TED演讲 :生命中最惨痛的时刻如何造就我们(7)

 Gay rights are not primarily marriage rights,  同性恋权益不主要是婚姻权益，

and for the millions who live in unaccepting places  而对数以百万生活在不包容

with no resources,  和缺少资源地方的人们，

dignity remains¹ elusive².  尊严是可望而不可及的。

I am lucky to have forged meaning  我很幸运，能够铸造意义

and built identity,  和建造身份，

but that's still a rare privilege,  但这是少有的特权，

and gay people deserve more collectively  同性恋者群体应得到的

than the crumbs³ of justice.  不只是一点点的正义。

And yet, every step forward  然而，每点进步

is so sweet.  都是甜蜜的。

In 2007, six years after we met,  在2007年，在我和我的伴侣

my partner and I decided  相识六年后，

to get married.  我们决定结婚。

Meeting John had been the discovery  遇见约翰让我找到了

of great happiness  巨大的快乐，

and also the elimination⁴ of great unhappiness,  也去除了庞大的不快乐，

and sometimes, I was so occupied  有时候，我太在乎着

with the disappearance⁵ of all that pain  痛苦的消失，

that I forgot about the joy,  而忘了喜悦，

which was at first the less remarkable⁶ part of it to me.  它一开始并不是那么的起眼。

Marrying was a way to declare our love  婚姻是我们宣扬我们爱的存在

as more a presence than an absence.  而不是缺憾。

Marriage soon led us to children,  婚姻很快把我们引导向孩子，

and that meant new meanings  而这意味着新的意义

and new identities, ours and theirs.  和新的身份，我们的和他们的。

I want my children to be happy,  我要我的孩子们开心，

and I love them most achingly when they are sad.  在他们伤心时，我最疼他们。

As a gay father, I can teach them  作为一名同性恋的父亲，我可以教导他们

to own what is wrong in their lives,  去理解他们生命中的错误，

but I believe that if I succeed  但我相信如果我成功地

in sheltering them from adversity,  让他们远离逆境，

I will have failed as a parent.  那我身为父亲是失败的。

A Buddhist⁷ scholar I know once explained to me  我认识的一位佛教学者曾向我解释

that Westerners mistakenly think  西方人错误地认为

that nirvana is what arrives  涅磐降临在所有疾苦消逝

when all your woe⁸ is behind you  只剩下

and you have only bliss⁹ to look forward to.  幸福在眼前的时候。

But he said that would not be nirvana,  但他说这不是涅磐，

because your bliss in the present  因为你现今的幸福

would always be shadowed by the joy from the past.  总会被以前的喜悦掩盖。

Nirvana, he said, is what you arrive at  以他来看，涅磐的降临，

when you have only bliss to look forward to  是当你眼前只有幸福，

and find in what looked like sorrows  而在看起来像是悲伤里

the seedlings¹⁰ of your joy.  也能找到喜悦的种子。

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

3 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

4 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

5 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

6 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

7 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

8 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

9 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

10 seedlings   

n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ninety-five per cent of the new seedlings have survived. 新栽的树苗95%都已成活。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In such wet weather we must prevent the seedlings from rotting. 这样的阴雨天要防止烂秧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》