TED演讲:见证现代奴役的照片(1)

 I'm 150 feet down an illegal mine shaft¹ in Ghana.  我在加纳地下50米深的一个非法矿井里。

The air is thick with heat and dust, and it's hard to breathe.  空气污浊闷热，充斥着尘土，让人很难呼吸。

I can feel the brush of sweaty bodies passing me in the darkness, but I can't see much else.  我可以感觉到来来往往大汗淋漓的人们从我身边擦过，但是在一片黑暗中，我也看不见什么其他的东西了。

I hear voices talking, but mostly the shaft is this cacophony² of men coughing, and stone being broken with primitive³ tools.  我听到周围有人说话的声音，但更多是咳嗽声，混杂着用简陋工具砸碎石头的噪音。

Like the others, I wear a flickering⁴, cheap flashlight tied to my head with this elastic⁵, tattered⁶ band,  跟其他人一样，我头上顶着一个时亮时灭的廉价探照灯用一条破烂的皮筋绑在脖子上，

and I can barely make out the slick tree limbs holding up the walls of the three-foot square hole dropping hundreds of feet into the earth. 我勉强摸到墙上光溜溜的树枝扶手，它们支撑着这个一米见方深上百米的井筒。

When my hand slips, I suddenly remember a miner, 我的手滑了一下，立即想到一名矿工,

I had met days before who had lost his grip, and fell countless⁷ feet down that shaft.  我曾数天前碰到过他，他一手抓空,就掉下了无底深井。

As I stand talking to you today, these men are still deep in that hole,  当我今天站在这里跟你们演讲的时候，这些矿工们还在这样的矿井里

risking their lives without payment or compensation, and often dying.  冒着生命危险干活,没有工资,没有补贴，还经常丢命。

I got to climb out of that hole, and I got to go home, but they likely never will, because they're trapped in slavery.  我最后爬出了矿井得以回家，而这些被奴役的矿工可能永远没有回家的那一天。

For the last 28 years, I've been documenting indigenous⁸ cultures in more than 70 countries on six continents, and in 2009 I had the great honor， 在过去的28年里我一直在拍摄本土文化的纪录片走访了6大洲70多个国家，而在2009年，我非常荣幸地，

of being the sole exhibitor at the Vancouver Peace Summit.  能以独立参展商的身份出席了温哥华和平峰会。

Amongst all the astonishing people I met there,  在那里我遇到了很多令人敬佩的人，

I met a supporter of Free the Slaves, an NGO，dedicated to eradicating⁹ modern day slavery.  我认识了一位Free the Slaves 非政府组织的支持者，这个组织致力于根除现代社会的奴役现象。

1 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

2 cacophony   

n.刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• All around was bubbling a cacophony of voices.周围人声嘈杂。
• The drivers behind him honked,and the cacophony grew louder.后面的司机还在按喇叭，且那刺耳的声音越来越大。

3 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

4 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

5 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。

6 tattered   

adj.破旧的，衣衫破的

参考例句：

• Her tattered clothes in no way detracted from her beauty.她的破衣烂衫丝毫没有影响她的美貌。
• Their tattered clothing and broken furniture indicated their poverty.他们褴褛的衣服和破烂的家具显出他们的贫穷。

7 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

8 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

9 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。