欧美名人演讲 第67期:同性恋与道德的关系(13)

 　　In fact, I want to take this a step further.

　　事实上，我进一步想说。

　　I want to say not only does this argument scapegoat¹ gay people and make that sort of mistake, it actually is a greater threat to the family than what it's trying to fight.

　　这种论断不但错误地把同性恋者作为替罪羊，而且，比起它反对的同性恋来说，这种论断本身就是对家庭更大的威胁。

　　Let me tell you another story.

　　我再说一个故事。

　　Many years ago when I lived in New York, there was a guy, Joe.

　　很多年前我住在纽约。有位乔先生。

　　He had a wife and several small kids, and they went to my church.

　　他也娶妻并且有了几个孩子，他们全家和我都相识在同一个教会。

　　And, one night, I saw Joe out at a gay bar.

　　然后某天晚上，我在一个同性恋酒吧碰到了他。

　　At first, I wasn't even sure if it was him because, how could that be Joe? He has a wife and kids.

　　开始我几乎不敢相信那是乔，因为那怎么可能是乔啊？他已经娶妻生子了！

　　And, but every time I looked over him, he do this. It's kind of conspicuous² in a gay bar.

　　不过每次我朝他望过去的时候，他都试图遮住自己的脸。这种动作反而欲盖弥彰。

　　So, I went over to him and I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Joe, what are you doing here?"

　　我径直走过去，拍拍他的肩膀说："乔，你为什么来这里？"

　　And Joe, who was about ten years older than I am, explained to me that when he was growing up, being gay was just not an option, and he felt a lot of pressure to "do the right thing," which, for him, meant marrying and having children, but it wasn't really working for him.

　　年长我十岁的乔开口回答我，他说在他成长的那个年代，做一个同性恋者是根本不可能的。在他的身边有无数的压力逼迫他去做"正确的事情"，也就是娶妻生子。但对他来说，这一切都起不到什么好作用。

　　So, he was living this double life.

　　所以他一直过着双重身份的生活。

　　Now, I don't want to condone³ what he's doing there; I think that's a terrible thing.

　　我在此并非想去为他这种做法辩解，这并不是件好事。

　　On the other hand, I've never walked in his shoes.

　　我没经历过他那些压力和艰辛。

　　I don't know the kinds of struggles he went through.

　　我并不知道他有过多少艰难的挣扎。

　　I don't really know enough details of the situation to make any real kind of informed commentary on the specific situation, but I do want to say this we would have fewer such difficult cases if we would simple recognize that heterosexual marriage is not necessarily right for everyone.

　　我也没有足够的认知可以对这种情况作出客观和有见地的评价。但是我确实想说，如果我们简单地承认"异性恋婚姻并不适合于每个人"这个事实，也许像他这样痛苦的例子会变得越来越少。

　　And we don't do anyone any favors by pressuring them into situations that they're not suited for.

　　当我们把一个人硬是推到他无法适应的牢笼里的时候，我们做的并不是一件善事。

　　Don't do gay people any favors.

　　我们队同性恋者做的不是善事。

　　Don't do their spouses⁴ any favors.

　　对他们的婚姻配偶做的不是善事。

　　Don't do their kids any favors.

　　对他们的孩子做的也不是善事。

　　Okay, I want to move to the fourth and final argument that I'm going to look at this evening-the argument that homosexuality is wrong because it's unnatural⁵.

　　好吧，接下来的话题是今晚要讨论的第四个也是最后一个论点：指责同性恋之所以有错，是因为它是"非自然的"。

　　Now this could mean a lot of different things.

　　这话可以解释为很多种不同的含义。

　　What is unnatural? I mean clothing is unnatural in some sense.

　　什么是"非自然的"？某种程度上，衣服就是一种"非自然"的东西。

　　Buildings are unnatural in some sense, but we're not doing this naked and outside. Be thankful.

　　建筑也是一种"非自然啊"的东西。但是感谢上天，我们不会因此就去赤身裸体、风餐露宿。

　　So what do we mean when we say that homosexuality is unnatural, and, also, why does that matter?

　　所以当我们说同性恋是"非自然"的时候，我们到底在指什么？而且，自然还是非自然真的重要吗？

　　Why, you know it, unnatural? So what? So we need to specify⁶ some morally relevant sense of unnatural.

　　"非自然"那又怎么样？看来我们得为"非自然"找到一些跟道德相关的注脚。

　　Let me look at a few different things that people might mean when they say this.

　　不妨看看当人们提到"非自然"的时候他们指的是哪些不同的东西。

　　One thing they might mean is that most people don't do that; it's statistically⁷ abnormal.

　　第一，他们会把大部分人不去做的东西，也就是比例较低的事物视作"不自然"。

　　Well, that's true. Most people don't engage in homosexual relationships.

　　这不假，大部分人都不会去开展一段同性恋的情感经历。

　　Then again, most people don't play the mandolin, most people don't pilot planes, most people don't read Sanskrit.

　　同理，大多数人也不会去弹奏曼陀林琴，大多数人也不会去驾驶飞机，大多数人也都不会去读梵文。

　　I mean, the fact that most people don't do something doesn't make it wrong.

　　事实上是，大多数人不去做某件事情，并不意味着这件事本身是错的。

　　So, that doesn't seem to be morally relevant.

　　所以，这与道德无关。

　　Well, what else might we mean?

　　人们还把什么视为"不自然"呢？

　　We might mean animals don't do that.

　　他们也许会指动物不去做的事情就是"不自然"的。

　　There was a legislator when I lived in Texas, Warren Chisum, who used to love this argument.

　　我住在德州的时候，曾有个立法委员沃伦·奇松喜欢利用这个论调来谴责同性恋。

　　He said, "Homosexuality is unnatural! Animals don't do that!"

　　他这么说："同性恋是非自然的！动物们不这么做！"

1 scapegoat   

n.替罪的羔羊，替人顶罪者；v.使…成为替罪羊

参考例句：

• He has been made a scapegoat for the company's failures.他成了公司倒闭的替罪羊。
• They ask me to join the party so that I'll be their scapegoat when trouble comes.他们想叫我入伙，出了乱子，好让我替他们垫背。

2 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。

3 condone   

v.宽恕；原谅

参考例句：

• I cannot condone the use of violence.我不能宽恕使用暴力的行为。
• I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.我绝不允许任何导致战争的行为。

4 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

5 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

6 specify   

vt.指定，详细说明

参考例句：

• We should specify a time and a place for the meeting.我们应指定会议的时间和地点。
• Please specify what you will do.请你详述一下你将做什么。

7 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。