精选TED演讲集3则【推荐20篇】

The night before I was heading for Scotland, I was invitedto host the fina of "China's Got Talent" show in Shanghai with the 80,000 live audience in the stadium. Guewho was the performing guest? Susan Boyle. And I told her, "I'm going to Scotland the next day." She sang beautifully, and she even managed to say a few words in Chinese. [Chinese] So it's not like "hello" or "thank you," that ordinary stuff. It means "green onion for free." Why did she say that? Because it was a line from our Chinese parallel Susan Boyle -- a 50-some year-old woman, a vegetable vendor in Shanghai, who loves singing Western opera, but she didn't understand any English or French or Italian, so she managed to fill in the lyrics with vegetable names in Chinese. (Laughter) And the last sentence of Nessun Dorma that she was singing in the stadium was "green onion for free." So [as] Susan Boyle was saying that, 80,000 live audience sang together. That was hilarious.

来苏格兰(做TED讲演)的前夜，我被邀请去上海做”中国达人秀“决赛的评委。在装有八万现场观众的演播厅里，在台上的表演嘉宾居然是(来自苏格兰的，因参加英国达人秀走红的)苏珊大妈(Susan Boyle)。我告诉她，“我明天就要启程去苏格兰。” 她唱得很动听，还对观众说了几句中文，她并没有说简单的”你好“或者”谢谢“，她说的是——“送你葱”(Song Ni Cong)。为什么?这句话其实来源于中国版的“苏珊大妈”——一位五十岁的以卖菜为生，却对西方歌剧有出奇爱好的上海中年妇女(蔡洪平)。这位中国的苏珊大妈并不懂英文，法语或意大利文，所以她将歌剧中的词汇都换做中文中的蔬菜名，并且演唱出来。在她口中，歌剧《图兰朵》的最后一句便是“Song Ni Cong”。当真正的英国苏珊大妈唱出这一句“中文的”《图兰朵》时，全场的八万观众也一起高声歌唱，场面的确有些滑稽(hilarious)。

So I gueboth Susan Boyle and this vegetable vendor in Shanghai belonged to otherness. They were the least expected to be successful in the businecalled entertainment, yet their courage and talent brought them through. And a show and a platform gave them the stage to realize their dreams. Well, being different is not that difficult. We are all different from different perspectives. But I think being different is good, because you present a different point of view. You may have the chance to make a difference.

我想Susan Boyle和这位上海的买菜农妇的确属于人群中的少数。她们是最不可能在演艺界成功的，而她们的勇气和才华让她们成功了，这个节目和舞台给予了她们一个实现个人梦想的机会。这样看来，与众不同好像没有那么难。从不同的方面审视，我们每个人都是不同的。但是我想，与众不同是一件好事，因为你代表了不一样的观点，你拥有了做改变的机会。

My generation has been very fortunate to witneand participate in the historic transformation of China that has made so many changes in the past 20, 30 years. I remember that in the year of 1990, when I was graduating from college, I was applying for a job in the sales department of the first five-star hotel in Beijing, Great Wall Sheraton -- it's still there. So after being interrogated by this Japanese manager for a half an hour, he finally said, "So, MiYang, do you have any questions to ask me?" I summoned my courage and poise and said, "Yes, but could you let me know, what actually do you sell?" I didn't have a clue what a sales department was about in a five-star hotel. That was the first day I set my foot in a five-star hotel.

我这一代中国人很幸运的目睹并且参与了中国在过去二三十年中经历的巨变。我记得1990年，当我刚大学毕业时，我申请了当时北京的第一家五星级酒店——长城喜来登酒店的销售部门的工作。这家酒店现在仍在北京。当我被一位日本籍经理面试了一个半小时之后，他问到，“杨小姐，你有什么想问我的吗?”，我屏住呼吸，问道“是的，你能告诉我，具体我需要销售些什么吗?” 当时的我，对五星级酒店的销售部门没有任何概念，事实上，那是我第一次进到一家五星级酒店。

Around the same time, I was going through an audition -- the first ever open audition by national television in China -- with another thousand college girls. The producer told us they were looking for some sweet, innocent and beautiful fresh face. So when it was my turn, I stood up and said, "Why [do] women's personalities on television always have to be beautiful, sweet, innocent and, you know, supportive? Why can't they have their own ideas and their own voice?" I thought I kind of offended them. But actually, they were impressed by my words. And so I was in the second round of competition, and then the third and the fourth. After seven rounds of competition, I was the last one to survive it. So I was on a national television prime-time show. And believe it or not, that was the first show on Chinese television that allowed its hosts to speak out of their own minds without reading an approved script. (Applause) And my weekly audience at that time was between 200 to 300 million people.

我当时也在参加另一嘲面试”，中国国家电视台的首次公开试镜，与我一起参与选拔的还有另外1000名大学女毕业生。节目制作人说，他们希望找到一位甜美，无辜(LOL)，漂亮的新鲜面孔。轮到我的时候，我问道“为什么在电视屏幕上，女性总应该表现出甜美漂亮，甚至是服从性的一面?为什么她们不能有她们自己的想法和声音?“我觉得我的问题甚至有点冒犯到了他。但实际上，他们对我的表现印象深刻。我进入了第二轮选拔，第三轮，第四轮，直至最后的第七场选拔，我是唯一一个走到最后的试镜者。我从此走上了国家电视台黄金时段的荧幕。你可能不相信，但在当时，我所主持的电视节目是中国第一个，不让主持人念已经审核过的稿件的节目(掌声)。我每周需要面对两亿到三亿左右的电视观众。

Well after a few years, I decided to go to the U.S. and Columbia University to pursue my postgraduate studies, and then started my own media company, which was unthought of during the years that I started my career. So we do a lot of things. I've interviewed more than a thousand people in the past. And sometimes I have young people approaching me say, "Lan, you changed my life," and I feel proud of that. But then we are also so fortunate to witnethe transformation of the whole country. I was in Beijing's bidding for the Olympic Games. I was representing the Shanghai Expo. I saw China embracing the world and vice versa. But then sometimes I'm thinking, what are today's young generation up to? How are they different, and what are the differences they are going to make to shape the future of China, or at large, the world?

几年以后，我决定来美国哥伦比亚大学继续深造，之后也开始运营自己的媒体公司，这也是我在职业生涯初始时所没有预料到的。我的公司做很多不同的业务，在过去这些年里，我访谈过一千多人。经常有年轻人对我说，“杨澜，你改变了我的人生”，我对此感到非常自豪。我也幸运的目睹了整个国家的转变：我参与了北京申奥和上海世博会。我看到中国在拥抱这个世界，而世界也进一步的接受中国。但有时我也在想，今天的年轻人的生活是什么样的?他们(与我们相比)有什么不同?他们将带给中国，甚至整个世界的未来一些怎样的变化?

So today I want to talk about young people through the platform of social media. First of all, who are they? [What] do they look like? Well this is a girl called Guo Meimei -- 20 years old, beautiful. She showed off her expensive bags, clothes and car on her microblog, which is the Chinese version of Twitter. And she claimed to be the general manager of Red Croat the Chamber of Commerce. She didn't realize that she stepped on a sensitive nerve and aroused national questioning, almost a turmoil, against the credibility of Red Cross. The controversy was so heated that the Red Crohad to open a preconference to clarify it, and the investigation is going on.

So far, as of today, we know that she herself made up that title -- probably because she feels proud to be associated with charity. All those expensive items were given to her as gifts by her boyfriend, who used to be a board member in a subdivision of Red Croat Chamber of Commerce. It's very complicated to explain. But anyway, the public still doesn't buy it. It is still boiling. It shows us a general mistrust of government or government-backed institutions, which lacked transparency in the past. And also it showed us the power and the impact of social media as microblog.

我想通过社交媒体来谈一谈中国的年轻人们。首先，他们是谁，他们是什么样子?这是一位叫郭美美的女孩儿，20岁，年轻漂亮。她在中国版的Twitter上——新浪微博上，炫耀她所拥有的奢侈品，衣服，包和车。她甚至宣称她是中国红十字会的工作人员。她没有意识到她的行为触及了中国民众极为敏感的神经，这引发了一场全民大讨论，民众开始质疑红十字会的公信力。中国红十字会为了平息这场争议甚至举办了一场记者会来澄清，直至今日，对于”郭美美事件“的调查仍在继续，但我们所知道的事实是，她谎报了她的头衔，可能是因为她的虚荣心，希望把自己和慈善机构联系起来。所有那些奢侈品都是她的男朋友给她买的，而那位”男朋友“的确曾经是红十字会的工作人员。这解释起来很复杂，总之，公众对他们的解释仍然不满意，这仍然是在风口浪尖的一件事。这件事体现出(中国社会)对长期不透明的政府机关的不信任，同时也表现出社交媒体(微博)巨大的社会影响力。

Microblog boomed in the year of 2010, with visitors doubled and time spent on it tripled. Swww.oh100.com, a major news portal, alone has more than 140 million microbloggers. On Tencent, 200 million. The most popular blogger -- it's not me -- it's a movie star, and she has more than 9.5 million followers, or fans. About 80 percent of those microbloggers are young people, under 30 years old. And because, as you know, the traditional media is still heavily controlled by the government, social media offers an opening to let the steam out a little bit. But because you don't have many other openings, the heat coming out of this opening is sometimes very strong, active and even violent.

微博在2010年得到了爆炸性的增长，微博的访问用户增长了一倍，用户的访问时间是09年的三倍。新浪(Swww.oh100.com)，一个最主要的微博平台，拥有1.4亿的微博用户，而腾讯拥有两亿用户。(在中国)最有名的微博主——不是我——是一位电影明星，她拥有近九百五十万”粉丝“。接近80%的微博用户是年轻人，三十岁以下。因为传统媒体还在政府的强力控制之下，社交媒体提供了一个开放的平台进行了一些(民众观点的)分流。因为这样分流的渠道并不多，从这个平台上爆发出的能量往往非常强烈，有时候甚至过于强烈。

So through microblogging, we are able to understand Chinese youth even better. So how are they different? First of all, most of them were born in the 80s and 90s, under the one-child policy. And because of selected abortion by families who favored boys to girls, now we have ended up with 30 million more young men than women. That could pose a potential danger to the society, but who knows; we're in a globalized world, so they can look for girlfriends from other countries. Most of them have fairly good education. The illiteracy rate in China among this generation is under one percent. In cities, 80 percent of kids go to college. But they are facing an aging China with a population above 65 years old coming up with seven-point-some percent this year, and about to be 15 percent by the year of 2030. And you know we have the tradition that younger generations support the elders financially, and taking care of them when they're sick. So it means young couples will have to support four parents who have a life expectancy of 73 years old.

通过微博，我们可以更好的了解到中国的年轻一代。首先，他们中的大多数都出生在八零九零年代，在独生子女的生育政策的大背景下长大。因为偏好男孩的家庭会选择性的堕胎，现在(中国)的年轻男性的数量多过年轻女性三千万，这可能带来社会的不稳定(危险)，但是我们知道，在这个全球化的社会中，他们可能可以去其他国家找女朋友。大多数人都拥有良好的教育。这一代中国人中的文盲率已经低于1%。在城市中，80%的孩子可以上大学，但他们将要面对的是一个，有接近7%的人口都是老年人的社会，这个数字会在2030年会增长到15%。在这个国家，传统是让年轻人来从经济上和医疗上来支持老年人，这意味着，一对年轻的夫妻将需要支持四个平均年龄是73岁的老人。#p#副标题#e#

So ma-ki-ng a living is not that easy for young people. College graduates are not in short supply. In urban areas, college graduates find the starting salary is about 400 U.S. dollars a month, while the average rent is above $500. So what do they do? They have to share space -- squeezed in very limited space to save money -- and they call themselves "tribe of ants." And for those who are ready to get married and buy their apartment, they figured out they have to work for 30 to 40 years to afford their first apartment. That ratio in America would only cost a couple five years to earn, but in China it's 30 to 40 years with the skyrocketing real estate price.

所以对于年轻人而言，生活并不是容易。本科毕业生也不在是紧缺资源。在城市中，本科生的月起薪通常是400美元(2500人民币)，而公寓的平均月租金却是500美元。所以他们的解决方式是合租——挤在有限的空间中以节省开支，他们叫自己”蚁族。“ 对于那些准备好结婚并希望购买一套公寓的中国年轻夫妇而言，他们发现他们必须要不间断的工作30到40年才可以负担得起一套公寓。对于同样的美国年轻夫妇而言，他们只需要五年时间。

Among the 200 million migrant workers, 60 percent of them are young people. They find themselves sort of sandwiched between the urban areas and the rural areas. Most of them don't want to go back to the countryside, but they don't have the sense of belonging. They work for longer hours with leincome, lesocial welfare. And they're more vulnerable to job losses, subject to inflation, tightening loans from banks, appreciation of the renminbi, or decline of demand from Europe or America for the products they produce. Last year, though, an appalling incident in a southern OEM manufacturing compound in China: 13 young workers in their late teens and early 20s committed suicide, just one by one like causing a contagious disease. But they died because of all different personal reasons. But this whole incident aroused a huge outcry from society about the isolation, both physical and mental, of these migrant workers.

在近两亿的涌入城市的农民工中，他们中的60%都是年轻人。他们发现自己被夹在了城市和农村中，大多数人不愿意回到农村，但他们在城市也找不到归属感。他们工作更长的时间却获得更少的薪水和社会福利。他们也更容易面临失业，受到通货膨胀，银行利率，人民币升值的影响，甚至美国和欧盟对于中国制造产品的抵制也会影响到他们。去年，在中国南方的一个制造工厂里，有十三位年轻的工人选择了结束自己的生命，一个接一个，像一场传染玻他们轻生的原因各有不同，但整个事件提醒了中国社会和政府，需要更多的关注这些在精神上和生理上都与外界脱节的年轻农民工人。

For those who do return back to the countryside, they find themselves very welcome locally, because with the knowledge, skills and networks they have learned in the cities, with the assistance of the Internet, they're able to create more jobs, upgrade local agriculture and create new businein the ledeveloped market. So for the past few years, the coastal areas, they found themselves in a shortage of labor.

