TED演讲:为什么要制造无用的东西(7)

Oh no, it got stuck. Isn't it comforting that even robots sometimes get stage fright?

哦不，它卡住了。连机器都会犯舞台恐惧症，是不是很让人放松啊？

It just gets stuck a little bit. It's very human of them.

它只是有一点点卡住。非常人性化哦。

Oh wait, let's go back a little bit, and then … Isn't it a beautiful time to be alive?

等一下，我们倒回去一点。然后……活在这个时代真好，是吧？

So as much as my machines can seem like simple engineering slapstick,

我的机器看起来像是在用工程学做简单的恶搞，

I realize that I stumbled¹ on something bigger than that.

但我意识到我触及到了一些比这更重要的事。

It's this expression of joy and humility² that often gets lost in engineering,

制造机器时往往无法表现得开心或谦逊，

and for me it was a way to learn about hardware without having my performance anxiety get in the way.

对我而言，用这种方式学硬件，是不会受到表现焦虑症干扰的。

I often get asked if I think I'm ever going to build something useful, and maybe someday I will.

经常有人问我，我以后会不会制作一些有用的东西，可能有一天我会。

But the way I see it, I already have because I've built myself this job

但我觉得我早已做到了，这份工作是我为自己创造出的。

and it's something that I could never have planned for, or that I could

这是我无法计划出来的，或者

It's something that I could never have planned for. Instead it happened

这是我永远也无法计划出的。相反，这一切的发生

just because I was enthusiastic about what I was doing, and I was sharing that enthusiasm with other people.

只是因为我对这个工作充满热情，并且我在与他人分享我的热情。

To me that's the true beauty of making useless things,

对于我，那就是制作无用机器最美的部分，

because it's this acknowledgment that you don't always know what the best answer is.

因为你已经承认，你不一定知道最好的答案是什么。

And it turns off that voice in your head that tells you that you know exactly how the world works.

它让你不再盲目认为自己已经完全了解世界怎么运作。

And maybe a toothbrush helmet isn't the answer, but at least you're asking the question. Thank you.

可能一台牙刷头盔并不是标准答案，但至少你提出了问题。谢谢。

1 stumbled   

v.（不顺畅地）说( stumble的过去式和过去分词 )；跌跌撞撞地走；绊脚；（说话、演奏等）出错

参考例句：

• I stumbled and sprained my ankle. 我摔了一跤，把脚脖子扭了。
• The child stumbled and fell. 孩子绊了一下，摔倒了。

2 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。