TED演讲:拇指游戏

 　　Today I am going to teach you how to play my favorite game: 今天我要教你们怎么玩我最爱的游戏：

　　massively¹ multiplayer thumb-wrestling.  超级多人拇指摔跤

　　It's the only game in the world that I know of  这是我所知的唯一一个

　　that allows you, the player,  可以让你，也就是玩家

　　the opportunity to experience 10 positive emotions in 60 seconds or less. 得以在六十秒内体验十种正面心情的游戏

　　This is true, so if you play this game with me today  这是真的，因此如果你今天和我玩这个游戏

　　for just one single minute,  只需要一分钟

　　you will get to feel joy, relief, love, surprise,  你将会感受到喜悦、解脱、爱、惊喜

　　pride, curiosity, excitement, awe² and wonder, contentment, and creativity,  骄傲、好奇、兴奋、敬畏与惊奇、满足，以及创造力

　　all in the span³ of one minute.  这都将在一分钟内发生

　　So this sounds pretty good, right? Now you're willing to play.  听起来很不错吧？你现在会愿意玩这个游戏了

　　In order to teach you this game,  为了教你们这个游戏

　　I'm going to need some volunteers to come up onstage really quickly, 我需要一些自愿者很快地到台上来

　　and we're going to do a little hands-on demo.  然后我们将会亲身示范

　　While they're coming up, I should let you know,  在等他们上来的同时，我该让你们知道

　　this game was invented 10 years ago by an artists' collective in Austria named Monochrom. 这个游戏是在十年前，由一位奥地利艺术收藏家Monochrom发明的

　　So thank you, Monochrom.  谢谢你，Monochrom

　　Okay, so most people are familiar with traditional, two-person thumb-wrestling. 好的，大部分的人都对传统的两人拇指摔跤很熟悉

　　Sunni, let's just remind them. Sunni，我们帮他们复习一下吧

　　One, two, three, four,I declare a thumb war, and we wrestle⁴,  一，二，三，四，当我说拇指比赛，然后我们就开始

　　and of course Sunni beats me because she's the best.  当然Sunni会打败我，因为她是最厉害的

　　Now the first thing about massively multiplayer thumb-wrestling, we're the gamer generation. 玩多人拇指摔跤，（要知道）的第一件事情就是我们身处玩家的世代

　　There are a billion gamers on the planet now,  现在全世界有十数亿个玩家

　　so we need more of a challenge.  所以我们面临大挑战

　　So the first thing we need is more thumbs.  首先，我们需要更多的拇指

　　So Eric, come on over.  所以，来吧，Eric

　　So we could get three thumbs together, and Peter could join us. 我们把三个拇指凑在一起，然后Peter可以加入我们

　　We could even have four thumbs together,  我们甚至可以把四个拇指凑在一起

　　and the way you win is you're the first person to pin someone else's thumb. 如果你是第一个把别人的拇指按住的人，你就赢了

　　This is really important.  这很重要

　　You can't, like, wait while they fight it out and then swoop⁵ in at the last minute.  你不能在一旁观战，然后再最终才突然压下来

　　That is not how you win.  这样子赢了不算

　　Ah, who did that? Eric you did that.  噢，是谁？是Eric

　　So Eric would have won. He was the first person to pin my thumb.  这样Eric就赢了，他是第一个把我的拇指压住的

　　Okay, so that's the first rule,  好，这就是第一条规则

　　and we can see that three or four is kind of the typical number of thumbs in a node, 三个或四个拇指是在一个节点中常见的拇指数量

　　but if you feel ambitious,you don't have to hold back.  但是如果你很有野心的话，别憋在心里

　　We can really go for it.  我们真的可以争取更多

　　So you can see up here.  你可以看到

　　Now the only other rule you need to remember is,  你要记住的另外一条规则就是

　　gamer generation, we like a challenge.  身为玩家世代的一员，我们喜欢挑战

　　I happen to notice you all have some thumbs you're not using. 让我提醒你们，你们都有一些你现在没在用的拇指

　　So I think we should kind of get some more involved.  所以我觉得我们应该试点其他的

　　And if we had just four people,  如果我们只有四个人

　　we would do it just like this,  我们可以这样做

　　and we would try and wrestle both thumbs at the same time.  同时用两双拇指摔跤

　　Perfect.  太好了

　　Now, if we had more people in the room,  好，如果这房间里有更多人

　　instead of just wrestling in a closed node,  我们可以往外延伸，让更多人参与我们

　　we might reach out and try and grab⁶ some other people.  而不是只在一个封闭的节点里玩摔跤

　　And in fact, that's what we're going to do right now.  事实上，这就是我们现在要做的

　　We're going to try and get all, something like,  我们要试着把这房间里所有的

　　I don't know, 1,500 thumbs in this room connected in a single node. 我不确定，大概1500个拇指在一个节点里面连接起来

　　And we have to connect both levels,  我们得连结两层楼

　　so if you're up there, you're going to be reaching down and reaching up. 所以如果你在楼上的话，你就要同时连接楼上和楼下

1 massively   

adv. 大量地，大规模地

参考例句：

• With the development of network game,Massively Multiplayer Online Games(MMOG) requires ever-higher levels of the servers. 随着网络游戏的迅猛发展，大型多人在线网络游戏(Massively Multiplayer Online Games,MMOG)对服务器的要求越来越高。
• He gingerly touched his right ankle; it was swelling massively. 他小心翼翼地碰了碰右踝，肿得很厉害。

2 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

3 span   

n.跨度，跨距，范围；vt.持续，贯穿，跨越

参考例句：

• The time span of these documents from 1954 to 2009.这些文件的时间跨度为1954年至2009年。
• The measurement span is determined by the higher and lower range values.测量量程由上限值和下限值决定。

4 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

5 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

6 grab   

vt./n.攫取，抓取；vi.攫取，抓住(at)

参考例句：

• It is rude to grab a seat.抢占座位是不礼貌的。
• The thief made a grab at my bag but I pushed him away.贼想抢我的手提包，但被我推开了。