TED演讲:修复照片,重振人生(2)

 　　This was the very first.  这是初次尝试（的一张照片）。

　　Not terribly damaged, but where the water had caused that discoloration on the girl's face 还不算毁坏得太严重，但是被水浸没的地方导致照片中小女孩的脸掉色了，

　　had to be repaired with such accuracy and delicacy¹. 我们不得不精心修复，做到十分精确，

　　Otherwise, that little girl isn't going to look like that little girl anymore, 否则，小女孩的脸就不会看上去像她的脸了

　　and surely that's as tragic² as having the photo damaged. 那多悲剧啊，就跟毁了照片一样。

　　Over time, more photos came in, thankfully,  随着时间推移，越来越多需要修复的照片被运送过来，

　　and more retouchers were needed,  我们也需要更多修图师来帮忙处理这些照片，

　　and so I reached out again on Facebook and LinkedIn,  于是我又登陆脸谱网(Facebook)和职业链接网站(LinkedIn)寻求帮助，

　　and within five days, 80 people wanted to help from 12 different countries. 仅仅5天，就有80位修图师表示愿意来帮忙，他们来自12个不同的国家。

　　Within two weeks, I had 150 people wanting to join in. 两周内，我共得到150位志愿者的答复，他们表示愿意加入我们的行列。

　　Within Japan, by July, we'd branched out to the neighboring town of Rikuzentakata, 截至七月，仅在日本境内，我们就设立了多处分支，有的在就近的陸前高田市，

　　further north to a town called Yamada.  有的分支北至茨城县。

　　Once a week, we would set up our scanning equipment in the temporary photo libraries 每周，我们都在临时照相馆里架起扫描设备，

　　that had been set up, where people were reclaiming³ their photos.  人们前来这些临时照相馆领回他们的照片。

　　The older ladies sometimes hadn't seen a scanner before,  有时候，一些年长的女士从未见过扫描仪，

　　but within 10 minutes of them finding their lost photo,  待她们找到自己遗失的照片后，在十分钟内，

　　they could give it to us, have it scanned,  她们可以把照片给我们进行扫描，

　　uploaded to a cloud server, it would be downloaded by a gaijin, a stranger, 然后上传至云端服务器，之后上传的照片可能会被一个非日本人、或陌生人下载，

　　somewhere on the other side of the globe, and it'd start being fixed⁴. 他们可能来自地球的另一端，那时照片就开始被修复。

　　The time it took, however, to get it back is a completely different story, 然而，那时，他们再要拿回这些照片所需花的时间就截然不同了，

　　and it depended obviously on the damage involved.  当然，这取决于受损程度，

　　It could take an hour. It could take weeks. It could take months. 可能一小时就能修复好，也可能需要长达几周，甚至几个月。

　　The kimono in this shot pretty much had to be hand-drawn, or pieced together, 照片中美丽的和服必须通过手绘处理，或者一点一点拼接而成，

　　picking out the remaining parts of color and detail that the water hadn't damaged. 再配上掉了的颜色，把那些没有被水冲坏的地方进行细节处理。

　　It was very time-consuming.  整个过程非常费时。

　　Now, all these photos had been damaged by water,  所有这些受海啸影响的照片，

　　submerged in salt water, covered in bacteria,  在盐水（咸咸的海水）里浸泡，受细菌侵蚀，

　　in sewage, sometimes even in oil, all of which over time is going to continue to damage them, 又埋没在垃圾里，有时甚至被油污浸染，所有这些经过一段时间都会持续破坏这些照片，

　　so hand-cleaning them was a huge part of the project.  因此手工清洗照片是这个项目的一个重大组成部分。

　　We couldn't retouch the photo unless it was cleaned, dry and reclaimed⁵. 而如果这些照片不先清洗干净，我们也无法开展修复，修复前，它们还必须进行干燥，认领完毕。

　　Now, we were lucky with our hand-cleaning.  我们的手工清洗活动非常顺利，

　　We had an amazing local woman who guided us.  当地有一位女士指导我们清洗，

　　It's very easy to do more damage to those damaged photos.  这些照片很容易再次受损，

　　As my team leader Wynne once said, it's like doing a tattoo⁶ on someone. 正如我的队长维恩曾说，这就像在对人进行纹身一样。

　　You don't get a chance to mess it up.  你不能有任何闪失，否则结果将一团糟。

1 delicacy   

n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴

参考例句：

• We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
• He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。

2 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

3 reclaiming   

v.开拓( reclaim的现在分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• People here are reclaiming land from the sea. 这儿的人们正在填海拓地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• How could such a man need reclaiming? 这么一个了不起的人怎么还需要别人拯救呢？ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 tattoo   

n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于

参考例句：

• I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
• He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。