TED演讲:漫谈时光流逝(4)

 　　Close encounter three: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,  遭遇三:宾夕法尼亚州的费城,

　　1989. 1989年

　　In the mid-to-late '80s,  八十世纪末,

　　the novelist Whitley Strieber wrote a book called "Communion,"  小说家Whitley Strieber写了本自传,

　　in which he described his own lifelong experiences  自传中他描述了

　　being abducted¹ by aliens.  被外星人绑架的经历.

　　And he also described the phenomenon known in this community  还有一些奇怪的现象

　　as "lost time,"  称之为"间接性失忆"

　　where Whitley Strieber would suddenly become aware  Whitley Strieber突然意识到

　　that he could not remember the previous ten minutes,  他不记得十分钟以前发生的事,

　　or the previous ten hours, or the previous ten days.  甚至十小时,十天.

　　And would come to the conclusion that that was when the aliens  得出的结论是,当外星人

　　were taking him and giving him rectal probes.  抓住他后给他做直肠探头.

　　This book became, naturally, an enormous best-seller.  这本书成为史上最牛的畅销书籍.

　　This image by Ted² Joseph was from that book,  图片是由Ted Joseph提供,

　　and was his, sort of, police sketch  图片从某种意义上

　　of what the creatures looked like  像警方示意图

　　that Whitley Strieber had described to him. Whitley Strieber说到.

　　And it was so successful that they made it into a movie.  这是一个非常棒的电影题材.

　　And in 1989, the way I remember it,  记得在1989年,

　　I was in Philadelphia  我去费城--

　　visiting my girlfriend, and we decided,  看望我女朋友,我们临时决定,

　　apropos³ of nothing, to go see this movie.  去看电影.

　　And the way I remember it, the movie featured these details.  我记得,电影展现了许多细节.

　　One: Whitley Strieber  一:Whitley Strieber

　　was played by Christopher Walken.  由Christopher Walken扮演.

　　Two: the alien was played by a rubber puppet.  二:外星人的扮演者是橡胶面具.

　　Three: there was a surprisingly long  三:有一个出乎意料的

　　sequence of the film in which the rubber puppet  长序列橡胶面具电影

　　gives Christopher Walken a rectal probe.  给Christopher Walken做直肠探头.

　　Four: this was being shown  四:影片正在上映

　　in a regular movie theater in Center City, Philadelphia.  在费城的各大影院.

　　Five: all of which is to say,  五:所有人都说,

　　they made a movie out of the book, "Communion,"  电影是由"交流"改编.

　　and it starred Christopher Walken.  主角是 Christopher Walken.

　　Does something seem strange about this to you?  是哪里出了问题?

　　Something odd? Something off? Something wrong with this picture?  灵异事件？虚构事物？照片的毛病？

　　Think about it. Yes. The answer is:  想一想，是的。答案是：

　　I had a girlfriend. What?  我曾经有个女朋友.疯了么?

　　How did this happen? When did this happen?  这是如何发生的?什么时候发生的?

　　I remember walking out of the theater  我记得我走出影院

　　and becoming suddenly aware of this fact,  并突然意识到这是真的,

　　as we walked hand in hand,  正如我们手牵手漫步,

　　and pondering these very same questions.  却思考着同样的问题.

　　And to this day, I have no answer for you.  至今,我都无法回答.

1 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 apropos   

adv.恰好地；adj.恰当的；关于

参考例句：

• I thought he spoke very apropos.我认为他说得很中肯。
• He arrived very apropos.他来得很及时。