about, can often get in the way of action towards social justice.Now, this is not because storytellers mean any harm. 但是我接手这份工作，是在我长期从事社会正义行动之后，而且让我非常感兴趣的，是人们在谈论纪实故事时所持的态度和方式，认为它不只是娱乐， 认为它是社会行动的催化剂。 我们常听到人们说：故事能让世界更美好。不过我开始担心： 即使是最让人感动的故事， 特别是那些市井小民的故事，也经常会妨碍到社会正义的进行。 这不是因为说故事的人故意要造成伤害。
Quite the contrary. Storytellersare often do-gooders like me and, I suspect, yourselves. And the audiences ofstorytellers are often deeply compassionate and empathetic people. Still, goodintentions can have unintended consequences, and so I want to propose thatstories are not as magical as they seem. So three -- because it’s always got tobe three -- three reasons why I think that stories don’t necessarily make theworld a better place.
恰恰相反， 说故事的人通常是想要做好事的人， 例如我，以及在座的你们。 而听故事的人 通常也是充满热情和同情心的人。但是，好的动机也会导致 意想不到的后果， 所以我想强调的是， 说故事并不像看起来那么神奇。 有三个原因，总是要有三个── 我认为有三个原因，故事不一定会让世界变得更好。
Firstly, stories can create an illusion ofsolidarity.
There is nothing like that feel-good factor you get from listeningto a fantastic story where you feel like you climbed that mountain, right, orthat you befriended that death row inmate. But you didn’t. You haven’t doneanything. Listening is an important but insufficient step towards socialaction. 首先，故事能产生一种 共同一致的幻觉。 没有其他东西能够像 听了奇幻故事一样， 能带给你更好的感觉了; 就彷佛是你自己征服了那座山，是的。或者是你和一位死刑犯成为朋友。 但是你并没有真的去做。 你没有完成任何事。 倾听故事是很重要的一步， 但对于社会行动来说，仍然不足够。
Secondly, I think often we are drawntowards characters and protagonists who are likable and human. And this makessense, of course, right? Because if you like someone, then you care about them.But the inverse is also true. If you don’t like someone, then you don’t careabout them. And if you don’t care about them, you don’t have to see yourself ashaving a moral obligation to think about the circumstances that shaped theirlives.
第二，我认为人们经常会被 那些令人喜爱、具有人性化的 角色和主人公所吸引。 而且这也符合常理，是不是? 因为如果你喜欢他们，你自然就会关心他们。但反之亦然。如果你不喜欢他们，你自然也不会关心他们。如果你不关心他们，你自然也不会认为 自己负有
道义责任，去思考那些人周遭的生活环境。
I learned this lesson when I was 14 yearsold. I learned that actually, you don’t have to like someone to recognize theirwisdom, and you certainly don’t have to like someone to take a stand by theirside. So my bike was stolen while I was riding it --which is possible if you’re riding slowlyenough, which I was.
我在 14 岁时学到了这一点。我学到的是，实际上你不一定要喜欢某个人，才能认可他的智慧; 而且你也不需要喜欢某个人，才能和他站在同一阵线。我的脚踏车被偷了， 在我骑着它的的时候──这是可能的，如果你骑得够慢， 我当时就是这样。
So one minute I’m cutting across this fieldin the Nairobi neighborhood where I grew up, and it’s like a very bumpy path,and so when you’re riding a bike, you don’t want to be like, you know --
就在我正要穿过一片田地的时候， 就在内罗毕附近，我生长的地方， 因为路非常崎岖不平， 所以当你骑车时， 你不会想要......你知道的──
And so I’m going like this, slowlypedaling, and all of a sudden, I’m on the floor. I’m on the ground, and I lookup, and there’s this kid peddling away in the getaway vehicle, which is mybike, and he’s about 11 or 12 years old, and I’m
on the floor, and I’m cryingbecause I saved a lot of money for that bike, and I’m crying and I stand up andI start screaming. Instinct steps in, and I start screaming, “Mwizi,mwizi!” which means “thief” in Swahili. And out of thewoodworks, all of these people come out and they start to give chase. This isAfrica, so mob justice in action. Right?
所以我就骑得很慢。 突然间，我摔倒在地上。 当我躺在地上时，抬头一看， 有个小孩正骑着车逃跑， 他骑着我的脚踏车。 他大概 11 或 12 岁， 我还倒在地上， 然后我大哭，因为我存了很久的钱 才买了这辆脚踏车，于是我一边哭，一边站起来大喊。 出于本能，我开始大喊： “Mwizi, mwizi! “ 这在斯瓦希里语中代表小偷的意思。 这时候许多人从伐木场跑出来， 他们开始追赶。 这是在非洲，当时暴民政治 正在兴起。是吧?
And I round the corner, and they’vecaptured him, they’ve caught him. The suspect has been apprehended, and theymake him give me my bike back, and they also make him apologize. Again, youknow, typical African justice, right? And so they make him say sorry. And so westand there facing each other, and he looks at me, and he says sorry, but helooks at me with this unbridled fury. He is very, very angry. And it is thefirst time that I have been confronted with someone who doesn’t like me simplybecause of what I represent. He looks at me with this look
as if to say,”You, with your shiny skin and your bike, you’re angry at me?”
当我走到转角时， 他们已经抓住了小偷。他们已经抓住了他。 嫌犯已被逮捕， 他们要他把脚踏车还给我， 而且他们还要他道歉。 你知道，这是典型的非洲正义，是吧? 所以他们要他说：对不起。 我们当时就面对面站着，他看着我，说了对不起。 但是他用非常愤怒的表情看着我， 他非常，非常生气。 这是我第一次直接面对着， 一个只是因为我的身份 而不喜欢我的人。 他带着那种神情看着我，彷佛在说：你，你有光滑的皮肤， 还有一辆脚踏车，你对我生气? So it was a hard lesson that he didn’t likeme, but you know what, he was right. I was a middle-class kid living in a poorcountry. I had a bike, and he barely had food. Sometimes, it’s the messagesthat we don’t want to hear, the ones that make us want to crawl out ofourselves, that we need to hear the most.
我知道他不喜欢我，这的确不好受， 但是你知道吗，他这样想是正常的。 在这个贫穷的国家， 我是一个生长在中产阶层的小孩。 我拥有一辆脚踏车，而他几乎连食物都没有。 有时候，有些讯息是我们不想听的; 但是那些让我们坐立难安的讯息， 却正是我们最需要听的。
For every lovable storyteller whosteals your heart, there are hundreds more whose voices are slurred and ragged,who
TED英语演讲稿带翻译
