TED演讲：内向性格的力量(9)

 　　Now none of this is to say that social skills are unimportant, and I'm also not calling for the abolishing of teamwork at all. 我所说的完全不是指社交技能不重要，我也不是在说团队精神没有存在价值。

　　The same religions who send their sages¹ off to lonely mountain tops also teach us love and trust. 相同的宗教圣贤们今日仍旧教导我们爱与信。

　　And the problems that we are facing today in fields like science and in economics 而我们现今所面临的问题，如科学突破与经济发展，

　　are so vast and so complex that we are going to need armies of people coming together to solve them working together. 变得如此广阔复杂，我们当然需要集思广益，共同解决眼前的难关。

　　But I am saying that the more freedom that we give introverts² to be themselves, 但如果我们能提供内向者多一些个人空间，

　　the more likely that they are to come up with their own unique solutions to these problems. 他们便有机会创造出独具慧眼的答案。

　　So now I'd like to share with you what's in my suitcase today. Guess what? Books. I have a suitcase full of books. 所以我想分享给各位的是我行李箱中的东西。猜猜里面是什么? 书。满满一袋的书。

　　Here's Margaret Atwood, "Cat's Eye." Here's a novel by Milan Kundera. 这是玛格丽特·阿特伍德的《猫之眼》；米兰·昆德拉的小说。

　　And here's "The Guide for the Perplexed³" by Maimonides. But these are not exactly my books.  这是《迷途中的指南》，由麦蒙尼德所著。但其实这些书不属于我。

　　I brought these books with me because they were written by my grandfather's favorite authors. 我会带这些书来，是因为这些是我祖父最喜欢的作者的作品。

　　My grandfather was a rabbi and he was a widower⁴ who lived alone in a small apartment in Brooklyn 我祖父是犹太教教士，祖母过世后他独自住在布鲁克林的一间小公寓里。

　　that was my favorite place in the world when I was growing up, 那是我小时候最喜欢的地方，

　　partly because it was filled with his very gentle, very courtly presence and partly because it was filled with books. 部分原因是那里充满祖父温柔的氛围，部分原因是那里布满了书。

　　I mean literally⁵ every table, every chair in this apartment had yielded its original function to now serve as a surface for swaying stacks of books. 那里的每张桌子，甚至椅子，都被成堆成塔的书给排排占满了。

　　Just like the rest of my family, my grandfather's favorite thing to do in the whole world was to read. 就如同我家庭的其他成员，我祖父的嗜好就是阅读。

1 sages   

n.圣人( sage的名词复数 )；智者；哲人；鼠尾草（可用作调料）

参考例句：

• Homage was paid to the great sages buried in the city. 向安葬在此城市的圣哲们表示敬意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Confucius is considered the greatest of the ancient Chinese sages. 孔子被认为是古代中国最伟大的圣人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 introverts   

性格内向的人( introvert的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Extroverts tend to lack self-discipline while introverts lack courage. 性格外向的人缺乏自我约束力，而性格内向的人则缺乏勇气。
• I an introvert and introverts get drawn in. 我是个内向的人而且内向是天生的。

3 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

4 widower   

n.鳏夫

参考例句：

• George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
• Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。