TED演讲：关于人性名利和爱(3)

 　　You married the first girl that you dated, and you were a techie if you could fix the carburetor in your car. 我还相信你们都会和自己第一个约会的女孩结婚；相信会修汽车化油器，就算是个汽车专家了。

　　I really thought that gay was a sophisticated English word for happy. 天真地以为英文单词"gay"就只是开心的意思。

　　And Lesbian, of course, was the capital of Portugal, as you all know. 理所当然地以为"Lesbian"就是葡萄牙首都里斯本。

　　Where was I? We relied on systems created through the toil¹ and sacrifice of generations before to protect us, 好吧，我扯远了。我们依赖着的体制生活，是祖祖辈辈们用血汗创造出来的成果，为了来庇护我们的，

　　and we felt that governments actually worked for our betterment. 我们相信政府一定在为人民的美好未来而努力。

　　Science was simple and logical, Apple was still then just a fruit owned by Eve first and then Newton, not by Steve Jobs, until then. 科学是简单而富有逻辑，苹果也还只是一种水果，先被夏娃咬了一口，之后又砸到了牛顿，还不是现在史蒂夫·乔布斯的品牌。

　　And "Eureka!" was what you screamed when you wanted to run naked on the streets. 而阿基米德大喊着：“我知道了！”，其实只是想在街上裸奔的借口。

　　You went wherever life took you for work, and people were mostly welcoming of you. 你为了工作随遇而安，大家大多都对你很友善。

　　Migration² was a term then still reserved for Siberian cranes, not human beings. 迁徙也只是一个词语，用来形容西伯利亚白鹤飞越国界，而非难民。

　　Most importantly, you were who you were and you said what you thought. 更重要的是，你可以做你自己，你可以说你想要说的。

　　Then in my late 20s, I shifted to the sprawling³ metropolis⁴ of Mumbai, 然后在我将近30岁时，我搬到了热闹而繁华的孟买都市区，

　　and my framework, like the newly industrialized aspirational⁵ humanity, began to alter. 我的人生，就像人性进入了工业革命，发生了翻天覆地的变化。

　　In the urban rush for a new, more embellished⁶ survival, things started to look a little different. 要在千变万化的城市中寻求生存，一切都变得不一样了。

　　I met people who had descended⁷ from all over the world, faces, races, genders⁸, money-lenders. 我遇见了来自世界各地的人，来自不同的种族，拥有不同的面孔，性别，财富。

　　Definitions became more and more fluid. Work began to define you at that time in an overwhelmingly equalizing manner, 我的价值观开始改变。你的职业成了定义你的标准，这一切变得无比客观，

　　and all the systems started to feel less reliable to me, 所有的体制对于我来说都变得不再可靠，

　　almost too thick to hold on to the diversity of mankind and the human need to progress and grow. 变得很难去去解释人的多样性，而且人类也是需要不断进步、成长的。

　　Ideas were flowing with more freedom and speed. 许多想法变得更加自由，传播速度也越来越快。

　　And I experienced the miracle of human innovation and cooperation, and my own creativity, 我经历了人类创新与合作的奇迹，还有我自己创造的奇迹，

　　when supported by the resourcefulness of this collective endeavor, catapulted me into superstardom. 当我得到所有的支持和资源，是它们把我推上了巨星的位置。

1 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

2 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

3 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

4 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

5 aspirational   

志同的，有抱负的

参考例句：

• Most of the images that bombard us all are aspirational. 轰击的图像，我们都期望最大。
• Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. 分析师们指出，自助读书、热爱读书是印度人均读书时间超过别的国家的主要原因。

6 embellished   

v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色

参考例句：

• The door of the old church was embellished with decorations. 老教堂的门是用雕饰美化的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stern was embellished with carvings in red and blue. 船尾饰有红色和蓝色的雕刻图案。 来自辞典例句

7 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

8 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网