ages six to eight, at a children's museum,

當時我正與一群約有三百名的小孩說話，

and I brought with me a bag full of legs,

年齡為六至八歲，在一個兒童博物館，

similar to the kinds of things you see up here,

而我帶了一個裝滿了義肢的袋子，

and had them laid out on a table for the kids.

跟你們在這裡看到的差不多，

And, from my experience, you know, kids are naturally curious

還將它們擺放在一張桌子上，給小孩看。

about what they don't know, or don't understand,

然而，就我的經驗而言，孩子通常也是好奇的，

or is foreign to them.

尤其是對於他們不知道的，不明白的，

They only learn to be frightened of those differences

或是對他們陌生的。

when an adult influences them to behave that way,

他們只學到對差異性感到害怕，

and maybe censors that natural curiosity,

當成年人影響他們而表現成那樣，

or you know, reins in the question-asking

也或許是壓抑了他們本有的好奇心，

in the hopes of them being polite little kids.

又或是，不允許他們問問題，

So I just pictured a first grade teacher out in the lobby

希望他們變成有禮貌的小孩。

with these unruly kids, saying, "Now, whatever you do,

所以，我想像一班老師走出了大堂，

don't stare at her legs."

帶著一群不守規矩的孩子，老師會說：”好啦，不管你幹什麼，

But, of course, that's the point.

就是別盯著她的腿看。“

That's why I was there, I wanted to invite them to look and explore.

但是，問題就在這兒，

So I made a deal with the adults

我之所以會在那兒，就是想讓孩子們觀察和探索。

that the kids could come in without any adults for two minutes

所以我就和成年人達成了協定，

on their own.

讓孩子們在有成人陪伴下，

The doors open, the kids descend on this table of legs,

自己待兩分鐘。

and they are poking and prodding, and they're wiggling toes,

門打開後，孩子們俯身擺弄起義肢

and they're trying to put their full weight on the sprinting leg

他們這兒戳戳那兒碰碰，搖搖腳趾頭，

to see what happens with that.

還試著把整個身體壓在短跑義肢上，

And I said, "Kids, really quickly --

看看會有什麼反應。

I woke up this morning, I decided I wanted to be able to jump over a house --

我說道：”孩子們，我今天早上醒來，

nothing too big, two or three stories --

很快地做下決定，要能夠一下子跳過房子，

but, if you could think of any animal, any superhero, any cartoon character,

沒什麼大不了的，不過兩三層的高度，

anything you can dream up right now,

但是，如果你能想到那些動物、超級英雄、卡通人物，

what kind of legs would you build me?"

你能想到的任何一個，

And immediately a voice shouted, "Kangaroo!"

你會給我造一副什麼樣的腿呢？“

"No, no, no! Should be a frog!"

立即有孩子 答道：“袋鼠！”

"No. It should be Go Go Gadget!"

“不對，不 對！應該是青蛙！”

"No, no, no! It should be the Incredibles."

“不對，應該是神探佳傑特（上世紀80年代動畫人物）！”

And other things that I don't -- aren't familiar with.

“不對，不對，都不對！應該是超人特工隊（迪士尼2004年出品動畫電影）”

And then, one eight-year-old said,

還有其他一些我不太熟悉的。

"Hey, why wouldn't you want to fly too?"

然後，一個8歲的孩子說道，

And the whole room, including me, was like, "Yeah."

“嗨，為什麼你不想飛呢？”

(Laughter)

所有在場的人，包括我，驚歎道“對啊”

And just like that, I went from being a woman

（笑）

that these kids would have been trained to see as "disabled"

就這樣，我從一個女人，

to somebody that had potential that their bodies didn't have yet.

一個這些孩子被教育成看待的“殘疾人”

Somebody that might even be super-abled.

變成了一個擁有他們所沒有的潛能的人。

Interesting.

一個很有可能有超人能力的人。

So some of you actually saw me at TED, 11 years ago.

很有趣吧!

And there's been a lot of talk about how life-changing this conference is

在座的有些人11年前在TED見過我

for both speakers and attendees, and I am no exception.

當時人們熱烈討論這個會議是如何如何改變人生。

TED literally was the launch pad to the next decade of my life's exploration.

不管你是聽眾還是發言人，我也不例外，

At the time, the legs I presented were groundbreaking in prosthetics.

TED可以說是開啟了我之後10年的探索。

I had woven carbon fiber sprinting legs

當時，我展示的義肢是修復術的創新技術。

modeled after the hind leg of a cheetah,

我當時接上了碳纖維製成，

which you may have seen on stage yesterday.

仿獵豹後肢的短跑義肢。

And also these very life-like, intrinsically painted silicone legs.

可能你們昨天有看過。

So at the time, it was my opportunity to put a call out

而這些噴漆矽膠義肢是這樣的栩栩如生。

to innovators outside the traditional medical prosthetic community

當時，我有機會

to come bring their talent to the science and to the art

在傳統醫學修復領域創新，

of building legs.

