欧美人文风情第144篇:别让我们能对孩子说的只剩...对不起

 Dear Future Generations, I think I speak for the rest of us when I say, "Sorry." 亲爱的未来世代：我想当我说“抱歉”时，我是代表我们其余的人所说的。

Sorry we left you with our mess of a planet. 很抱歉我们留给你们弄得一团糟的星球。

Sorry that we were too caught up in our own doings to do something. 很抱歉我们太沉浸在我们自己想成就一些事的作为。

Sorry we listened to people who made excuses to do nothing. 很抱歉我们听从找借口什么事都不做的人。

I hope you forgive us; we just didn't realize how special the earth was. 我希望你们原谅我们；我们只是没领悟到地球有多么独特。

Like a marriage gone wrong, we didn't know what we had until it was gone. 像是一段变调的婚姻，直到一切消逝后，我们才知道自己曾拥有什么。

For example, I'm guessing you probably know it as the Amazon Desert, right? 举例来说，我猜你大概知道它是亚马逊沙漠，对吧？

Well, believe it or not, it was once called the Amazon Rainforest, and there were billions of trees there. 嗯，信不信由你，那曾被叫做亚马逊雨林，而且那里曾有几十亿棵树。

All of them—gorgeous and—Oh...you don't know much about trees, do you? 那些树全部－－壮丽极了，而且－－噢...你不太了解树，对吧？

Well, let me tell you, trees are amazing. I mean, we'd literally¹ breathe the air they are creating. 嗯，让我来告诉你，树很了不起。我是说，我们真的呼吸大树制造的空气。

They clean up our pollution, our carbon. 它们清除我们的污染、我们排的碳。

They store and purify² water, give us medicine that cures our diseases, food that feeds us, 它们储存并净化水，给予我们治癒疾病的良药、喂饱我们的食物，

which is why I am so sorry to tell you that we burned them down, cut them down with brutal³ machines, horrific, at a rate of 40 football fields every minute. 那就是为什么我很遗憾要告诉你，我们把树烧毁、用冷酷的机器将它们砍倒，很可怕，每分钟砍倒 40 个足球场大小的树林。

That's 50 percent of all the trees in the world gone in the last hundred years. 也就是在过去一百年内，全世界有一半的树都消失了。

Why? For this. And that wouldn't make me so sad if there weren't so many pictures of leaves on it. 为什么？为了这个。而我不会如此难过，要不是那上面有这么多树叶的图案。

You know, when I was a child, I read how the Native Americans had such consideration for the planet that they felt responsible, 你知道，我还是孩子时，我读到印第安人们有这般关怀，关怀这他们自觉有责任的星球、

for how they left the land for the next seven generations, 在乎他们要留下怎样的土地给接下来的七代子孙们，

which brings me great sorrow, because most of us today don't even care about tomorrow. 这带给我深深的哀愁，因为我们大多数人如今甚至连明天都不在乎了。

So I'm sorry. I'm...I'm sorry that we put profit above people, greed⁴ above need, the rule of gold above the golden rule. 所以我很抱歉。我很...我很抱歉我们将利益看得比人民重、贪婪看得比需求重、图利的法则看得比金科玉律重。

I'm sorry we used nature as a credit card with no spending limit,  我很抱歉我们将大自然当成一张没有额度限制的信用卡使用，

overdrafting animals to extinctions, stealing your chance to ever see their uniqueness, or become friends with them. 超支动物资源到动物灭绝，偷走了你们亲眼看见它们的独特的机会，或和它们成为朋友的机会。

Sorry we poisoned the ocean so much that you can't even swim in them. 很抱歉我们毒害海洋至此，让你们甚至无法在其中悠游。

But most of all, I'm sorry about our mindset, because we had the nerve to call this destruction... progress. 但最重要的是，我对我们的心态感到抱歉，因为我们竟有胆称这种破坏为...“进步”。

Hey Fox News, if you don't think climate change is a threat, I dare you to interview the thousands of homeless people in Bangladesh. 嘿，福斯新闻台， 如果你不认为气候变迁是种威胁，你就给我去採访孟加拉那数千名无家可归的人看看啊。

See, while you were in your penthouse nestle, their homes were literally washed away beneath their feet due to rising sea levels. 听着，当你安居在你的顶楼豪华套房小窝里时，他们的家园因为上升的海平面真的在他们脚下被冲走。

And Sarah Palin, you said that you loved the smell of fossil⁶ fuels.  还有莎拉·裴林，你说你爱化石燃料的气味。

Well, I urge you to talk to the kids of Beijing who are forced to wear pollution masks just to go to school.  嗯，我鼓励你去和北京那些孩子们聊聊，他们连去上个学都被迫要戴着防污面罩。

So you can ignore this, but the thing about truth is, it can be denied, not avoided. 你可以忽略这，但关于事实就是，事实可以被否认，但无法被避免。

So I'm sorry, future generations. I'm sorry that our footprint became a thick hole and not a garden. 所以我很抱歉，未来世代。我很抱歉我们的足迹变成一个深渊而非一座花园。

I'm sorry that we paid so much attention to ISIS and very little to how fast the ice is melting in the Arctic⁷. 我很抱歉我们放那么多注意力在伊斯兰国组织上，但却如此不在意北极的冰融化得有多快。

