表现;扮演(某角色)(portray的过去分词和过去式) condemned:adj.已被定罪的;被责难的; boulder:n.卵石,大圆石;巨砾;
Just as he gets there, the effort becomes too much, the boulder escapes, rolls all the way down the hill, he has to trudge back down to push it up again, and the same thing happens again and again for all eternity . 每当他快要到达山顶,他就体力不支, 石头就又滚下山去, 于是他就得重头再来一次, 不断地重复这件事 永无休止地做这件事。
trudge:v.跋涉;步履艰难地走;n.长途跋涉;沉重的步伐; again and again:adv.再三地,反复地; eternity:n.来世,来生;不朽;永世;
Does that remind you of a consumer lifestyle, where you work hard to get money, you spend that money on consumer goods which you hope you'll enjoy using? 这会不会让你想起一种消费模式----- 努力赚钱 然后将钱花在消费品上 而你希望从中得到乐趣呢？
remind:v.提醒;使想起; consumer goods:n.消费品;
But then the money's gone, you have to work hard to get more, spend more, and to maintain the same level of happiness, it's kind of a hedonic treadmill . 当钱花完了时,你得再努力赚钱 赚更多、花更多的钱来维系相同水平的幸福感 它是一种享乐跑步机。
maintain:v.维持;保持;维修;保养;坚持(意见); hedonic:adj.享乐的;享乐主义的; treadmill:n.踏车,跑步机;单调的工作;
You never get off, and you never really feel satisfied . 你永远不会停下来,你也永远不会感到满足。
satisfied:adj.满意的:满足的:v.使满意:使满足;(satisfy的过去分词和过去式)
Becoming an effective altruist gives you that meaning and fulfillment . 成为一名利它主义者 会给你的人生带来意义和成就感。
fulfillment:n.履行;实行;
It enables you to have a solid basis for self-esteem on which you can feel your life was really worth living. 它让你有强大的自尊 会让你觉得活着很有意义。
enables:v.使得; (enable的第三人称单数) self-esteem:n.自尊;自负;自大;
I'm going to conclude by telling you about an email that I received while I was writing this talk just a month or so ago. 下面我想用我收到的一封电子邮件 来结束我的发言 大约一个月前,当我收到这封邮件时我正在写这个演讲稿
conclude:v.断定:得出结论:终止:达成:缔结(协定)
It's from a man named Chris Croy , who I'd never heard of. 邮件是一名叫Chris Croy的陌生人写来的。
Croy:n.[水利]突堤;护岸挑水栅;护岸设施;
This is a picture of him showing him recovering from surgery . 这是一张他做完手术后正在康复的照片.
surgery:n.外科;外科手术;手术室;诊疗室;
Why was he recovering from surgery? 为什么说他正在手术恢复中呢？
The email began, "Last Tuesday, 电邮是这样写的:“上星期二,
I anonymously donated my right kidney to a stranger. 我匿名给一名陌生人捐赠了我的右肾。
anonymously:adv.不具名地;化名地; donated:v.捐赠,赠送;献(血);捐献(器官);(donate的过去分词和过去式) kidney:n.[解剖]肾脏;腰子;个性;
That started a kidney chain which enabled four people to receive kidneys ." 这引起了一系列的捐肾连锁反应 这让病人能找到肾源。”
enabled:v.使得;授予…权力;(enabled是enable的过去式) kidneys:n.[解剖]肾脏;转炉的附着物;肾形矿脉(kidney的复数);
There's about 100 people each year in the U.S. 美国每年大约有100个人
and more in other countries who do that. 其它国家更多。
I was pleased to read it. Chris went on to say that he'd been influenced by my writings in what he did. 读至些外我很开心。Chris还说 他所做的受我的书的影响很大。
influenced:v.影响;对…起作用;支配;左右;(influence的过去分词和过去式) writings:n.作品,篇章(writing的复数形式);
Well, I have to admit, I'm also somewhat embarrassed by that, because I still have two kidneys. 可我得承认,他这么说我也感到有点冏 因为我还仍然有两个肾。
embarrassed:adj.尴尬的;窘迫的;v.使...局促不安;(embarrass的过去分词和过去式)
But Chris went on to say that he didn't think that what he'd done was all that amazing, because he calculated that the number of life-years that he had added to people, the extension of life, was about the same that you could achieve if you gave 5,000 dollars to the Against Malaria Foundation. 但Chris说,他不认为 他所做的有什么了不起 因为他计算过, 他为别人延长的寿命 几乎和你捐５０００美元给反疟疾基金会 所起到的作用是一样的。
extension:n.延长;延期;扩大;伸展;电话分机;
And that did make me feel a little bit better, because I have given more than 5,000 dollars to the Against Malaria Foundation and to various other effective charities. 他这样说让我好受一点, 因为我捐献的远不止5000美元 给反疟疾基金会 和其它高效的慈善机构。
So if you're feeling bad because you still have two kidneys as well, there's a way for you to get off the hook . 所以,如果你感觉不好 只是因为你还有两只肾的话, 还有这种办法可以帮你脱离这纠结。
get off the hook:脱身;脱离困境;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）