对于那些回到农村的年轻人，他们所经历的城市生活，所学到的知识，技巧和建立的社会网络，让他们通常更受欢迎。特别是在互联网的帮助下，他们更有可能获得工作，提升农村的农业水平和发展新的商业机会。在过去的一些年中，一些沿海的城镇甚至出现了劳动力短缺。

These diagrams show a more general social background. The first one is the Engels coefficient, which explains that the cost of daily necessities has dropped its percentage all through the past decade, in terms of family income, to about 37-some percent. But then in the last two years, it goes up again to 39 percent, indicating a rising living cost. The Gini coefficient has already passed the dangerous line of 0.4. Now it's 0.5 -- even worse than that in America -- showing us the income inequality. And so you see this whole society getting frustrated about losing some of its mobility. And also, the bitterneand even resentment towards the rich and the powerful is quite widespread. So any accusations of corruption or backdoor dealings between authorities or businewould arouse a social outcry or even unrest.

这些图片展现出整体的社会背景。第一张图片是恩格斯系数(食品支出占总消费支出的比例)，可以看到在过去的十年中，食物和生活必需品在家庭消费中的比例有所下降(37%)，然后在过去的两年中，这项指数上升到39%，说明近两年中生活成本的攀升。基尼系数早已越过了危险的0.4，到达0.5——这甚至高过了美国——体现出极大的贫富差距，所以我们才看到整个社会的失衡。同时，“仇富心态”也开始在整个社会蔓延，任何与腐-败和走后门相关的政府或商业丑闻都会引发社会危机和不稳定。

So through some of the hottest topics on microblogging, we can see what young people care most about. Social justice and government accountability runs the first in what they demand. For the past decade or so, a massive urbanization and development have let us witnea lot of reports on the forced demolition of private property. And it has aroused huge anger and frustration among our young generation. Sometimes people get killed, and sometimes people set themselves on fire to protest. So when these incidents are reported more and more frequently on the Internet, people cry for the government to take actions to stop this.

通过微博上很火的话题，我们可以看到年轻人的关注点。社会公正和政府的公信力是他们首要需求的。在过去的十年中，急速的城市化让民众读到太多强制私人住户拆迁的新闻，这引发了年轻一代的愤怒和不理解。有时候，被拆迁的住户以自杀和自-焚的方式来抗-议(强制拆迁行为)。当这些事件越来越常在互联网上被揭露出来，人们期待政府可以采取一些更积极的制止行动。

So the good news is that earlier this year, the state council passed a new regulation on house requisition and demolition and passed the right to order forced demolition from local governments to the court. Similarly, many other issues concerning public safety is a hot topic on the Internet. We heard about polluted air, polluted water, poisoned food. And guewhat, we have faked beef. They have sorts of ingredients that you brush on a piece of chicken or fish, and it turns it to look like beef. And then lately, people are very concerned about cooking oil, because thousands of people have been found [refining] cooking oil from restaurant slop. So all these things have aroused a huge outcry from the Internet. And fortunately, we have seen the government responding more timely and also more frequently to the public concerns.

好消息是，今年早些时候，人民代表大会通过了一项关于房屋征用和拆迁的新法规，将征用和拆迁的权利从当地政府移交到了法庭。相同的，很多其他与公共安全相关的问题也在互联网上被热烈讨论。我们听到有太多空气污染，水污染，有毒食品的报道。你甚至都想不到，我们还有假牛肉。人们用一种特殊的材料加入鸡肉和鱼肉中，然后以牛肉的价格进行出售。最近，人们对食用油也很担忧，大量的餐馆被发现在使用“地沟油“。所有这些事件引发了互联网上民众观点的大爆发。幸运的是，我们看到了政府正在更积极和更及时的对这些民众的质疑给予回应。

While young people seem to be very sure about their participation in public policy-ma-ki-ng, but sometimes they're a little bit lost in terms of what they want for their personal life. China is soon to pathe U.S. as the number one market for luxury brands -- that's not including the Chinese expenditures in Europe and elsewhere. But you know what, half of those consumers are earning a salary below 2,000 U.S. dollars. They're not rich at all. They're taking those bags and clothes as a sense of identity and social status. And this is a girl explicitly saying on a TV dating show that she would rather cry in a BMW than smile on a bicycle. But of course, we do have young people who would still prefer to smile, whether in a BMW or [on] a bicycle.

一方面，年轻人越来越积极的参与到公共事务中;另一方面，他们也在寻找或者说迷失与个人生活的价值和定位。中国很快就要超过美国，成为世界上第一大奢侈品消费国——这还不包括中国人在国外的消费。但你知道吗，超过半数中国的奢侈品消费者的(年)收入都低于两千美元。他们其实并不富裕，他们用那些奢侈品牌的服装和包体现身份和社会地位。这是一位在电视节目上公然表明，自己宁愿在宝马车里哭也不坐在自行车后笑的年轻女孩。当然，我们也有更多的年轻人，喜欢微笑，不管是在宝马还是在自行车上。

So in the next picture, you see a very popular phenomenon called "naked" wedding, or "naked" marriage. It does not mean they will wear nothing in the wedding, but it shows that these young couples are ready to get married without a house, without a car, without a diamond ring and without a wedding banquet, to show their commitment to true love. And also, people are doing good through social media. And the first picture showed us that a truck caging 500 homeleand kidnapped dogs for food processing was spotted and stopped on the highway with the whole country watching through microblogging. People were donating money, dog food and offering volunteer work to stop that truck. And after hours of negotiation, 500 dogs were rescued. And here also people are helping to find missing children. A father posted his son's picture onto the Internet. After thousands of [unclear], the child was found, and we witnessed the reunion of the family through microblogging.

在下一幅图中，你看到的是现在非常流行的”裸婚“，这并不代表这“裸露出席婚礼”，这体现的是年轻人愿意接受结婚不买房，不买车，不买钻戒，甚至不办婚宴的这个现实，作为对纯朴的真爱的致敬。但同时，人们也在通过社交媒体做一些善事。这副图片里，这辆车上装有500只被”绑架“来，准备被送去屠宰的狗，这辆车被网友们发现后，人们开始通过微博关注事态的进展，并且通过捐钱，捐食物和做义工来试图拦截该车。在几个小时的周旋后，这500条狗获救并被放生。有更多的人在通过微博寻找丢失的孩子。一位父亲将他失散的儿子的照片发布到微博上，在几千条”转发“之后，他的儿子被找到，家庭的团聚也在微博上被报道出来。

So happineis the most popular word we have heard through the past two years. Happineis not only related to personal experiences and personal values, but also, it's about the environment. People are thinking about the following questions: Are we going to sacrifice our environment further to produce higher GDP? How are we going to perform our social and political reform to keep pace with economic growth, to keep sustainability and stability? And also, how capable is the system of self-correctneto keep more people content with all sorts of friction going on at the same time? I guethese are the questions people are going to answer. And our younger generation are going to transform this country while at the same time being transformed themselves.

Thank you very much.

“幸福(感)”是近两年中国的流行词汇。幸福感不仅仅与个人体验和价值观相关，更多的，它与环境息息相关。人们在思考：我们是否要牺牲环境来提升GDP?我们要怎样进行社会和政治体制的改革来应对经济的发展，保持稳定性和可持续性发展?同时，这个系统的自我修正能力是否足够强大，是否能够让生活在其中的人民接受在前进过程中的各种压力和困难?我想这些都是中国人民需要回答的问题，而中国的年轻一代将在改变这个国家的过程中也改变自己。#p#副标题#e#

昨天，破天荒的拿出自己上次踏过泥洼坑的鞋子洗了起来。是那么的可怜，又是那么的罪有应得。

明明已经不是七八岁的孩子，却还是免不了不小心的时候。现在想想也觉得很气，所以当时回家，根本就没有想要洗。出门遇上台风，买了雨伞也没有什么用，回到家一身湿透就算了，还在离家不远的地方，因为天色有些黑，根本没注意，就不幸地踏入泥坑，论谁都会觉得倒霉吧。那天回家后，就脱了身上的衣服，洗了热水澡，还把白运动鞋，给收了起来。当然，当时已经不是白色运动鞋了，而是泥色运动鞋。

所以，一直都没有拿出来洗。今天，收拾床底的时候，忽然想起来。才发现自己已经忘了那么久。于是，终于把鞋子放入水里，拿起自己的小鞋刷，开始洗涮涮了。过程和往日一样，费力不讨好，消耗了不少的时间。不过，因为每次洗鞋都是这样讨厌，所以我也算有些习惯了。自然，也是没有什么抱怨的洗完了。

然而，没有放过我的是。在我收拾鞋盒子的时候，发现我的另一双白色球鞋，还没有洗。是前几天我出门弄脏的，因为刚下过雨，所以地面潮湿，在外表和朋友说说笑笑，所以回家就觉得明天再洗。结果，自然是说一时，忘记一阵子。于是，我又只好拿着这双鞋子去洗涮涮。因为已经洗过一双，所以洗第二双让我觉得更加不悦了。好在是球鞋，好洗。但是，喜欢白色的我，鞋子也常常买白色，对于污渍总是过度计较。于是，就把自己吃力的劲给用上了，才收拾完毕。好在洗完之后就可以休息吃饭，不然，我又不知道要抱怨多久了。

可是现在想想，不都是自己太懒惰了，才会有这样的后果嘛。明明最开始的自己，就是把不喜欢的事情先做掉，然后再去做别的事情，结果现在，越来越会拖延了。不是玩手机，就是做些有的没的，根本就没有做什么正经事过。

的确，很多不想做的事情，越放只会变成，遗忘的事情。最后在一个不凑巧的时间，才会终于感到有些不好意思，不情不愿的去做。既然这样，何不像从前一样，小心一点，注意一点，尽量不要被其他的事情耽误，好好盘算天气和穿着，也不要拖延放置讨厌的事情，尽快去做。

有些事情，拖延还可以解决，可是有些时候，你一但有了这样的心思，就会变得麻烦了。从前看过一句话，“把今天的事情拖到明天去做，你的余生都不够用”。古话不是也说嘛“明日复明日，明日何其多，我生待明日，万事成蹉跎。”所以，不要给自己理由浪费时间。

我是个有拖延症的人吗?

我真的是一个有拖延症的人吗?每每在论文截稿日期前一秒，我就会开始思考这个问题。“拖延症”对我来说并不陌生，可是我从来没有觉得自己会和它有半毛钱的联系。拖延症不就是指，在能够预料后果有害的情况下，仍然把计划要做的事情往后推迟的一种行为吗?看看我，考试复习之前，将自己所有的复习方案都先做好计划再开始;做作业之前，都得将所有的文具准备妥当再开始学习;周末学习之前，都得将所有可能干扰的事物先排除再开始。所以说嘛，我怎么会有拖延症呢?

我是个有拖延症的人吧。

每次Deadline的日子渐近，我都会如临大敌。紧张、恐慌、手心发汗……望着堆积如山的任务，我感觉生命的尽头莫不过如此。事情在我身上，总是做得如此匆忙，那些名人雅士做事情的从容不迫，干净利落，似乎从来都没有在我身上上演过。我大概真的有拖延症吧，不然为什么会在百忙的期末复习中居然还抽出时间，默默在万马奔腾的图片中数着到底有多少只马，这种无意义而又浪费时间的事情究竟荒废了我多少生命?我其实是认真的，每件事情的开始的时候，我都严阵以待，并且积极做计划，按部就班地完成。但是那种看着计划一点点完成，产生的那种奇大无比的充实感是让人兴奋的。有时候，累了一天，真的很辛苦，“反正已经完成这么多了，为什么不放松一下自己呢?剩下的那点晚点再做也不迟啊!”这类念头会一点点吞噬我全部的意志。然后居然就可以开始肆无忌惮，无忧无虑的玩耍!好吧，我真的有拖延症。正如我现在这样，在截稿日期的压力下，依然在找着各种各样的借口去回避。到头来却又是顶着压力在期限之内疯狂的压榨自己。如此循环往复，这不就是玩也没玩好，学又没学成么?在关键时刻将自己的时间精确到秒，就为了挤出那么一点时间去逃避那些真正需要被完成的事;原定12：35分开始复习，抬头一看表，12：36了，那要不就等到12：40这个整数再开始吧!于是时间就这样悄无声息的流逝了，这难道还不是拖延症么!

我是个有拖延症的人啊!

无数次的经历都已经让我深深感受到了痛苦和懊悔。回忆一下以往的经历吧，多少次的辗转反侧，多少次的夜不能寐，所有的根源都是拖延症。这种感觉就好比我的脑子里住着一个思考者，他知道真正重要的事情有什么。还有一只喜欢享乐的猴子!他喜欢做一切放松的事情，哪怕这些事情没有任何意义也并不是我真心想做的事情，只要能够减轻我的焦虑，它就是值得猴子去做的事情。这些逃避的事情，为的都只有一个目的，降低我自己对拖延本身的罪恶感，从而也会放大那些已完成部分的成就感，然后就越拖越多，最终就陷入了拖延的怪圈，将大堆的事情留给了理性的思考者默默苦恼。过往的曾经留给我的只有虚无的傲慢。我堆积了狂妄，以为一切都可以在最后的一刻搞定;我堆积了无知，在自我的满足里做了井底之蛙;我堆积了愚昧，在时光的空白里迷失了自我与方向。

拖延症，这一次，我想真正和你说再见，不，永别!

Look, I had second thoughts, really, about whether I could talk about this to such a vital and alive audience as you guys. Then I remembered the quote from Gloria Steinem, which goes, "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." (Laughter) So -- (Laughter)

So with that in mind, I'm going to set about trying to do those things here, and talk about dying in the 21st century. Now the first thing that will piss you off, undoubtedly, is that all of us are, in fact, going to die in the 21st century. There will be no exceptions to that. There are, apparently, about one in eight of you who think you're immortal, on surveys, but -- (Laughter) Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen.

TED演讲英语：让我们来谈谈死亡

While I give this talk, in the next 10 minutes, a hundred million of my cells will die, and over the course of today, 2,000 of my brain cells will die and never come back, so you could argue that the dying process starts pretty early in the piece.

Anyway, the second thing I want to say about dying in the 21st century, apart from it's going to happen to everybody, is it's shaping up to be a bit of a train wreck for most of us, unless we do something to try and reclaim this process from the rather inexorable trajectory that it's currently on.

So there you go. That's the truth. No doubt that will piss you off, and now let's see whether we can set you free. I don't promise anything. Now, as you heard in the intro, I work in intensive care, and I think I've kind of lived through the heyday of intensive care. It's been a ride, man. This has been fantastic. We have machines that go ping. There's many of them up there. And we have some wizard technology which I think has worked really well, and over the course of the time I've worked in intensive care, the death rate for males in Australia has halved, and intensive care has had something to do with that. Certainly, a lot of the technologies that we use have got something to do with that.

