TED演讲：单一故事的危险性(5)

 　　Now, I've laughed every time I've read this. And one must admire the imagination of John Lok. 我每次读到这一段的时候，都不禁大笑起来。John Locke的想象力真的是让人敬佩。

　　But what is important about his writing is that it represents the beginning of a tradition of telling African stories in the West: 但关于他这段作品极其重要的一点是，它昭示着西方社会讲述非洲故事的一个传统。

　　A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a place of negatives, of difference, of darkness, 在这个传统中，撒哈拉以南的非洲充满了消极、差异以及黑暗，

　　of people who, in the words of the wonderful poet Rudyard Kipling, are "half devil¹, half child." 是伟大的诗人Rudyard Kipling笔下所形容的“半恶魔、半孩童”的奇异人种。

　　And so, I began to realize that my American roommate 正因此，我开始意识到我的那位美国室友

　　must have throughout her life seen and heard different versions² of this single story, 一定在她成长的过程中看过并且听过关于这个单一故事的不同版本，

　　as had a professor, who once told me that my novel was not "authentically³ African." 就如同之前一位曾经批判我的小说缺乏“真实的非洲感”的教授一样。

　　Now, I was quite willing to contend⁴ that there were a number of things wrong with the novel, that it had failed in a number of places,  话说我倒是甘愿承认我的小说有几处写的不好的地方，有几处败笔，

　　but I had not quite imagined that it had failed at achieving something called African authenticity⁵. 但我很难相像我的小说竟然会缺乏“真实的非洲感”。

　　In fact, I did not know what African authenticity was. 事实上，我甚至不知道“真实的非洲感”到底是个什么东西。

　　The professor told me that my characters were too much like him, an educated and middle-class man. 那位教授跟我说我书中的人物 都和他太接近了，都是受过教育的中产人物。

　　My characters drove cars. They were not starving. Therefore they were not authentically African. 我的人物会开车。他们没有受到饥饿的困扰。正因此，他们缺少了真实的非洲感。

　　But I must quickly add that I too am just as guilty in the question of the single story. 我在这里不得不指出，我本人也常常被单一的故事蒙蔽双眼。

　　A few years ago, I visited Mexico from the U.S. 几年前，我从美国探访墨西哥。

　　The political climate in the U.S. at the time was tense, and there were debates going on about immigration. 当时美国的政治气候比较紧张，关于移民的辩论一直在进行着。

　　And, as often happens in America, immigration became synonymous with Mexicans. 而在美国，“移民”和“墨西哥人”常常被当作同义词来使用。

　　There were endless stories of Mexicans as people who were fleecing the healthcare system,  关于墨西哥人的故事是源源不绝，讲的都是欺诈医疗系统、

　　sneaking⁶ across the border, being arrested at the border, that sort of thing. 偷渡边境、在边境被捕之类的事情。

1 devil   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• It is easier to raise the devil than to lay him.召鬼容易驱鬼难。
• Susie,you're a determined little devil.苏茜，你真是个坚决的小家伙。

2 versions   

n.译本( version的名词复数 )；版本；（个人对事件的）描述；（原物的）变体

参考例句：

• There are two versions of the game, a long one and a short one. 这游戏有两个版本，一长一短。
• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 authentically   

ad.sincerely真诚地

参考例句：

• Gina: And we should give him something 2 authentically Taiwanese. 吉娜：而且我们应该送他有纯正台湾味的东西。
• A loser is one who fails to correspond authentically. 失败者则指那些未能做到诚实可靠的人。

4 contend   

vi.竞争，搏斗，声称，主张；vt.坚持主张

参考例句：

• The firm is too small to contend against large international companies.这家公司太小，无法与国际性的大公司竞争。
• Let a hundred flowers blossom,let a hundred schools of thought contend.百花齐放，百家争鸣。

5 authenticity   

n.真实性

参考例句：

• There has been some debate over the authenticity of his will. 对于他的遗嘱的真实性一直有争论。
• The museum is seeking an expert opinion on the authenticity of the painting. 博物馆在请专家鉴定那幅画的真伪。

6 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。