譯作賞析

我為何選擇純素 | Moby | TEDxVeniceBeach

Why I'm a vegan | Moby | TEDxVeniceBeach

 

※觀看影片前,請先點選YouTube右下角齒輪,並選擇開啟中文字幕,謝謝!
※本影片之英中翻譯為 ICLP第7級學生高捷凱 (Daniel Eberts) 於孫雅玲老師指導「影片翻譯」課程中之作品。

Activist/musician Moby discusses the personal history and realizations that led him to veganism, and why increasing our empathy towards animals is essential to the future health of ourselves and our planet.

活動人士暨音樂家 Moby 探討他成為純素主義者的心路歷程,以及為何我們對動物漸增的同情心跟人和世界的未來健康是息息相關的。

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

TEDx 由地區社群獨立舉辦,演講採 TED 大會形式。更多相關資訊: http://ted.com/tedx

(譯文)

  我是由動物養大的人,有一隻狗傑米和一隻貓夏洛特,還有一大堆實驗室的老鼠,是我爸從他任職的,哥倫比亞大學救出來的。我生命頭兩年都在哈林區的小公寓地下室裡。除了動物以外,還有人。我媽媽、爸爸和他們的朋友。當時是 60 年代中期,他們都很年輕,他們喝酒抽菸,彼此尖叫,聽吵鬧的音樂,哭泣大喊而動物們都只是坐著,平靜沉默。因此我從這些安靜可愛的動物身上學到了一課,動物是安全、安靜、可以信任的而在父母跟朋友的吵鬧不休中,我發現人又粗魯又可怕。

    I was raised by animals. Specifically, Jamie, the dog, Charlotte, the cat, and a whole gaggle of lab rats that my dad rescued from Columbia University, where he worked. I spent the first two years of my life in a small basement apartment in Harlem. And in addition to the animals, there were also people. There was my mom, my dad, their friends. And it was the mid 60's, and my parents and their friends were really young. So they drank, and they smoked, and they screamed at each other, and they listened to loud music, and they cried, and they yelled; while the animals just kind of sat there, calm and quiet. So I learned this lesson with these calm, wonderful animals, that animals are safe, quiet and to be trusted, and with my parents and their friends screaming and yelling, that humans are loud and terrifying.

  我兩歲的時候,爸爸去世了。媽媽把我、傑米、夏洛特以及那一大堆實驗老鼠,塞進那輛老舊生鏽的普利茅斯車裡,我們開到她的老家康乃狄克州。她在那裏租了個小屋子,離康乃狄克州達利恩市火車站很近。我們的動物園從此展開,那個小屋子成為動物園。我們收容領養了更多的狗、貓、蜥蜴、更多的老鼠、倉鼠、沙鼠,連在後院撿到的松鼠寶寶都有。這是很美妙的動物園,我無條件地愛這些動物,悲慘的是我媽因我爸去世而再度單身所以她開始約會可是她選動物的眼光比選男人的好得多。

    So, when I was two years old, my dad died. And my mom packed me and Jamie, the dog, and Charlotte, the cat and our gaggle of lab rats into her rusty old Plymouth, and we drove up to Connecticut, where she had grown up, and she rented a tiny little house by the train station in Darien, Connecticut. And our menagerie just expanded. This tiny house became a zoo with more adopted dogs and rescued cats and lizards and more rats and mice and hamsters and gerbils and even some baby squirrels we found in the backyard. It was this wonderful zoo, and I loved all of these animals, like, unconditionally. And my mom, tragically, was newly single because my dad had died, so she started dating, and she had way better taste in animals than she did in men.

  她約會過的對象包括機車幫會地獄天使成員、吸毒者、音樂家…順便說一下...要澄清一下,跟音樂家交往總是個餿主意。我們動物園的動物都很冷靜,很棒,可是這些地獄天使、吸毒者,他們又粗魯又暴力。這些事情真的再一次加強了我在哈林小公寓地下室所得到的印象,動物真了不起,而人很恐怖。

    So she dated Hells Angels, she dated drug addicts, she dated musicians ...Just as a little quick aside -Just to be clear - dating musicians is always a terrible idea. So, our menagerie of animals were just calm and wonderful, but these Hells Angels, these drug addicts, they were loud, they were violent, and it just sort of reinforced the lesson that I'd learned in that small basement apartment in Harlem once again: animals are wonderful, humans are terrifying.

