TED演讲：单一故事的危险性(3)

 　　Then one Saturday, we went to his village to visit, 后来的一个星期六，我们去Fide的村庄拜访，

　　and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made. 她的母亲向我们展示了一个精美别致的草篮--是Fide的哥哥用染过色的酒椰叶编织的。

　　I was startled. It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something.  我当时完全被震惊了。我从来没有想过Fide的家人居然有亲手制造东西的才能。

　　All I had heard about them was how poor they were, so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor. 在那之前，我对Fide家唯一的了解就是他们是何等的穷苦，正因为如此，他们在我脑中的印象只是一个字──“穷”。

　　Their poverty was my single story of them. 他们的贫穷是我赐予他们的单一故事。

　　Years later, I thought about this when I left Nigeria to go to university in the United States. 多年之后，在我离开尼日利亚前往美国读大学的时候，我又想到了这件事。

　　I was 19. My American roommate was shocked by me. 我那时19岁。我的美国室友当时完全对我感到十分惊讶了。

　　She asked where I had learned to speak English so well,  她问我是从哪里学得讲一口如此流利的英语，

　　and was confused when I said that Nigeria happened to have English as its official language.  而当我告知她尼日利亚刚巧是以英语作为官方语言的时候，她的脸上则是写满了茫然。

　　She asked if she could listen to what she called my "tribal¹ music,"  她问我是否可以给她听听她所谓的“部落音乐”。

　　and was consequently very disappointed when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey. 可想而知，当我拿出玛丽亚凯莉的磁带时，她是何等的失望。

　　She assumed that I did not know how to use a stove. 她断定我不知道如何使用电炉。

　　What struck me was this: She had felt sorry for me even before she saw me. 我猛然意识到：在她见到我之间，她就已经对我充满了怜悯之心。

　　Her default position toward me, as an African, was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity. 她对我这个非洲人的预设心态，是一种充满施恩与好意的怜悯之情。

　　My roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe². 我那位室友的脑中有一个关与非洲的单一故事：一个充满了灾难的单一故事。

　　In this single story, there was no possibility of Africans being similar to her in any way,  在这个单一故事中，非洲人是完全没有可能在任何方面和她有所相似的；

　　no possibility of feelings more complex than pity, no possibility of a connection as human equals. 没有可能接受到比怜悯更复杂的感情；没有可能以一个平等的人类的身份与她沟通。

1 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

2 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。