Name: 【TED】郭美美:讀書的治癒力 (閱讀的治癒力｜郭美美) (【TED】Michelle Kuo: The healing power of reading (The healing power of reading | Michelle Kuo))
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T08:18:56.000Z
Duration: 18 min 28 s

情態助動詞 A2

I want to talk today about how reading can change our lives

我今天想要談談， 閱讀如何改變我們的人生，

to 不定詞

I want to talk to you about how reading can give us a shareable world

我想聊聊，閱讀如何以 富有人性的強力連結，

But also about how that connection is always partial.

How reading is ultimately a lonely, idiosyncratic undertaking.

也想聊聊為何這種連結 常常是不完整的。

為何閱讀是件非常孤獨的事， 人人嘗到的滋味都不同。

was the great African American novelist James Baldwin.

When I was growing up in Western Michigan in the 1980s,

是偉大的非裔美國小說家 詹姆斯·鮑德溫。

there weren't many Asian American writers interested in social change.

我是在 1980 年代的密西根西部長大，

當時並沒有很多關注 社會改革的亞裔美國作家。

as a way to fill this void, as a way to feel racially conscious.

所以我才轉向詹姆斯·鮑德溫，

But perhaps because I knew I wasn't myself African American,

來填補這個空缺， 來感受自己的種族意識。

I also felt challenged and indicted by his words.

不過因為我知道 我並不是非裔美國人，

我感覺自己也是他書中控訴的對象。

"There are liberals who have all the proper attitudes,

「自由派會表現出所有合宜的態度，

When the chips are down and you somehow expect them to deliver,

你期待他們會兌現 你以為他們感受到的東西，

結果他們不知怎地卻不見了。」

我用字面的意思來解讀這句話，

one of the poorest regions in the United States.

This is a place shaped by a powerful history.

In the 1960s, African Americans risked their lives to fight for education,

這是一個由重大歷史塑造的地方，

在 1960 年代，非裔美國人 為了受教權、投票權捨命奮鬥。

to help young teenagers graduate and go to college.

學校裡有一半的老師是代課老師。

the school would send them to the local county jail.

He was 15 and held back twice, he was in the eighth grade.

我就是在這所學校遇到派屈克。

他那時 15 歲，已被留級 兩次，仍在念八年級。

I saw him once jump between two girls when they got into a fight

and he got himself knocked to the ground.

我曾看過他試著阻止 兩位正在打架的女生，

He said that sometimes school was just too depressing

because people were always fighting and teachers were quitting.

And also, his mother worked two jobs and was just too tired to make him come.

因為常常有人打架， 又經常有老師辭職。

So I made it my job to get him to come to school.

還有，他媽媽兼了兩份差， 累到沒空盯他上學。

And because I was crazy and 22 and zealously optimistic,

所以提醒他去上學成了我的工作。

my strategy was just to show up at his house

那時我正值瘋狂的 22 歲， 熱血澎湃、積極樂觀。

and say, "Hey, why don't you come to school?"

我的策略就是每天去他家敲門叫他：

He was writing poetry, he was reading books.

that I had figured out how to connect to Patrick,

但在我學會跟派屈克 建立良好關係的同時，

我收到了哈佛法學院的錄取通知。

I once again faced this question, where should I put myself,

that the Mississippi Delta was a place where people with money,

密西西比三角洲是有錢人、 有機會的人都會離開的地方。

留在那裡的都是沒有機會離開的人。

are the people who don't have the chance to leave.

如果我有受人崇敬的法律學位， 就有影響力來做更多更大的改革。

On the other hand, I was lonely and tired.

And so I convinced myself that I could do more change

on a larger scale if I had a prestigious law degree.

派屈克跟人起了衝突， 把對方殺死了。

when I was about to graduate from law school,

心裡有一部分不想相信那是事實，

and told me that Patrick had got into a fight and killed someone.

but part of me also knew that it was true.

他說，他在我離開的那年就輟學了。

And he didn't want to talk more about it.

I asked him what had happened with school

and he said that he had dropped out the year after I left.

And then he wanted to tell me something else.

He looked down and he said that he had had a baby daughter

我們的對話就只有這樣， 過程倉促又尷尬。

當我踏出監獄時， 心裡有個聲音說：

That was it, our conversation was rushed and awkward.

如果你現在不回來， 就不會再回來了！」

When I stepped outside the jail, a voice inside me said,

於是，從法學院畢業後，我回去了。

If you don't come back now, you'll never come back."

去看看我是否能協助 處理他的法律案件。

So I graduated from law school and I went back.

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【TED】郭美美:讀書的治癒力 (閱讀的治癒力｜郭美美) (【TED】Michelle Kuo: The healing power of reading (The healing power of reading | Michelle Kuo))

conscious

strategy

panic

exaggerate