  我對動物的愛是毫無保留的,甚至只要任何一隻往生我就悲痛得不能自已。這是我跟我的貓派可的照片,派可被車撞死的那一天我無法上學,只能留在家不斷地悼念哭泣因為派可是我最好的朋友。我是個郊區的男孩,我喜歡動物可是也喜歡漢堡、熱狗還有臘腸披薩,我媽常做一種用培根包起來的肉卷配上油膩膩的蛋麵,我都愛吃。我愛每一種噁心的「垃圾食品」,就是那種從速食餐廳外帶窗口買的裝在保麗龍餐盒附上油膩膩的紙。

   And I loved our animals so unconditionally that whenever anyone of them died, I grieved inconsolably. So, that's me with Paco, the cat. And when Paco was hit by a car, I had to stay home from school for a day and just mourn and cry because Paco was my best friend. But I was a suburban boy, I loved animals, but I also loved hamburgers, and I loved hot dogs, and I loved pizza with sausage and pepperoni. And my mom made this meatloaf that she wrapped in bacon and she served with greasy egg noodles, and I loved all of that. I loved every piece of disgusting junk food that was served from the window of a fast-food restaurant, in styrofoam, with greasy napkins.

  好像我的腦袋出現了內建的矛盾就像中間蓋了一道牆,一邊喜愛動物的禮貌和善良而另一邊還是愛吃動物的人。應該說是個矛盾,但是不是,因為……其實的確是個矛盾,也不是這本身也是矛盾!那麼......當時的狀況就是這樣,我周圍都是喜愛動物的人,同時也都是愛吃動物的人所以我從不曾發覺到矛盾所在。在校外教學活動的時候,我們會去參觀農場看牛、豬、雞。我無條件地愛牠們就像愛我家的動物一樣。尤其是牛,因為牠們既靦腆又好奇既謹慎又友善。我愛牠們, 但也愛漢堡。

    And it was like this phrenological paradox, like there was a wall built in the middle of my brain, and this side of the wall loved animals, with their decency and their kindness, and this side of the wall loved eating animals. And I would say it was a paradox, but it wasn't, because -I mean it is: it's a paradox, it's not a paradox which is a paradox. And ...Because it was also the status quo. Like, everyone I knew loved animals, but everyone I knew loved eating animals. So it never dawned on me that this was a paradox. And on school trips, we would go to farms and visit cows and pigs and chickens, and I loved them as unconditionally as the animals in our home. The cows in particular because they were shy but curious, cautious but affectionate, and I loved them, but I loved hamburgers.

  我十歲時在垃圾場玩,因為我是住在美國最有錢的城市裡的窮鄉巴佬我花很多時間在垃圾場玩,因為那裏很有意思,那裏有各種奇怪有趣的垃圾都是有錢人丟掉的東西,還有老鼠跟浣熊搶奪零碎的食物。有一天我在垃圾場的時候,聽到了一個聲音,細細的聲音,一個小小的「喵」。那個垃圾場很吵,就在 95 號公路旁邊,時時有垃圾卡車往來,刺耳吵雜。從噪音中,我又聽到細細的「喵」,我好像在《荷頓奇遇記》裡。我看到一個受潮損壞的紙箱就把它打開,裡面有三隻已往生的小貓,那麼小跟我拇指一樣,另外還有一隻奄奄一息的小貓,小到還沒張開眼睛。我把牠捧出來,衝回家,我媽和我再一起衝到鎮上的獸醫那兒。獸醫跟我們很熟因為我們養了很多動物。當獸醫看到那隻虛弱的小貓他悲哀地搖搖頭,說:「你不要太親近牠了,因為這麼小的小貓沒有媽媽是活不下去的 」

    And when I was 10 years old, I was playing at the dump because I grew up poor white trash in one of the wealthiest towns in the US. And I spent a lot of time playing at the dump because it was really interesting. There's all this weird, fascinating garbage that the rich people threw out, and there were rats and raccoons,like, fighting over scraps of food. And while I was at the dump, I heard this sound, the tiniest of sounds, just this little "meow." And the dump was a loud place, I-95, the freeway, was right there, and there were dump trucks going by - it was a cacophony. And over this cacophony, I heard it again, this tiniest "meow." I felt like Horton in "Horton Hears a Who." And I saw this cardboard box, water damaged, and I opened it up, and inside this cardboard box, there were three dead kittens - tiny, like the size of my thumb. And there's one barely alive kitten, so young that his eyes were still closed. And I scooped him up, and I rushed home, and my mom and I then rushed him to our local vet. And our local vet knew us really well because we had so many animals. And when the local vet saw this tiny, sick kitten, he shook his head dolefully, and he said,

"Don't get too attached, because kittens this young don't live without their moms; they don't survive."

