Name: 【TED】朱莉婭-斯威尼:放棄上帝(Letting go of God | Julia Sweeney) (【TED】Julia Sweeney: Letting go of God (Letting go of God | Julia Sweeney))
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:25:23.000Z
Duration: 17 min 18 s

On September 10, the morning of my seventh birthday,

譯者: Suet Mei Hau 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

過去進行式

I came downstairs to the kitchen, where my mother was washing the dishes

在九月十日, 我七歲生日的那個早上

and my father was reading the paper or something,

我從樓上走到廚房, 我媽媽在那裡洗著盤子

and I sort of presented myself to them in the doorway, and they said,

我爸爸在讀著好像是報紙之類的東西,

"Hey, happy birthday!" And I said, "I'm seven."

我故意的在門前讓他們看到我, 接著他們說:

『嘿, 生日快樂!』 我說: 『我七歲了！』

"Well, you know what that means, don't you?"

And I said, "Yeah, that I'm going to have a party

我說: 『對, 我會有個生日派對和生日蛋糕！

還有許多禮物！』我爸爸說: 『唔, 對！

但, 更重要的是, 七歲代表你已經到可以「明白事理」的年紀了,

being seven means that you've reached the age of reason,

你現在已經可以有能力去犯所有對神、人的罪惡了。』

and you're now capable of committing any and all sins against God and man."

其實我之前就聽「明白事理的年紀」這句話

Now, I had heard this phrase, "age of reason," before.

Sister Mary Kevin had been bandying it about

這字眼好像只讓我們興奮的準備

我們將有的第一次的宗教交流和告解，

the phrase seemed all caught up in the excitement of preparations

我們還以為這些都只是跟白裙和白面紗有關的，

for our first communion and our first confession,

我其實並不是太在意那句: 「明白事理的年紀」

and everybody knew that was really all about the white dress

於是, 我說:『 好, 對, 明白事理的年紀, 究竟意思是什麼?』

我爸爸接著說: 『對, 我們都相信天主教

And anyway, I hadn't really paid all that much attention

神知道小孩子並不太明白對和錯分別，

但當你到了七歲, 你應該可以理解對和錯的分別。

So, I said, "Yeah, yeah, age of reason. What does that mean again?"

所以, 你長大了, 也到了明白事理的年紀, 現在

And my dad said, "Well, we believe, in the Catholic Church,

神會開始紀錄你所作的事, 並且會永遠保存下來』

that God knows that little kids don't know the difference between right and wrong,

but when you're seven, you're old enough to know better.

我說:『 等等, 你的意思是, 今天以前的所有時間，

So, you've grown up and reached the age of reason,

以前我做過好的事, 神都沒有留意得到?』

and now God will start keeping notes on you,

接著我媽媽說: 『對, 但我有留意的』

我在想: 『為什麼我之前不知道這情況?

為什麼當他們告訴我的時候, 我一直沒有掌握到？

原來我所作的好事, 並沒有真正的奬賞。

可是, 最糟的是, 為什麼我一直沒有發現這個重要的訊息

all that time I was so good, God didn't notice it?"

直到這天, 知道這訊息已經對我毫無用處了。』

我說, 『好吧, 爸媽, 那聖誕老人又怎樣?

我是說, 聖誕老人會知道你是乖不乖, 對嗎?』

And I thought, "How could I not have known this before?

How could it not have sunk in when they'd been telling me?

我想這只是感恩節跟聖誕節的技術上分別。』

All that being good and no real credit for it.

跟著我媽媽說: 『噢, 巴比, 停吧, 直接告訴她吧

And worst of all, how could I not have realized

她已經七歲了, Julie, 聖誕老人不存在的。』

until the very day that it was basically useless to me?"

So I said, "Well, Mom and Dad, what about Santa Claus?

我的父母曾用心的演繹了整個聖誕老人的故事：

I mean, Santa Claus knows if you're naughty or nice, right?"

他們曾經跟聖誕老人討論, 以及得到他的同意

為什麼聖誕老人不直接在聖誕夜把禮物送來，

I think that's technically just between Thanksgiving and Christmas."

And my mother said, "Oh, Bob, stop it. Let's just tell her. I mean, she's seven.

