TED演讲:书呆子教你如何在线学习(2)

 It had a gas station, a general store, two houses at its peak. 那儿有一个加油站，一个百货商店，山顶还有两座房子。

And this is of course a completely irresistible¹ metaphor² to a novelist, 这对小说家而言具有非常重要的象征意义，

because we would all like to believe that the stuff that we write down on paper 因为我们都愿意相信我们写下的东西

can change the actual world in which we're actually living, 能够改变我们生活的这个世界，

which is why my third book is called "Paper Towns". 所以我将我的第三本小说命名为《纸镇》。

But what interests me ultimately more than the medium in which this happened, is the phenomenon itself. 但其实让我更感兴趣的并不是这件事是如何发生的，而是这种现象本身。

It's easy enough to say that the world shapes our maps of the world, right? 大家很容易会想到，世界地图是由世界的形状决定的，对吗？

Like the overall shape of the world is obviously going to affect our maps. 也就是说世界是什么样，我们的地图就是什么样。

But what I find a lot more interesting is the way that the manner in which we map the world changes the world. 但我发现更有意思的是，我们制作地图的方式反过来也会改变世界的样子。

Because the world would truly be a different place if North were down. 因为我们（印象中）的世界将会是另一个样子，如果（地图的）下方是北。

And the world would be a truly different place if Alaska and Russia weren't on opposite sides of the map. 我们（印象中）的世界将会是另一个样子，如果我们不把阿拉斯加和俄罗斯放在一起，隔海相望。

And the world would be a different place if we projected Europe to show it in its actual size. 我们（印象中）的世界将会是另一个样子，如果我们按照欧洲的真实比例来制作地图的话。

The world is changed by our maps of the world. 我们（制作）的世界地图改变了世界。

The way that we choose -- sort of, our personal cartographic enterprise, 而我们选择的（人生）道路--就好比我们私人的地图制作公司，

also shapes the map of our lives, and that in turn shapes our lives. 绘制了我们人生的地图，它反过来会影响我们的人生。

1 irresistible   

adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的

参考例句：

• The wheel of history rolls forward with an irresistible force.历史车轮滚滚向前，势不可挡。
• She saw an irresistible skirt in the store window.她看见商店的橱窗里有一条叫人着迷的裙子。

2 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。