欧美名人演讲 第74期:同性恋与道德的关系(20)

 　　In the simple act of saying "his partner, Mark," not "his friend," or not "his roommate."

　　她的话非常简单："他的爱人马克"，她没有说"他的朋友"或者"他的室友"。

　　I mean you could hear the quote marks around the words. This is John's "roommate." His partner.

　　你甚至能从这话里听出言不由衷的引号来：这是约翰的"室友"。"他的爱人"。

　　That simple act of calling things by their right names, it shattered a taboo¹, and that was beautiful and that was important.

　　仅仅几个简单的真实字眼，就打碎了惯常的禁忌。它如此美妙，如此重要。

　　But, it wasn't just important because of what it did for us at the table that day or what they did for us at the table.

　　但是，这话的重要性不仅仅针对席间的我们。

　　It's also important for those come after us.

　　它对我们的后辈同样重要。

　　You know, one of the interesting things about gay and lesbian people, as a minority group is that, in a sense, our children are not born unto us.

　　同性恋人群的一个很有趣的事实是，同样作为一个少数群体，我的孩子并不生来如我。

　　What I mean is this: black people generally have black children, Jewish people generally have Jewish children, any kind of people can have gay or lesbian children.

　　我想说的是：黑人的孩子是黑人，犹太人的孩子是犹太人，而任何人都可能有同性恋孩子。

　　Sometimes rabidly anti-gay people have gay and lesbian children.

　　有时候连激进的反同性恋族群也会生出同性恋子女来。

　　We can't protect them from a hostile world the way other minority groups can.

　　我们没法用和其他少数族群相同的方法，来保护自己的孩子免于面对外部世界的敌意。

　　We can't necessarily give them the benefit of our experiences the way other groups can.

　　和其他族群不同，我们无法人我们的孩子从我们自身成长的经历中获益。

　　And I feel for these kids, partly because I was there and I know what it's like, and partly because they are, in a sense, they're our kids.

　　我真心关切那些同性恋孩子，一半因为我也曾经是他们中的一员，身历同感；另一半是因为某种程度上，他们也是我的孩子。

　　So, what do we do for them?

　　我们能为他们做些什么？

　　Well, one thing we can do is we can educate their parents.

　　我们可以交给他们父母相关的知识。

　　And you know, that day when my mother said, "My son John and his partner, Mark,"

　　我妈妈几年前那天说出"我儿子约翰，和他的爱人马克"。

　　Some day that waitress may have a lesbian daughter or a gay son, and she may remember back and say,

　　而或许几年后那位拿女服务员会有个同性恋子女，也许她会回忆起那天的事，然后对自己说：

　　"Hey you know what? The Corvinos had a gay son, and they went out to dinner with him and partner, and they seemed to be okay with that.

　　"科尔维诺一家也有个同性恋儿子，他们带着他儿子的同性爱人一起吃饭，看上去他们都很自在。"

　　And that may seem so simple, but it's powerful.

　　这事情看起来简单，但非常有力量。

　　Sometimes it can make all the difference, but we're only going to have things like that if we have moral courage.

　　有时，小小的事情能改变一切。但是，如果我们缺少道德上的勇气的时候，这一切都不会发生。

　　And I mean it when I say moral courage.

　　当我说道德上的勇气的时候，我发自肺腑地想要强调它。

　　And this is a very important point.

　　它如此重要。

　　One of the biggest misconceptions about the work that I do is that people think that I'm out to attack morality, that I'm out to espouse² some moral relativism where I just say do whatever you feel, it doesn't matter, or that I'm telling people morality is a private matter-keep it to yourself, don't judge other people, I'm not about the moral judgments³.

　　对我工作最大的误解之一是有人会认为我是道德上的破坏者，或者他们会认为我拥护的是道德相对主义，我让人们随心所欲，不计后果，又或者认为我给人们灌输"道德是私人的，在乎内心，莫论是非"这种观念。

　　People think this about me. Nothing could be further from the truth.

　　但上面的这几种观点，和真实的我南辕北辙。

1 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

2 espouse   

v.支持，赞成，嫁娶

参考例句：

• Today,astronomers espouse the theory that comets spawn the swarms.如今，天文学家们支持彗星产生了流星团的说法。
• Some teachers enthusiastically espouse the benefits to be gained from educational software.有些教师热烈赞同可以从教学软件中得到好处的观点。

3 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。