So we have had tremendous success, and we kind of got caught up in our own success quite a bit, and we started using expressions like "lifesaving." I really apologize to everybody for doing that, because obviously, we don't. What we do is prolong people's lives, and delay death, and redirect death, but we can't, strictly speaking, save lives on any sort of permanent basis.

And what's really happened over the period of time that I've been working in intensive care is that the people whose lives we started saving back in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, are now coming to die in the 21st century of diseases that we no longer have the answers to in quite the way we did then.

#p#副标题#e#So what's happening now is there's been a big shift in the way that people die, and most of what they're dying of now isn't as amenable to what we can do as what it used to be like when I was doing this in the '80s and '90s.

So we kind of got a bit caught up with this, and we haven't really squared with you guys about what's really happening now, and it's about time we did. I kind of woke up to this bit in the late '90s when I met this guy. This guy is called Jim, Jim Smith, and he looked like this. I was called down to the ward to see him. His is the little hand. I was called down to the ward to see him by a respiratory physician. He said, "Look, there's a guy down here. He's got pneumonia, and he looks like he needs intensive care. His daughter's here and she wants everything possible to be done." Which is a familiar phrase to us. So I go down to the ward and see Jim, and his skin his translucent like this. You can see his bones through the skin. He's very, very thin, and he is, indeed, very sick with pneumonia, and he's too sick to talk to me, so I talk to his daughter Kathleen, and I say to her, "Did you and Jim ever talk about what you would want done if he ended up in this kind of situation?" And she looked at me and said,

"No, of course not!" I thought, "Okay. Take this steady." And I got talking to her, and after a while, she said to me, "You know, we always thought there'd be time."

Jim was 94. (Laughter) And I realized that something wasn't happening here. There wasn't this dialogue going on that I imagined was happening. So a group of us started doing survey work, and we looked at four and a half thousand nursing home residents in Newcastle, in the Newcastle area, and discovered that only one in a hundred of them had a plan about what to do when their hearts stopped beating. One in a hundred. And only one in 500 of them had plan about what to do if they became seriously ill. And I realized, of course, this dialogue is definitely not occurring in the public at large.

Now, I work in acute care. This is John Hunter Hospital. And I thought, surely, we do better than that. So a colleague of mine from nursing called Lisa Shaw and I went through hundreds and hundreds of sets of notes in the medical records department looking at whether there was any sign at all that anybody had had any conversation about what might happen to them if the treatment they were receiving was unsuccessful to the point that they would die. And we didn't find a single record of any preference about goals, treatments or outcomes from any of the sets of notes initiated by a doctor or by a patient.

So we started to realize that we had a problem, and the problem is more serious because of this.

What we know is that obviously we are all going to die, but how we die is actually really important, obviously not just to us, but also to how that features in the lives of all the people who live on afterwards. How we die lives on in the minds of everybody who survives us, and the stress created in families by dying is enormous, and in fact you get seven times as much stress by dying in intensive care as by dying just about anywhere else, so dying in intensive care is not your top option if you've got a choice.

And, if that wasn't bad enough, of course, all of this is rapidly progressing towards the fact that many of you, in fact, about one in 10 of you at this point, will die in intensive care. In the U.S., it's one in five. In Miami, it's three out of five people die in intensive care. So this is the sort of momentum that we've got at the moment.

The reason why this is all happening is due to this, and I do have to take you through what this is about. These are the four ways to go. So one of these will happen to all of us. The ones you may know most about are the ones that are becoming increasingly of historical interest: sudden death. It's quite likely in an audience this size this won't happen to anybody here. Sudden death has become very rare. The death of Little Nell and Cordelia and all that sort of stuff just doesn't happen anymore. The dying process of those with terminal illness that we've just seen occurs to younger people. By the time you've reached 80, this is unlikely to happen to you. Only one in 10 people who are over 80 will die of cancer.

The big growth industry are these. What you die of is increasing organ failure, with your respiratory, cardiac, renal, whatever organs packing up. Each of these would be an admission to an acute care hospital, at the end of which, or at some point during which, somebody says, enough is enough, and we stop.

And this one's the biggest growth industry of all, and at least six out of 10 of the people in this room will die in this form, which is the dwindling of capacity with increasing frailty, and frailty's an inevitable part of aging, and increasing frailty is in fact the main thing that people die of now, and the last few years, or the last year of your life is spent with a great deal of disability, unfortunately.

Enjoying it so far? (Laughs) (Laughter) Sorry, I just feel such a, I feel such a Cassandra here. (Laughter)

What can I say that's positive? What's positive is that this is happening at very great age, now. We are all, most of us, living to reach this point. You know, historically, we didn't do that. This is what happens to you when you live to be a great age, and unfortunately, increasing longevity does mean more old age, not more youth. I'm sorry to say that. (Laughter) What we did, anyway, look, what we did, we didn't just take this lying down at John Hunter Hospital and elsewhere. We've started a whole series of projects to try and look about whether we could, in fact, involve people much more in the way that things happen to them. But we realized, of course, that we are dealing with cultural issues, and this is, I love this Klimt painting, because the more you look at it, the more you kind of get the whole issue that's going on here, which is clearly the separation of death from the living, and the fear — Like, if you actually look, there's one woman there who has her eyes open. She's the one he's looking at, and [she's] the one he's coming for. Can you see that? She looks terrified. It's an amazing picture.

Anyway, we had a major cultural issue. Clearly, people didn't want us to talk about death, or, we thought that. So with loads of funding from the Federal Government and the local Health Service, we introduced a thing at John Hunter called Respecting Patient Choices. We trained hundreds of people to go to the wards and talk to people about the fact that they would die, and what would they prefer under those circumstances. They loved it. The families and the patients, they loved it. Ninety-eight percent of people really thought this just should have been normal practice, and that this is how things should work. And when they expressed wishes, all of those wishes came true, as it were. We were able to make that happen for them. But then, when the funding ran out, we went back to look six months later, and everybody had stopped again, and nobody was having these conversations anymore. So that was really kind of heartbreaking for us, because we thought this was going to really take off. The cultural issue had reasserted itself.

So here's the pitch: I think it's important that we don't just get on this freeway to ICU without thinking hard about whether or not that's where we all want to end up, particularly as we become older and increasingly frail and ICU has less and less and less to offer us. There has to be a little side road off there for people who don't want to go on that track. And I have one small idea, and one big idea about what could happen.

And this is the small idea. The small idea is, let's all of us engage more with this in the way that Jason has illustrated. Why can't we have these kinds of conversations with our own elders and people who might be approaching this? There are a couple of things you can do. One of them is, you can, just ask this simple question. This question never fails. "In the event that you became too sick to speak for yourself, who would you like to speak for you?" That's a really important question to ask people, because giving people the control over who that is produces an amazing outcome. The second thing you can say is, "Have you spoken to that person about the things that are important to you so that we've got a better idea of what it is we can do?" So that's the little idea.

The big idea, I think, is more political. I think we have to get onto this. I suggested we should have Occupy Death. (Laughter) My wife said, "Yeah, right, sit-ins in the mortuary. Yeah, yeah. Sure." (Laughter) So that one didn't really run, but I was very struck by this. Now, I'm an aging hippie. I don't know, I don't think I look like that anymore, but I had, two of my kids were born at home in the '80s when home birth was a big thing, and we baby boomers are used to taking charge of the situation, so if you just replace all these words of birth, I like "Peace, Love, Natural Death" as an option. I do think we have to get political and start to reclaim this process from the medicalized model in which it's going.

Now, listen, that sounds like a pitch for euthanasia. I want to make it absolutely crystal clear to you all, I hate euthanasia. I think it's a sideshow. I don't think euthanasia matters. I actually think that, in places like Oregon, where you can have physician-assisted suicide, you take a poisonous dose of stuff, only half a percent of people ever do that. I'm more interested in what happens to the 99.5 percent of people who don't want to do that. I think most people don't want to be dead, but I do think most people want to have some control over how their dying process proceeds. So I'm an opponent of euthanasia, but I do think we have to give people back some control. It deprives euthanasia of its oxygen supply. I think we should be looking at stopping the want for euthanasia, not for making it illegal or legal or worrying about it at all.

This is a quote from Dame Cicely Saunders, whom I met when I was a medical student. She founded the hospice movement. And she said, "You matter because you are, and you matter to the last moment of your life." And I firmly believe that that's the message that we have to carry forward. Thank you. (Applause)

她是一名运动员、模特和演员。她接受了膝盖以下的双腿截肢。她把义肢比作太阳眼镜。她说：“只要态度坚定，你就可以不管任何东西，就像她的出现把人们吓得目瞪口呆那样。”

当时我正与一群约有三百名的小孩说话，年龄为六至八岁，在一间儿童博物馆。而我带了一个装满义肢的袋子，跟你们在这里看到的差不多，还将它们摆放在一张桌子上，给小孩看。就我的经验而言，孩子天生充满好奇心，尤其是对于他们不知道、不明白，或是对他们而言陌生的事物。

他们只学到对差异性感到害怕，当大人影响他们做出那样的表现，也或许是压抑了他们本有的好奇心，又或是，不允许他们问问题，希望他们变成有礼貌的小孩。所以，我想像一年级的老师走出大堂，带著一群不守规矩的孩子，老师会说：“好啦，不管怎样，就是别盯著她的腿看。”

但是，问题就在这儿。我之所以会在那儿，就是想让孩子们观察和探索。所以我就和大人达成了协定，让孩子们在没有成人陪伴下进来待两分钟。门打开后，孩子们俯身摆弄起义肢。他们这儿戳戳那儿碰碰，摇摇脚趾头，还试著把整个身体压在短跑义肢上，看看会有什么反应。

我说道：“孩子们，动动脑。我今天早上醒来，决定要能够跳过这幢房子，没什么大不了的，不过两三层的高度。但是，如果你能想到，任何动物、超级英雄、卡通人物，任何你梦想成为的人、物，你会给我造一副什麽样的腿呢?”

立即有孩子答道：“袋鼠!” “不对，不对!应该是青蛙!” “不对，应该是神探加杰特(上世纪80年代动画人物)!” “不对，不对，都不对!应该是超人特攻队(迪士尼2004年出品动画电影)。”还有其他一些我不太熟悉的人物。然后，一个8岁的孩子说道：“海，为什么你不想飞呢?”所有在场的人，包括我，都惊叹道“对啊”。(笑声)就这样，我从一个女人，从一个这些孩子被告知用「残疾」来形容的人，变成了一个拥有他们所没有之潜能的人，一个很有可能有超人能力的人。很有趣吧!

在座有些人11年前在ted见过我，当时人们热烈讨论这种演讲是如何改变人生，不管你是听众还是发言人，我也不例外。TED可以说是开启了我之后10年的探索。当时，我展示的义肢是修复术的创新技术，我当时接上了碳纤维製成仿猎豹后肢的短跑义肢，可能你们昨天有看过。而这些喷漆硅胶义肢是这样的栩栩如生。

TED励志演讲稿艾米·穆林斯

当时，我有机会号召传统医学修复领域之外的革新者，让他们把才智与科学、艺术相结合来製造义肢。这样我们就不必把外观、功能和美学划分开来，并赋予不同的价值。幸运的是，很多人作出了回应，旅程就这样开始了，很有趣。当时和我一起的还有一个TED与会者Chee Pearlman，希望她今天也在场。她当时是一本名为《ID》的杂志编辑，她将我的照片放在封面。

接下来我开始了一场奇妙的旅程，当时我碰到了很多奇妙的人和事，许多人邀请我去世界各地演讲，关于仿猎豹义肢技术。人们在演讲后找上我。不论男女，谈话内容不外乎「要知道，Aimme，你很迷人，一点不像有残疾」。(笑声)我想，这太好了，因为我一点也不自觉是残障，这真的大大地打开了我对这个主题的眼界。

美也可以被探索，一个美丽的女人应该长什麽样?什麽是性感的身体?很有趣的是，从一个人的角度看，残疾意味著什麽?我是说，有人——像Pamela Anderson(美国艳星，以胸大著称)整形比我多，可没人说她残疾。(笑声)#p#副标题#e#

后来这期《ID》杂志经美术设计师Peter Saville之手，传到了时装设计师Alexander McQueen和摄影师Nick Knight手中，他们也对探索相关方面很感兴趣。参加完TED三个月后，我搭上了前往伦敦的航班，摄製我的第一组时尚杂志照片。结果可以从这本杂志封面看出「时尚」吗?

