TED演讲:人生交叉点(7)

 　　One of my favorite examples of liminal excellence¹ comes from the late Dr. Claudia Alexander, 我最欣赏的一位具有交叉才能的榜样是已故的克劳迪娅·亚历山大博士，

　　a black woman plasma² physicist³, who passed away this past July after a 10-year bout⁴ with breast cancer. 她是一名黑人女性，等离子物理学家，她与乳腺癌斗争了10年之久，于7月份刚刚过世。

　　She was a NASA project scientist who spearheaded the NASA side of the Rosetta mission, 她是美国太空总署项目科学家，在罗塞塔计划中带领美国太空总署的团队，

　　which became famous this year for landing a rover on a comet, and the 1.5 billion dollar Galileo mission to Jupiter, 罗塞塔计划因为今年成功登陆彗星而闻名，还有耗资15亿美元的伽俐略木星探测计划，

　　two high-profile scientific victories for NASA, the United States and the world. 这是两项非常了不起的科学成就，对美国太空总署，对美国，对全世界而言都是如此。

　　Dr. Alexander said it this way: "I'm used to walking between two cultures. 亚历山大博士是这么说的：“我曾经在两种文化间游走。

　　For me, it's among the purposes of my life to take us from states of ignorance to states of understanding 对我而言，我生命的意义之一，就是让我们从被忽略变成被理解，

　　with bold exploration that you can't do every day." 这需要极大的勇气和探索精神，不是那么轻而易举的。”

　　This shows exactly the power of a liminal person. 这恰恰体现了“交叉人”的力量。

　　She had the technical ability to spearhead some of the most ambitious space missions of our time, 她有非凡的技术能力，能领导当代最雄心勃勃的太空任务，

　　and she perfectly⁵ understood her place of being exactly who she was in any place she was. 而且她非常明白自己的地位，无论在哪，她都能忠实的做自己。

　　Jessica Matthews, inventor of the SOCCKET line of sports products, like soccer balls, 杰西卡·马修斯，是体育产品SOCCKET的发明人，SOCCKET像足球一样，

　　that generate renewable energy as you play with them, said it this way: 你在踢它的时候就能产生可再生能源，她这样说过：

　　"A major part of invention isn't just creating things, “发明的意义不仅仅在于创造产品，

　　it's understanding people and understanding the systems that make this world." 还在于理解人，理解组成这个世界的系统。”

　　The reason I tell my story and the story of Dr. Alexander and Jessica Matthews is because they are fundamentally intersectional⁶ stories, 我之所以讲自己的故事，还有亚历山大博士和杰西卡·马修斯的故事，是因为从本质上来讲，这些都是关于交点的故事，

　　the stories of lives lived at the nexus⁷ of race, gender⁸ and innovation. 关于种族、性别和创新是如何联系在一起的故事。

1 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

2 plasma   

n.血浆，细胞质，乳清

参考例句：

• Keep some blood plasma back for the serious cases.留一些血浆给重病号。
• The plasma is the liquid portion of blood that is free of cells .血浆是血液的液体部分，不包含各种细胞。

3 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

4 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 intersectional   

adj.交叉（点）的，区际的

参考例句：

• Psychology as an intersectional science is affected by the time spirit apparently. 作为交叉学科的心理学，受时代精神或者社会思潮的影响是很明显的。 来自互联网

7 nexus   

n.联系；关系

参考例句：

• Shared ambition is the vital nexus between them.共同的志向是把他们联结在一起的重要纽带。
• Either way,the nexus between the consumer and consumer prices is important.无论那个方面，消费者与消费价格之间的关系是至关重要的。

8 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。