TED演讲:格格不入者的心声(4)

 The three writers I wanted to meet were Carole Maso, Lynne Tillman and Peggy Phelan. 我想见的三位作家是卡罗尔·马索，琳恩·蒂尔曼和佩吉·费伦。

These were not famous, best-selling authors, 她们不算是最知名和畅销的作家，

but to me, they were women-writer titans.  但是我把她们奉若神明。

Carole Maso wrote the book that later became my art bible¹. 卡罗尔·马索的书后来成为了我的艺术指导。

Lynne Tillman gave me permission to believe that there was a chance my stories could be part of the world. 琳恩·蒂尔曼给了我信心让我相信，将来我的故事会被世界上的人所知晓。

And Peggy Phelan reminded me  佩吉·费伦则提醒我

that maybe my brains could be more important than my boobs. 我的头脑比胸部更加重要。 

They weren't mainstream² women writers,  她们不是主流女作家，

but they were cutting a path through the mainstream with their body stories, 但是她们用自己的故事题材在主流文学中独树一帜，

I like to think, kind of the way water cut the Grand³ Canyon⁴. 另辟蹊径。

It nearly killed me with joy to hang out with these three over-50-year-old women writers. 能和这三位50多岁的女作家聊天，快把我乐疯了。

And the reason it nearly killed me with joy is that I'd never known⁵ a joy like that. 因为我从来不知道 生活可以这么开心。

I'd never been in a room like that.  我的生活中从来没有打开过这样美好的一扇门。

My mother never went to college.  我的母亲没有上过大学。

And my creative career to that point was a sort of small, sad, stillborn thing. 从这一点来说我的创作生涯本来就是一个很小的，卑微的，会胎死腹中的事。

So kind of in those first nights in New York I wanted to die there. 在纽约的前几天我希望就死在那里。

I was just like, "Kill me now.  I'm good. This is beautiful." 我想说“杀了我吧。我要葬在这美好之中。”

Some of you in the room will understand what happened next. 接下来发生了什么，屋子里的一些人会理解。

First, they took me to the offices of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 首先，他们把我带到了法勒，斯特劳斯和吉鲁的办公室。

Farrar, Straus and Giroux was like my mega-dream press. 法勒，斯特劳斯和吉鲁是我的终极梦想出版社。

I mean, T.S. Eliot and Flannery O'Connor were published there. 艾略特的诗集和弗兰纳里·奥康纳的小说都在那里出版。

The main editor guy sat me down and talked to me for a long time, 主编让我坐下和我聊了很久，

trying to convince⁶ me I had a book in me about my life as a swimmer. 一直在试图让我相信我写了一本关于我自己是游泳运动员的书。

You know, like a memoir⁷.  就像用备忘录让我回忆一样。

1 bible   

n.《圣经》；得到权威支持的典籍

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• This dictionary should be your Bible when studying English.学习英语时，这本字典应是你的主要参考书。

2 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

3 grand   

adj.豪华的，宏伟的，壮丽的，主要的，重大的；n.(美俚)一千美元

参考例句：

• The pianist played several pieces of music on a grand piano.钢琴家在一架大钢琴上弹了几首乐曲。
• Come on,I'll give you the grand tour of the backyard.跟我来，我带你去后院来一次盛大的旅游。

4 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

5 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

6 convince   

vt.使确认，使信服；使认识错误

参考例句：

• It requires a lot of talking to convince him.要说服他很费口舌。
• I have given over trying to convince him.我已经不再试图说服他了。

7 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。