把他們的才智與科學、藝術相結合，

So that we can stop compartmentalizing form, function and aesthetic,

製造義肢。

and assigning them different values.

這樣我們就不必把外觀、功能和美學劃分開來，

Well, lucky for me, a lot of people answered that call.

並賦予不同的價值。

And the journey started, funny enough, with a TED conference attendee --

幸運的是，很多人做出了回應，

Chee Pearlman, who hopefully is in the audience somewhere today.

旅程就這樣開始了，很有趣的是，有一個TED參會者，

She was the editor then of a magazine called ID,

琪˙皮爾曼，希望她今天也在場，

and she gave me a cover story.

她當時是一本名為《ID》的雜誌的編輯，

This started an incredible journey.

她將我的照片放在封面，

Curious encounters were happening to me at the time;

接下來我開始了一場奇妙的旅程。

I'd been accepting numerous invitations to speak

當時我碰到了很多奇妙的人和事，

on the design of the cheetah legs around the world.

許多人邀請我去做演講，

And people would come up to me after the conference, after my talk,

並在世界各地討論仿獵豹義肢技術。

men and women.

人們在演講後找上我，

And the conversation would go something like this,

不論男女。

"You know Aimee, you're very attractive.

談話內容不外乎

You don't look disabled."

“要知道，艾美，你很迷人。

(Laughter)

一點不像有殘疾的。”

I thought, "Well, that's amazing,

（笑）

because I don't feel disabled."

我想“這還挺神的，

And it really opened my eyes to this conversation

因為我一點也不感到殘疾。”

that could be explored, about beauty.

這真的大大地打開了我對這個主題的眼界，

What does a beautiful woman have to look like?

美也可以被探索。

What is a sexy body?

一個美麗的女人應該長什麼樣？

And interestingly, from an identity standpoint,

什麼是性感的身體？

what does it mean to have a disability?

很有趣的是，從一個人的角度看，

I mean, people -- Pamela Anderson has more prosthetic in her body than I do.

殘疾意味著什麼？

Nobody calls her disabled.

我是說，有人--比如帕米拉•安德森（美國豔星，以其碩大的隆胸著稱）的修復程度可大大高過我，

(Laughter)

可沒人說她殘疾。

So this magazine, through the hands of graphic designer Peter Saville,

（笑）

went to fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and photographer Nick Knight,

後來這期《ID》雜誌，經美術設計師皮特•薩維耶之手

who were also interested in exploring that conversation.

傳到了時裝設計師亞歷山大•麥昆和攝影師尼克•奈特手中，

So, three months after TED I found myself on a plane

他們也對探索相關方面很感興趣。

to London, doing my first fashion shoot,

參加完TED幾個月後，我就搭上了前往

which resulted in this cover --

倫敦的航班，攝製我的第一組時尚雜誌照片。

"Fashion-able"?

結果可以從這本雜誌封面看出。

Three months after that, I did my first runway show for Alexander McQueen

時尚?!

on a pair of hand-carved wooden legs made from solid ash.

3個月後，我為亞歷山大•麥昆做了第一場時裝秀，

Nobody knew -- everyone thought they were wooden boots.

穿戴著一副硬木手工義肢。

Actually, I have them on stage with me:

沒有人知道--大家都以為這是木靴，

grapevines, magnolias -- truly stunning.

事實上，它們現在就在臺上。

Poetry matters.

葡萄藤、木蘭花，令人驚艷。

Poetry is what elevates the banal and neglected object

詩意很重要，

to a realm of art.

詩歌能把陳腐和受忽視的東西提升到高層次，

It can transform the thing that might have made people fearful

進入藝術的境界。

into something that invites them to look,

能把令人生畏的東西轉化成

and look a little longer,

引人入勝的東西，

and maybe even understand.

讓人駐足良久，

I learned this firsthand with my next adventure.

也許甚至能讓人們理解。

The artist Matthew Barney, in his film opus called the "The Cremaster Cycle."

這些是我從我的下一個冒險中學到的。

This is where it really hit home for me --

藝術家馬修•巴尼在他的影片《懸絲》，

that my legs could be wearable sculpture.

也就是這部影片讓我真正地察覺到

And even at this point, I started to move away from the need to replicate human-ness

我的雙腿竟可以成為雕塑品。

as the only aesthetic ideal.

這時，我就跳脫以模仿人體的需求

So we made what people lovingly referred to as glass legs

作為理想美學的框架。

even though they're actually optically clear polyurethane,

後來我們研製了人們稱為玻璃腿的義肢，

a.k.a. bowling ball material.

雖然它們實際上是剔透的聚亞安酯製作的，

Heavy!

也就是製造保齡球的材料。

Then we made these legs that are cast in soil

很重！

with a potato root system growing in them, and beetroots out the top,

後來我們用根與土壤的東西塑造這種義肢，

and a very lovely brass toe.

把馬鈴薯植入其中，把甜菜根種在上頭，

That's a good close-up of that one.