三个月后，我初次为Alexander McQueen走秀，穿戴著一副实木手工义肢，没有人知道——大家都以为那是木靴。事实上，它们现在就在台上，葡萄藤、木兰花，令人惊豔。诗意很重要，能把陈腐和受忽视的东西提升到高层次，进入艺术的境界，能把令人生畏的东西转化成引人入胜的东西，让人驻足良久，甚至他们可能会理解。

这些是从我下一个冒险中学到的。艺术家Matthew Barney在他的影片《悬丝》，也就是这部影片让我真正地察觉到，我的义肢竟可以成为雕塑品。这时，我开始不需要模仿人体，在美学上我是完美的。后来我们研制了人们称为「玻璃腿」的义肢。虽然它们实际上是由剔透的聚胺甲酸酯製成，也就是製造保龄球的材料，很重!后来我们塑造了这种用泥土做的义肢，其中有马铃薯的根系，再把甜菜根种在顶端，还装上了很可爱的铜质脚趾，就这样完成了一项杰作。

另一个造型是半女半豹，是对我运动员生涯的小小致敬，14个小时的义肢彩绘，才看起来像有灵活爪子，尾巴摇来摇去的生物，有点像壁虎。(笑声)另一副我们合作的是这一双脚，看起来有那麽一点像水母，同样也是聚胺甲酸酯製成的。这副义肢唯一的用途就是除了电影裡的展示，就是给人们感官刺激并激发人们的想像，所以奇思妙想很重要。

今天，我带了至少十二副义肢，它们是由不同的人为我製作的。不同的义肢给了我对脚下大地的不同体验。我还可以改变身高，我有五种不同的身高。今天，我有6尺1(约186cm)。我身上这副义肢大概是一年前做的，在英国的多西特整形外科做的，我把它们带回曼哈顿的家裡。

我回来后第一次外出是去参加一场高级宴会，舞会上有个我认识多年的女士，不过那时我只有5尺8(约177cm)。她看到我惊讶不已，她说道：“你怎麽那麽高!”我说道：“是啊，挺好玩的，不是吗?”有点像站在踩高跷，我从此对门框的高度有了全新体验，这是始料未及的，我乐在其中。她看著我说道：“但是，Aimme，这可不公平”，最奇妙的是她是认真的，能随意改变身高，可不公平。

那时我才知道，也就是这时我才知道社会上人们的话题在近10年来已有了重大变革。不再只是克服先天障碍，是关于提升，是关于潜能。义肢的作用不再仅局限于代替身体缺失的部分，它们可以作为一种象徵，象徵使用者可以在属于他们的空间里随心所欲地创造东西。所以那些社会一度认为是残障的人，可以成为塑造自己个性的建筑师，并且的确在继续改变那些个性，仅凭设计自己的身体，从一个赋予你能力的地方获取灵感。

现在令我激动不已的是通过尖端科技，机器人技术、仿生学及由来已久的诗意，我们向瞭解自身的集体人性迈进了一步。我认为要发掘自身人性的全部潜质，就要赞美那些令人心碎的力量，那些光荣的残缺，人人都有。

我想起了莎士比亚笔下的夏洛克：「你们要是用刀剑刺我们，我们不是也会出血的吗?你们要是搔我们的痒，我们不是也会笑出来的吗?」这就是我们的人性，及其所有的潜质，也正是这些让我们熠熠生辉。

I said, "You're thinking about this just way too early." But the point is that what happens once you start kind of quietly leaning back? Everyone who's been through this — and I'm here to tell you, once you have a child at home, your job better be really good to go back, because it's hard to leave that kid at home. Your job needs to be challenging. It needs to be rewarding. You need to feel like you're making a difference. And if two years ago you didn't take a promotion and some guy next to you did, if three years ago you stopped looking for new opportunities,you're going to be bored because you should have kept your foot on the gas pedal. Don't leave before you leave. Stay in. Keep your foot on the gas pedal, until the very day you need to leave to take a break for a child — and then make your decisions. Don't make decisions too far in advance, particularly ones you're not even conscious you're making.

我是个说书之人。在这里，我想和大家分享一些我本人的故事。一些关于所谓的“单一故事的危险性”的经历。我成长在尼日利亚东部的一所大学校园里。我母亲常说我从两岁起就开始读书。不过我认为“四岁起”比较接近事实。所以我从小就开始读书，读的是英国和美国的儿童书籍。

我也是从小就开始写作，当我在七岁那年，开始强迫我可怜的母亲阅读我用铅笔写好的故事，外加上蜡笔描绘的插图时，我所写的故事正如我所读的故事那般，我故事里的人物们都是白皮肤、蓝眼睛的。常在雪中嬉戏，吃着苹果。而且他们经常讨论天气，讨论太阳出来时，一切都多么美好。我一直写着这样故事，虽然说我当时住在尼日利亚，并且从来没有出过国。虽然说我们从来没见过雪，虽然说我们实际上只能吃到芒果;虽然说我们从不讨论天气，因为根本没这个必要。

我故事里的人物们也常喝姜汁啤酒，因为我所读的那些英国书中的人物们常喝姜汁啤酒。虽然说我当时完全不知道姜汁啤酒是什么东西。时隔多年，我一直都怀揣着一个深切的渴望，想尝尝姜汁啤酒的味道。不过这要另当别论了。

这一切所表明的，正是在一个个的故事面前，我们是何等的脆弱，何等的易受影响，尤其当我们还是孩子的时候，因为我当时读的所有书中只有外国人物，我因而坚信：书要想被称为书，就必须有外国人在里面，就必须是关于我无法亲身体验的事情，而这一切都在我接触了非洲书籍之后发生了改变。当时非洲书并不多，而且他们也不像国外书籍那样好找。 不过因为!和!之类的作家，我思维中对于文学的概念，产生了质的改变。我意识到像我这样的人---有着巧克力般的肤色和永远无法梳成马尾辫的卷曲头发的女孩们，也可以出现在文学作品中。

我开始撰写我所熟知的事物，但这并不是说我不喜爱那些美国和英国书籍，恰恰相反，那些书籍激发了我的想象力，为我开启了新的世界。但随之而来的后果就是，我不知道原来像我这样的人，也是可以存在于文学作品中的，而与非洲作家的结缘，则是将我从对于书籍的单一故事中拯救了出来。

我来自一个传统的尼日利亚中产家庭，我的父亲是一名教授，我的母亲是一名大学管理员。因此我们和很多其他家庭一样，都会从附近的村庄中雇佣一些帮手来打理家事。在我八岁那一年，我们家招来了一位新的男仆。他的名字叫做FIDE.我父亲只告诉我们说，他是来自一个非常穷苦的家庭，我母亲会时不时的将山芋、大米，还有我们穿旧的衣服送到他的家里。每当我剩下晚饭的时候，我的母亲就会说：吃净你的食物!难道你不知道吗?像FIDE家这样的人可是一无所有。因此我对他们家人充满了怜悯。

后来的一个星期六，我们去FIDE的村庄拜访，他的母亲向我们展示了一个精美别致的草篮----用FIDE的哥哥用染过色的酒椰叶编制的。我当时完全被震惊了。我从来没有想过FIDE的家人居然有亲手制造东西的才能。在那之前，我对FIDE家唯一的了解就是他们是何等的穷困，正因为如此，他们在我脑中的印象只是一个字------“穷”。他们的贫穷是我赐予他们的单一故事。

多年以后，在我离开尼日利亚前往美国读大学的时候，我又想到了这件事。我那时19岁，我的美国室友当时完全对我感到十分惊讶了。他问我是从哪里学的讲一口如此流利的英语，而当我告知她尼日利亚刚巧是以英语作为官方语言的时候，她的脸上则是写满了茫然。她问我是否可以给她听听她所谓的“部落音乐”，可想而知，当我拿出玛丽亚凯莉的磁带时，她是何等的失望，她断定我不知道如何使用电炉。

我猛然意识到“在他见到我之前，她就已经对我充满了怜悯之心。她对我这个非洲人的预设心态是一种充满施恩与好意的怜悯之情。我那位室友的脑中有一个关于非洲的单一故事。一个充满了灾难的单一故事。在这个单一的故事中，非洲人是完全没有可能在任何方面和她有所相似的;没有可能接收到比怜悯更复杂的感情;没有可能以一个平等的人类的身份与她沟通。

我不得不强调，在我前往美国之前，我从来没有有意识的把自己当做个非洲人。但在美国的时候，每当人们提到”非洲“时，大家都会转向我，虽然我对纳米比亚之类的地方一无所知。但我渐渐的开始接受这个新的身份，现在很多时候我都是把自己当做一个非洲人来看待。不过当人们把非洲当做一个国家来讨论的时候，我还是觉得挺反感的。最近的一次例子就发生在两天前，我从拉各斯搭乘航班，旅程原本相当愉快，直到广播里开始介绍在”印度、非洲以及其他国家”所进行的慈善事业。

当我以一名非洲人的身份在美国读过几年之后，我开始理解我那位室友当时对我的反应。如果我不是在尼日利亚长大，如果我对非洲的一切认识都是来自于大众流行的影像，我相信我眼中的非洲也同样是充满了美丽的地貌、美丽的动物，以及一群难以理解的人们进行着毫无意义的战争、死于艾滋和贫穷、无法为自己辩护，并且等待着一位慈悲的、白种的外国人的救赎，我看待非洲的方式将会和我儿时看待FIDE一家的方式是一样的。

我认为关于非洲的这个单一故事从根本上来自于西方的文学。这是来自伦敦商人John Locke的一段话。他在1561年的时候，曾游历非洲西部，并且为他的航行做了翻很有趣的记录。他先是把黑色的非洲人称为“没有房子的野兽”，随后又写道：“他们也是一群无头脑的人，他们的嘴和眼睛都长在了他们的胸口上。”

我每次读到这一段的时候，都不禁大笑起来。他的想象力真的是让人敬佩。但关于他的作品极其重要的一点是它昭示着西方社会讲述非洲故事的一个传统，在这个传统中，撒哈拉以南的非洲充满了消极、差异以及黑暗，是伟大的诗人Rudyard Kipling笔下所形容的“半恶魔、半孩童”的奇异人种。

正因为如此，我开始意识到我的那位美国室友一定在她的成长过程中，看到并且听过关于这个单一故事的不同版本，就如同之前一位曾经批判我的小说缺乏“真实的非洲感”的教授一样。话说我倒是甘愿承认我的小说有几处写的不好的地方，有几处败笔，但我很难想象我的小说既然会缺乏“真实的非洲感”。事实上，我甚至不知道真实的非洲感到底是个什么东西。那位教授跟我说我书中的人物都和他太相近了，都是受过教育的中产人物。我的人物会开车，他们没有受到饥饿的困扰。正因此，他们缺乏了真实的非洲感。

我在这里不得不指出，我本人也常常被单一的故事蒙蔽双眼。几年前，我从美国探访墨西哥，当时美国的政治气候比较紧张。关于移民的辩论一直在进行着。而在美国，“移民”和“墨西哥人”常常被当做同义词来使用。关于墨西哥人的故事是源源不绝，讲的都是欺诈医疗系统、偷渡边境、在边境被捕之类的事情。

我还记得当我到达瓜达拉哈拉的第一天，看着人们前往工作，在市集上吃着墨西哥卷、抽着烟、大笑着，我记得我刚看到这一切时是何等的惊讶，但随后我的心中便充满了羞耻感。我意识到我当时完全被沉浸在媒体上关于墨西哥人的报道，以致于他们在我的脑中幻化成一个单一的个体---卑贱的移民。我完全相信了关于墨西哥人的单一故事，对此我感到无比的羞愧。这就是创造单一故事的过程，将一群人一遍又一遍地呈现为一个事物，并且只是一个事物，时间久了，他们就变成了那个事物。

而说到单一的故事，就自然而然地要讲到权力这个问题。每当我想到这个世界的权力结构的时候，我都会想起一个伊傅语中的单词，叫做“nkali”,它是一个名词，可以在大意上被翻译成”比另一个人强大。”就如同我们的经济和政治界一样，我们所讲的故事也是建立在它的原则上的。这些故事是怎样被讲述的、由谁来讲述、何时被讲述、有多少故事被讲述，这一切都取决于权力。

每次吃完饭，看着仅有的一个脏碗，心想，下次再洗吧。下次复下次，买的新碗已全部用完。看着灶台上摞着的一大堆泛了白毛的碗，我一脸发愁，以前还总嫌一个碗也洗，废水费工夫，现在我却后悔了，自己弄的乱摊子只能由自己来收拾。碗堆了那么多，我花了一个整个晚上的时间才洗完，实在累的不行。

躺在床上休息时，我又开始了以往多次无效果的埋怨：我为什么这么懒?干什么事都爱拖延，别说渴望成为什么成功人士了，竟然几个碗也洗不好。打开微信和QQ，大家所发的动态中也不乏许多公开责备自己懒惰，爱拖延的情况。我们常常只在思想中进行激烈的斗争，可是在形体上却总是无动于衷。其实解决这些毛病的关键就在于一个词——行动。

古人曰：“明日复明日，明日何其多。若坐待明日，万事成蹉跎。”拖延洗碗，最终得到的只是一大摞长白毛的碗;拖延作业，最后“赢得”的是老师的批评与父母的“双打”;拖延人生，我们将无所事事，一事无成!“临渊羡鱼不如退而结网”，只有走出舒适区，行动起来，我们才能铸就所向往的辉煌。人生亦是如此，我们应该明白，空想是一无所有的源头，实干才是翘起梦想的杠杆，没有人愿意自甘堕落，天上也不会掉下馅饼，如果想要真正的改变现状，那么请行动起来吧。

想要行动，应做到以下三点：一，不怕困难，这种无畏的精神正是我们所应该去学习的，要知道，一个连洗碗都怕累的人不可能做出大事。二，不能拖延。狄更斯说：“永远不要把你今天可以完成的事留到明天做，拖延是偷光阴的贼，抓住它吧!”要做贫僧，不畏艰难，用行动游历九州四海;莫做富僧，安于现状，拖延而徘徊不前。三，不停止奋斗。当今时代飞速发展，岂会等待停滞的少数人?请永葆奋斗之心，用行动踏出属于自己的光明未来!

爱默生说：“一心向着自己的目标前进、行动起来的人，整个世界都会给他让路。”青年朋友们，行动是连接理想与现实的桥梁，行动起来吧!不怕困难，不去拖延，不止奋斗。行动起来，我们定能书写人生的华章!

My generation really, sadly, is not going to change the numbers at the top. They're just not moving. We are not going to get to where 50 percent of the population — in my generation, there will not be 50 percent of [women] at the top of any industry. But I'm hopeful that future generations can. I think a world where half of our countries and our companies were run by women, would be a better world. It's not just because people would know where the women's bathrooms are, even though that would be very helpful.I think it would be a better world. I have two children. I have a five-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter. I want my son to have a choice to contribute fully in the workforce or at home, and I want my daughter to have the choice to not just succeed, but to be liked for her accomplishments.

一直以来，我都是同学、家长眼中“别人家的孩子”，但大家有所不知的是，我一直在与一个“病魔”作斗争，它就是拖延症。

请不要惊讶，这个“病”已经伴随我很长时间了，可谓是根深蒂固。它有时轻，有时重，间歇发作。妈妈常常半开玩笑地说：“你这是病，得治!”

就拿上学期来说，美术老师要求我在6月30日前创作一幅《绿色承诺》手抄报。我心想，这还不容易，分分钟搞定!于是，这件事就被一拖再拖，结果直到交稿截止前一天，我才开始没日没夜、加班加点地赶“工程”。就这样，原来有一两个月的充裕时间，被我拖到了最后一天。这场较量，拖延症“完胜”。

再拿一次写作文来说吧。原来我给自己定下了两个小时完成的目标，这时，拖延症跳出来了：“反正有两个小时嘛，不妨先看会书，找找灵感?”我欣然应允了它的请求，开始肆无忌惮地看起杂书来。不知不觉，一个小时过去了，我开始有些着急，把书扔到一旁，心想：作文该如何开头呢?冥思苦想之际，我又瞥见了书架上的杂志……

就这样，我的时间被这个大恶魔一点点蚕食了，原本绰绰有余的作文时间打水漂了。这一次，我又惜败了。

当然，更多时间，我会提前作好计划安排并严格执行，这时，拖延症的嚣张气焰也随之烟消云散。在这样的较量中，我当然能够战胜“病魔”。

俗话说“病来如山倒，病去如抽丝”，改掉一个坏习惯，绝非一朝一夕之功。在这场旷日持久的较量中，我相信，我一定会把它彻底消灭掉，等着我的捷报吧!

