TED演讲:慈悲心与感同身受的真正涵义(1)

 I want to address the issue of compassion¹.  我想探讨慈悲心这个话题。

Compassion has many faces.  慈悲心有很多形态。

Some of them are fierce; some of them are wrathful;  有些是激烈的；有些是忿怒的；

some of them are tender; some of them are wise.  有些是温和的, 有些是智慧的。

A line that the Dalai Lama once said,  达赖喇嘛曾说过，

he said, Love and compassion are necessities.  他说：爱与慈悲是必需品。

They are not luxuries.  它们不是奢侈品。

Without them,  没有它们，

humanity cannot survive.  人性无法留存。

And I would suggest,  我想说的是，

it is not only humanity that won't survive,  不仅人性难以保全，

but it is all species on the planet,  我们今天所知道的，

as we've heard today.  地球上所有的物种都是。

It is the big cats,  不论是大型猫科动物，

and it's the plankton².  还是浮游生物。

Two weeks ago, I was in Bangalore in India.  两周前，我在印度的班加罗尔。

I was so privileged to be able to teach in a hospice on the outskirts³ of Bangalore. 我很荣幸的在班加罗尔的郊区一个安养院教授临终关怀。

And early in the morning,  每天很早，

I went into the ward⁴.  我就去病房。

In that hospice,  在那家安养院，

there were 31 men and women who were actively⁵ dying.  有31个人处在濒死状态。

And I walked up to the bedside of an old woman who was breathing very rapidly, fragile,  我走到一个老年妇女的床前，她的呼吸非常急促而微弱，

obviously in the latter phase of active dying.  很明显她处于濒死的末期。

I looked into her face.  我看着她的脸。

I looked into the face of her son sitting next to her,  看着坐在她旁边她儿子的脸，

and his face was just riven with grief and confusion.  他的脸溢满了悲伤和困惑。

And I remembered a line from the Mahabharata,  我记得摩诃婆罗多，

the great Indian epic:  伟大的印度史诗里有这么一段话：

What is the most wondrous⁶ thing in the world, Yudhisthira?  尤帝士提尔，什么是这世上最美妙的事情？

1 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

2 plankton   

n.浮游生物

参考例句：

• Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.浮游生物处于海洋食物链的最底层。
• The plankton in the sea feeds many kinds of animals. 海的浮游生物成为很多种动物的食物。

3 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

4 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

5 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

6 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。