他們在聖誕早上起來的時候, 便已經收到了禮物的驚喜，

可是我們的家卻給聖誕老人多一點時間。

如果我們的小朋友在聖誕早上九時彌撒的時候, 沒有頑皮,

Now, this was actually not that upsetting to me.

聖誕老人才會早上到我們的家放下禮物。

My parents had this whole elaborate story about Santa Claus:

how they had talked to Santa Claus himself and agreed

這很明顯是我爸媽他們給我的禮物。

that instead of Santa delivering our presents

我發現, 我爸爸有一種十分奇怪的包禮物方法，

而我媽媽的筆跡卻跟聖誕老人非常近似。

like he did for every other family who got to open their surprises

還有, 為什麼聖誕老人還有時候走到別人的家之後

在這一大堆證據之下, 只有一個解釋

Santa would come to our house while we were at nine o'clock high mass

就是我們的家太奇怪, 太怪異了

on Christmas morning, but only if all of us kids did not make a fuss.

而我可憐的父母, 為了不想我們這怪異家庭

It was pretty obvious that it was really our parents giving us the presents.

因為被快樂的聖誕老人拒絕而太尷尬的。

I mean, my dad had a very distinctive wrapping style,

但, 讓我們坦承吧, 他實在是太判定了！

and my mother's handwriting was so close to Santa's.

所以, 去發現這世界沒有聖誕老人, 也許也是一種解脫。

當我離開廚房的時候,我的確對聖誕老人感到驚奇，

Plus, why would Santa save time by having to loop back

to our house after he'd gone to everybody else's?

為什麼我錯過了那段還沒有到了明白事理的年齡。

There was only one obvious conclusion to reach from this mountain of evidence:

對我來說, 這已經是太遲了。但我仍可以幫助其他人

our family was too strange and weird for even Santa Claus to come visit,

and my poor parents were trying to protect us from the embarrassment,

this humiliation of rejection by Santa, who was jolly --

but let's face it, he was also very judgmental.

整個明白事理的年齡的概念, 而又未到七歲。

So to find out that there was no Santa Claus at all

答案好明顯: 我的弟弟Bill, 他現在六歲。

好了, 我在家附近的學校遊樂場找到Bill

I left the kitchen not really in shock about Santa,

他只是一個人, 對著牆邊在踢球。

about how I could have missed this whole age of reason thing.

It was too late for me, but maybe I could help someone else,

我剛剛發現, 當你七歲之後, 你便進了明白事理的年齡，

你便會有能力對神或是對人犯罪。』

they had to be old enough to be able to understand

『你只有六歲, 你還有一年的時間做所有你想做的事

the whole concept of the age of reason, and not yet seven.

而神是不會跟你算賬的。』他又說: 『那又怎樣?』

The answer was clear: my brother Bill. He was six.

我說：『你這什麼態度! 』我轉身想走, 我實在對他很憤怒

但當我準備起步時候, 我又戲劇性地回頭

about a block away from our house at this public school playground.

接著說: 『還有, Bill, 世界上根本沒聖誕老人。』

It was a Saturday, and he was all by himself,

just kicking a ball against the side of a wall.

但我並沒有真正在九月十日那天，踏進七歲的年紀。

I just realized that the age of reason starts when you turn seven,

在我十三歲的生日, 我正準備跟我的女朋友開一個通宵派對，

and then you're capable of committing any and all sins

在派對前的數個星期, 我媽媽忽然把我叫到一旁然後說:

九月十日不是你是生日, 你應該是十月十月生日的。』 我大叫:『 什麼?

You have a whole year to do anything you want to and God won't notice it."

她說: 『聽著, 因為九月十五日出生是報讀幼稚園的分界線。』

所以, 我告訴他們你的生日是在九月十日』

And I turned to run. I was so angry with him.

所以我便告訴你, 你的生日是九月十日。

但, 茱莉, 你當時已經準備好可以上學了, 親愛的

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【TED】朱莉婭-斯威尼:放棄上帝(Letting go of God | Julia Sweeney) (【TED】Julia Sweeney: Letting go of God (Letting go of God | Julia Sweeney))

sort

obvious

phrase

apparently