学校最具有特色的冲锋号在凌晨6点10分准时响起，也不知学校怎么想的，会把冲锋号当做起床铃声。

我翻了身，把被子裹得更严实了，我在起床和不起床之间纠结，然后再告诉自己再睡一下下，等下一定要起床，整个宿舍楼在铃响的那刻显得格外嘈杂，我最终还是没能起床就在被窝里，然后暗自希望主任今天没来，虽然这机率与在游戏中打极品装备一样全靠人品，机率几乎为零。

有人说赖床是“拖延症”的初始症，“拖延症”，简单点说就是懒，懒到了一定的境界，而且心里有一个无比坚定的信念，不死的心，谁也不能阻止我拖稿，拖工资，拖后腿，至于拖后腿嘛，说得难听点，引用别人的一句话，班级又不是狗，分什么前腿后腿的。

最不爽的就是所到别人说我拖后腿了，虽然这是事实，“拖延症”的主要特征就是习惯把今年的事拖到明年，今天的事拖到明天这一刻的事拖到下一刻，这辈子的事拖到下辈子，有没有下辈子，这事儿就无从可知了，我同桌就是一位深受此症毒害的患者，他会花上一节晚自修的时间，给自己订下冠冕堂皇的大纲计划，下定了决心明天开始一定完成，哪怕教室倒了，哪怕校长办公室倒了，哪怕学校被堕天使，黑月铁骑给推了，也不能阻止，当天晚上同桌计划得心血来潮，满面红光，我在旁边打击他，让他别写什么计划大纲了，浪费时间又不实用，计划永远赶不上变化，他本着一个无比坚定的信念，不理我，第二天，他是坚持了一个上午，安分地得很，下午就开始症状出现了，然后他的“拖延症”又显露出来了，就这样，日复一日，估计现在那张被用来写大纲的纸在哪个角落也不知道了。

也就是这样，我们错过了很多，错过了读书的最好光阴，错过了自己喜欢的女孩儿。

问女生借书看，无一不是惊异地告诉我这是言情，我当时就特郁了，怎么，男生就不可以看言情么。

正是从言情中，我了解到不少苦逼的情感故事，一对悲催的男女，互有好感，但是一直拖延下去，最终年华逝去，终成陌路，这一直是悲剧言情的主打剧情，如此剧情在电影界里也久经不衰，如《情书》再到最近的《那些年，我们一起追的女孩》，其中都是男女之间有种.种莫名的情愫，最终因为种.种原因而一拖再拖，错过，我也一直相信在沈佳宜心中，对柯景腾是有好感的，只是时间没有允许她说出来。

说到底就是“拖延症”害人害已，正是因为拖，男的女的把时间拖没了，然后我就会一个人在臆想，如果我不拖的话，我是不是就不会错过，是不是就不会错过读书的光阴，不会错过自己喜欢的女孩儿，是不是现在就会鱼和熊掌兼得，当然了，一切都是在臆想之中，也只是臆想而已。

我前桌的同桌，常侃调“曾经有一份感情放在我的面前，我没有去珍惜”。觉得和我很像哎，唯一不同的就是曾经从来就没有一份感情放在我的面前，虽然我一直信奉某人说的一句话，“高中，大学不谈，还指望大学毕业后凭空蹦出一个要才有才，要貌有貌的女孩。”我归根结底，还是因为“拖延症”害的。

每次放学，羡慕嫉妒恨地看着别人搂着女孩从自己身边走过，同样是人，差距咋这样大呢，他们一点也不体谅我这个单身的雄性生物，回头想想自己，学习差得只能拖后腿。

唉，明天一定痛改前非，佛曰：大彻大悟，至于今天，还是先洗洗脸睡了吧。

On what we think we know?

我们以为自己知道的

I'm going to try and explain why it is that perhaps we don't understand as much as we think we do. I'd like to begin with four questions. This is not some sort of cultural thing for the time of year. That's an in-joke, by the way.

我会试着解释为何 我们知道的东西很可能并没有我们自以为知道的多 我想从四个问题开始,不是那种今年流行的文化问题 对了，刚刚那句是个圈内笑话

But these four questions, actually, are ones that people who even know quite a lot about science find quite hard. And they're questions that I've asked of science television producers, of audiences of science educators -- so that's science teachers -- and also of seven-year-olds, and I find that the seven-year-olds do marginally better than the other audiences, which is somewhat surprising.

不过这四个问题，事实上 即使是很懂科学的人也会觉得很难应答 我拿这些问题去问科学节目制片人 问那些有科学教育背景的观众 也问教科学的老师还有七岁孩童 我发现七岁孩童答得比其他人好 这是有些令人惊讶

So the first question, and you might want to write this down, either on a bit of paper, physically, or a virtual piece of paper in your head. And, for viewers at home, you can try this as well.

第一个问题，我建议你把问题记下来 抄在纸上，或想像中的纸上 坐在电脑前的你也可以试著作答.

A little seed weighs next to nothing and a tree weighs a lot, right? I think we agree on that. Where does the tree get the stuff that makes up this chair, right? Where does all this stuff come from?

种籽很轻，而大树很重，是吗?我想我们都同意吧，大树用来制成椅子的东西是从哪来的? 对吧?这些东西都是怎么来的?

(Knocks)

(敲椅声)

And your next question is, can you light a little torch-bulb with a battery, a bulb and one piece of wire? And would you be able to, kind of, draw a -- you don't have to draw the diagram, but would you be able to draw the diagram, if you had to do it? Or would you just say, that's actually not possible?

问题二，你能否点亮一个小灯泡 只用1个电池、1个灯泡、和1条电线? 那你能画出上述问题的图解吗?不用真的画 但如果需要的话， 你能画出来吗? 还是你会说 这个不可能?

The third question is, why is it hotter in summer than in winter? I think we can probably agree that it is hotter in summer than in winter, but why? And finally, would you be able to -- and you can sort of scribble it, if you like -- scribble a plan diagram of the solar system, showing the shape of the planets' orbits? Would you be able to do that? And if you can, just scribble a pattern.

第三个问题，为什么夏天比冬天热? 大家应该都同意夏天比冬天还热 但为何如此?最后，你能不能 简单的勾勒出 太阳系的平面图... 呈现出行星轨道运行的形状 你可以画得出来吗? 你画得出来的话，就把形状画出来

OK. Now, children get their ideas not from teachers, as teachers often think, but actually from common sense, from experience of the world around them, from all the things that go on between them and their peers, and their carers, and their parents, and all of that. Experience. And one of the great experts in this field, of course, was, bless him, Cardinal Wolsey. Be very careful what you get into people's heads because it's virtually impossible to shift it afterwards, right?

好，孩童对事物的概念不是老师教的 老师时常这么以为，但实际上概念来自于常理 来自于孩童对周遭世界的体验 来自于他们跟同伴彼此交流 还有跟保姆、父母亲、所有人交流的经验 这个领域中的一个专家，对了，愿他安息 就是渥西主教，他说要你将东西放进其他人的闹袋里的时候要小心 因为那些东西几乎不会再改变，对吧?

(Laughter)

(笑声)

I'm not quite sure how he died, actually. Was he beheaded in the end, or hung?

我不太清楚他的死因，真的 他最后上了断头台?还是被吊死?

(Laughter)

(笑声)

#p#副标题#e#

Now, those questions, which, of course, you've got right, and you haven't been conferring, and so on. And I -- you know, normally, I would pick people out and humiliate, but maybe not in this instance.

现在回到那四个问题，大家都知道是什么问题了 你们彼此之间也没有讨论答案 我平时习惯点人站起来回答让他丢脸 不过这次就不点了

A little seed weighs a lot and, basically, all this stuff, 99 percent of this stuff, came out of the air. Now, I guarantee that about 85 percent of you, or maybe it's fewer atted, will have said it comes out of the ground. And some people, probably two of you, will come up and argue with me afterwards, and say that actually, it comes out of the ground. Now, if that was true, we'd have trucks going round the country, filling people's gardens in with soil, it'd be a fantastic business. But, actually, we don't do that. The mass of this comes out of the air. Now, I passed all my biology exams in Britain. I passed them really well, but I still came out of school thinking that that stuff came out of the ground.

种籽可以很重，基本上所有的这些 99%都来自于空气 我相信有85%的人，或许在你们TED会比较少 会说木材来自于大地，而有些人 也许你们中的一两位， 可能结束后会来找我争论 说木材其实是来自于大地 若是如此，那我们就会有让卡车跑来跑去 把人们的花园都填上土，那会是很棒的生意。 不过实际上我们不会那么做 因为木材的材料大部分其实是从空气中来的 我在英国念书时考生物每考必过 我的成绩很好，但毕业后 还是以为木材来自于大地

Second one: can you light a little torch-bulb with a battery bulb and one piece of wire? Yes, you can, and I'll show you in a second how to do that. Now, I have some rather bad news, which is that I had a piece of video that I was about to show you, which unfortunately -- the sound doesn't work in this room, so I'm going to describe to you, in true "Monty Python" fashion, what happens in the video. And in the video, a group of researchers go to MIT on graduation day. We chose MIT because, obviously, that's a very long way away from here, and you wouldn't mind too much, but it sort of works the same way in Britain and in the West Coast of the USA. And we asked them these questions, and we asked those questions of science graduates, and they couldn't answer them. And so, there's a whole lot of people saying, "I'd be very surprised if you told me that this came out of the air. That's very surprising to me." And those are science graduates. And we intercut it with, "We are the premier science university in the world," because of British-like hubris.

你能用一枚电池和一根电线点亮灯泡吗? 是，你可以，我会示范怎么做。 不过，现在有个坏消息 本来有个影片要给大家看 可惜在这边声音放不出来 所以我就口头描述一下的，用巨蟒剧团的表演方式， 影片内容是这样的，在影片里有一群研究员 在毕业典礼那天去麻省理工学院 为什么是麻省理工呢?因为它离这里很远 大家也就不会太介意 不过场景设在英国结果也差不多 或是设在美国西岸 我们问了麻省理工的毕业生这四个问题 这些理工科毕业生也答不出来 而且还有很多学生表示 “我很惊讶你说木材是从空气中来的 ”这真的让我很吃惊“，那些理工的毕业生这么说 我们用”我们是全球第一的理工大学“来作影片的结尾。 因为英国人很傲慢

(Laughter)

(笑声)

And when we gave graduate engineers that question, they said it couldn't be done. And when we gave them a battery, and a piece of wire, and a bulb, and said, "Can you do it?" They couldn't do it. Right? And that's no different from Imperial College in London, by the way, it's not some sort of anti-American thing going on.

我们拿第二个问题去问硕士毕业的工程师们 他们说这不可能做得到 我们拿了电池、电线、和灯泡 问他们”你能做到吗?“，他们没办法，是吧? 顺道一提，伦敦的帝国学院的情况估计也差不多如此 我们不是在做什么反美的事

As if. Now, the reason this matters is we pay lots and lots of money for teaching people -- we might as well get it right. And there are also some societal reasons why we might want people to understand what it is that's happening in photosynthesis. For example, one half of the carbon equation is how much we emit, and the other half of the carbon equation, as I'm very conscious as a trustee of Kew, is how much things soak up, and they soak up carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

虽然听来颇像。问题的关键是我们花了很多钱 来教育大众，我们应该正确地来做这件事。 其中也有一些社会因素 让我们想使大众了解光合作用如何运作 例如，有一半的碳储量是人类排放的 而另一半碳储量 我相当关切，身为皇家植物园的受托管理人

That's what plants actually do for a living. And, for any Finnish people in the audience, this is a Finnish pun: we are, both literally and metaphorically, skating on thin ice if we don't understand that kind of thing.Now, here's how you do the battery and the bulb. It's so easy, isn't it? Of course, you all knew that. But if you haven't played with a battery and a bulb, if you've only seen a circuit diagram, you might not be able to do that, and that's one of the problems.

是植物吸收多少二氧化碳 植物就是以此维生的 如果在场有芬兰人，这是芬兰话的双关语 我们无论在实际上或隐喻上，都是如履薄冰 要是我们不明白那些事 电池和灯泡只要这要做就行 很简单，不是吗?你们都懂了 但要是你没有亲手碰过电池和灯泡 如果你只看过电路图 你可能就做不出来，这是个麻烦

So, why is it hotter in summer than in winter? We learn, as children, that you get closer to something that's hot, and it burns you. It's a very powerful bit of learning, and it happens pretty early on. By extension, we think to ourselves, "Why it's hotter in summer than in winter must be because we're closer to the Sun." I promise you that most of you will have got that. Oh, you're all shaking your heads, but only a few of you are shaking your heads very firmly.

那么，为何夏天比冬天热? 我们从小就知道，离热的东西太近 你就被烫到，这真很有效的教育方法 很小的时候大家就学到了 延伸这个论点，我们觉得夏天比冬天热 一定是因为我们离太阳比较近 我相信大多人都懂了 哦，大家都在摇头 不过只有几个人摇得很坚定

Other ones are kind of going like this. All right. It's hotter in summer than in winter because the rays from the Sun are spread out more, right, because of the tilt of the Earth. And if you think the tilt is tilting us closer, no, it isn't. The Sun is 93 million miles away, and we're tilting like this, right? It makes no odds. In fact, in the Northern Hemisphere, we're further from the Sun in summer, as it happens, but it makes no odds, the difference.

其他人只是这样子摇而已，好吧 夏天比冬天热是因为太阳的辐射线 传播得比较多，地球倾斜的关系 如果你以为是朝太阳的方向倾斜，那就错了 太阳离地球1亿5千万公里，地球倾斜角度大略如此 倾斜不是差别所在，在北半球 夏天时我们离太阳更远 跟倾斜没有关系

OK, now, the scribble of the diagram of the solar system. If you believe, as most of you probably do, that it's hotter in summer than in winter because we're closer to the Sun, you must have drawn an ellipse. Right? That would explain it, right? Except, in your -- you're nodding -- now, in your ellipse, have you thought, "Well, what happens during the night?"

好，问题四是画出太阳系的平面图 如果大家相信，大多数可能都相信 夏天比冬天热是因为地球离太阳较近 大家应该都画了椭圆形 对吧?这就能解释了吧? 除非，你点头了，你画了个椭圆形 你有想过，「夜晚又是怎么回事」?

