TED演讲:出身决定命运?(3)

 　　As we look, we get into all sorts of uncomfortable areas.  如我们所见，我们涉及各种各样艰难的领域

　　We look, for example, about the fact  我们来看一个例子，现实情况是

　　that we share at least 95 percent of our DNA¹  我们用95%的人类的DNA

　　with chimpanzees.  与大猩猩进行对比

　　What are we to make of the fact  得出的事实是

　　that we differ from them only really by a few nucleotides?  人类和大猩猩的DNA只是在一些核苷酸上有所不同

　　And as we get farther and farther with our science,  科技越发展

　　we get more and more into a discomforted zone  我们越会涉及到让人苦恼的领域

　　where we have to acknowledge  我们必须承认

　　that the simplistic categories we've had  那些沿用的简单的分类

　　are probably overly simplistic.  是过于简单化了

　　So we're seeing this  正因如此，我们正在审视着

　　in all sorts of places in human life.  人类生活中的各个领域

　　One of the places we're seeing it, for example,  其中的一个领域，举个例子

　　in our culture today, in the United States today,  就是我们的文化领域，当今美国的文化领域

　　is battles over the beginning of life and the end of life.  热议着生命的起源和终结

　　We have difficult conversations  我们有一个艰难的讨论

　　about at what point we decide a body becomes a human,  关于我们什么时候从一个躯体变成了一个人类

　　such that it has a different right than a fetal life.  从而有了不同于胎儿的权利

　　We have very difficult conversations nowadays --  我们当今有一个非常有争议的话题——

　　probably not out in the open as much as within medicine --  也许在外部不如在医学界内争论的激烈——

　　about the question of when somebody's dead.  是关于何时认定为人死亡的疑问

　　In the past, our ancestors never had to struggle so much  过去，人死的时候

　　with this question of when somebody was dead.  我们的祖先从来不会过多的纠结于此

　　At most, they'd stick a feather on somebody's nose,  最多也就是把一个羽毛粘在人的鼻子下

　　and if it twitched², they didn't bury them yet.  如果羽毛动了，旁人就不会把他们埋掉

　　If it stopped twitching³, you bury them.  如果羽毛不动，就会埋了他们

　　But today, we have a situation  但是如今的情况都是

　　where we want to take vital organs out of beings  我们希望把死者的器官

　　and give them to other beings.  移植到其他人的身体上

　　And as a consequence,  结果

　　we're stuck with having to struggle with this really difficult question  我们开始纠结在上面所提到的难题中

　　about who's dead,  关于到底死了没有

　　and this leads us to a really difficult situation  这导致我们进入一个很困难的情况

　　where we don't have such simple categories as we've had before.  这个情况没有之前简单的分类了

　　Now you might think that all this breaking-down of categories  现在你也许会想，所有的这些正在崩溃的分类

　　would make somebody like me really happy.  也许会让像我这样的人感到高兴

　　I'm a political progressive, I defend people with unusual bodies,  我是一个在政治观点上不断进步的人，我维护那些身体异于常人的人

　　but I have to admit to you that it makes me nervous.  但是我必须承认，这种改变让我感到不安

　　Understanding that these categories  认识到这些分类制度

　　are really much more unstable⁴ than we thought makes me tense.  比我们想象的还不稳定，使我感到紧张

　　And it makes me tense  同时，我的紧张来自于

　　from the point of view of thinking about democracy.  民主的观点

　　So in order to tell you about that tension,  所以，为了告诉大家这种紧张的程度

　　I have to first admit to you that I'm a huge fan of the Founding Fathers.  我首先要承认，我是国父们的忠实粉丝

　　I know they were racists, I know they were sexist,  我知道他们是种族主义者，他们是男性至上主义者

　　but they were great.  但是他们非常伟大

　　I mean, they were so brave and so bold  我的意思是，他们是如此的英勇、无畏

　　and so radical⁵ in what they did  并且积极的从事他们的事业

　　that I find myself watching that cheesy musical "1776" every few years,  我自己每隔几年就要重新去欣赏那个挺土的音乐剧“1776”

　　and it's not because of the music, which is totally forgettable.  并不是因为音乐好，音乐是完全可以被忽略的

　　It's because of what happened in 1776  是因为1776年围绕着

　　with the Founding Fathers.  建国者们发生的事情

　　The Founding Fathers were, for my point of view,  建国者们，我认为他们是

　　the original anatomical activists,  最早的解剖学活动家

　　and this is why.  这是我爱他们的原因

　　What they rejected was an anatomical concept  他们反对了一个解剖学的概念

　　and replaced it with another one  并且用另一个取而代之

　　that was radical and beautiful and held us for 200 years.  这个新进的美好的概念保持了200年

　　So as you all recall,  大家回忆一下

　　what our Founding Fathers were rejecting was a concept of monarchy⁶,  我们的建国者们反对的是一个君主制度的概念

　　and the monarchy was basically based  并且这个君主制是基于

　　on a very simplistic concept of anatomy⁷.  过于简单化的解剖学概念上的

　　The monarchs⁸ of the old world  旧体制下的帝王们

　　didn't have a concept of DNA,  没有DNA的概念

　　but they did have a concept of birthright.  但是他们遵从的是“出身”的理念

　　They had a concept of blue blood.  他们有贵族的概念

　　They had the idea that the people who would be in political power  他们认为，身在政治权力下的人

　　should be in political power  就应该掌握权力

　　because of the blood being passed down  是因为贵族血统要

　　from grandfather to father to son and so forth⁹.  从祖父到父亲到儿子一代代传承

　　The Founding Fathers rejected that idea,  建国者们反对这种观点

　　and they replaced it with a new anatomical concept,  他们用一种新的解剖上的概念取而代之

　　and that concept  那种概念就是

　　was all men are created equal.  人人平等

　　They leveled that playing field  他们消除了等级观念

　　and decided¹⁰ the anatomy that mattered  并且确定解剖学的重要性

　　was the commonality of anatomy,  在于全民平等

　　not the difference in anatomy,  而不是出身的贵贱

　　and that was a really radical thing to do.  在当时那确实是一个很激进的改革

　　Now they were doing it in part  某种程度上，这种改革现在仍然在进行

　　because they were part of an Enlightenment system  因为他们是启蒙运动系统的一部分

1 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

2 twitched   

vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
• The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着，像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

5 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

6 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

7 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

8 monarchs   

君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Monarchs ruled England for centuries. 世袭君主统治英格兰有许多世纪。
• Serving six monarchs of his native Great Britain, he has served all men's freedom and dignity. 他在大不列颠本国为六位君王服务，也为全人类的自由和尊严服务。 来自演讲部分

9 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。