TED演讲： 凌晨4点(2)

 　　A time for even grimmer stuff than that, like in last April's New Yorker magazine. 那个时辰里还有更严酷的事情发生过，比如去年4月纽约人杂志中

　　This short fiction piece by Martin Amis starts out, Martin Amis的短篇小说是这样开始的：

　　"On September 11, 2001, he opened his eyes at 4 a.m. in Portland, Maine, and Mohamed Atta's last day began." “2001年9月11日，他睁开眼睛，凌晨4点，缅因州，波特兰市，Mohamed Atta的最后一天开始了。”

　　For a time that I find to be the most placid¹ and uneventful hour of the day, 在这个我觉得是最温和、最平静的时刻，

　　four in the morning sure gets an awful lot of bad press 凌晨4点真的为我们带来了很多恶劣的坏消息

　　across a lot of different media from a lot of big names. And it made me suspicious. 很多大媒体都传递着这样的信息，这让我感到怀疑。

　　I figured, surely some of the most creative artistic² minds in the world, really,  我想，当然，这个世界上那么多富有创造力的艺术家,

　　aren't all defaulting back to this one easy trope like they invented it, right? 并不都会像默认设置般地选用这个简单的隐喻，好像他们自己发明这个隐喻似的？是吗？

　　Could it be there is something more going on here?  是不是其中还有什么奥妙？

　　Something deliberate, something secret, and who got the four in the morning bad rap ball rolling anyway? 刻意的，神秘的，那是谁让这个凌晨4点的厄运之球滚动开来的呢？

　　I say this guy -- Alberto Giacometti, shown here with some of his sculptures on the Swiss 100 franc note. 我说，是这个家伙：阿尔贝托·贾科梅蒂。他的一些作品印在100瑞士法郎上。

　　He did it with this famous piece from the New York Museum of Modern Art. 他的这个著名的作品展览在纽约现代艺术馆里，

　　Its title -- "The Palace at Four in the Morning -- 1932. 题目就叫：凌晨4点的宫殿，1932年。

　　Not just the earliest cryptic⁴ reference to four in the morning I can find. 这不仅是我可以找到的最早的凌晨4点的神秘参考。

　　I believe that this so-called first surrealist sculpture may provide an incredible key to virtually 我认为，这个所谓的第一个超现实主义雕塑可能提供了一个令人难以置信的基点

　　every artistic depiction⁵ of four in the morning to follow it.  几乎被每一个描述过凌晨4点的艺术作品所遵循。

　　I call this The Giacometti Code, a TED³ exclusive.  我把它叫做贾科梅蒂密码，一个TED的专称。

　　No, feel free to follow along on your Blackberries or your iPhones if you've got them. 不，不，你们尽管用你们的黑莓手机或iPhone手机上网搜索，如果你们带着的话。

1 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

2 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

3 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

4 cryptic   

adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的

参考例句：

• She made a cryptic comment about how the film mirrored her life.她隐晦地表示说这部电影是她人生的写照。
• The new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms.新的保险单在编写时没有隐秘条款或秘密条款。

5 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。