TED演讲:同性恋和异性恋

 　　Human beings start putting each other into boxes  人们在看到别人的那一刻起

　　the second that they see each other --  就把对方装进了不同的盒子——

　　Is that person dangerous? Are they attractive?  他（她）危险么？有吸引力么？

　　Are they a potential mate? Are they a potential networking opportunity?  有可能交往么？有扩充人脉的可能么？

　　We do this little interrogation when we meet people  我们在遇见他人的时候都会这样

　　to make a mental resume for them.  在脑海中为他（她）建立一个档案。

　　What's your name? Where are you from?  你叫什么名字？来自哪里？

　　How old are you? What do you do?  多大了？做什么的？

　　Then we get more personal with it.  然后是更私人的问题。

　　Have you ever had any diseases?  得过什么病么？

　　Have you ever been divorced?  离过婚么？

　　Does your breath smell bad while you're answering my interrogation right now?  跟我说话的时候有口臭么？

　　What are you into? Who are you into?  你喜欢什么？你喜欢什么人？

　　What gender¹ do you like to sleep with?  你喜欢同性还是异性？

　　I get it.  我明白了。

　　We are neurologically hardwired  我们的神经系统就已经决定了

　　to seek out people like ourselves.  我们会寻找跟我们自身相似的人。

　　We start forming cliques² as soon as we're old enough  从我们刚知道被人认可的感觉时

　　to know what acceptance feels like.  就开始建立自己的小团体。

　　We bond together based on anything that we can --  任何可能的特征都可以把我们联系起来——

　　music preference, race, gender, the block that we grew up on.  音乐喜好、种族、性别、成长的地方。

　　We seek out environments that reinforce our personal choices.  我们在寻找那种强化我们个人选择的环境。

　　Sometimes, though, just the question "what do you do?"  虽然，仅仅是“你是做什么的”这个问题

　　can feel like somebody's opening a tiny little box  就让你觉得别人打开了一个小盒子

　　and asking you to squeeze yourself inside of it.  要求你把自己塞进去。

　　Because the categories, I've found, are too limiting.  因为这种放进盒子中的分类，太局限了，

　　The boxes are too narrow.  盒子太狭隘了，

　　And this can get really dangerous.  因此这真的很危险。

　　So here's a disclaimer about me, though,  所以现在在我们更深入的讨论之前，

　　before we get too deep into this.  我要说说我自己。

　　I grew up in a very sheltered environment.  我在一个受庇护的环境中长大。

　　I was raised in downtown Manhattan in the early 1980s,  我一九八零年代生长在曼哈顿市区，

　　two blocks from the epicenter of punk music.  距离朋克音乐中心只有两个街区的距离。

　　I was shielded from the pains of bigotry  我没有感受到偏见

　　and the social restrictions³ of a religiously-based upbringing.  以及在虔诚宗教环境下成长带来的社会约束，所带来的痛苦。

　　Where I come from, if you weren't a drag queen or a radical⁴ thinker  我长大的地方，如果你不是伪娘、激进分子、

　　or a performance artist of some kind,  或某种行为艺术家，

　　you were the weirdo.  你就是个怪胎。

　　It was an unorthodox upbringing,  我的成长过程有点叛逆、非传统类型的，

　　but as a kid on the streets of New York,  但是作为纽约街头的小孩，

　　you learn how to trust your own instincts,  你要学会相信自己的直觉，

　　you learn how to go with your own ideas.  跟随自己的想法。

　　So when I was six, I decided⁵ that I wanted to be a boy.  在我六岁的时候，我决定要做一个小伙子。

　　I went to school one day and the kids wouldn't let me play basketball with them.  有一天我在学校想打篮球但是别的孩子不跟我玩。

　　They said they wouldn't let girls play.  他们说不跟女孩子玩。

　　So I went home, and I shaved my head,  于是我回到家，剪掉了头发，

　　and I came back the next day and I said, "I'm a boy."  第二天回到那里对他们说，“我是男孩”。

　　I mean, who knows, right?  我是说，谁看得出来呢，对吧？

　　When you're six, maybe you can do that.  当你六岁的时候你也能这么做。

　　I didn't want anyone to know that I was a girl, and they didn't.  我不希望任何人知道我是女孩，我也做到了。

　　I kept up the charade⁶ for eight years.  我这么伪装了8年。

　　So this is me when I was 11.  这张照片是我11岁时候照的。

　　I was playing a kid named Walter  我在电影《Julian Po》中

　　in a movie called "Julian Po."  扮演一个叫沃特的小孩。

　　I was a little street tough that followed Christian⁷ Slater around and badgered him.  他是个街头小混混，成天跟在克里斯琴·斯内特左右，缠着他。

　　See, I was also a child actor,  瞧，我是一个童星，

　　which doubled up the layers of the performance of my identity,  但是实际上我在两个层面上掩饰了我的身份，

　　because no one knew that I was actually a girl really playing a boy.  因为没有人知道我在女扮男装。

　　In fact, no one in my life knew that I was a girl --  事实上没有人知道我是女孩——

　　not my teachers at school, not my friends,  学校的老师、我朋友和

　　not the directors that I worked with.  跟我一起拍戏的导演都不知道。

　　Kids would often come up to me in class  在教室里小伙伴们时常会

　　and grab me by the throat to check for an Adam's apple  掐着我的脖子看有没有喉结，

　　or grab my crotch to check what I was working with.  或抓我的档部看看我是男是女。

　　When I would go to the bathroom, I would turn my shoes around in the stalls  当我上厕所的时候我把鞋子反过来穿着，

　　so that it looked like I was peeing standing⁸ up.  这样看起来像是在站着小便。

　　At sleepovers I would have panic attacks  在外过夜的时候，我时常纠结于

　　trying to break it to girls that they didn't want to kiss me  如何在不暴露自己的前提下把这个事件

　　without outing myself.  告诉那些不想亲吻我的女孩。

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 cliques   

n.小集团，小圈子，派系( clique的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All traitorous persons and cliques came to no good end. 所有的叛徒及叛徒集团都没好下场。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They formed cliques and carried arms expansion and war preparations. 他们拉帮结派，扩军备战。 来自互联网

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 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。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 charade   

n.用动作等表演文字意义的字谜游戏

参考例句：

• You must not refine too much upon this charade.你切不可过分推敲这个字谜。
• His poems,despite their dignity and felicity,have an air of charade.他的诗篇虽然庄严巧妙，却有猜迷之嫌。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。