TED演讲:失落了的民主辩论艺术

 　　One thing the world needs,  有一样东西，这个世界非常需要，

　　one thing this country desperately¹ needs  这个国家更是迫切需要

　　is a better way of conducting our political debates. 那就是一种更好地进行政治辩论的方法

　　We need to rediscover the lost art of democratic argument. 我们需要复兴失落了的民主辩论艺术

　　If you think about the arguments we have,  想想时下的所谓辩论吧

　　most of the time it's shouting matches on cable television, 大多数是电视节目中的唇枪舌战

　　ideological² food fights on the floor of Congress.  或是国会里基于不同价值观的相互抨击

　　I have a suggestion.  我对此有一个建议

　　Look at all the arguments we have these days over health care, 大家看看时下的焦点话题：关于医疗保障，

　　over bonuses and bailouts on Wall Street, over the gap between rich and poor, 关于金融制度，关于贫富差距，

　　over affirmative action and same-sex marriage.  反对歧视和同性婚姻等等

　　Lying just beneath the surface of those arguments, 在这些问题背后

　　with passions raging on all sides,  是一些引发强烈争议的，

　　are big questions of moral philosophy, big questions of justice. 关于伦理道德，公平正义的大是大非问题

　　But we too rarely articulate and defend 可惜在政治辩论中，

　　and argue about those big moral questions in our politics. 我们极少涉及或讨论这些关于伦理的大问题

　　So what I would like to do today is have something of a discussion. 所以我今天想做的就是和大家进行一个讨论

　　First, let me take a famous philosopher 首先，我想引用一位古希腊著名哲学家

　　who wrote about those questions of justice and morality, 关于公正和伦理的著述

　　give you a very short lecture on Aristotle of ancient Athens, 给大家一段简短的演讲，这是亚里士多德关于公正的理论

　　Aristotle's theory of justice, and then have a discussion here  然后我们进行讨论

　　to see whether Aristotle's ideas  看看亚里士多德的理论

　　actually inform the way we think and argue about questions today. 是否验证了今天我们看待和辩论问题的方式

　　So, are you ready for the lecture?  我要开始演讲了，准备好了？

　　According to Aristotle, justice means giving people what they deserve. 亚里士多德曰：公正意味着给予人们他们所应得的

　　That's it; that's the lecture.  好了，演讲结束

　　Now, you may say, well, that's obvious enough.  你可能会说，这根本就是明摆着的

　　The real questions begin when it comes to arguing about who deserves what and why. 但问题的争议往往在于谁应该得到什么，理由是什么？

　　Take the example of flutes⁴. Suppose we're distributing flutes. 举个例子来说，假设我们要分配笛子

　　Who should get the best ones?  谁应该得到最好的笛子呢？

　　Let's see what people -- What would you say? 你们怎么说？

　　Who should get the best flute³?  谁应该得到最好的笛子？

　　You can just call it out.  直接说出来就行

　　At random⁵. You would do it by lottery⁶.  有人说随机分配，就跟抽彩票一样

　　Or by the first person to rush into the hall to get them. Who else? 或者先到者先得，还有其他想法吗？

　　The best flute players. The worst flute players. 有人说给最好的笛子手.有人说要给最差的笛子手

　　How many say the best flute players? Why? 有多少人觉得应该给最好的笛子手？

　　Why should the best flute...actually, that was Aristotle's answer too.  实际上，这也是亚里士多德的回答

1 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

2 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

3 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

4 flutes   

长笛( flute的名词复数 )； 细长香槟杯（形似长笛）

参考例句：

• The melody is then taken up by the flutes. 接着由长笛奏主旋律。
• These flutes have 6open holes and a lovely bright sound. 笛子有6个吹气孔，奏出的声音响亮清脆。

5 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

6 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。