TED演讲:抑郁,我们各自隐藏的秘密(9)

 　　I was really moved by these experiences,  我被这些真实的故事深深打动了

　　and I decided¹ that I wanted to write about them  我之前计划只是写一本书来记录

　　not only in a book I was working on, but also in an article,  但是现在我觉得远远不够，我还要写一篇文章

　　and so I got a commission from The New York Times Magazine to write about depression among the indigent². 所以我跟纽约时报杂志说好，写一篇有关低收入群里中抑郁症的报告

　　And I turned in my story, and my editor called me and said,  当我写好之后，我的编辑打电话给我说

　　"We really can't publish this."  我们真的没办法发表这个

　　And I said, "Why not?"  然后我问, "为什么?"

　　And she said, "It just is too far-fetched.  她说, "故事太牵强了"

　　These people who are sort of at the very bottom rung of society  这些人生活在接近社会底层的地方

　　and then they get a few months of treatment and they're virtually ready to run Morgan Stanley? 然后他们经过了六个月的治疗，然后他们就可以去管理摩根史坦利了?

　　It's just too implausible."  太没有说服力了

　　She said, I've never even heard of anything like it."  她说, "我从来没有听过这样的事情"

　　And I said, "The fact that you've never heard of it is an indication that it is news." 然后我说, "你从没有听说过"恰恰说明这个是一个'新闻'

　　"And you are a news magazine."  而且你们是一家新闻媒体啊

　　So after a certain amount of negotiation³, they agreed to it. 来回协商了几次之后，他们同意发表了

　　But I think a lot of what they said was connected in some strange way 但是他们说的话让我想了很多，他们这种态度跟另外一个观点多少有点关系

　　to this distaste that people still have for the idea of treatment, 即很多人还是反感抑郁症需要治疗这个观点

　　the notion that somehow if we went out and treated a lot of people in indigent communities, 好像这就意味着我们会开始大规模的开始治疗低收入者

　　that would be an exploitative thing to do, because we would be changing them. 这将是一件带有剥削性质的事情，因为我们是在改造他们

　　There is this false moral imperative⁴ that seems to be all around us 看起来我们所有的人都受到一种教条的影响

　　that treatment of depression, the medications and so on, are an artifice⁵, 即治疗抑郁的疗法也好,药物也好,都是人造的产物

　　and that it's not natural.  并不是自然的结果

　　And I think that's very misguided.  我觉得这完全是使入歧途了

　　It would be natural for people's teeth to fall out,  虽然人老了掉牙是很自然的时候

　　but there is nobody militating against toothpaste, at least not in my circles. 但是这并不影响任何人使用牙膏，至少我的周围没有

　　And people then say, "Well, but isn't depression part of what people are supposed to experience? 人们可能会接着问, "那么, 抑郁本身不应该是我们注定需要经历的一个过程么

　　Didn't we evolve to have depression?  难道抑郁不是我们的演化的结果么

　　Isn't it part of your personality?"  难道这不是你个性的一部分么

　　To which I would say, mood is adaptive.  对此我的看法是，情绪是有适应性的

　　Being able to have sadness and fear and joy and pleasure 对于我们而言，能够感受喜怒哀乐

　　and all of the other moods that we have, that's incredibly valuable. 以及其它丰富的情感意义重大

　　And major depression is something that happens when that system gets broken. 而当一个人总是抑郁的时候，那一定是他的情绪系统出问题了

　　It's maladaptive.  不再能够适应环境了

　　People will come to me and say,  有些人会跟我这样说,

　　"I think, though, if I just stick it out for another year, I think I can just get through this." "即便如此，我想如果我自己再多熬一年，我就可以走出抑郁了

　　And I always say to them, "You may get through it, but you'll never be 37 again. 对此我总是这样回答, "或许你能够自己走出来，但是失去的青春你再也找不回了

　　Life is short, and that's a whole year you're talking about giving up. Think it through." 人生苦短，你现在却在跟我说要浪费一年的时间，你再想想

　　It's a strange poverty of the English language, and indeed of many other languages, 关于抑郁这种情感，英语中用来形容的词出奇地少，当然别的语言也多不到哪里去

　　that we use this same word, depression,  我们用'depression'这一个单词

　　to describe how a kid feels when it rains on his birthday, 即用来描述一个小孩子生日那天下大雨的心情

　　and to describe how somebody feels the minute before they commit suicide. 也用来描述一个自杀者自杀前一分钟的感觉

　　People say to me, "Well, is it continuous with normal sadness?"  人们会问, "这是不是就是长时间的悲伤?"

　　And I say, in a way it's continuous with normal sadness.  某种意义上可以这么理解

　　There is a certain amount of continuity,  悲伤和抑郁之间有一定的连续性

　　but it's the same way there's continuity  但是他们之间的连续性就像是

　　between having an iron fence outside your house that gets a little rust⁶ spot 悲伤可以看成是你房子周围的铁栅栏有一点生锈了

　　that you have to sand off and do a little repainting,  你需要用沙纸打磨一下重新喷漆

　　and what happens if you leave the house for 100 years  但是如果你的房子100年没有人住了

　　and it rusts⁷ through until it's only a pile of orange dust. 那么铁栅栏会锈蚀到只剩下一堆黄锈

　　And it's that orange dust spot, that orange dust problem, 悲伤和抑郁的差别就好比生了一点锈和锈蚀到什么都没有了

　　that's the one we're setting out to address.  后者是我们要解决的问题

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 indigent   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的

参考例句：

• The town government is responsible for assistance to indigent people.镇政府负责给穷人提供帮助。
• A judge normally appoints the attorney for an indigent defendant at the defendant's first court appearence.法官通常会在贫穷被告人第一次出庭时，为其指派一名辩护律师。

3 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

4 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

5 artifice   

n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计

参考例句：

• The use of mirrors in a room is an artifice to make the room look larger.利用镜子装饰房间是使房间显得大一点的巧妙办法。
• He displayed a great deal of artifice in decorating his new house.他在布置新房子中表现出富有的技巧。

6 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

7 rusts   

n.铁锈( rust的名词复数 )；（植物的）锈病，锈菌v.（使）生锈( rust的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Copper nails are better than iron nails because the iron rusts. 铜钉比铁钉好，因为铁会生锈。 来自辞典例句
• The axenic culture of rusts has been achieved on various defined media. 在各种规定的培养基上可得到锈菌的单体纯净培养物。 来自辞典例句