TED演讲：舞者还是用PPT?(5)

 　　I shall now, therefore, humbly¹ propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.  所以，今天我谨提出我的观点，希望不会遭到反对。

　　Once we eliminate public funding for the artists, let's put them back to work by using them instead of PowerPoint.  一旦我们消除对艺术家的资金支持，他们可以重返工作岗位让他们取代幻灯片。

　　As a test case, I propose we start with American dancers.  作为测试，我建议先从美国的舞蹈演员开始。

　　After all, they are the most perishable² of their kind, prone³ to injury and very slow to heal due to our health care system.  毕竟，他们是同行中最脆弱的，容易受伤，还好得超慢拜我们的医疗体制所赐。

　　Rather than dancing our Ph.Ds, we should use dance to explain all of our complex problems.  除了舞动博士，我们还应该用舞蹈解释所有复杂问题。

　　Imagine our politicians using dance to explain why we must invade a foreign country or bail⁴ out an investment bank. It's sure to help. 想象一下，我们的政治家用舞蹈解释我们为何必须入侵他国或拯救投资银行。一定有用。

　　Of course someday, in the deep future, a technology of persuasion⁵ even more powerful than PowerPoint may be invented, rendering⁶ dancers unnecessary as tools of rhetoric⁷.  当然，将来的某一天，比幻灯片更强大的劝说技术会问世流传，舞蹈演员作为雄辩工具将不再重要。

　　However, I trust that by that day, we shall have passed this present financial calamity⁸.  然而，我相信，到那天，我们已经度过了目前的财政灾难。

　　Perhaps by then we will be able to afford the luxury of just sitting in an audience with no other purpose than to witness the human form in motion.  也许那时，我们才能有幸坐在观众席上心无旁骛，全心观赏动感的人类形体。

1 humbly   

adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地

参考例句：

• We humbly beg Your Majesty to show mercy. 我们恳请陛下发发慈悲。
• "You must be right, Sir,'said John humbly. “你一定是对的，先生，”约翰恭顺地说道。

2 perishable   

adj.（尤指食物）易腐的，易坏的

参考例句：

• Many fresh foods are highly perishable.许多新鲜食物都极易腐败。
• Fruits are perishable in transit.水果在运送时容易腐烂。

3 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

4 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

5 persuasion   

n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派

参考例句：

• He decided to leave only after much persuasion.经过多方劝说，他才决定离开。
• After a lot of persuasion,she agreed to go.经过多次劝说后，她同意去了。

6 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

7 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

8 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。