So if we think of our fears as more than just fears but as stories, we should think of ourselves as the authors of those stories. But just as importantly, we need to think of ourselves as the readers of our fears, and how we choose to read our fears can have a profound effect on our lives.

　　所以我們認(rèn)為我們的恐懼不僅僅是恐懼 還是故事，我們應(yīng)該把自己當(dāng)作 這些故事的作者。 但是同樣重要的是，我們需要想象我們自己 是我們恐懼的解讀者，我們選擇如何 去解讀這些恐懼會(huì)對(duì)我們的生活產(chǎn)生深遠(yuǎn)的影響。

　　Now, some of us naturally read our fears more closely than others. I read about a study recently of successful entrepreneurs, and the author found that these people shared a habit that he called "productive paranoia," which meant that these people, instead of dismissing their fears, these people read them closely, they studied them, and then they translated that fear into preparation and action.

　　現(xiàn)在，我們中有些人比其他人更自然的解讀自己的恐懼。 最近我看過一個(gè)關(guān)于成功的企業(yè)家的研究， 作者發(fā)現(xiàn)這些人都有個(gè)習(xí)慣 叫做“未雨綢繆“， 意思是，這些人，不回避自己的恐懼， 而是認(rèn)真解讀并研究恐懼， 然后把恐懼轉(zhuǎn)換成準(zhǔn)備和行動(dòng)。

　　So that way, if their worst fears came true, their businesses were ready.

　　這樣，如果最壞的事情發(fā)生了， 他們的企業(yè)也有所準(zhǔn)備。

　　And sometimes, of course, our worst fears do come true. That's one of the things that is so extraordinary about fear. Once in a while, our fears can predict the future.

　　當(dāng)然，很多時(shí)候，最壞的事情確實(shí)發(fā)生了。 這是恐懼非凡的一面。 曾幾何時(shí)，我們的恐懼預(yù)測(cè)將來。

　　But we can't possibly prepare for all of the fears that our imaginations concoct. So how can we tell the difference between the fears worth listening to and all the others? I think the end of the story of the whaleship Essex offers an illuminating, if tragic, example.

　　但是我們不可能為我們想象力構(gòu)建的所有 恐懼來做準(zhǔn)備。 所以，如何區(qū)分值得聽從的恐懼 和不值得的呢? 我想捕鯨船ESSEX的故事結(jié)局 提供了一個(gè)有啟發(fā)性，同時(shí)又悲慘的例子。

　　After much deliberation, the men finally made a decision. Terrified of cannibals, they decided to forgo the closest islands and instead embarked on the longer and much more difficult route to South America.

　　經(jīng)過數(shù)次權(quán)衡，他們最終做出了決定。 由于害怕食人族，他們決定放棄最近的群島 而是開始更長(zhǎng) 更艱難的南美洲之旅。

　　After more than two months at sea, the men ran out of food as they knew they might, and they were still quite far from land. When the last of the survivors were finally picked up by two passing ships, less than half of the men were left alive, and some of them had resorted to their own form of cannibalism.

　　在海上呆了兩個(gè)多月后，他們 的食物如預(yù)料之中消耗殆盡， 而且他們?nèi)匀浑x陸地那么遠(yuǎn)。 當(dāng)最后的幸存者最終被過往船只救起時(shí)， 只有一小半的人還活著， 實(shí)際上他們中的一些人自己變成了食人族。

　　Herman Melville, who used this story as research for "Moby Dick," wrote years later, and from dry land, quote, "All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex might in all human probability have been avoided had they, immediately after leaving the wreck, steered straight for Tahiti.

　　赫爾曼·梅爾維爾(Herman Melville)將這個(gè)故事作為 《白鯨記》的素材，在數(shù)年后寫到： ESSEX船上遇難者的悲慘結(jié)局 或許是可以通過人為的努力避免的， 如果他們當(dāng)機(jī)立斷地離開沉船， 直奔塔西提群島。

　　But," as Melville put it, "they dreaded cannibals." So the question is, why did these men dread cannibals so much more than the extreme likelihood of starvation?

