TED演讲：单一故事的危险性(7)

 　　The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes that if you want to dispossess a people, 巴勒斯坦诗人Mourid Barghouti曾经写到：如果你想剥夺一群人的权利，

　　the simplest way to do it is to tell their story and to start with, "secondly¹." 最简单的办法就是讲述一个关于他们的故事，并且从“第二点”开始讲起。

　　Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans, 从印第安土著人的弓箭讲起，

　　and not with the arrival of the British, and you have an entirely² different story. 而不是英国人的侵占，整个故事将变得完全不同。

　　Start the story with the failure of the African state, 讲述一个故事，从非洲国家的失败谈起，

　　and not with the colonial creation of the African state, and you have an entirely different story. 而不是殖民者瓜分创建这些非洲国家的过程，整个故事将变得完全不同。

　　I recently spoke³ at a university where a student told me that 我最近刚刚在一个大学做了一篇讲座，一个学生对我说：

　　it was such a shame that Nigerian men were physical abusers like the father character in my novel. 非常可悲，尼日利亚的男人都和我书中的父亲角色一样，都是施暴者。

　　I told him that I had just read a novel called "American Psycho" 我告诉他我最近刚刚读了一本小说，叫做《美国精神狂魔》，

　　and that it was such a shame that young Americans were serial⁴ murderers. 对此我也感到很惋惜，美国青年都是连环杀手。

　　Now, obviously I said this in a fit of mild irritation⁵. 当然了，那是我一时的气话。

　　But it would never have occurred to me to think that just because I had read a novel 我绝不会认为，仅仅因为我读了一本

　　in which a character was a serial killer⁶ that he was somehow representative of all Americans. 以连环杀手为主角的小说，他便可以代表所有的美国人。

　　This is not because I am a better person than that student, 这并不是因为我比那位学生出色，

　　but because of America's cultural and economic power, I had many stories of America. 而是因为，美国的文化以及经济雄厚实力，使得我有机会掌握了关于美国的多重故事。

　　I had read Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and Gaitskill. I did not have a single story of America. 我读过泰勒、厄普代克、斯坦贝克以及盖茨克尔。因此，我对美国的了解并不是来自单一的故事。

1 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

5 irritation   

n.激怒，恼怒，生气

参考例句：

• He could not hide his irritation that he had not been invited.他无法掩饰因未被邀请而生的气恼。
• Barbicane said nothing,but his silence covered serious irritation.巴比康什么也不说，但是他的沉默里潜伏着阴郁的怒火。

6 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。