Name: 【TED】凱倫．湯普森．沃克：我們可以從恐懼中學到什麼？ (What fear can teach us | Karen Thompson Walker)
Uploaded: 2015-07-26T22:00:00.000Z
Duration: 11 min 31 s

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

距離智利的海岸線3,000英哩之遙，

在一個太平洋上最偏遠的角落，

in one of the most remote regions of the Pacific Ocean,

有20個美國水手看著海水湧入他們的船。

20 American sailors watched their ship flood with seawater.

他們的船被一條抹香鯨撞上了，

They'd been struck by a sperm whale, which had ripped

船身破了一個足以造成災難的大洞。

As their ship began to sink beneath the swells,

the men huddled together in three small whaleboats.

最接近的陸地也在超過1,000英哩之外。

more than 1,000 miles from the nearest scrap of land.

這些人是捕鯨船艾塞克斯號上的船員，

These were the men of the whaleship Essex,

他們的故事後來成為了 名著《白鯨記》(Moby Dick) 的一部分。

whose story would later inspire parts of "Moby Dick."

即使在現代，他們遭遇的情況也是非常可怕的，

Even in today's world, their situation would be really dire,

更不用說在他們的年代這有多麼糟糕。

but think about how much worse it would have been then.

在陸地上的人都不知道這次事故。

No one on land had any idea that anything had gone wrong.

也不會有搜救團隊來尋找這些人。

No search party was coming to look for these men.

So most of us have never experienced a situation

像這些船員所遭遇般如此令人害怕的情況，

as frightening as the one in which these sailors found themselves,

但我們都知道害怕是怎麼一回事。

but we all know what it's like to be afraid.

我們知道恐懼的感覺是什麼樣的，

但我不確定我們有花足夠的時間思考

but I'm not sure we spend enough time thinking about

到底我們的恐懼有什麼樣的意義。

在我們長大的過程中，我們常被鼓勵把恐懼

As we grow up, we're often encouraged to think of fear

當作是弱點，只是一種該被棄掉的幼稚東西，

as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard

而我認為我們會這樣來看待恐懼，並非是偶發的事件。

And I think it's no accident that we think this way.

神經學家的研究實際上顯示了，人類

Neuroscientists have actually shown that human beings

也許這就是為什麼我們有時候會把恐懼，

So maybe that's why we think of fear, sometimes,

當成是可能隱含著甚至本身就是危險的。

我們常會對別人說「別擔心」，「不要慌」。

"Don't worry," we like to say to one another. "Don't panic."

在英語中，恐懼是我們征服的對象。

In English, fear is something we conquer.

恐懼是我們要對抗的，是我們要克服的。

It's something we fight. It's something we overcome.

但如果我們用新的方式來看待恐懼呢？

But what if we looked at fear in a fresh way?

如果我們把恐據當做是人類想像力的令人驚異的演出呢？

What if we thought of fear as an amazing act of the imagination,

如果恐懼也可以是深刻而有見地的

something that can be as profound and insightful

恐懼與想像力之間的連結，最容易看到的例子

It's easiest to see this link between fear and the imagination

就是在年幼的兒童身上，他們的恐懼往往格外生動。

in young children, whose fears are often extraordinarily vivid.

When I was a child, I lived in California,

如你所知的，加州在大部分的情況下是很棒的居住地，

which is, you know, mostly a very nice place to live,

但對於我這個小孩來說，加州是有點可怕的。

but for me as a child, California could also be a little scary.

我還記得我有多害怕，當我看到家裡的吊燈

I remember how frightening it was to see the chandelier

that hung above our dining table swing back and forth

這樣的事情在每一次輕微的地震都會發生，

而我有時候晚上甚至會害怕到睡不著，

and I sometimes couldn't sleep at night, terrified

擔心當我們都睡覺的時候，可能會有大地震。

that the Big One might strike while we were sleeping.

我們會說像有這樣恐懼的孩子們

And what we say about kids who have fears like that

但在成長的某些時間點上，我們大多數人

都會學著放下這些想像而長大。

to leave these kinds of visions behind and grow up.

我們知道，床底下並不會有怪物躲著

We learn that there are no monsters hiding under the bed,

也不是每個地震都會震垮建築物。

and not every earthquake brings buildings down.

但或許這是不是巧合，一些最有創意的頭腦的人們

But maybe it's no coincidence that some of our most creative minds

並無法在長大成人後擺脫這些恐懼。

fail to leave these kinds of fears behind as adults.

這樣的超凡想像力創造出《物種起源》

The same incredible imaginations that produced "The Origin of Species,"

《簡 · 愛》和《追憶似水年華》，

"Jane Eyre" and "The Remembrance of Things Past,"

同樣也造成了終生的強烈憂慮，影響著

also generated intense worries that haunted the adult lives

查理斯 · 達爾文、 夏綠蒂 · 博朗特，和馬塞爾 · 普魯斯特。

of Charles Darwin, Charlotte BrontĂŤ and Marcel Proust.

所以，問題來了，我們可以從別人的恐懼學習到什麼？

So the question is, what can the rest of us learn about fear

特別是從這些遠見者和年輕的孩子？

讓我們再回到前面說的1819年的時候，

Well let's return to the year 1819 for a moment,

那些埃塞克斯捕鯨船上的船員所面對的情況。

to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship Essex.

讓我們看一看因他們的想像力所產生的恐懼，

Let's take a look at the fears that their imaginations

當他們漂流在太平洋上的時候。

were generating as they drifted in the middle of the Pacific.

捕鯨船翻覆已經過了二十四小時了。

Twenty-four hours had now passed since the capsizing of the ship.

The time had come for the men to make a plan,

In his fascinating account of the disaster,

納旦尼爾 · 菲爾布裡克寫道：這些人大概

Nathaniel Philbrick wrote that these men were just about

可以說是在地球上的一個離任何陸地都最遠的地方。

as far from land as it was possible to be anywhere on Earth.

The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach

是馬克薩斯群島，有 1200 英里遠。

were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away.

但他們聽說過一些令人恐懼的謠言。

But they'd heard some frightening rumors.

和其他幾個附近的島嶼，都住著食人族。

and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals.

所以這些人腦海中的想像，如果上了岸，也是會被殺掉

So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered

但在當時的季節，船長擔心去那個方向

but given the season, the captain was afraid

現在最後一個選項是最遠的、 也是最困難的：

Now the last option was the longest, and the most difficult:

就是向南航行 1500 英里，然後希望能進入到

to sail 1,500 miles due south in hopes of reaching

a certain band of winds that could eventually

push them toward the coast of South America.

但是，他們也知道這樣的航行的距離

But they knew that the sheer length of this journey

對他們的食物和水的供應是非常勉強的。

would stretch their supplies of food and water.

被食人族吃掉，或是被風暴襲擊，

To be eaten by cannibals, to be battered by storms,

這些都是這些可憐的船員們的想像力所創造出來的各種恐懼

These were the fears that danced in the imaginations of these poor men,

and as it turned out, the fear they chose to listen to

決定他們是能活下來，或者死亡。

其實我們可以很容易的用一個不同的名稱來稱呼這些恐懼。

Now we might just as easily call these fears by a different name.

比方說，若我們不把它們叫做恐懼，

因為這就是恐懼的真實面貌，如果你想想看就知道。

Because that's really what fear is, if you think about it.

恐懼是一種無意識的說故事的方式

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【TED】凱倫．湯普森．沃克：我們可以從恐懼中學到什麼？ (What fear can teach us | Karen Thompson Walker)

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