TED演讲：试验 排除错误和万能神力(9)

 　　Now I've been sort of banging on about this for the last couple of months,  在过去的几个月里，我反复在讨论这个问题，

　　and people sometimes say to me, "Well Tim, it's kind of obvious. Obviously trial and error is very important. 有时有人跟我说：“提姆，这不是很显然么，很显然试验和排除错误很重要，

　　Obviously experimentation¹ is very important. Now why are you just wandering around saying this obvious thing?" 很显然尝试很重要。你为什么到处讲这个显而易见的事情呢？”

　　So I say, okay, fine. You think it's obvious?  所以我说，好啊，你认为这个很显然是吗？

　　I will admit it's obvious when schools start teaching children that there are some problems that don't have a correct answer.  当学校开始告诉孩子们，有时问题不总是有正确答案的时候，我会承认这很显然。

　　Stop giving them lists of questions every single one of which has an answer.  不再给他们一堆问题，而每个问题都对应一个答案，

　　And there's an authority figure in the corner behind the teacher's desk who knows all the answers.  老师的桌子背后的角落里总是站着一个知道所有答案的权威。

　　And if you can't find the answers, you must be lazy or stupid.  如果你找不到答案，你不是懒惰就是愚蠢。

　　When schools stop doing that all the time, I will admit that, yes, it's obvious that trial and error is a good thing.  当学习停止这么做时，我愿意承认，试验和排除错误显然是好事。

　　When a politician stands up campaigning for elected office and says, "I want to fix our health system.  当政客们站出来，竞选公职时，他们说：“我想整顿我们的医疗体系。

　　I want to fix our education system. I have no idea how to do it.  我想整顿我们的教育体系。我还不知道怎么做。

　　I have half a dozen ideas. We're going to test them out.  但是我有很多想法，我们会测试这些想法。

　　They'll probably all fail. Then we'll test some other ideas out.  我们可能失败。然后我们会再测试其他想法。

　　We'll find some that work. We'll build on those. We'll get rid of the ones that don't."  我们会发现有些有效的办法，然后在那个基础上继续建设。我们会抛弃那些无效的做法。

　　-- when a politician campaigns on that platform, and more importantly,  当政治家在那样的平台上竞选，更重要的是，

　　when voters like you and me are willing to vote for that kind of politician,  像你我这样的选举人，愿意投票给这样的政治家，

　　then I will admit that it is obvious that trial and error works, and that -- thank you. 那我就承认，测试和排除错误显然是有效的，而那时，我会对你们说：谢谢。

1 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。