TED演讲:失落了的民主辩论艺术(4)(在线收听

   Now, notice, something interesting -- 接下来有意思的事情来了

  Well, I should tell you about the Supreme Court first.  哦,我先说一下最高法院的审理结果吧
  The Supreme Court decided. 最高法院判定:
  What do you suppose they said?  你们猜是怎样?
  They said yes, that Casey Martin must be provided a golf cart. 最高法院同意了马丁的请求,判决他可以使用高尔夫球车
  Seven to two, they ruled.  投票表决七比二胜出
  What was interesting about their ruling  一件很有意思的事情是
  and about the discussion we've just had 关于他们的判决以及我们刚才的讨论,
  is that the discussion about the right, the justice, of the matter depended on figuring out what is the essential nature of golf. 此案的公平公正取决于判断什么才是高尔夫运动的本质
  And the Supreme Court justices wrestled with that question. 最高法院的大法官们就这一问题展开了激烈交锋
  And Justice Stevens, writing for the majority,  大法官史蒂文斯,站在大多数人一边
  said he had read all about the history of golf,  他号称他读了所有关于高尔夫运动的历史文献
  and the essential point of the game is 得出的结论是:
  to get very small ball from one place into a hole in as few strokes as possible, 这项运动本质是把一个很小的球从某处打入洞中,击打杆数越少越好
  and that walking was not essential, but incidental.  场上的走动并非本质,而是附带事件
  Now, there were two dissenters, one of whom was Justice Scalia. 有两位法官持不同意见,其中一位是大法官斯卡利亚
  He wouldn't have granted the cart, and he had a very interesting dissent. 他不同意使用代步车,他反对的理由很有意思
  It's interesting because he rejected the Aristotelian premise underlying the majority's opinion. 因为他反对大多数人所认同的亚里士多德前提
  He said it's not possible to determine the essential nature of a game like golf. 他说定义高尔夫等运动的本质是一件不可能的事
  Here's how he put it.  他的原话是:
  "To say that something is essential is ordinarily to say that "说某样事物是具有本质意义的,
  it is necessary to the achievement of a certain object." 等于在说它对能否完成某目标起决定作用"
  But since it is the very nature of a game to have no object except amusement, 但是,文娱运动的本质就是漫无目的地取乐
  that is, what distinguishes games from productive activity, 这是文娱活动区别于生产劳动的重要本质
  it is quite impossible to say that any of a game's arbitrary rules is essential." 所以,没有哪条体育运动规则可以称得上具有本质意义
  So there you have Justice Scalia taking on the Aristotelian premise of the majority's opinion. 这就是大法官斯卡利亚对于亚里士多德前提的驳论
  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/TEDyj/jyp/454377.html