PBS高端访谈:我们应该为自己的本名感到自豪

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now: a reflection on heritage and how, in the melting pot of America, a name can provide a concrete link to family traditions. Filmed before the Georgia shootings, writer Te-Ping Chen recently shared her Humble¹ Opinion that people need to embrace ethnic² names and not shy away from them.

TE-PING CHEN, Author, "Land of Big Numbers": As a child, I was given a boy's name. Ours was a family of three girls, but my parents wanted to honor my paternal³ grandfather. I was their last child, so I wound up with his name. For years, my name, Te-Ping, has made me feel incredibly conspicuous⁴. Growing up in California, I learned to hate introducing myself, because so few people could ever pronounce my name. Tee-ping, they'd say. Tuh-ping, they'd say. My cheeks would burn, and I'd feel stiffly uncomfortable, like a searching spotlight⁵ moving over a crowd had suddenly fixed⁶ on me. In Chinese, the name sounds gently affectionate and lilting to my ears. The Te means virtue⁷. Ping means peace. But, in English, the letters looked clumsy to me on a page, awkward and off-balance. At restaurants and in coffee shops, I grew used to giving out a fake name. It was easier than hearing someone stumble over mine. And yet my parents were proud of the name, proud of what it stood for. They were Americans, but they hadn't left their heritage behind. Our family tradition of names dates back centuries, to the Song dynasty, with every generation's name taking a different character from a poem Ming-Chong-Shu (ph), and, in my generation's case, Te. Why would they throw that away for a Jessica or a Molly, a name that had no meaning to them? I now understand. We name ourselves to honor our forbearers who carried us here, a beloved grandmother, a so-and-so III. We anchor ourselves that way. We acknowledge the soil we're made from. History is precious. It doesn't survive unless you choose to embrace it. For so many years, my name has felt like a flag that's stuck out bristling⁸ from any form or name tag. But that's OK. It's a name that's made me think hard about identity. In that way, it's helped make me who I am, even when it's uncomfortable. I recently had a son, and we gave him a Chinese name, too. His name means joy. It didn't occur to me to do it any other way. There's strength in saying that, yes, you're here, we're here. So what if the tongue stumbles? This is where we come from, and these are our names.

JUDY WOODRUFF: An important message for all of us to hear.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：现在：看看传统以及在美国的大熔炉中，一个名字可以怎样与家庭传统相关联。这条视频拍摄于佐治亚州枪击案之前，作家陈德平与大家分享了她的观点，即人们需要接受本名，而不是回避它们。

《人口大国》作者陈德平：小时候，我就被起了个男孩的名字。我们家有三个女儿，但我父母想纪念我的祖父。我是他们最小的孩子，所以我起了他的名字。多年来，我的名字“德平”让我觉得自己非常显眼。在加利福尼亚长大的我讨厌自我介绍，因为很少有人能说出我的名字。他们会说“泰平”，还有人会说“图平”。我的脸颊会发烫，我会感到僵硬的不适感，就像一个在人群中移动的聚光灯突然照在我身上。在中文里，这个名字听起来温柔亲切，轻快悦耳。“德”意味着美德，“平”意味着和平。但是在英文里，这些字母在我看来很笨拙，而且是失衡的。在餐馆和咖啡店，我渐渐习惯了用假名。这比听到别人叫错我的名字要好得多。但我的父母为这个名字感到骄傲，为它所代表的一切感到骄傲。他们是美国人，但他们没有抛弃他们的传统。我们家族的名字传统可以追溯到几百年前的宋朝，每一代人的名字都从某首诗中取一个字，我们这代人是“德”。为什么他们会选择这个名字，而放弃“杰西卡”或“莫莉”，一个对他们来说毫无意义的名字？我现在明白了。我们给自己起名，是为了纪念把我们带到这里的先辈：一位敬爱的祖母，什么三世。我们就这样把自己固定住，我们承认我们的根基。历史是宝贵的，除非你选择接受它，否则它不会存活下来。这么多年来，我的名字就像一面旗帜，竖立在任何形式或名牌上。但没关系，这个名字让我开始认真思考自己的身份。通过这种方式，它帮助我塑造了我自己，即使是在不舒服的时候。我最近有了个儿子，我们也给他起了个中文名字，他的名字意味着快乐。我没有想到要用别的方法做这件事。你在这里，我们在这里，说出这话是很有力量的。如果很绕口怎么办？我们来自这里，这就是我们的名字。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：这是一个很重要的信息，我们所有人都应该听听。

1 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 paternal   

adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的

参考例句：

• I was brought up by my paternal aunt.我是姑姑扶养大的。
• My father wrote me a letter full of his paternal love for me.我父亲给我写了一封充满父爱的信。

4 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。

5 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

8 bristling   

a.竖立的

参考例句：

• "Don't you question Miz Wilkes' word,'said Archie, his beard bristling. "威尔克斯太太的话，你就不必怀疑了。 "阿尔奇说。他的胡子也翘了起来。
• You were bristling just now. 你刚才在发毛。