　　“但是”，梅爾維爾說道：“他們害怕食人族” 問題是，為什么這些人對(duì)于食人族的恐懼 超過了更有可能的饑餓威脅呢?

　　Why were they swayed by one story so much more than the other? Looked at from this angle, theirs becomes a story about reading. The novelist Vladimir Nabokov said that the best reader has a combination of two very different temperaments, the artistic and the scientific.

　　為什么他們會(huì)被一個(gè)故事 影響如此之大呢? 從另一個(gè)角度來看， 這是一個(gè)關(guān)于解讀的故事。 小說家弗拉基米爾·納博科夫(Vladimir Nabokov)說 最好的讀者能把兩種截然不同的性格結(jié)合起來， 一個(gè)是藝術(shù)氣質(zhì)，一個(gè)是科學(xué)精神。

　　A good reader has an artist's passion, a willingness to get caught up in the story, but just as importantly, the readers also needs the coolness of judgment of a scientist, which acts to temper and complicate the reader's intuitive reactions to the story. As we've seen, the men of the Essex had no trouble with the artistic part.

　　好的讀者有藝術(shù)家的熱情， 愿意融入故事當(dāng)中， 但是同樣重要的是，這些讀者還要 有科學(xué)家的冷靜判斷， 這能幫助他們穩(wěn)定情緒并分析 其對(duì)故事的直覺反應(yīng)。 我們可以看出來，ESSEX上的人在藝術(shù)部分一點(diǎn)問題都沒有。

　　They dreamed up a variety of horrifying scenarios. The problem was that they listened to the wrong story. Of all the narratives their fears wrote, they responded only to the most lurid, the most vivid, the one that was easiest for their imaginations to picture: cannibals.

　　他們夢(mèng)想到一系列恐怖的場(chǎng)景。 問題在于他們聽從了一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤的故事。 所有他們恐懼中 他們只對(duì)其中最聳人聽聞，最生動(dòng)的故事， 也是他們想象中最早出現(xiàn)的場(chǎng)景： 食人族。

　　But perhaps if they'd been able to read their fears more like a scientist, with more coolness of judgment, they would have listened instead to the less violent but the more likely tale, the story of starvation, and headed for Tahiti, just as Melville's sad commentary suggests.

　　也許，如果他們能像科學(xué)家那樣 稍微冷靜一點(diǎn)解讀這個(gè)故事， 如果他們能聽從不太驚悚但是更可能發(fā)生的 半路餓死的故事，他們可能就會(huì)直奔塔西提群島， 如梅爾維爾充滿惋惜的評(píng)論所建議的那樣。

　　And maybe if we all tried to read our fears, we too would be less often swayed by the most salacious among them.

　　也許如果我們都試著解讀自己的恐懼， 我們就能少被 其中的一些幻象所迷惑。

　　Maybe then we'd spend less time worrying about serial killers and plane crashes, and more time concerned with the subtler and slower disasters we face: the silent buildup of plaque in our arteries, the gradual changes in our climate.

　　我們也就能少花一點(diǎn)時(shí)間在 為系列殺手或者飛機(jī)失事方面的擔(dān)憂， 而是更多的關(guān)心那些悄然而至 的災(zāi)難： 動(dòng)脈血小板的逐漸堆積， 氣候的逐漸變遷。

　　Just as the most nuanced stories in literature are often the richest, so too might our subtlest fears be the truest. Read in the right way, our fears are an amazing gift of the imagination, a kind of everyday clairvoyance, a way of glimpsing what might be the future when there's still time to influence how that future will play out.

　　如同文學(xué)中最精妙的故事通常是最豐富的故事， 我們最細(xì)微的恐懼才是最真實(shí)的恐懼。 用正確的方法的解讀，我們的恐懼就是我們想象力 賜給我們的禮物，借此一雙慧眼， 讓我們能管窺未來 甚至影響未來。

　　Properly read, our fears can offer us something as precious as our favorite works of literature: a little wisdom, a bit of insight and a version of that most elusive thing -- the truth. Thank you.

