TED演讲-哈佛毕业生阅读治愈心灵的强大力量(中英文参考学习)26

【演讲人】：Michelle Kuo【演讲主题】阅读如何改变我们的人生，使我们与自我走得更近翻译者： Li Ying (Amelia) 校对者： Hu Ziyao Wang00:04今天，我想谈谈读书 如何改变我们的人生， 以及这种改变的局限性。 我想谈谈读书如何 给了我们一个 人际关系的共享世界。 我也想谈谈这种关系 为何总是偏颇的， 为何读书终究是一件 孤独、独自乐乐的事。 00:31The writer who changed my life was the great African American novelist James Baldwin. When I was growing up in Western Michigan in the 1980s, there weren't many Asian American writers interested in social change. And so I think I turned to James Baldwin as a way to fill this void, as a way to feel racially conscious. But perhaps because I knew I wasn't myself African American, I also felt challenged and indicted by his words. Especially these words: "There are liberals who have all the proper attitudes, but no real convictions. When the chips are down and you somehow expect them to deliver, they are somehow not there." They are somehow not there. I took those words very literally. Where should I put myself? 改变了我的人生的一位作家 是伟大的非裔美国小说家 詹姆斯·鲍德温。 20世纪80年代， 我在密歇根州西部长大， 当时的美国亚裔作家中 对社会变革感兴趣的不多。 所以我求教于詹姆斯·鲍德温， 我想这是填补这一空白， 加强种族意识的方式。 但也许是因为知道 自己不是非裔美国人， 我从他的言论中 感到了挑战和谴责， 尤其是这些话： “自由派会表现出 所有合宜的态度 但他们没有真正的信念。 在紧急时刻，你希望他们履行诺言， 他们却突然不见了人影。” 他们出于某种原因不见了踪影。 我是从字面上理解这些话的， 我应该去哪里？ 01:28I went to the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest regions in the United States. This is a place shaped by a powerful history. In the 1960s, African Americans risked their lives to fight for education, to fight for the right to vote. I wanted to be a part of that change, to help young teenagers graduate and go to college. When I got to the Mississippi Delta, it was a place that was still poor, still segregated, still dramatically in need of change. 我去了密西西比三角洲， 美国最贫穷的地区之一， 这个地方深受一段 强有力的历史的影响。 20世纪60年代， 黑人冒着生命危险 争取受教育的机会和投票权。 我希望加入这一变革， 帮助青少年从中学毕业， 并继续进入大学深造。 我到密西西比三角洲时， 这个地方仍然很贫穷， 仍实行种族隔离， 极其需要变革。 02:02My school, where I was placed, had no library, no guidance counselor, but it did have a police officer. Half the teachers were substitutes and when students got into fights, the school would send them to the local county jail. 我所任教的学校 没有图书馆，也没有辅导员， 但却有一名警察。 有一半的老师是代课老师， 学生打架时， 学校就把他们送到 当地的县监狱。 02:23This is the school where I met Patrick. He was 15 and held back twice, he was in the eighth grade. He was quiet, introspective, like he was always in deep thought. And he hated seeing other people fight. I saw him once jump between two girls when they got into a fight and he got himself knocked to the ground. Patrick had just one problem. He wouldn't come to school. He said that sometimes school was just too depressing because people were always fighting and teachers were quitting. And also, his mother worked two jobs and was just too tired to make him come. So I made it my job to get him to come to school. And because I was crazy and 22 and zealously optimistic, my strategy was just to show up at his house and say, "Hey, why don't you come to school?" And this strategy actually worked, he started to come to school every day. And he started to flourish in my class. He was writing poetry, he was reading books. He was coming to school every day. 就是在这所学校， 我认识了帕特里克， 他十五岁，留过两次级， 正在上八年级。 他很安静、内向， 好像总在沉思。 他很讨厌看到别人打架。 有一次，我看见他跳到 两个打架的女孩之间劝架， 结果被撞倒在地上。 帕特里克只有一个问题， 他不愿意来上学。 他说，有时候学校 太令人沮丧了， 因为总有人打架， 有老师辞职。 他妈妈打两份工， 没精力敦促他去上学。 所以我把叫他来上学 这事给揽了过来， 因为我那时22岁，非常乐观。 我的办法就是到他家里去， 跟他说：“嘿， 你为什么不来上学？” 这招还真管用。 他开始每天都来上学， 并且在我的课上开始有进步了， 他写诗、看书， 每天都来上学。 03:34Around the same time that I had figured out how to connect to Patrick, I got into law school at Harvard. I once again faced this question, where should I put myself, where do I put my body? And I thought to myself that the Mississippi Delta was a place where people with money, people with opportunity, those people leave. And the people who stay behind are the people who don't have the chance to leave. I didn't want to be a person who left. I wanted to be a person who stayed. On the other hand, I was lonely and tired. And so I convinced myself that I could do more change on a larger scale if I had a prestigious law degree. So I left. 在知道了该如何 跟帕特里克建立良好关系的同时， 我被哈佛法学院录取了。 要再次面对同一个问题： 我该去哪里？ 我该在哪落脚？ 我心想， 密西西比三角洲是有钱的人和 有机会的人 都会离开的地方， 而留下来的 都是没有机会离开的人。 我不想成为离开的人， 我想成为留下的人。 但另一方面， 我感到孤独又疲惫。 所以我说服自己， 如果我取得法学学位， 就可以在更大的范围内 做更多的改变。 于是我离开了。 04:26Three years later, when I was about to graduate from law school, my friend called me and told me that Patrick had got into a fight and killed someone. I was devastated. Part of me didn't believe it, but part of me also knew that it was true. I flew down to see Patrick. I visited him in jail. And he told me that it was true. That he had killed someone. And he didn't want to talk more about it. I asked him what had happened with school and he said that he had dropped out the year after I left. And then he wanted to tell me something else. He looked down and he said that he had had a baby daughter who was just born. And he felt like he had let her down. That was it, our conversation was rushed and awkward. 三年后， 我即将从法学院毕业时， 我的朋友打电话告诉我， 帕特里克跟人打架 并杀了一个人。 我很