Between Australia and here, right, they've got summer and we've got winter, and what -- does the Earth kind of rush towards the Sun at night, and then rush back again? I mean, it's a very strange thing going on, and we hold these two models in our head, of what's right and what isn't right, and we do that, as human beings, in all sorts of fields.

澳洲和美国这边，澳洲是夏天 这边是冬天，难道说 地球在晚上会冲向太阳 然后再冲回来?这实在很奇怪 我们脑中有两种思考模式，对的和错的 身为人类，我们在很多领域都这样思考

So, here's Copernicus' view of what the solar system looked like as a plan. That's pretty much what you should have on your piece of paper. Right? And this is NASA's view. They're stunningly similar. I hope you notice the coincidence here.

左边是哥白尼画的太阳系平面图 跟你们纸上画的差不多，对吧 右边是NASA的版本，两张图非常相似 我希望大家注意其中的巧合 要是你知道人们有错误观念

What would you do if you knew that people had this misconception, right, in their heads, of elliptical orbits caused by our experiences as children? What sort of diagram would you show them of the solar system, to show that it's not really like that? You'd show them something like this, wouldn't you? It's a plan, looking down from above. But, no, look what I found in the textbooks. That's what you show people, right?

你会怎么做 在他们脑中，楕圆形的轨道 是他们儿时经验教的吗? 你会给他们看什么样的太阳系示意图? 证明太阳系不是他们想的那样 你会给他们看这种图吗? 这是俯瞰的平面图 可是并非如此，瞧瞧我在教科书里找到的 你会给他们看这种图对吧?

These are from textbooks, from websites, educational websites -- and almost anything you pick up is like that. And the reason it's like that is because it's dead boring to have a load of concentric circles, whereas that's much more exciting, to look at something at that angle, isn't it? Right?

出自教科书 出自教育网站 你找得到的几乎都是这种图 会以这种视角呈现是因为 只有一堆同心圆太死板无趣 从这种视角看太阳系比较新鲜刺激 不是吗?

And by doing it at that angle, if you've got that misconception in your head, then that two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional thing will be ellipses. So you've -- it's crap, isn't it really? As we say.

因为弄成这种视角 如果你脑中有了这种误解 用二度空间来呈现三度空间就会变成椭圆形 这真是糟糕，可不是吗?

So, these mental models -- we look for evidence that reinforces our models. We do this, of course, with matters of race, and politics, and everything else, and we do it in science as well. So we look, just look -- and scientists do it, constantly -- we look for evidence that reinforces our models, and some folks are just all too able and willing to provide the evidence that reinforces the models.

因此，我们寻求证据来增强我们的心智模式 我们用这种方式处理种族、政治、所有事 当然也用这种方式处理科学，我们只观看 是科学家在这么做，我们不断寻求证据 来增强我们的心智模式，有些人很有办法 也乐意提供证据来增强那些模式

So, being I'm in the United States, I'll have a dig at the Europeans. These are examples of what I would say is bad practice in science teaching centers.

所以我现在人在美国，就会说欧洲人的坏话 这些图片都是我认为不良的科学教育

These pictures are from La Villette in France and the welcome wing of the Science Museum in London. And, if you look at the, kind of the way these things are constructed, there's a lot of mediation by glass, and it's very blue, and kind of professional -- in that way that, you know, Woody Allen comes up from under the sheets in that scene in "Annie Hall," and said, "God, that's so professional." And that you don't -- there's no passion in it, and it's not hands on, right, and, you know, pun intended.

类似教学中心，这些图取自法国维叶特科博馆 以及伦敦科博馆的迎宾翼展示区 你看看这些东西建成的模样 有很多玻璃隔板，蓝光色调，弄得很专业似的 那种方式，就像是伍迪艾伦从床单里冒出来 在《安妮霍尔》戏中的那一幕 他说“老天，这真是太专业了” 这其中没有热情，没有动手参与，是吗 这是个双关，不过也有好的教学方法

Whereas good interpretation -- I'll use an example from nearby -- is San Francisco Exploratorium, where all the things that -- the demonstrations, and so on, are made out of everyday objects that children can understand, it's very hands-on, and they can engage with, and experiment with. And I know that if the graduates at MIT and in the Imperial College in London had had the battery and the wire and the bit of stuff, and you know, been able to do it, they would have learned how it actually works, rather than thinking that they follow circuit diagrams and can't do it. So good interpretation is more about things that are bodged and stuffed and of my world, right? And things that -- where there isn't an extra barrier of a piece of glass or machined titanium, and it all looks fantastic, OK?

我举一个例子，离这里很近，旧金山探索馆 在那里所有的东西，展示品之类的 都是用孩子能懂的日常用品做成的 都可以动手玩，孩子们可以专心玩好好体验 我知道麻省理工毕业生 以及伦敦帝国学院毕业生 手上有电池电线点亮灯泡的话 他们会明白其中的原理 而不是觉得他们照着电路图来做是做不到的 好的教学方法不是 沉溺陶醉在自己世界里对吧? 那些东西也不该被隔着 用玻璃或是钛制品隔开 看起来很漂亮就好，好吗?

And the Exploratorium does that really, really well. And it's amateur, but amateur in the best sense, in other words, the root of the word being of love and passion.

旧金山探索馆在这点做得非常好 看上去很业余，但业余得很对头 也就是说，根本的出发点是出自爱和热情

So, children are not empty vessels, OK?So, as "Monty Python" would have it, this is a bit Lord Privy Seal to say so, but this is -- children are not empty vessels.

所以，孩童不是空瓶子 用“巨蟒剧团”的说法 就是有点像英国掌玺大臣会说的 意思是说孩童不是空无一物的瓶子

They come with their own ideas and their own theories, and unless you work with those, then you won't be able to shift them, right?

他们生来就有自己的想法和理念 如果你没从这些地方着手，就改变不了他们 对吧?

And I probably haven't shifted your ideas of how the world and universe operates, either. But this applies, equally, to matters of trying to sell new technology.

我大概没有改变大家的想法 对于世界和宇宙到底如何运作 不过这些道理同样可以用在推销新科技上也

For example, we are, in Britain, we're trying to do a digital switchover of the whole population into digital technology [for television].

例如，在英国，我们试着把全部的电视 都换成新科技的数位电视

And it's one of the difficult things is that when people have preconceptions of how it all works, it's quite difficult to shift those.

有个难题是 人们对事物运作的方式一旦有了成见 就很难去改变

So we're not empty vessels; the mental models that we have as children persist into adulthood. Poor teaching actually does more harm than good.

我们不是空瓶子，我们保有心智模式 从幼年到成年一直都存在 不良的教学是弊多于利

In this country and in Britain, magnetism is understood better by children before they've been to school than afterwards, OK? Same for gravity, two concepts, so it's -- which is quite humbling, as a, you know, if you're a teacher, and you look before and after, that's quite worrying. They do worse in tests afterwards, after the teaching.

在美国和英国，在磁力知识上 孩童在就学前学得比较好 重力知识也一样，两个不同概念，这实在可悲 如果你是个老师，看见受教前和受教后的差别 实在令人忧心，学童在受教后考得更差

And we collude. We design tests, or at least in Britain, so that people pass them. Right? And governments do very well. They pat themselves on the back. OK?

我们都是共犯，我们设计测验方式 至少在英国是这样，好让人们能通过考试 政府也帮了不少忙，他们推波助澜 懂吗?

We collude, and actually if you -- if someone had designed a test for me when I was doing my biology exams, to really understand, to see whether I'd understood more than just kind of putting starch and iodine together and seeing it go blue, and really understood that plants took their mass out of the air, then I might have done better at science. So the most important thing is to get people to articulate their models.

我们都是共犯 如果有人替我设计测验 在我要考生物的时候 让我能真正明白，明白我是否真的懂了 不是只在淀粉中加入碘液 看着反应呈现蓝色 而且能真正明白植物是从空气中茁壮的 我的科学可能就会学得比较好 所以，最重要的是要让人们能表述清楚他们的模型

Your homework is -- you know, how does an aircraft's wing create lift? An obvious question, and you'll have an answer now in your heads. And the second question to that then is, ensure you've explained how it is that planes can fly upside down. Ah ha, right.

回家作业是，机翼是怎样帮助飞机起飞的? 这问题很好懂，大家心中也有答案了 注意事项是 你要确保自己能解释为何飞机头向下的时候也能飞， 对吧

Second question is, why is the sea blue? All right? And you've all got an idea in your head of the answer. So, why is it blue on cloudy days? Ah, see.

问题二，海为何是蓝色的? 大家心中应该都有答案了 那么，为什么阴天时海还是蓝的?看吧 (笑声) 我一直想在美国讲这句话

(Laughter)

(笑声)

I've always wanted to say that in this country. (Laughter) Finally, my plea to you is to allow yourselves, and your children, and anyone you know, to kind of fiddle with stuff, because it's by fiddling with things that you, you know, you complement your other learning. It's not a replacement, it's just part of learning that's important. Thank you very much. Now -- oh, oh yeah, go on then, go on.

最后，我希望大家能让自己，还有孩子 以及任何你认识的人，去动手接触事物 因为亲自接触了事物，你知道的 你就补足了其他方面的学习不足，这不是替换 这只是学习中很重要的一部分 谢谢大家 那么，噢，没关系，继续吧

(Applause)

(鼓掌)

看完“TED英文演讲稿3篇”的人还看：

犯错的价值

每个人都会避免犯错，但或许避免犯错本身就是一种错误?请看以下这篇“犯错家“凯瑟琳舒尔茨告诉我们，或许我们不只该承认错误，更应该大力拥抱人性中“我错故我在“的本质。

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.

当时是95年 我在上大学 我和一个朋友开车去玩 从罗得岛的普罗旺斯区出发 到奥勒冈州的波特兰市

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.

我们年轻、无业 ，于是整个旅程都在乡间小道 经过州立公园 和国家保护森林 我们尽可能绕着最长的路径

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.

在南达科塔州之中某处 我转向我的朋友 问她一个 两千英里路途上 一直烦恼我的问题

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

"路边那个一直出现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.

正如现在坐在第一排的这三位男士 所露出的神情一样

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

(笑声) 我说"你知道的 我们一直看到的那个路牌 写着中文的那个啊"

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

她瞪着我的脸一阵子 突然笑开了 因为她总算知道我所指为何

And what I'm talking about is this.

我说的是这个

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

(笑声) 没错，这就是代表野餐区的那个中文字

(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,

(笑声) 过去的五年 我一直在思考 刚刚我所描述的状况 为什么我们会对身边的征兆 产生误解

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

当误解发生时我们作何反应 以及这一切所告诉我们的人性

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

换句话说，就像 Chris 刚才说的 过去五年的时间 我都在思考错误的价值

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

你可能觉得这是个奇异的专业 但有一项好处是不容置疑的： 没有竞争者。

(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.

(笑声) 事实上，我们大部分的人 都尽力不思考错误的价值 或至少避免想到我们有可能犯错。

We get it in the abstract.

我们都知道这个模糊的概念。

#p#副标题#e#

We all know everybody in this room makes mistakes.

我们都知道这里的每个人都曾经犯错

The human species, in general, is fallible -- okay fine.

人类本来就会犯错 - 没问题

But when it comes down to me right now, to all the beliefs I hold, here in the present tense, suddenly all of this abstract appreciation of fallibility goes out the window -- and I can't actually think of anything I'm wrong about.

一旦这个想法临到我们自身 我们现在所有的 所有的信念 对人类可能犯错的抽象概念随即被我们抛弃 我无法想到我有哪里出错

And the thing is, the present tense is where we live.

但是，我们活在现在

We go to meetings in the present tense; we go on family vacations in the present tense; we go to the polls and vote in the present tense.

我们开会，去家庭旅游 去投票 全都是现在式

So effectively, we all kind of wind up traveling through life, trapped in this little bubble of feeling very right about everything.

我们就像现在一个小泡泡里 经历人生 感觉自己总是对的

I think this is a problem.

我认为这是个问题

I think it's a problem for each of us as individuals, in our personal and professional lives, and I think it's a problem for all of us collectively as a culture.

我认为这是每个人私人生活 和职业生活中的问题 我认为我们身为群体，这也造成了文化问题

So what I want to do today is, first of all, talk about why we get stuck inside this feeling of being right.

于是，我今天想做的是 先谈谈为甚么我们会 陷在这种自以为是的心态中

And second, why it's such a problem.

第二是为甚么这是个问题

And finally, I want to convince you that it is possible to step outside of that feeling, and that, if you can do so, it is the single greatest

最后我想说服大家 克服这种感觉 是可能的 而且一旦你做到了 这将成为你道德上

moral, intellectual and creative leap you can make.

智性上和创意上最大的进步

So why do we get stuck in this feeling of being right?

为甚么我们会陷在 这种自以为是的心态中?

One reason actually has to do with a feeling of being wrong.

事实上这和犯错的感觉有关

So let me ask you guys something -- or actually, let me ask you guys something, because you're right here: How does it feel -- emotionally --

我想问问你们 让我问问台上的你们 当你意识到自己犯错了

how does it feel to be wrong?

你感觉如何?

Dreadful. Thumbs down.

糟透了。很差劲。

Embarrassing. Okay, wonderful, good.

难堪。很好，是的。

Dreadful, thumbs down, embarrassing -- thank you, these are great answers, but they're answers to a different question.

很糟糕，很差劲，很难堪。 谢谢你们提供这些答案 但这些答案没有回答我的问题

You guys are answering the question: How does it feel to realize you're wrong?

你们回答的问题是： 当你意识到你犯错的时候，你的感觉如何?

(Laughter) Realizing you're wrong can feel like all of that and a lot of other things, right?

(笑声) 意识到你犯错了就会有刚刚所说的这些感觉，不是吗?

I mean it can be devastating, it can be revelatory, it can actually be quite funny, like my stupid Chinese character mistake.

令人沮丧，暴露了一些真实 有时候甚至有些好笑 像我误以为路牌是中文字

But just being wrong doesn't feel like anything.

但犯错本身 事实上毫无感觉

I'll give you an analogy.

让我给你一个例子

Do you remember that Loony Tunes cartoon where there's this pathetic coyote who's always chasing and never catching a roadrunner?

你记得卡通里 那个总是在追逐 却从未抓到猎物的土狼吗?