　　如果能得到正確的解讀，我們的恐懼能 和我們最喜歡的文學(xué)作品一樣給我們珍貴的東西： 一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)智慧，一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)洞悉 以及對(duì)最玄妙東西—— 真相的詮釋。 謝謝。

　　(Applause)

　　(掌聲)

　　TED英文演講稿篇2

　　犯錯(cuò)的價(jià)值

　　每個(gè)人都會(huì)避免犯錯(cuò)，但或許避免犯錯(cuò)本身就是一種錯(cuò)誤?請(qǐng)看以下這篇“犯錯(cuò)家“凱瑟琳舒爾茨告訴我們，或許我們不只該承認(rèn)錯(cuò)誤，更應(yīng)該大力擁抱人性中“我錯(cuò)故我在“的本質(zhì)。

　　So it's 1995, I'm in college, and a friend and I go on a road trip from Providence, Rhode Island to Portland, Oregon.

　　當(dāng)時(shí)是95年 我在上大學(xué) 我和一個(gè)朋友開車去玩 從羅得島的普羅旺斯區(qū)出發(fā) 到奧勒岡州的波特蘭市

　　And you know, we're young and unemployed, so we do the whole thing on back roads through state parks and national forests -- basically the longest route we can possibly take.

　　我們年輕、無業(yè) ，于是整個(gè)旅程都在鄉(xiāng)間小道 經(jīng)過州立公園 和國(guó)家保護(hù)森林 我們盡可能繞著最長(zhǎng)的路徑

　　And somewhere in the middle of South Dakota, I turn to my friend and I ask her a question that's been bothering me for 2,000 miles.

　　在南達(dá)科塔州之中某處 我轉(zhuǎn)向我的朋友 問她一個(gè) 兩千英里路途上 一直煩惱我的問題

　　"What's up with the Chinese character I keep seeing by the side of the road?"

　　"路邊那個(gè)一直出現(xiàn)的中文字到底是什么?"

　　My friend looks at me totally blankly.

　　我的朋友露出疑惑的神情

　　There's actually a gentleman in the front row who's doing a perfect imitation of her look.

　　正如現(xiàn)在坐在第一排的這三位男士 所露出的神情一樣

　　(Laughter) And I'm like, "You know, all the signs we keep seeing with the Chinese character on them."

　　(笑聲) 我說"你知道的 我們一直看到的那個(gè)路牌 寫著中文的那個(gè)啊"

　　She just stares at me for a few moments, and then she cracks up, because she figures out what I'm talking about.

　　她瞪著我的臉一陣子 突然笑開了 因?yàn)樗偹阒牢宜笧楹?/p>

　　And what I'm talking about is this.

　　我說的是這個(gè)

　　(Laughter) Right, the famous Chinese character for picnic area.

　　(笑聲) 沒錯(cuò)，這就是代表野餐區(qū)的那個(gè)中文字

　　(Laughter) I've spent the last five years of my life thinking about situations exactly like this -- why we sometimes misunderstand the signs around us,

　　(笑聲) 過去的五年 我一直在思考 剛剛我所描述的狀況 為什么我們會(huì)對(duì)身邊的征兆 產(chǎn)生誤解

　　and how we behave when that happens, and what all of this can tell us about human nature.

　　當(dāng)誤解發(fā)生時(shí)我們作何反應(yīng) 以及這一切所告訴我們的人性

　　In other words, as you heard Chris say, I've spent the last five years thinking about being wrong.

　　換句話說，就像 Chris 剛才說的 過去五年的時(shí)間 我都在思考錯(cuò)誤的價(jià)值

　　This might strike you as a strange career move, but it actually has one great advantage: no job competition.

　　你可能覺得這是個(gè)奇異的專業(yè) 但有一項(xiàng)好處是不容置疑的： 沒有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者。

　　(Laughter) In fact, most of us do everything we can to avoid thinking about being wrong, or at least to avoid thinking about the possibility that we ourselves are wrong.

　　(笑聲) 事實(shí)上，我們大部分的人 都盡力不思考錯(cuò)誤的價(jià)值 或至少避免想到我們有可能犯錯(cuò)。

　　We get it in the abstract.

　　我們都知道這個(gè)模糊的概念。