TED演讲:人类性进化的启示(3)

 　　I'm sorry. It's true.  我很抱歉，不过这是事实

　　The human, some of you will be happy to hear,  你们有些人可能比较喜欢听到这个

　　has the largest, thickest penis of any primate¹.  人类有灵长类中最大最厚的阴茎

　　Now, this evidence goes way beyond anatomy².  证据其实还不止于解剖学

　　It goes into anthropology³ as well.  我们还有人类学证据

　　Historical records are full of accounts of people  有很多历史记录都显示

　　around the world who have sexual practices that should be impossible  世界各地存在各种不可思议的性做法

　　given what we have assumed about human sexual evolution.  基于对人类性进化的传统假设，这些是不可想象的

　　These women are the Mosuo from southwestern China.  这两位是来自中国西南部的摩梭族女性

　　In their society, everyone, men and women, are completely sexually autonomous⁴.  在她们的社会中，每个男人和女人都是完全性自主的

　　There's no shame associated with sexual behavior.  没有人会对性行为感到害羞

　　Women have hundreds of partners.  女性可以有数以百计的伴侣

　　It doesn't matter. Nobody cares. Nobody gossips. It's not an issue.  这没关系，没人会说闲话，这不是问题

　　When the woman becomes pregnant,  女性怀孕时

　　the child is cared for by her, her sisters, and her brothers.  孩子会由她和她的兄弟姐妹照料

　　The biological father is a nonissue.  生物意义上的父亲根本就无关紧要

　　On the other side of the planet, in the Amazon, we've got many tribes which practice  在地球另一侧的亚马逊地区，还有很多部落在践行

　　what anthropologists call partible paternity.  人类学家所说的可分父权

　　These people actually believe   这些人相信…

　　and they have no contact among them,  而且他们之间没有接触

　　no common language or anything, so it's not an idea that spread,  没有共同语言，等等，因此这不是一个扩散的观念

　　it's an idea that's arisen around the world   而是一个在其世界中自然产生的观念

　　they believe that a fetus⁵ is literally⁶ made of accumulated semen.  他们相信胚胎是由精液积累形成的

　　So a woman who wants to have a child who's smart and funny and strong  因此，一个想要聪明，活泼，强壮子女的女人

　　makes sure she has lots of sex with the smart guy, the funny guy and the strong guy,  会同很多聪明，活泼，强壮的男人交配

　　to get the essence of each of these men into the baby, and then when the child is born,  期待将这些男人的特质融入到孩子身上，孩子出生后

　　these different men will come forward and acknowledge their paternity of the child.  这些男性都会过来承认和孩子的父子关系

　　So paternity is actually sort of a team endeavor in this society.  在这个社会中，父权是一种团队协作

　　So there are all sorts of examples like this that we go through in the book.  我们在书中介绍了很多这样的例子

　　Now, why does this matter?  为什么说这很重要呢

　　Edward Wilson says we need to understand  爱德华·威尔逊说我们需要理解

　　that human sexuality is first a bonding device and only secondarily procreation.  人类的性首先是一种纽带机制，其次才是生殖作用

　　I think that's true. This matters because  我认为他说得很对，这很重要

　　our evolved sexuality is in direct conflict with many aspects of the modern world.  因为性的进化同现代世界的诸多方面都存在直接矛盾

　　The contradictions between what we're told  观念中我们应当如何感受

　　we should feel and what we actually do feel  和我们的实际感受之间存在很大的矛盾

　　generates a huge amount of unnecessary suffering.  这导致了大量不必要的痛苦

　　My hope is that  我的希望是

　　a more accurate, updated understanding of human sexuality  通过对人类的性的更准确，更现代的理解

　　will lead us to have greater tolerance⁷ for ourselves, for each other,  能够让我们对彼此有更大的宽容

　　greater respect for unconventional relationship configurations  对非传统的关系结构更加尊重

　　like samesex marriage or polyamorous unions,  例如同性婚姻，多元性关系

　　and that we'll finally put to rest the idea  此外，我们也不应当再认为

　　that men have some innate⁸, instinctive⁹ right  男性具有与生俱来的权利

　　to monitor and control women's sexual behavior.  来监管和控制女性的性行为

　　Thank you.  谢谢大家

　　And we'll see that it's not only gay people that have to come out of the closet.  其实不只是同性恋者需要出柜

　　We all have closets we have to come out of. Right?  我们所有人都有需要跳出的柜

　　And when we do come out of those closets,  从这些柜中跳出后

　　we'll recognize that our fight is not with each other,  我们就会意识到，我们要斗争的并不是彼此

　　our fight is with an outdated¹⁰, Victorian sense of human sexuality  而是维多利亚时代遗留下来的过时性观念

　　that conflates desire with property rights,  这种老旧保守观念只会让欲望同所有权混淆不清

　　generates shame and confusion  导致羞耻和疑惑

　　in place of understanding and empathy.  让理解和同情无处落脚

1 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

2 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

3 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

4 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

5 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

8 innate   

adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的

参考例句：

• You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
• Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。

9 instinctive   

adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的

参考例句：

• He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.他试图饰盖自己对这一想法本能的厌恶。
• Animals have an instinctive fear of fire.动物本能地怕火。

10 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。