TED演讲:大爱无疆 爱本无条件(3)

 It felt as valid¹ perhaps even as American culture. 它甚至可以和美国文化相媲美。

Then a friend of a friend of mine had a daughter who was a dwarf². 我朋友的朋友有个女儿，是个小矮人。

And when her daughter was born, 当她女儿出生的时候，

she suddenly found herself confronting questions that now began to seem quite resonant³ to me. 她突然发现她要面对很多问题，这些问题使我产生共鸣。

She was facing the question of what to do with this child. 她当时面临的问题是--该如何对待这个孩子？

Should she say, You're just like everyone else but a little bit shorter? 她应该说你和其他人一样，只是矮了点儿？

Or should she try to construct some kind of dwarf identity, 还是去试图建立某种小矮人身份认同，

get involved in the Little People of America, 加入美国小个子联盟，

become aware of what was happening for dwarfs⁴? 开始了解矮人生活圈的那些事？

And I suddenly thought, 然后我突然想到，

most deaf children are born to hearing parents. 大多数耳聋孩子的父母都是听力健全的。

Those hearing parents tend to try to cure them. 那些听力健全的父母总是试图去治愈他们的孩子。

Those deaf people discover community somehow in adolescence⁵. 那些聋人要差不多到青春期的时候才开始接触聋人群体。

Most gay people are born to straight parents.Those straight parents often want them to function in what they think of as the mainstream⁶ world, 大多数同性恋者的父母是异性恋。那些异性恋父母常常希望他们的孩子表现得，如他们认为的主流世界所期望的那样，

and those gay people have to discover identity later on. 那些同性恋者不得不长大后才寻找身份认同。

And here was this friend of mine looking at these questions of identity with her dwarf daughter. 再说说我的这个朋友面对这些关于她小矮人女儿身份认同的问题。

And I thought, there it is again: 然后我想，又是这样。

A family that perceives itself to be normal with a child who seems to be extraordinary. 一个认为自己正常的家庭有着一个特殊的孩子。

And I hatched the idea that there are really two kinds of identity. 我想，事实上身份认同分为两种类型。

There are vertical⁷ identities,which are passed down generationally from parent to child. 有垂直身份认同，从父母到孩子，代代相传。

Those are things like ethnicity, frequently nationality, language, often religion. 也有像是种族，国际，语言，宗教。

Those are things you have in common with your parents and with your children. 你和你的父母,孩子拥有共同点,

And while some of them can be difficult, 而有些身份较难识别,

there's no attempt to cure them. 但并不需要尝试去改变。

You can argue that it's harder in the United States our current presidency⁸ notwithstanding to be a person of color. 你可以争辩说，在美国，作为有色人种生存艰难，尽管我们现任的总统是有色人种。

And yet, we have nobody who is trying to ensure that the next generation of children born to African-Americans and Asians come out with creamy skin and yellow hair. 确实，没人试图去保证非洲裔美国人，亚洲裔的孩子们生来就有着奶油色的皮肤和金黄的头发。

1 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

2 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

3 resonant   

adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的

参考例句：

• She has a resonant voice.她的嗓子真亮。
• He responded with a resonant laugh.他报以洪亮的笑声。

4 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

5 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

6 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

7 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。