I'm sorry we doomed⁸ you, and I'm sorry we couldn't find another planet in time to move to. 我很抱歉我们注定了你们的毁灭，我很抱歉我们无法及时找到另一个星球搬迁。

I am so—you know what? Cut the beat! I'm not sorry. 我很－－你知道吗？算了!我不觉得抱歉。

This future, I do not accept it, because an error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. 这个未来，我不接受，因为在你拒绝改正它前，一个小疏忽并不会成为一个大错误。

We can redirect this. How? Let me suggest it. 我们可以重新导正这一切。怎么做？让我来给点建议。

If a farmer sees a tree that is unhealthy, they don't look at the branches to diagnose⁹ it. 如果农夫看到一棵生病的树，他们不会看树枝来替它诊断。他们会从根部检查。

They look at the root. So like that farmer, we must look at the root and not to the branches of government, not to the politicians run by corporations. 所以就像那农夫一样，我们必须从根部探究，而不是从政府分枝去探究、不是从由财团控制的政客那去探究。

We are the root. We are the foundation, this generation. 我们就是根。我们就是根基，这个世代就是根基。

It is up to us to take care of this planet. It is our only home. 照顾这颗星球是我们的责任。这是我们唯一的家。

We must globally warm our hearts and change the climate of our souls, and realize that we are not apart from nature. 我们必须“全球暖化”我们的心，“变迁”我们心灵的“气候”，并了解我们和大自然不是分开的。

We are a part of nature, and to betray¹⁰ nature is to betray us. 我们是大自然的一部分，背叛大自然等于背叛自己。

To save nature is to save us. 拯救大自然就是拯救自己。

Because whatever you're fighting for, racism¹¹ or poverty, feminism, gay rights, or any type of equality, it won't matter in the least. 因为无论你为何而战，种族歧视或贫困、女性主义、同性恋权益，或任何一种型式的平等，那都无足轻重。

Because if we don't all work together to save the environment, we will be equally extinct⁵. 因为若我们不同心协力拯救环境，我们都将同样地灭亡。

Sorry. 抱歉。

Hey, guys. For the past several weeks, I've been here in Africa, the heart of Africa, 嘿，大家。过去几个星期来，我都在非洲这，非洲的心脏，

witnessing the horrific destruction of the rainforest, which inspired me to write this piece. 亲眼见到雨林惨不忍睹的破坏，那给了我写下这作品的灵感。

Why are forests being destroyed at such an enormous rate? 为什么雨林以如此快的速度被摧毁呢？

For this. Today, we live in a world where destroying trees makes you money. 为了这个。现今，我们活在一个破坏树会帮你赚钱的世界。

So what can we, normal people, do about it? 所以我们，普通人们，能对这做些什么呢？

One way to directly fight the destruction is to "Stand For Trees." 一个正面抵抗破坏的方法是“为树站出来”。

By standing¹² for trees, not only can you save the lives of trees, help forest communities, 借由为树站出来，你不仅可以拯救树木的生命、帮助森林社区，

and protect the rights of animals to live in their homes, 还有保卫动物居住在自己家园的权利，

but you will also balance the amount of pollution that you yourself give off with your everyday activities, 你还同时会平衡你自己日常活动所排放的污染量，

making you a part of the solution and not the problem. 让你成为解决方法的一部分，而非问题的一部分。

This is the option that I chose. But whatever way that you choose to stand for trees, do it! 这是我做的选择。但无论你选择哪种方法来为树站出来，做就对了!

Because a wise man once said, "When the river is all dried up and the trees cut down, 因为一位智者曾说：“当河流全干涸且树全被伐倒时，

man will then realize that he will not be able to eat...money." 人那时才会觉悟，他没办法吃...钱。”

 

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 purify   

vt.使纯净，提纯，使纯洁

参考例句：

• They open the windows to purify the air of the room.他们打开窗户清涤室内空气。
• You should purify the water before drinking it.喝水前，你应使之净化。

3 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

4 greed   

n.贪食，贪心，贪婪

参考例句：

• His greed knows no limits.他的贪心永无止境。
• Greed was his only motive for stealing.贪婪是他盗窃的唯一动机。

5 extinct   

adj.灭绝的，不再活跃的，熄灭了的，已废弃的

参考例句：

• All hopes were extinct.所有希望都破灭了。
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。

6 fossil   

n.化石，食古不化的人，老顽固

参考例句：

• At this distance of time it is difficult to date the fossil.时间隔得这么久了，很难确定这化石的年代。
• The man is a fossil.那人是个老顽固。

7 Arctic   

adj.北极的；n.北极

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• The sort of animal lived in the Arctic Circle.这种动物生活在北极圈里。

8 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

9 diagnose   

vt.诊断，判断

参考例句：

• It provides a new method for early diagnose of breast cancer.为临床早期诊断乳腺癌提供一个新的检查手段。
• What more will you want to know to diagnose this problem?要弄清这个问题，你还需要知道些什么？

10 betray   

vt.背叛，失信于，泄露，暴露

参考例句：

• He promised never to betray the organization.他发誓永不背叛组织。
• Keep calm.Don't betray your identity.沉住气，别可露馅儿。

11 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。