Name: 【TED】克里斯-阿巴尼:關於人性(Chris Abani：關於人性) (【TED】Chris Abani: On humanity (Chris Abani: On humanity))
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:25:39.000Z
Duration: 18 min 19 s

I just heard the best joke about Bond Emeruwa.

程度副詞

I was having lunch with him just a few minutes ago,

我剛聽到一個關於Bond Emeruwa 最好笑的笑話

情態副詞

and a Nigerian journalist comes -- and this will only make sense

if you've ever watched a James Bond movie --

and a Nigerian journalist comes up to him and goes,

你得看過007電影，你才會覺得好笑

這名奈及利亞記者走向他,，然後說著

So, I've got a little sheet of paper here,

mostly because I'm Nigerian and if you leave me alone,

可能因為我是奈及利亞人，如果你們不阻止我

I just want to say good afternoon, good evening.

不過，我現在只想說午安！晚安！

It's downhill from now on. I wanted to thank Emeka and Chris.

But also, most importantly, all the invisible people behind TED

這種經歷以後不可能再有了！在這我想先謝謝Emeka 還有Chris

that you just see flitting around the whole place

當然還有最重要的，所有這些不為人知的幕後功臣

that have made sort of this space for such a diverse and robust conversation.

讓這地方充滿各種多彩多姿及精彩絕倫的對話

I'm a writer, and I've been watching people with the slide shows

and scientists and bankers, and I've been feeling a bit

我是個作家，看著這些科學家和銀行家們

我的感覺像是在猶太男孩成年禮現場，看著饒舌歌手在說唱

Like, what have I got to say about all this?

And I was watching Jane [Goodall] yesterday,

and I thought it was really great, and I was watching

those incredible slides of the chimpanzees, and I thought,

"Wow. What if a chimpanzee could talk, you know? What would it say?"

當我看著黑猩猩的幻燈片時，我想著

My first thought was, "Well, you know, there's George Bush."

哇！如果黑猩猩會說話，它會說什麼呢？

But then I thought, "Why be rude to chimpanzees?"

第一個想到是竟然是"喬治布希"

但我後來又想"怎麼可以對黑猩猩這麼無禮呢？"

There's been a lot of talk about narrative in Africa.

And what's become increasingly clear to me is that

人們開始談論著很多非洲的故事

we're talking about news stories about Africa;

we're not really talking about African narratives.

And it's important to make a distinction, because if the news is anything to go by,

並沒有真正接觸到代表非洲的作品

40 percent of Americans can't -- either can't afford health insurance

這差別很大，因為新聞如果真的可信

or have the most inadequate health insurance,

and have a president who, despite the protest

或者是最低額的健康保險都負擔不起

of millions of his citizens -- even his own Congress --

不顧人民反對，甚至是國會的抗議

the U.S. is right there with Zimbabwe, right?

And talking about war, my girlfriend has this great t-shirt

that says, "Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity."

講到戰爭，不能不提到我女朋友那件很酷的Ｔ恤

上面印著：為獲取和平而發動戰爭如同為了保持貞操而做愛

The truth is, everything we know about America,

everything Americans come to know about being American,

事實上，關於我們所知道的美國

We don't go home at the end of the day and think,

我們不會忙了一天回到家後，突然想到

because the Wall Street Journal says that the Stock Exchange

What we know about how to be who we are comes from stories.

It comes from the novels, the movies, the fashion magazines.

我們知道自己是誰是因為故事的關係

它可以是小說，是電影，是時尚雜誌

In other words, it's the agents of our imagination

who really shape who we are. And this is important to remember,

換句話說，這些是能激發我們想像力的原動力

成就了對自我的認同，這點很重要一定要記住

the complicated questions we want to ask about

關於＂我是誰＂這種複雜的人生問題

from the rock paintings of the San people,

through the Sundiata epics of Mali, to modern contemporary literature.

If you want to know about Africa, read our literature --

馬里人的史詩，直到當代文學都曾被探討過

and not just "Things Fall Apart," because that would be like saying,

如果你想了解非洲，請讀我們的文學作品

"I've read 'Gone with the Wind' and so I know everything about America."

"Things Fall Apart"所描述的並非非洲全貌

你總不會以為看過＂亂世佳人＂，就懂美國，這是一樣的道理

There's a poem by Jack Gilbert called "The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart."

He says, "When the Sumerian tablets were first translated,

Jack Gilbert有首詩叫做”遺忘的心靈片語”

they were thought to be business records.

裡頭寫到”當蘇美爾石板第一次被翻譯出來時

但你又怎麼知道那不會是詩歌或詩篇呢?

我的愛如同12隻埃塞俄比亞的山羊

Shiploads of thuja are what my body wants to say to your body.

藉由滿山遍野的崖柏表達我的心意

It's important because misreading is really the chance

The first Igbo Bible was translated from English

18世紀時，聖經第一次傳入奈及利亞

是主教Crowther 將英文版翻譯成伊格博語的

And it's important to know Igbo is a tonal language,

and so they'll say the word "igwe" and "igwe":

重點是伊格博語是帶聲調的語言

same spelling, one means "sky" or "heaven,"

雖然拼音相同，但一個指"天空"或"天堂"

So "God is in heaven surrounded by His angels"

所以當"上帝在天堂，天使們圍繞在旁"

And for some reason, in Cameroon, when they tried

to translate the Bible into Cameroonian patois,

And I'm not going to give you the patois translation;

Basically, it ends up as "God is on a bicycle with his angels."

This is good, because language complicates things.

總之，這句話變成"上帝坐在自行車上，天使們圍繞在旁"

You know, we often think that language mirrors

這個例子說明了語言往往使事情更加複雜

the world in which we live, and I find that's not true.

字幕列表影片播放

【TED】克里斯-阿巴尼:關於人性(Chris Abani：關於人性) (【TED】Chris Abani: On humanity (Chris Abani: On humanity))

incredible

essential

privilege

completely