In pretty much every episode of this cartoon, there's a moment where the coyote is chasing the roadrunner and the roadrunner runs off a cliff,

几乎在每一集里 牠的猎物 - 一只走鹃鸟 都会跳下悬崖

which is fine, he's a bird, he can fly.

反正牠是鸟，牠可以飞

But the thing is, the coyote runs off the cliff right after him.

但土狼也会跟着牠一起跳崖

And what's funny -- at least if you're six years old -- is that the coyote's totally fine too.

那很好笑 如果你是个六岁儿童 土狼也很好

He just keeps running -- right up until the moment that he looks down and realizes that he's in mid-air.

牠就这么继续跑 直到牠往下看 发现自己漫步在空中

That's when he falls.

这时候他才会往下掉

When we're wrong about something -- not when we realize it, but before that -- we're like that coyote after he's gone off the cliff and before he looks down.

在我们犯错时 在我们意识到我们犯错时 我们就像那只土狼 还没意识到自己奔出悬崖

You know, we're already wrong, we're already in trouble, but we feel like we're on solid ground.

我们已经错了 已经惹上麻烦了 但仍然感觉像走在地上

So I should actually correct something I said a moment ago.

我应该改变我之前的说法

It does feel like something to be wrong; it feels like being right.

犯错的感觉就和 正确的感觉一样

(Laughter) So this is one reason, a structural reason, why we get stuck inside this feeling of rightness.

(笑声) 事实上我们这种自以为对的感受 是有构造性的原因的

I call this error blindness.

我称之为错误盲点

Most of the time, we don't have any kind of internal cue to let us know that we're wrong about something, until it's too late.

大部份的时间里 我们身体里没有任何机制 提醒我们错了 直到木已成舟

But there's a second reason that we get stuck inside this feeling as well -- and this one is cultural.

但还有第二个理由 文化性的理由

Think back for a moment to elementary school.

回想小学时代

You're sitting there in class, and your teacher is handing back quiz papers, and one of them looks like this.

你坐在课堂里 你的老师发回小考考卷 像这样的小考考卷

This is not mine, by the way.

虽然这张不是我的

(Laughter) So there you are in grade school, and you know exactly what to think about the kid who got this paper.

(笑声) 你从小学时代 就知道该对拿这张考卷的同学 下甚么评语

It's the dumb kid, the troublemaker, the one who never does his homework.

笨蛋，捣蛋鬼 从不做功课的坏学生

So by the time you are nine years old, you've already learned, first of all, that people who get stuff wrong are lazy, irresponsible dimwits --

你不过才九岁 你已经懂得，首先 那些犯错的人 都是懒惰、不负责任的傻瓜

and second of all, that the way to succeed in life is to never make any mistakes.

第二 想要在人生中成功 就不要犯错

We learn these really bad lessons really well.

我们很早就得到这些错误讯息

And a lot of us -- and I suspect, especially a lot of us in this room -- deal with them by just becoming perfect little A students,

而我们 尤其是这个大厅里的许多人 都因此成为好学生 拿全A

perfectionists, over-achievers.

完美主义、永不满意

Right, Mr. CFO, astrophysicist, ultra-marathoner?

不是吗? 财务长、天体物理学家、超级马拉松先生们?

(Laughter) You're all CFO, astrophysicists, ultra-marathoners, it turns out.

(笑声) 结果是你们全成了财务长、天体物理学家、跑超级马拉松

Okay, so fine.

那很好

Except that then we freak out at the possibility that we've gotten something wrong.

但一旦我们发现有可能犯错 就开始手足无措

Because according to this, getting something wrong means there's something wrong with us.

因为依照规定 犯错 代表我们一定也有甚么不对劲

So we just insist that we're right, because it makes us feel smart and responsible and virtuous and safe.

于是我们坚持己见 因为那让我们感觉聪明、得体 安全和可靠

So let me tell you a story.

让我告诉你们一个故事

#p#副标题#e#

A couple of years ago, a woman comes into Beth Israel Deaconess medical center for a surgery.

几年前 一个女人到 Beth Israel Deaconess 诊所做手术

Beth Israel's in Boston.

Beth Israel 在波士顿

It's the teaching hospital for Harvard -- one of the best hospitals in the country.

是哈佛大学的教学附属医院 全国数一数二的医疗中心

So this woman comes in and she's taken into the operating room.

这个女人被送进开刀房

She's anesthetized, the surgeon does his thing -- stitches her back up, sends her out to the recovery room.

麻醉，外科医生做完手术 缝合，将她送进恢复室

Everything seems to have gone fine.

一切看上去都很好

And she wakes up, and she looks down at herself, and she says, "Why is the wrong side of my body in bandages?"

她醒来，往自己身上一看 说“为甚么我的左腿绑着绷带?”

Well the wrong side of her body is in bandages because the surgeon has performed a major operation on her left leg instead of her right one.

她应该接受治疗的是右腿 但为他做手术的外科医生 却把刀开在左腿

When the vice president for health care quality at Beth Israel spoke about this incident, he said something very interesting.

当副院长出来为医院的医疗质量 和这次意外做出解释时 他说了句很有趣的话

He said, "For whatever reason, the surgeon simply felt that he was on the correct side of the patient."

他说“无论如何 这位外科医生感觉 他开下的刀是在正确的一侧”

(Laughter) The point of this story is that trusting too much in the feeling of being on the correct side of anything can be very dangerous.

(笑声) 故事的重点是 相信自己的判断力 相信自己站在对的一边 是非常危险的

This internal sense of rightness that we all experience so often is not a reliable guide to what is actually going on in the external world.

我们心中时常感觉到的 理直气壮的感觉 在真实世界中 并不是个可靠的向导。

And when we act like it is, and we stop entertaining the possibility that we could be wrong, well that's when we end up doing things

当我们依此行事 不再思考我们是否犯错 我们就有可能

88.like dumping 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, or torpedoing the global economy.

把两百湾加仑的石油倒进墨西哥湾 或是颠覆世界经济

So this is a huge practical problem.

这是个很实际的问题

But it's also a huge social problem.

这也是个很大的社会问题

Think for a moment about what it means to feel right.

“感觉对”究竟是什么意思

It means that you think that your beliefs just perfectly reflect reality.

这代表着你认为你的信念 和真实是一致的

And when you feel that way, you've got a problem to solve, which is, how are you going to explain all of those people who disagree with you?

当你有这种感觉的时候 你的问题就大了 因为如果你是对的 为甚么还有人和你持不同意见?

It turns out, most of us explain those people the same way, by resorting to a series of unfortunate assumptions.

于是我们往往用同一种 思考方式去解释这些异议

The first thing we usually do when someone disagrees with us is we just assume they're ignorant.

第一是当他人不同意我们的说法 我们便觉得他们无知

They don't have access to the same information that we do, and when we generously share that information with them, they're going to see the light and come on over to our team.

他们不像我们懂得这么多 当我们慷慨地和他们分享我们的知识 他们便会理解，并加入我们的行列

When that doesn't work, when it turns out those people have all the same facts that we do and they still disagree with us, then we move on to a second assumption,

如果不是这样 如果这些人和我们获得的信息一样多 却仍然不认同我们 我们便有了下一个定论

which is that they're idiots.

那就是他们是白痴

(Laughter) They have all the right pieces of the puzzle, and they are too moronic to put them together correctly.

(笑声) 他们已经有了所有的信息 却笨到无法拼凑出正确的图像

And when that doesn't work, when it turns out that people who disagree with us have all the same facts we do and are actually pretty smart,

一旦第二个定论也不成立 当这些反对我们的人 和我们有一样的信息 又聪明

then we move on to a third assumption: they know the truth, and they are deliberately distorting it for their own malevolent purposes.

我们便有了第三个结论 他们知道事实是甚么 但却为了自己的好处 故意曲解真实。

So this is a catastrophe.

这真是个大灾难

This attachment to our own rightness keeps us from preventing mistakes when we absolutely need to and causes us to treat each other terribly.

我们的自以为是 让我们在最需要的时候 无法预防犯错 更让我们互相仇视

104.But to me, what's most baffling and most tragic about this is that it misses the whole point of being human.

对我来说 最大的悲剧是 它让我们错失了身为人的珍贵意义

It's like we want to imagine that our minds are just these perfectly translucent windows and we just gaze out of them and describe the world as it unfolds.

那就像是想象 我们的心灵之窗完全透明 我们向外观看 描述在我们之前展开的世界

And we want everybody else to gaze out of the same window and see the exact same thing.

我们想要每个人和我们有一样的窗子 对世界做出一样的观察

That is not true, and if it were, life would be incredibly boring.

那不是真的 如果是，人生将会多么无聊

The miracle of your mind isn't that you can see the world as it is.

心灵的神奇之处 不在你懂得这个世界是甚么样子

It's that you can see the world as it isn't.

而是去理解那些你不懂的地方

We can remember the past, and we can think about the future, and we can imagine what it's like to be some other person in some other place.

我们记得过去 思考未来 我们想象 自己成为他人，在他方

And we all do this a little differently, which is why we can all look up at the same night sky and see this and also this and also this.

我们的想象都有些不同 于是当我们抬头看同一个夜空 我们看到这个 这个 和这个

And yeah, it is also why we get things wrong.

这也是我们搞错事情的原因

1,200 years before Descartes said his famous thing about "I think therefore I am,"

在笛卡儿说出那句有名的”我思故我在“ 的一千两百年前

this guy, St. Augustine, sat down and wrote "Fallor ergo sum" -- "I err therefore I am."

圣奥古斯丁，坐下来 写下"Fallor ergo sum" "我错故我在"

Augustine understood that our capacity to screw up, it's not some kind of embarrassing defect in the human system, something we can eradicate or overcome.

奥古斯丁懂得 我们犯错的能力 这并不是人性中 一个令人难堪的缺陷 不是我们可以克服或消灭的

It's totally fundamental to who we are.

这是我们的本质

Because, unlike God, we don't really know what's going on out there.

因为我们不是上帝 我们不知道我们之外究竟发生了甚么

And unlike all of the other animals, we are obsessed with trying to figure it out.

而不同于其它动物的是 我们都疯狂地想找出解答

To me, this obsession is the source and root of all of our productivity and creativity.

对我来说 这种寻找的冲动 就是我们生产力和创造力的来源

Last year, for various reasons, I found myself listening to a lot of episodes of the Public Radio show This American Life.

因为一些缘故 去年我在广播上 听了很多集的"我们的美国人生"

And so I'm listening and I'm listening, and at some point, I start feeling like all the stories are about being wrong.

我听着听着 突然发现 这些故事全和犯错有关

And my first thought was, "I've lost it.

我的第一个念头是 “我完了

I've become the crazy wrongness lady.

我写书写疯了

#p#副标题#e#

I just imagined it everywhere,"

四处都看到有关犯错的幻觉”

which has happened.

说真的是这样

But a couple of months later, I actually had a chance to interview Ira Glass, who's the host of the show.

但几个月后 我访问了那个广播节目的主持人 Ira Glass

And I mentioned this to him, and he was like, "No actually, that's true.

我向他提到这件事 他回答我“事实上

In fact," he says, "as a staff, we joke that every single episode of our show has the same crypto-theme.

你是对的”他说 “我们这些工作人员总是 开玩笑说每集节目之中的 秘密主题都是一样的

And the crypto-theme is: 'I thought this one thing was going to happen and something else happened instead.' And thing is," says Ira Glass, "we need this.

这个秘密主题就是 "我以为这件事会这样发生 结果其它事情发生了" 他说"但是，这就是我们需要的

We need these moments of surprise and reversal and wrongness to make these stories work."

我们需要这些意外 这些颠倒和错误 这些故事才能成立。"

And for the rest of us, audience members, as listeners, as readers, we eat this stuff up.

而我们身为观众 听众、读者 我们吸收这些故事

We love things like plot twists and red herrings and surprise endings.

我们喜欢故事转折 令人惊讶的结局

When it comes to our stories, we love being wrong.

我们喜欢在故事里 看到犯错

But, you know, our stories are like this because our lives are like this.

但，故事会这样写 是因为人生就是这样

We think this one thing is going to happen and something else happens instead.

我们以为某些事情会这样发生 发生的却是其它事

George Bush thought he was going to invade Iraq, find a bunch of weapons of mass destruction, liberate the people and bring democracy to the Middle East.

小布什以为他入侵伊拉克 会找到大规模毁灭性武器 解放中东百姓，为他们带来民主自由

And something else happened instead.

但却不是这样

And Hosni Mubarak thought he was going to be dictator of Egypt for the rest of his life, until he got too old or too sick and could pass the reigns of power onto his son.

穆巴拉克以为 他到死都会是埃及的独裁者 一直到他年老或卧病 再把他的权力交给下一代

And something else happened instead.

但却不是这样

And maybe you thought you were going to grow up and marry your high school sweetheart and move back to your home town and raise a bunch of kids together.

或许你想过 你会长大、嫁给你的初恋情人 搬回老家，生一群孩子

And something else happened instead.

但却不是这样

And I have to tell you that I thought I was writing an incredibly nerdy book about a subject everybody hates for an audience that would never materialize.

我必须说 我以为我写的是一本很冷僻的书 有关一个人人讨厌的主题 为一些从不存在的读者

And something else happened instead.

但却不是这样

(Laughter) I mean, this is life.

(笑声) 我们的人生

For good and for ill, we generate these incredible stories about the world around us, and then the world turns around and astonishes us.

无论好坏 我们创造了啦 那包围我们的世界 而世界转过头来，令我们大吃一惊

No offense, but this entire conference is an unbelievable monument to our capacity to get stuff wrong.

说真的，这整个会议 充斥着这样难以置信的时刻 我们一次又一次地意识到自己的错误

We just spent and entire week talking about innovations and advancements and improvements, but you know why we need all of those innovations

我们花了整整一周 讨论创新，进步 和改善 你知道我们为甚么需要这些创新

and advancements and improvements?

进步和改善吗?

Because half the stuff that's the most mind-boggling and world altering --ted1998 -- eh.

因为其中有一半 来自最应该改变世界的 98年的TED 呃

(Laughter) Didn't really work out that way, did it.

(笑声) 真是出人意料之外啊，不是吗

(Laughter) Where's my jet pack, Chris?

(笑声) 我的逃生火箭在哪，Chris?

(Laughter) (Applause) So here we are again.

(笑声) (掌声) 于是我们又在这里

And that's how it goes.

事情就是这样

We come up with another idea.

我们重新想出其它点子

We tell another story.

我们有了新的故事

We hold another conference.

