TED演讲:同性恋和异性恋(3)

 　　I had spent a year photographing this new generation of girls, much like myself,  我曾花了一年的时间拍摄像我一样的新一代的女性，

　　who fell kind of between-the-lines --  觉得自己处在两个极端之间的女孩子——

　　girls who skateboarded but did it in lacy underwear,  穿着蕾丝内衣玩滑板的女孩，

　　girls who had boys' haircuts but wore girly nail polish,  剪男士短发但是涂指甲的女孩，

　　girls who had eyeshadow to match their scraped knees,  涂跟膝盖瘀伤颜色一致的眼影的女孩，

　　girls who liked girls and boys who all liked boys and girls  喜欢女孩也喜欢男孩的女孩，

　　who all hated being boxed in to anything.  讨厌被放进任何盒子里的女孩。

　　I loved these people, and I admired their freedom,  我爱她们，我赞赏她们的自由，

　　but I watched as the world outside of our utopian bubble  但是我看到在我们的乌托邦之外的世界，

　　exploded into these raging debates  愤怒的辩论在这个国家的电视台上演，

　　where pundits¹ started likening our love to bestiality on national television.  专家们开始把我们的爱比喻成禽兽不如的行径。

　　And this powerful awareness² rolled in over me  这让我强烈的感觉到，

　　that I was a minority, and in my own home country,  在我自己的国家，我被视作一个异类了，

　　based on one facet³ of my character.  仅仅因为我性格中某一方面的特点。

　　I was legally and indisputably a second-class citizen.  我是毫无疑问的、法律规定的二等公民。

　　I was not an activist⁴.  我不是行动主义者。

　　I wave no flags in my own life.  我从来没有参加过游行示威。

　　But I was plagued by this question:  但是却被这个问题困扰：

　　How could anyone vote to strip the rights  为什么人可以仅仅根据别人性格中

　　of the vast variety of people that I knew  某一个特征就将我知道的那么多

　　based on one element of their character?  行色各异的人的权利剥夺？

　　How could they say that we as a group  他们怎么能说我们都是不配享受

　　were not deserving of equal rights as somebody else?  与他们同动公民权利的另一类人？

　　Were we even a group? What group?  我们是一类人么？哪一类？

　　And had these people ever even consciously met a victim of their discrimination?  这些（投赞成票的）人有了解过他们歧视的受害者么？

　　Did they know who they were voting against and what the impact was?  他们知道他们在投票反对什么，会带来什么影响么？

　　And then it occurred to me,  然后我想到，

　　perhaps if they could look into the eyes  如果他们能够有机会

　　of the people that they were casting into second-class citizenship  凝视一次他们认为是二等公民的人的眼睛，

　　it might make it harder for them to do.  他们或许会更难投出这一票。

　　It might give them pause.  或许会让他们想一下。

　　Obviously I couldn't get 20 million people to the same dinner party,  很显然我不能开一个两千万人的派对，

　　so I figured out a way where I could introduce them to each other photographically  而我能想到的方法是通过照片让他们相互认识

　　without any artifice⁵, without any lighting,  我不会对照片做任何处理，

　　or without any manipulation of any kind on my part.  不做灯光特效，不做改动，什么都不做。

　　Because in a photograph you can examine a lion's whiskers  因为照片的好处在于你可以在审视狮子的胡须的同时，

　　without the fear of him ripping your face off.  不用担心它会扑过来撕下你的脸。

　　For me, photography is not just about exposing film,  对我而言，摄影不仅仅是曝光胶卷那么简单，

　　it's about exposing the viewer  它让观看者看到新的东西，

　　to something new, a place they haven't gone before,  体验从未有过的感觉，

　　but most importantly, to people that they might be afraid of.  最重要的，让人们审视他们可能害怕的东西。

　　Life magazine introduced generations of people 《生活》杂志曾通过图片向一代人介绍了

　　to distant, far-off cultures they never knew existed through pictures.  他们从未接触的遥远的、与众不同的文化。

　　So I decided⁶ to make a series of very simple portraits,  所以我决定制作一系列简单的肖像照，

　　mugshots if you will.  或者叫大头照。

　　And I basically decided to photograph anyone in this country  简单来说我拍摄这个城市不是百分之百“直”的人，

　　that was not 100 percent straight,  这样的人，

　　which, if you don't know, is a limitless number of people.  如果你没有意识到，数量多少数不清。

　　So this was a very large undertaking,  所以这是一个非常大的工作量，

　　and to do it we needed some help.  我需要一些帮助来做这个。

　　So I ran out in the freezing cold,  所以在两年前的二月，

　　and I photographed every single person that I knew that I could get to  我冲破刺骨的寒冷，拍摄了我能找到的

　　in February of about two years ago.  每一个这样的人。

　　And I took those photographs, and I went to the HRC and I asked them for some help.  我拍了这些照片，我去找HRC希望能得到帮助。

　　And they funded two weeks of shooting in New York.  他们提供了赞助，（我们）在纽约进行了两周的摄影。

　　And then we made this.  这是我们的成果。

1 pundits   

n.某一学科的权威，专家( pundit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pundits disagree on the best way of dealing with the problem. 如何妥善处理这一问题，专家众说纷纭。 来自辞典例句
• That did not stop Chinese pundits from making a fuss over it. 这并没有阻止中国的博学之士对此大惊小怪。 来自互联网

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 facet   

n.(问题等的)一个方面；(多面体的)面

参考例句：

• He has perfected himself in every facet of his job.他已使自己对工作的各个方面都得心应手。
• Every facet of college life is fascinating.大学生活的每个方面都令人兴奋。

4 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

5 artifice   

n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计

参考例句：

• The use of mirrors in a room is an artifice to make the room look larger.利用镜子装饰房间是使房间显得大一点的巧妙办法。
• He displayed a great deal of artifice in decorating his new house.他在布置新房子中表现出富有的技巧。

6 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。