TED演讲:新美国梦(8)

 Now, I've experienced this firsthand. For the last few years, I've been living in a cohousing community.  我亲身体验过这种生活。过去几年中，我生活在一个合作居住社区。

It's 1.5 acres of persimmon trees, this prolific¹ blackberry bush that snakes around a community garden,  社区公园里有1.5英亩柿子树，黑莓丛郁郁葱葱，蜿蜒遍布整个公园

all smack-dab, by the way, in the middle of urban Oakland.  一切都是刚刚好，顺便提一句，这个社区在奥克兰中部。

The nine units are all built to be different, different sizes, different shapes, but they're meant to be as green as possible.  九幢房屋各有特色，大小不同，形状也不同，但是绿化都是越多越好。

So big, shiny black solar cells on our roof mean our electricity bill rarely exceeds more than five bucks² in a month.  屋顶上是巨大的黑色太阳能板，我们每个月的电费几乎从来都不超过五美元。

The 25 of us who live there are all different ages and political persuasions³ and professions,  我们一共25个人，不同年龄、不同政治信仰、不同职业。

and we live in homes that have everything a typical home would have.  我们就像普通家庭一样。

But additionally, we share an industrial-sized kitchen and eating area, where we have common meals twice a week. 但是，大家共同使用一个巨大的厨房和餐厅，我们每周有两天在一起吃饭。

Now, people, when I tell them I live like this, often have one of two extreme reactions.  现在每当我告诉别人我的生活方式时，一般人的反应都是两个极端。

Either they say, "Why doesn't everyone live like this?" 一种反应是：“为什么不是所有人都这样生活？”

Or they say, "That sounds totally horrifying⁴. I would never want to do that." 另一种反应是：“太可怕了，我坚决不要这样生活。”

So let me reassure⁵ you: there is a sacred respect for privacy among us, but also a commitment to what we call "radical⁶ hospitality" 但是不要担心，我们十分尊重隐私，同时也“殷勤好客”。

not the kind advertised by the Four Seasons, but the kind that says that every single person is worthy⁷ of kindness, full stop, end of sentence. 不是四季酒店那种，而是说每个人都值得友好相待，就是这样。

The biggest surprise for me of living in a community like this? 对我来说，住在这个社区最大的惊喜是什么？

You share all the domestic labor⁸ -- the repairing, the cooking, the weeding -- but you also share the emotional labor. 就是共同分担家务--修理、做饭、除草，同时分享喜怒哀乐。

Rather than depending only on the idealized family unit to get all of your emotional needs met,  不是只能向家人宣泄自己的情绪

you have two dozen other people that you can go to to talk about a hard day at work or troubleshoot how to handle an abusive teacher. 而是你可以和20多个人聊聊一天的辛苦工作，或者是讨论如何应付那个满口脏话的老师。

Teenagers in our community will often go to an adult that is not their parent to ask for advice. 我们社区的青少年经常向其他成年人寻求意见，不仅仅是他们的父母。

It's what bell hooks called "revolutionary parenting," 这就是贝尔·胡克斯所说的“革命性教育”

this humble⁹ acknowledgment that kids are healthier when they have a wider range of adults to emulate¹⁰ and count on. 也就是说，当孩子们可以模仿和依靠更多的成年人时，他们会更加健康。

Turns out, adults are healthier, too. It's a lot of pressure, trying to be that perfect family behind that white picket¹¹ fence. 结果，成年人也更健康了。维持白篱笆里面的模范家庭要承受很大压力。

1 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

2 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 persuasions   

n.劝说，说服（力）( persuasion的名词复数 )；信仰

参考例句：

• To obtain more advertisting it needed readers of all political persuasions. 为获得更多的广告，它需要迎合各种政治见解的读者。 来自辞典例句
• She lingered, and resisted my persuasions to departure a tiresome while. 她踌躇不去，我好说歹说地劝她走，她就是不听。 来自辞典例句

4 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。

5 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

6 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

7 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

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

10 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

11 picket   

n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫

参考例句：

• They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
• Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。