我们开了另一个会议

The theme of this one, as you guys have now heard seven million times, is the rediscovery of wonder.

这次的主题是 如果你还没有听到耳朵出油的话 是重新找到想象的力量

And to me, if you really want to rediscover wonder, you need to step outside of that tiny, terrified space of rightness and look around at each other

对我来说 如果你真的想重新找到想象的力量 你需要离开 那个小小的、自我感觉良好的小圈圈 看看彼此

and look out at the vastness and complexity and mystery of the universe and be able to say, "Wow, I don't know.

看看宇宙的 广大无垠 复杂神秘 然后真正地说 “哇，我不知道

Maybe I'm wrong."

或许我错了。”

Thank you.

谢谢各位

(Applause) Thank you guys.

(掌声) 谢谢

I think the cause is more complicated. I think, as a society, we put more pressure on our boys to succeedthan we do on our girls. I know men that stay home and work in the home to support wives with careers,and it's hard. When I go to the Mommy-and-Me stuff and I see the father there, I notice that the other mommies don't play with him. And that's a problem, because we have to make it as important a job,because it's the hardest job in the world to work inside the home, for people of both genders, if we're going to even things out and let women stay in the workforce. Studies show that households with equal earning and equal responsibility also have half the divorce rate.And if that wasn't good enough motivation for everyone out there, they also have more — how shall I say this on this stage?

时间都去哪了，时间都在拖延下浪费流失了。

周五下午，各科课代表各司其职，在第二节课下课时攒到办公室，在黑板上布置作业。我是只有在笔记本上记的份，望着黑板，没有讨价的权利。

终于放学了，我收拾书包回到家，安排周末计划：今天，我要把作业写一半，明天上午就把作业一扫而光!其余的时间用于复习。不过，现在肚子有点儿饿，先补充点能量吧!晚餐自然是丰盛无比，我狼吞虎咽，饱餐一顿。

饭后，我吃得太饱，得站着消化一下食物。光站着太无聊，时间不能浪费啊，看会儿电视吧。于是我打开了以前的回放，看起了《挑战不可能》······时间怎么这么快，半个小时过去了，我慌了，赶快拿出作业开始做，一张数学卷还没写完，爸爸就回来了，“十点半了，快睡觉!”无可奈何的我只好遵命。

“起床了，七点了!”我不知是听力不好，还是意志力薄弱，就是不愿离开那暖和的被窝。最终，在妈妈的千呼万唤中我起床了。上午有点没睡醒的感觉，做题效率不高，只完成了昨天的数学卷，下午午睡一会，睡醒看会电视，那作业呢?没事，有的是时间，明天还有一天呢!

周日上午，总感觉我有一点思维混乱，简简单单的题被我“酝酿”成了十分复杂的题目，完成了历史作业和地理作业。下午又完成了政治作业。还不防抓住兴趣爱好，画了一会儿画······天黑了，我立即想起：生物卷子还没写完!我慌了神，埋到桌子旁，求助“作业帮”，连搜带写搞了四十多分钟，总算是写完了。现在想想看，周五我还想着用一天半时间去复习呢!

拖延症不只浪费时间，还拖延人的成长啊。我要和拖延症说再见。

人生，就是一个完善自己、修复自己的过程。———题记

太阳光暖洋洋地从窗口射进来，温柔地洒在每个人的脸上，窗外的城市已经又开始了新一天的日程，街上各式各样的人们都匆忙地奔波着，早餐店的门口早已坐满了焦急等待吃早餐的顾客，包子的香气从蒸笼中飞出，融入了早晨清新的空气中。

而与此同时，我依旧缩在被窝中，无论妈妈如何喊叫，就是不肯探出头来，“五分钟，再睡五分钟啦!”我懒洋洋地应付着妈妈，“不行!7点半了，你看你们班的班长6点就起床读书、背英语单词了!”“好，我起……”我极不情愿且迷迷糊糊地穿衣服，慢吞吞地洗脸刷牙，心想：反正今天运动会，晚去一会又不会被发现。我这拖延症，早已深入我体内，无药可救了，正因为如此，我无论做什么事，都要比别人慢一步，而且显得慌慌张张。

这天是我们学校一年一度的春季运动会，运动场上锣鼓齐鸣、人声鼎沸，正当我偷偷摸摸地从人群中混进我们班集合点时，突然一个声音从背后大声喝住了我，“你还知道来呀!”吓得我一怔，急忙回头看去，原来是班长，“班长，我错了，下次一定早来。”“哼!”班长恶狠狠地说“你真是个拖油瓶!”这时，我也不乐意了：“怎么了，不就晚来一会吗!”“晚来一会?你的项目都结束了!”听到这话，我脑子“嗡”地一声，仿佛被人重重锤了一下似的，顿时清醒了许多，原来我是运动员，要参加女子接力赛的，能为班集体出一份力，是我的梦想啊，可如今我竟然拖到现在才来，一切都结束了，我的脸顿时通红。“啊，我是……我是……”此时我真想找个地缝钻进去……

运动会结束了，我们班在全年级中垫底了，听到这个消息，所有人目光都落到了我身上，我低下头，无地自容，连班主任也来找我谈话，语重心长对我说：“你要注意你自身的错误啊。”我的心理防线突然崩溃了，“嗯，张老师，我知道我错了，我一定改!”我的眼泪不由自主地掉下来，我真是恨我自己呀，我恨自己的“懒”，恨自己的拖延症。

从那刻起，我开始努力地过好每一天，刚刚开始努力时，确实十分痛苦，早早起床时，痛彻心扉，改掉自己的毛病时，十分难过，不情不愿，而当我慢慢适应时，不知从何时开始，我爱上了这种努力而又认真的生活态度。我第一次觉得，自己是班级的一员，我也要追上他们的脚步，我要与他们一起奋斗!

努力，不一定成功，但你一定会感谢并爱上那个努力奋斗、拼搏的自己!

最近借着给儿子在图书馆办证的机会给自己也办了一张借书证，转了一圈选了一本《战胜拖延症》，把《战胜拖延症》这本书粗略看了一遍，感觉这本书写得挺好，下面我和大家分享一下我阅读后的大概感受。?

所谓拖延的意思就是把事情不断延后，却迟迟不肯去做。有的人认为时间有的是，明天可以再开始，记得子曾经曰“明日复明日,明日何其多”!无论在工作中还是生活中，我们总认为时间还有很多，离最后的时间还很远，我们总会拖延到最后迟迟不肯行动。?

读了这本书我了解到常见的拖延思维有这些：1、时间有的是，明天再开始;2、我不知道如何下手，还是先准备准备吧;3、为了把事情做得更好，我要准备得更充分;4、我觉得我会失败.....;不管你是否有拖延的行为，是否存在拖延思维，最重要的是能否觉察到自己正在拖延，对拖延的觉察是战胜拖延的第一步。如果一个人明明在拖延，却否认自己在拖延，并继续拖延下去，这才是最可怕的地方。而在这本书当中，作者建议：通过写拖延日志增进对拖延的觉察。拖延日志就是记录拖延的详细情况，如拖延的事情，拖延的结果，拖延的借口，拖延的情绪变化等等。当具备对自己思维的觉察力时，我们就可以在拖延思维出现之时，通过自己激励、自我辩论，同时利用新的思维模式去替代拖延思维。下面举一个我的例子，以坚持早起床跑步为例吧，早晨六点定点闹铃响了，时间太早了，还是再睡会吧，再躺十分钟起，要不就是明天再坚持六点起吧，真正迈出第一步很难，我们总是存在着拖延。在我们还没有养成好的习惯时拖延思维不断地给我们的情绪和内心增加压力，分散我们的注意力，然后趁虚而入，使我们变得又拖延了。

针对拖延引发的情绪，书中的建议就是培养对这些情绪的忍耐能力，进而锻炼出“情绪肌肉”，这确实是最直接，最有效的方法，但是却很痛苦。我们可以学习书中提到的战胜拖延的几点建议：1、确定一个清晰、具体、可量化的目标;2、将目标分解成短小具体的步骤来完成，如果是创造性的活动，就分解成机械性的活动;3、不必准备太充分，一旦发现自己在准备上花太多时间，就跳过准备，直接行动;4、停下完美主义，给自己足够的时间，一点一点地做，同时记录自己的改变和变化;5、消除一切干扰，如关掉手机，关掉电视、拔掉网线......集中注意力;6、利用仅有的10分钟时间;7、先做5分钟，再做5分钟.......继续这样下去，你会慢慢找到状态的。

总得来说，这本书比较注重实践操作，但是操作的方法和步骤并不是那么容易理解，因为书中提倡通过记录和书写来觉察和反思自我，许多内容只有做了才会明白，才能理解，有此情况的朋友可以尝试一下。以上就是我的读书分享谢谢。

邹奇奇，一个华裔小姑娘。12岁的时候在ted发表演讲，名字叫：What adults can learn from kids? 大人应当从小孩身上学习什么?演讲中，她代表孩子们发声，希望大人可以相信孩子、给孩子们期待，因为他们将是这个世界的引领者。以下是本次演讲的节选。

I appreciate your attention today, because to show that you truly care, you listen. But there's a problem with this rosy picture of kids being so much better than adults. Kids grow up and become adults just like you. (Laughter) Or just like you, really?

The goal is not to turn kids into your kind of adult, but rather better adults than you have been, which may be a little challenging considering your guys credentials, but the way progress happens is because new generations and new eras grow and develop and become better than the previous ones.It's the reason we're not in the Dark Ages anymore. No matter your position of place in life, it is imperative to create opportunities for children so that we can grow up to blow you away.

Adults and fellow TEDsters, you need to listen and learn from kids and trust us and expect more from us. You must lend an ear today, because we are the leaders of tomorrow, which means we're going to be taking care of you when you're old and senile. No, just kidding. No, really, we are going to be the next generation, the ones who will bring this world forward.

And, in case you don't think that this really has meaning for you, remember that cloning is possible, and that involves going through childhood again, in which case, you'll want to be heard just like my generation. Now, the world needs opportunities for new leaders and new ideas. Kids need opportunities to lead and succeed. Are you ready to make the match? Because the world's problems shouldn't be the human family's heirloom.

我非常感谢你们今天来听我的演讲，因为那说明你们真的在乎，你们在倾听。但是对于“孩子比大人好太多” 这件事仍有一个问题。孩子们长大会变成像你们一样的成人。(笑声)就像你们这样，真的吗?

最终的目标并不是把孩子变成你们这种大人，而是变成比你们更好的大人，考虑到你们已经是比较成功的成人，这可能有一点难度。但是这个过程在发生，因为新的一代的成长和发展并变得比前一辈更好。这就是我们不再处于黑暗时代的原因。不论你处于生生活中何种状态，为你的孩子创造机会很重要，这样他们才能超越你们。

大人和TED的关注者们，你们需要从孩子那里倾听和学习，相信我们并且给我们更多期待。你们今天必须倾听我们，因为我们是明天的领导者，因为我们会在你们年老力衰的时候照顾你们。不，开个玩笑。不，说真的，我们将会成为推动这个世界前进的下一代。

然而，如果您认为这个对您来说没有意义，请记住克隆是可能的，那意味着你们将再次体验童年，您会像我们这一代人一样，渴望被倾听。现在，世界应当为新的领导者和新思想提供机会。孩子们需要机会去领导和成功。你准备好与时俱进了吗?因为我们不应当将前人的错误传递给下一代。

马尔顿说，拖延的最能损坏和降低人们做事的努力。我觉得这句话说得很对，拖延几乎成了我们每一个人的恶习，心理学家说，到了50还能改掉一桩坏习惯就是奇迹。

今天我读了一篇文章叫《拖延恶习》，文章主要讲了：作者从小就有拖延的恶习，而且，为了拖延还差点失业。可是就在他50岁的时候，却改掉了这种要命的恶习。

以前，爸爸妈妈叫我做一些事情，我都会说，等一下在去做，每次听到这句话，爸爸就会严厉的批评我，说，如果你以后在工作上，也对领导说一句，等一下再去做的话，那么你就会失业。于是，我只好不耐烦的去做事了。

可读了这篇文章以后，我才觉得爸爸说的是对的，不管做什么事情说就要马上去做，不能拖延。

记得有一年放寒假。老师布置的作业特别少。我心里想：作业这么少不如明天在做。可到了第二天，我又想在拖到明天再做。快要上课了，我才想起我的作业，于是我赶紧补。现在放假我都记住那次教训，早早的就把作业写完。

“明日复明日，明日何其多。”我一定要改掉这恶习，不能让他成为人人的笑柄。

拖延症是指在能够预料后果有害的情况下，仍然把计划要做的事情往后推迟的一种行为。

这种行为深深毒害着我。

晚上8点钟的时候，我感觉床正在低声呼唤我，可我之前一直在看小说，还没完成我的作业。算了吧，反正我写得快，明早起来一样能写完。于是，我倒在床上就睡着了。

第2天早上，我突然睁开眼睛，想起作业还没写。我刚要伸手去拿作业，床就把我吸了回来，我不自觉地眯上了眼睛，却见作业卷摊在床上，我马上拿起笔刷刷地写了起来。2分钟过去了，我写完了所有的作业，我心里暗暗高兴，简直不敢相信我居然能写的那么快。既然写完了，那就再睡一会儿吧，我把作业放在了床头，便又睡着了。

当我睡得正香的时候，只听妈妈大吼一声：“小兔崽子快起床!”这一声，吓得我一机灵，我撇了撇嘴，不满意地说道：“我作业都写完了，就不能再睡一会儿吗?”说着，我还用手往床头划了划，可令我惊讶的是，床头空荡荡的，什么东西都没有!我睁开了眼睛，瞧了瞧床头，真的什么都没有，我看向书包，发现作业卷还在书包里静静地躺着，翻开一看，作业一页都没写!这是什么情况?我傻眼了，我刚才明明把作业都写完了呀。原来，我在想象中写完了作业。看来，没完成作业睡觉也不安心呀。

我又看了看表，嗯，才7点，大不了我早饭不吃了。我开始写作业，可脑子里一直想着昨天看的小说，当我想到有趣的地方时，还会笑一笑，完全忘记了我还没有写完作业。直到老师上课时，我才想起来：我的作业还没有写完!，面对老师的质问，我不知道该如何回答。很显然，我已经患上了严重的拖延症……

拖延时间是世界上最省力的事情，但后果不堪设想。我希望我能尽快地克服拖延症，变成一个守时的人、一个有生活规律的人、一个身边的朋友都信赖的人。