  我跟我媽帶牠回家給牠起了個名字叫塔克,至今我還不知道那個名字的靈感從何而來,然後我們用舊 T 恤跟破布給牠做了一個軟軟的床。那個時候外婆跟我們住在一起,她有一隻世界上最憎恨人類的臘腸狗,牠叫喬治,看誰都不順眼。雖然我愛牠,牠還恨我——這就是我的人生寫照——牠恨我媽,其實我覺得牠也恨外婆,只是牠勉強接受她,因為她提供食物。這個時候,喬治彆扭地走過來看看這隻喵喵叫的小貓是怎麼回事,然後出其不意喬治跳進塔克的床就變成牠的媽媽。喬治幫塔克清潔,幫牠保暖,整整兩週形影不離地守在牠身邊,一直到塔克恢復健康。我舅舅當時是紐約時報以及康乃狄克州當地報紙的攝影師,這是他照的

(觀眾)哇

    My mom and I took the kitten home, we named him Tucker - to this day I don't know where that name came from - and we made him a soft little bed out of old t-shirts and rags, and at this point of my life, my grandmother was living with us. And my grandmother had the world's most misanthropic Dachshund. His name was George, and George hated everybody. He hated me even though I loved him - story of my life - he hated my mom, he hated - I think he even hated my grandmother, but he just sort of tolerated her because she fed him. So, George walked over in his cranky way to see what was going on with this mewing kitten, and something very surprising happened. George jumped in bed with Tucker and became Tucker's mom. And George cleaned Tucker and warmed Tucker and stayed by Tucker's side 24 hours a day for two weeks until Tucker was healed and well. And my uncle Joseph Kuguielski was a photographer for the New York Times and some local papers in Connecticut, and he took that picture.

(Audience) Aaw..

  這值得「哇」因為這張照片非常可愛。他傳給一些地區報紙這張照片,那一天塔克跟喬治一舉成名,在康州西南部愛護動物的圈子裡無人不知,無人不曉。因為牠們,我獲得了第一次爆紅經驗。

    And you are right to "aaw" because it's adorable. And he ran this picture in some local papers, so for a day, Tucker and George were really famous in animal circles in Southwestern Connecticut. It was my first vicarious brush with fame.

  我真愛塔克,牠是我最好的朋友像我從未有過的弟弟一樣,每天下課的時候,牠會在我們家的車道前頭等著接我。我們一起玩,一起睡,我真的很愛牠可是我又繼續吃漢堡又繼續吃熱狗又繼續吃垃圾食品。

    So, I loved Tucker. He was my best friend, he was like the little brother I'd never had. He used to meet me at the end of my driveway when I came home from school, and we played together, and we slept next to each other, and I loved him so much, but I kept eating hamburgers, and I kept eating hot dogs, and I kept eating junk food.

  然後有一天我 19 歲的時候,我跟塔克坐在我媽家的樓梯上,那裏鋪著橙色的粗毛地毯,我跟塔克坐在那個橙色的粗毛地毯上,陽光從窗外照進來,真是個美好的一刻。那時,塔克大概九歲——附帶一提,牠活了 23 年——我看著塔克,這個完美的傑作有兩隻眼睛、中樞神經系統,我腦袋裡的那一道牆倒塌了,恍然大悟,我發覺既然塔克有兩隻眼睛、中樞神經系統,還有豐富的精神生活也就是說牠有個性,牠很滑稽特別,牠也有避開痛苦的深層慾望,牠也要快樂地活著。我就突然領悟,每一個有著兩隻眼睛、中樞神經的生物都跟塔克一模一樣,他們也只是想要避開痛苦,活得快樂。那一時刻,我拋棄了漢堡、熱狗等,並成為純素主義者和保護動物權利活動人士。

    And then, one day when I was 19 years old, I was sitting on the steps of my mom's house with Tucker. And we had this orange shag carpeting, so I'm sitting on the orange shag carpeting with Tucker, and the sun was coming through the windows, and it was just this perfect moment. And I looked at Tucker, who at this point was about nine years old - fun aside, Tucker lived to be 23. So I looked at Tucker, and I saw this perfectly formed being, this individual with two eyes and a central nervous system. And all of a sudden, that phrenological wall in my head disappeared, and I extrapolated. And I realized that just as Tucker had two eyes and a central nervous system and a rich emotional life, I mean, he had personality, he was funny, he was idiosyncratic, and he had this deep desire to avoid pain and suffering and to be alive and to be happy. And so, suddenly, I extrapolated, and I realized that every creature with two eyes and a central nervous system was like Tucker. They just wanted to avoid pain and suffering and wanted to be happy.

