欧美人文风情第174篇:和黑猩猩交心的人 - 珍 古德

 It's fascinating to me to think about, you know, the beingness of creatures on this planet. 对我而言去思考，你知道，在这个星球上的生物的存在性是很吸引人的。

And it's very obvious that we are human beings, so I always feel we have chimpanzee beings and dog beings. 很显然我们是人们，所以我总是认为我们也有黑猩猩们以及狗儿们。

And I like to talk about them as he and she, which I was horribly criticized for at the beginning. 而我喜欢将他们当作“他”和“她”来讨论，为此我在一开始受到严苛的批判。

And I was told that we humans were the only beings with personalities¹, minds, and emotions, 有人告诉我，我们人类是唯一拥有个性、思想、以及情感的生物，

but I learned from my childhood teacher that that wasn't true, 但我从我的童年导师那学到那不是正确的，

and that childhood teacher was my dog, Rusty². 而那童年导师是我的狗，Rusty。

People said why did I name the chimpanzees? Why wouldn't I name them? 人们说我为什么要替黑猩猩取名字？我为什么不会替他们取名呢？

Every animal I'd ever had had a name. 我曾养过的每只动物都有名字。

My guinea pigs had names; my golden hamster had a name; the caterpillars³ that I kept to turn into butterflies—they all had names. 我的天竺鼠有名字；我的黄金鼠有名字；我养来变成蝴蝶的毛毛虫们－－他们都有名字。

Of course I would name chimpanzees. I couldn't remember them if they had numbers. 我当然会替黑猩猩取名字啊。如果他们只有号码，我就无法记住他们。

Thanks for National Geographic⁴, people got to know the chimpanzees as individuals, which they were. 感谢国家地理频道，人们得以将黑猩猩当成独一无二的个体来认识，而他们的确是。

They had names, like David Greybeard, the first one to lose his fear; Old Flo, that amazing matriarch. 他们有名字，像是灰胡子大卫，他是第一隻放下恐惧的黑猩猩；老芙洛，那了不起的女家长。

If they'd been number 1, 10, 15, nobody would have had a clue, including me. 如果他们只是编号 1、10、15，没人会知道在说谁，包括我在内。

It doesn't mean anything. 编号不具任何意义。

And I was told that you have to give them numbers because you've got to be objective as a scientist, 人们告诉我，你必须给他们号码，因为身为一位科学家你一定得客观，

and you mustn't empathize with your subject. 而且你绝不能对你的研究对象产生同理心。

And I feel this is where science has gone wrong. 我认为这就是科学开始走偏的地方。

To have this coldness, this lack of empathy, has enabled some scientists to do unethical behavior. 拥有这种冷漠、这种同理心的缺乏，使得一些科学家能够做出不道德的行为。

Moreover, why deny a perfectly⁵ respectable tool? 此外，为何要拒绝一个十分可敬的工具呢？

I think those two are behaving like that because that's how I would behave if I was in that situation—that's empathy. 我想那两隻猩猩正像那样表现，因为如果我在那种情况下，那也是我会表现的方式－－那就是同理心。

Once you've worked out why you think they are doing it,then you can start testing that: 一旦你想出为什么你觉得他们这样做，然后你就可以开始测试：

Am I right? Is this a valid⁶ assumption or not? 我是对的吗？这是否是个有依据的推论？

But it gives you a groundwork for asking questions. 但同理心给了你一个提出疑问的根基。

I think empathy is really important. 我认为同理心是非常重要的。

And I think only when our clever brain and our human heart work together in harmony can we achieve our full potential. 而且我想只有在我们聪明的脑袋和我们人心和谐地共同运作时，我们才能发挥我们最大的潜能。

 

1 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

2 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

3 caterpillars   

n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带

参考例句：

• Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
• Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句

4 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？