TED演讲:失落了的民主辩论艺术(4)

 　　Now, notice, something interesting -- 接下来有意思的事情来了

　　Well, I should tell you about the Supreme¹ Court first.  哦，我先说一下最高法院的审理结果吧

　　The Supreme Court decided². 最高法院判定：

　　What do you suppose they said?  你们猜是怎样？

　　They said yes, that Casey Martin must be provided a golf cart. 最高法院同意了马丁的请求，判决他可以使用高尔夫球车

　　Seven to two, they ruled.  投票表决七比二胜出

　　What was interesting about their ruling  一件很有意思的事情是

　　and about the discussion we've just had 关于他们的判决以及我们刚才的讨论，

　　is that the discussion about the right, the justice, of the matter depended on figuring out what is the essential nature of golf. 此案的公平公正取决于判断什么才是高尔夫运动的本质

　　And the Supreme Court justices wrestled³ with that question. 最高法院的大法官们就这一问题展开了激烈交锋

　　And Justice Stevens, writing for the majority,  大法官史蒂文斯，站在大多数人一边

　　said he had read all about the history of golf,  他号称他读了所有关于高尔夫运动的历史文献

　　and the essential point of the game is 得出的结论是：

　　to get very small ball from one place into a hole in as few strokes as possible, 这项运动本质是把一个很小的球从某处打入洞中，击打杆数越少越好

　　and that walking was not essential, but incidental.  场上的走动并非本质，而是附带事件

　　Now, there were two dissenters⁵, one of whom was Justice Scalia. 有两位法官持不同意见，其中一位是大法官斯卡利亚

　　He wouldn't have granted the cart, and he had a very interesting dissent⁴. 他不同意使用代步车，他反对的理由很有意思

　　It's interesting because he rejected the Aristotelian premise⁶ underlying⁷ the majority's opinion. 因为他反对大多数人所认同的亚里士多德前提

　　He said it's not possible to determine the essential nature of a game like golf. 他说定义高尔夫等运动的本质是一件不可能的事

　　Here's how he put it.  他的原话是：

　　"To say that something is essential is ordinarily to say that "说某样事物是具有本质意义的，

　　it is necessary to the achievement of a certain object." 等于在说它对能否完成某目标起决定作用"

　　But since it is the very nature of a game to have no object except amusement, 但是，文娱运动的本质就是漫无目的地取乐

　　that is, what distinguishes games from productive activity, 这是文娱活动区别于生产劳动的重要本质

　　it is quite impossible to say that any of a game's arbitrary rules is essential." 所以，没有哪条体育运动规则可以称得上具有本质意义

　　So there you have Justice Scalia taking on the Aristotelian premise of the majority's opinion. 这就是大法官斯卡利亚对于亚里士多德前提的驳论

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 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。

3 wrestled   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• As a boy he had boxed and wrestled. 他小的时候又是打拳又是摔跤。
• Armed guards wrestled with the intruder. 武装警卫和闯入者扭打起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

5 dissenters   

n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He attacked the indulgence shown to religious dissenters. 他抨击对宗教上持不同政见者表现出的宽容。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• (The dissenters would have allowed even more leeway to the Secretary.) （持异议者还会给行政长官留有更多的余地。） 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

6 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

7 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。