  那是 35 年以前的事,直到現在我還是純素主義的動物權利活動人士,這是我生活中最重要的部分,我喜歡做音樂,當然有別的可是動物權利活動主義——我剛想說反對川普——是我目前首要關切的大事。老實說,當動物權利活動人士很辛苦,因為每年有一千億隻,超過一千億隻動物因人而死,是一千億,是億,不是萬!真的很辛苦。另一方面,當動物權利活動人士也很容易,因為我唯一的任務是提醒別人他們已經知道的事,提醒他們想起自己的感受。因為我想在座各位,除了反社會者都有跟貓或是狗等相處的經驗,因而感到那種深厚的愛。

    So in that moment, I left behind hamburgers, hot dogs, etc., and I became a vegan and an animal activist. And that was 35 years ago, so I've been a vegan animal activist ever since then. And it's the most important part of my life. I love making music and doing other things, but animal activism - I was going to say Trump, but - it surpasses the other things that I do. And honestly, being an animal activist can be really hard because every year 100 billion, over 100 billion animals are killed by and for humans. That's billion, with a B. So it's challenging. But on another hand, being an animal activist is kind of easy because all I have to do is to remind people of what they already know and to remind people of what they already feel. Because I assume everyone here, except for the sociopaths, has had the experience of, like, bonding with a cat or bonding with a dog and feeling the heart-expanding love.

  當然,我這麼做已經很久了所以我學會了很多事,讓我更深刻地體認這份工作的意義:家畜農業是造成氣候變遷第二主因75% 的抗生素抗藥性,這個在未來等著我們的浩劫,肇因於家畜農業,因為工廠式農場的動物被飼養在惡劣的環境中導致身體虛弱,只有大量的抗生素能夠讓牠們活下去。家畜農業在癌症、糖尿病、心臟病、阿茲海默症、肥胖症上都有一席之地,90% 的雨林砍伐可歸咎於家畜農業,50% 的海洋酸化是來自家畜農業。知道了這些事實,更加鞏固我的決心。

    And of course, I mean, as I've been doing this for a long time, I've learned many things that have sort of reinforced my animal activism. The fact that animal agriculture is the second leading cause of climate change. That 75% of antibiotic resistance -the plague that awaits us all - is a result of animal agriculture because the animals on factory farms are treated so badly and they're so sick that the only thing keeping them alive are mega doses of antibiotics. The role of animal agriculture in cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer, obesity. The fact that 90% of rainforest deforestation is attributable to animal agriculture. Fifty percent of ocean acidification comes from animal agriculture. So all these facts sort of strengthened and buttressed my activism.

  不過最終支撐我做下去的動力還是愛,那種從小跟動物一起長大的無條件之愛,我對所有動物的無條件之愛,我認為那是我最良善的一面。那種無私、博愛、耐心以及仁愛,我認為這是人類最良善的部分就是人類想要保護無辜維護弱者的那一面,這是人類最佳的面向最好的一面,不是把動物飼養在工廠式農場裡的那一面。

    But at the end of the day, what sustains me as an activist is love. The unconditional love I had for all the animals I grew up with, the unconditional love I have for all animals. And I think that's the best part of who I am, that selflessness and love and patience and kindness. And I think it's the best part of who we are. You know, the part of humanity that wants to protect the innocent and defend the vulnerable. That's the best of humanity, not the part that puts animals in factory farms.

  那個覺悟,那個理解我跟塔克一起坐在我媽媽家裡的樓梯台階的時刻迄今印象猶深,這個理解就成為我之所以為我深入骨髓的核心意識:任何有兩隻眼睛、中樞神經的動物也想要避開痛苦,每一隻動物不管大小,馴化或野生的都只想要活得快樂。謝謝大家

    And that epiphany, that realization, that moment I had with Tucker on the stairs in my mom's house stays with me, and that realization is sort of encoded into the core of who I am: the realization that every animal with two eyes and a central nervous system wants to avoid pain and suffering. Every animal, no matter how big or how small or how wild or how domesticated, just wants to be alive and simply wants to be happy. Thank you very much.

 

近期期刊

258

Apr. 1. 2024

257

Mar. 1. 2024

256

Feb. 1. 2024

255

Jan. 1. 2024

254

Dec. 1. 2023