TED演讲 如果我有一个女儿…(4)

 When I was a freshman¹ in high school, I was a live wire of nervous hormones². And I was underdeveloped and over-excitable. 当我是高一新生时，我是一个神经激素异常活跃的人。我发育不良，但又过度兴奋。And despite my fear of ever being looked at for too long, I was fascinated by the idea of spoken-word poetry. 尽管我向来害怕 被人瞧太久，我却对口语诗歌的想法着迷。I felt that my two secret loves, poetry and theater, had come together, had a baby, a baby I needed to get to know. 我感到我2个秘密的爱好，诗歌和戏剧可以结合为一体，有了新生儿，我得去了解这新艺术。So I decided³ to give it a try. My first spoken-word poem, packed with all the wisdom of a 14-year-old, was about the injustice⁴ of being seen as unfeminine. 所以我决定试一下。我第一首口语诗，集成我14岁时的所有智慧，它是有关被视为无女人味的侵权问题。The poem was very indignant, and mainly exaggerated, but the only spoken-word poetry that I had seen up until that point was mainly indignant, so I thought that's what was expected of me. 这诗是非常气愤的，大部分夸张了，但除了这一点外，我看这口语诗主要是义愤填膺的风格，我想这就是我所期望的效果。The first time that I performed, the audience of teenagers hooted⁵ and hollered their sympathy, and when I came off the stage, I was shaking. 我第一次表演，年轻观众们欢呼雀跃以示同情，但我走下舞台我在发抖。I felt this tap on my shoulder, and I turned around to see this giant girl in a hoodie sweatshirt emerge from the crowd. 有人在我肩膀上轻拍了一下，我转身看到这个从观众群中脱身而出穿着连帽运动衫的高大女孩。She was maybe eight feet tall and looked like she could beat me up with one hand, but instead she just nodded at me and said, "Hey, I really felt that. Thanks." 她或许有8英尺高，好像她要一拳把我击倒在地，与此相反她对我只是点点头，说到，“嗨，我的确和你同感。谢谢。”And lightning struck. I was hooked. 顿时像雷击一样。我被吸引住了。I discovered this bar on Manhattan's Lower East Side that hosted a weekly poetry open Mic, 我发现曼哈顿下东区的这个酒吧它主持每周公众诗歌朗读表演，and my bewildered, but supportive, parents took me to soak in every ounce of spoken word that I could. 我那困惑，但又支持我的父母带我完全沉浸在这口语诗表演中。I was the youngest by at least a decade, but somehow the poets at the Bowery Poetry Club didn't seem bothered by the 14-year-old wandering about. In fact, they welcomed me. 至少在10年里我是最年轻的诗人，不知怎的，鲍威利诗社的诗人并不介意14岁的我在此流连忘返--事实上，他们欢迎我的加入。And it was here, listening to these poets share their stories, that I learned that spoken-word poetry didn't have to be indignant, it could be fun or painful or serious or silly. 就是在这儿，听着这些诗歌，分享着他们的故事，从中我了解到口语诗不是要义愤填膺的风格，它可能是有趣的，痛苦的，严肃的或者无聊的诗。The Bowery Poetry Club became my classroom and my home, and the poets who performed encouraged me to share my stories as well. 鲍威利诗社变成了我的课堂和我家。表演的诗人也鼓励我去分享我的故事。Never mind the fact that I was 14. They told me, "Write about being 14." 从不介意我只是14岁--他们告诉我，“要14岁那样的写诗。”So I did and stood amazed every week when these brilliant, grown-up poets laughed with me and groaned⁶ their sympathy and clapped and told me, "Hey, I really felt that too." 每周我那样写诗，惊奇地站着表演，这些聪明的成年诗人和我一起笑，表达着他们的关心，同时鼓掌告诉我，“嗨，我也和你同感。”

1 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

2 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

3 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。

4 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

5 hooted   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• An owl hooted nearby. 一只猫头鹰在附近啼叫。
• The crowd hooted and jeered at the speaker. 群众向那演讲人发出轻蔑的叫嚣和嘲笑。

6 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》