欧美名人演讲 第69期:同性恋与道德的关系(15)

 　　What do they mean when they say that it's a choice?

　　当这些人说"同性恋是个选择"的时候，他们想表达什么？

　　This is one of those places where the orientation¹-activity distinction actually comes in handy.

　　在这种情况下，"性取向"和"性行为"之间的区别看上去很适合来佐证这种观点。

　　They might mean that homosexual orientation is a choice, having those feelings.

　　他们也许想表达：同性恋的性取向是一个选择。而正是因为我们有了这些情感感受。

　　And if that's what they mean, that just seems false.

　　他们这种说法就不攻自破了。

　　How many of you choose your sexual feelings?

　　在座哪位的情感感受，是自己选择的？

　　Ask yourself whether you've ever been attracted to somebody that you wish you were not attracted to.

　　不管你是否曾经奋不顾身地爱上某人，你都可以这样问自己。

　　Maybe the person was already involved with somebody else.

　　也许吸引你的是一个有家室的人。

　　Maybe you were already involved with somebody else.

　　也许你自己已经成了家却心属第三者。

　　Maybe the person just couldn't stand you.

　　也许你爱上的人对你避之不及。

　　We've all had these kind of experiences where we've had these feelings and wished we could get rid of them. We can't.

　　对某人有了情感感受，拼命克制，却难以自拔。我们都曾有个这种经历。

　　Or, the other side sometimes happens, where we don't really have the feelings and wish we could.

　　反过来的事情也很常见：我们难以爱上某人，却希望自己能产生感情。

　　So-and-so is so nice, we had great conversations, but the spark is just not there.

　　"那个人真是个好人，我们交流得很愉快，可是为什么就是没有化学反应呢？"

　　I mean, we don't have that kind of direct control over our feelings.

　　我们对自己的情感感受，无法收发自如。

　　But if we don't have that kind of direct control over our feelings for particular individuals, why would anyone think that we would have that sort of control over our feelings towards men in general or women in general?

　　正因为我们没有那种直接的控制机制，来控制甚至只针对某一个人的情感，那又怎么能说我们有控制机制，来控制针对男性和女性这两个特定人群的情感呢？

　　And, why would anyone choose to be gay in a society that stigmatizes² homosexuality?

　　而且，在一个倾向于污名化和侮辱同性恋的社会里，又怎么会有人蠢到去"选择"做一个同性恋呢？

　　It just doesn't stand to reason.

　　这在逻辑上是说不通的。

　　So then, the other possibility when they say "it's a choice" is that they mean the activity is chosen, and if that's what they mean, there's only one appropriate response-Duh! Yeah!

　　他们声称"同性恋是一种选择"的另一个可能的理由，是他们想表达"同性恋行为是一种选择"。如果他们这么想，那么对他们来说只有一个最合适的回答方式--"废话！当然！"

　　The technical philosophical³ term; you can write that down.

　　"废话"这词是我们的哲学专业名词，你可以记在笔记里。

　　Yeah, the activity is chosen. You don't just sort of wake up and find yourself saying, "Oh, I'm living with this person. How interesting."

　　没错，行为本身是一种选择。我们总不会稀里糊涂地就和路人甲在一起过一辈子吧。

　　You make choices, but that doesn't say anything about whether it's a good choice or a bad choice, a natural choice or an unnatural⁴ choice, in the relevant sense.

　　我们是在作出选择，但这不能因此就推论出我们作出的是好选择或者坏选择。同样道理，也不能推论出究竟是个"自然的"选择，或是个"非自然的"选择。

　　Think of this by way of analogy.

　　我们类比一下。

　　I am probably naturally right-handed in the sense that I've just been discussing.

　　我大概生来就是个右撇子。

　　I've always written with my right hand.

　　总是用右手写字。

　　Everyone in my family writes right-handed, but if I were to pick up a pen and start writing with my left hand, you wouldn't say, "Unnatural! Sinner!"

　　我家里的每个人也都是右手写字。不过如果我打算用左手拿起笔来开始写字，你总不会对我说："这不自然，你是个罪人！"

　　There was a time in history when people would have said that.

　　在历史上曾有一段时间，人们会这样说。

　　People were burned at the stake for writing with their left hands.

　　甚至用左手写字的人会被烧死。

　　We think that's crazy, but it has nothing to do with whether left-handedness is something genetically⁵ determined⁶ or something learned in early childhood or something that I just do for some reason because I think it might be fulfilling to me.

　　今天看来无疑够疯狂，但这与为什么人们用左手写字无关。无论左手写字是基因决定，还是幼年习得，都与这无关，亦或是一时兴起为之，全部无关。

　　The scientific debates are not going to settle the moral debates.

　　因为科学上的左右两方意见不能用来为道德定高下是非。

　　So what else might we mean when we talk about unnatural?

　　当热门提到"非自然"的时候，还有哪些所指呢？

　　Well maybe people are grasping at this kind of natural law tradition that goes back to Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas.

　　也许他们以源自亚里士多德和托马斯阿奎那那个时代的自然法则传统观点为佐证。

　　The idea is something like the following: all of our organs have certain "natural" purposes-our eyes are for seeing, our ears are for hearing, our genitals are for procreating, and to use your organ for some purpose other than its "natural" purpose is unnatural, and therefore, wrong.

　　来表达这种观点："我们身体的每个器官都有着某种'自然赋予'的功用。"比如双眼用来看东西，双耳用来聆听，我们的生殖器官用来生育繁殖。而在自然赋予的功能之外使用你的器官就是"非自然的"，也就是错误的。

1 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

2 stigmatizes   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

3 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

4 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

5 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。