還裝上了很可愛的銅質腳趾。

Then another character was a half-woman, half-cheetah --

就這樣完成了一個傑作。

a little homage to my life as an athlete.

另一個造型是半人半獸，

14 hours of prosthetic make-up

是對我運動員生涯的小小致敬。

to get into a creature that had articulated paws,

14個小時的義肢彩繪，

claws and a tail that whipped around,

才看起來像有靈活爪子、

like a gecko.

搖來搖去的尾巴的生物，

(Laughter)

有點像壁虎。

And then another pair of legs we collaborated on were these --

（笑）

look like jellyfish legs,

另一副我們合作的是這一雙腳，

also polyurethane.

看起來有那麼一點像水母，

And the only purpose that these legs can serve,

同樣也是聚亞安酯製成的。

outside the context of the film,

這副義肢唯一的用途就是

is to provoke the senses and ignite the imagination.

除了電影裏的展示，

So whimsy matters.

就是給人們感官刺激並激發人們的想像。

Today, I have over a dozen pair of prosthetic legs

所以多變性很重要。

that various people have made for me,

今天，我帶了至少12副義肢，

and with them I have different negotiations of the terrain under my feet,

它們是由不同的人為我製作的，

and I can change my height --

不同的義肢給了我腳下大地的不同體驗。

I have a variable of five different heights.

我還可以改變身高，

(Laughter)

我有5個身高。

Today, I'm 6'1".

（笑）

And I had these legs made a little over a year ago

今天，我有6呎1（約186cm）

at Dorset Orthopedic in England

我身上這副義肢大概是一年前做的，

and when I brought them home to Manhattan,

在英國的多西特整形外科做的，

my first night out on the town, I went to a very fancy party.

當我把它們帶回曼哈頓的家裏，

And a girl was there who has known me for years

我回來後第一次出來是去一個高級宴會。

at my normal 5'8".

舞會上有個我認識多年的女士，

Her mouth dropped open when she saw me,

不過那時我只有5尺8（約177cm）

and she went, "But you're so tall!"

她看到我驚訝不已。

And I said, "I know. Isn't it fun?"

她說道“你怎麼那麼高！”

I mean, it's a little bit like wearing stilts on stilts,

我說道“是啊，挺好玩的，不是嗎？”

but I have an entirely new relationship to door jams

有點像站在高蹺上踩高蹺，

that I never expected I would ever have.

我從此對門的高度有了全新體驗。

And I was having fun with it.

這是始料未及的新天地，

And she looked at me,

我樂在其中。

and she said, "But, Aimee, that's not fair."

她看著我，

(Laughter)

說道：“但是，艾美，這可不公平。”

(Applause)

（笑）

And the incredible thing was she really meant it.

（鼓掌）

It's not fair that you can change your height,

最奇妙的是她是認真的，

as you want it.

能隨意改變身高，

And that's when I knew --

可不公平。

that's when I knew that the conversation with society

那時我才知道--

has changed profoundly

也就是這時我才知道社會上人們的對話

in this last decade.

在近10年來，

It is no longer a conversation about overcoming deficiency.

已有了重大變革。

It's a conversation about augmentation.

不再只是克服先天障礙，

It's a conversation about potential.

是關於增量。

A prosthetic limb doesn't represent the need to replace loss anymore.

是關於潛能。

It can stand as a symbol that the wearer

義肢的作用不再僅局限於代替身體缺失部分，

has the power to create whatever it is that they want to create

它們可以作為佩戴者身份的象徵，

in that space.

可以創造佩戴者天馬行空的想像，

So people that society once considered to be disabled

在屬於他們的空間中。

can now become the architects of their own identities

所以那些社會一度認為是殘障的人，

and indeed continue to change those identities

可以成為塑造自己身份的建築師，

by designing their bodies

並且切實繼續改變身份，

from a place of empowerment.

僅憑設計自己的身體，

And what is exciting to me so much right now

從一個強大的源泉獲取靈感。

is that by combining cutting-edge technology --

現在令我激動不已的是，

robotics, bionics --

通過尖端科技，

with the age-old poetry,

機器人技術、仿生學--

we are moving closer to understanding our collective humanity.

及由來已久的詩意，

I think that if we want to discover the full potential

我們向自身的集體人性邁進了一步。

in our humanity,

我認為要發掘自身

we need to celebrate those heartbreaking strengths

人性的的潛質，

and those glorious disabilities that we all have.

我們要讚美那些令人心碎的力量，

I think of Shakespeare's Shylock:

那些光榮的殘缺，人人都有這些，

"If you prick us, do we not bleed,

我想起了沙士比亞筆下的夏洛克:

and if you tickle us, do we not laugh?"

“你們要是用刀劍刺我們，我們不是也會出血的嗎？

It is our humanity,

你們要是搔我們的癢，我們不是也會笑起來的嗎？”

and all the potential within it,

這就是我們的人性，

that makes us beautiful.

及其所有的潛質，

Thank you.

也正是這些讓我們熠熠生輝。

(Applause)

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