TEDSummit
Pico Iyer: The beauty of what we'll never know
皮寇 萊爾: 未知的美麗
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幾乎30年以前，皮寇 萊爾去日本旅行，愛上了那個國家並移居日本。作為一個敏銳的人類內心觀察者，萊爾十幾年前認為他了解日本，但是後來才知道他對日本的一切了解甚少。在這個充滿智慧和旋律感的演講中，萊爾闡述了隨著年齡增長獲取到的知識的秘密：我們知道的越多，我們越難發現我們知道的很少。
Pico Iyer - Global author
Pico Iyer has spent more than 30 years tracking movement and stillness -- and the way criss-crossing cultures have changed the world, our imagination and all our relationships. Full bio
Pico Iyer has spent more than 30 years tracking movement and stillness -- and the way criss-crossing cultures have changed the world, our imagination and all our relationships. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
One hot October morning,
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在一個炎熱的十月的早晨，
00:16
I got off the all-night train
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我下了過夜火車，
00:19
in Mandalay,
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在曼德勒，
00:20
the old royal capital of Burma,
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那是舊緬甸皇室首度，
00:23
now Myanmar.
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現在是緬甸聯邦了。
00:25
And out on the street, I ran into
a group of rough men
a group of rough men
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我到了街上，
碰到一群衣著樸素的人，
碰到一群衣著樸素的人，
00:29
standing beside their bicycle rickshaws.
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站在他們的黃包車旁邊。
00:33
And one of them came up
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其中一個走上前，
00:35
and offered to show me around.
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想帶我在附近逛逛。
00:38
The price he quoted was outrageous.
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他要求的價格讓人難以置信，
00:41
It was less than I would pay
for a bar of chocolate at home.
for a bar of chocolate at home.
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價格比我在家吃一根巧克力棒還要便宜。
00:45
So I clambered into his trishaw,
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所以我爬上他的三輪車，
00:49
and he began pedaling us slowly
between palaces and pagodas.
between palaces and pagodas.
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他載著我，緩緩地穿梭在皇宮和寶塔之間。
00:55
And as he did, he told me how
he had come to the city from his village.
he had come to the city from his village.
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同時，他開始講述他從他的村莊來到城市的經歷。
01:01
He'd earned a degree in mathematics.
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他擁有數學系學位。
01:03
His dream was to be a teacher.
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夢想成為一名老師。
01:06
But of course, life is hard
under a military dictatorship,
under a military dictatorship,
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但是，受軍閥獨裁統治的生活是很困難的，
01:11
and so for now, this was the only way
he could make a living.
he could make a living.
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所以這是他唯一能賴以生存的方式。
01:16
Many nights, he told me,
he actually slept in his trishaw
he actually slept in his trishaw
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多少個夜晚，他告訴我，
他睡在自己的三輪車裡
他睡在自己的三輪車裡
01:20
so he could catch the first visitors
off the all-night train.
off the all-night train.
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為了能夠接到走下連夜火車的第一個乘客
01:27
And very soon, we found
that in certain ways,
that in certain ways,
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很快的，我們發現，在很多方面，
01:31
we had so much in common --
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我們其實很相似——
01:33
we were both in our 20s,
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我們都二十幾歲，
01:34
we were both fascinated
by foreign cultures --
by foreign cultures --
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我們都熱愛異國文化。
01:38
that he invited me home.
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他邀請我到他家。
01:42
So we turned off the wide,
crowded streets,
crowded streets,
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所以我們離開了寬大而擁擠的馬路，
01:45
and we began bumping
down rough, wild alleyways.
down rough, wild alleyways.
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開始顛簸在一條條凹凸不平的巷子裡。
01:50
There were broken shacks all around.
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身邊都是破舊的小屋。
01:52
I really lost the sense of where I was,
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我完全不知道我在哪，
01:56
and I realized that anything
could happen to me now.
could happen to me now.
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我意識到什麼都有可能發生在我身上。
01:59
I could get mugged or drugged
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我可能會被打劫或者下藥，
02:02
or something worse.
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或者更糟。
02:03
Nobody would know.
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沒人會知道。
02:06
Finally, he stopped and led me into a hut,
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最終，他停下車，
帶我進了一個棚屋，
帶我進了一個棚屋，
02:10
which consisted of just one tiny room.
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棚屋只有一個小小的房間。
02:14
And then he leaned down,
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然後他趴下，
02:16
and reached under his bed.
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伸手到床下，
02:19
And something in me froze.
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這讓我有點不知所措。
02:24
I waited to see what he would pull out.
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我等待著，
想知道他會拿出什麼東西。
想知道他會拿出什麼東西。
02:27
And finally he extracted a box.
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終於，他抽出一個盒子，
02:31
Inside it was every single letter
he had ever received
he had ever received
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裡面是每一封他從外國遊客那裡
02:36
from visitors from abroad,
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收到的信。
02:39
and on some of them he had pasted
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其中的一些，被他黏貼上了
02:41
little black-and-white worn snapshots
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他新結交的外國朋友的
02:44
of his new foreign friends.
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小小的黑白照片。
02:48
So when we said goodbye that night,
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那個晚上，當我們道別的時候，
02:52
I realized he had also shown me
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我意識到，他向我展示了
02:54
the secret point of travel,
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旅行的秘密，
02:56
which is to take a plunge,
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那就是沈浸其中，
02:59
to go inwardly as well as outwardly
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由裡及外，
03:01
to places you would never go otherwise,
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去你不會去的地方，
03:04
to venture into uncertainty,
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去探索不確定，
03:07
ambiguity,
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模糊，
03:09
even fear.
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甚至恐懼。
03:12
At home, it's dangerously easy
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在家，我們極容易
03:14
to assume we're on top of things.
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認為事情都在掌控之中。
03:17
Out in the world, you are reminded
every moment that you're not,
every moment that you're not,
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離家在外的時候，
你要記住，每一分每一秒，
你要記住，每一分每一秒，
你不會，也不能了解事情的全部。
03:22
and you can't get to the bottom
of things, either.
of things, either.
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03:26
Everywhere, "People wish to be settled,"
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“無論何處，人們都想通曉世事，”
03:29
Ralph Waldo Emerson reminded us,
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拉爾夫 沃爾多 愛默生提醒過我們，
03:31
"but only insofar
as we are unsettled
as we are unsettled
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“但是正因為我們無法通曉世事
03:34
is there any hope for us."
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我們才有希望。”
03:36
At this conference,
we've been lucky enough
we've been lucky enough
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在這個會上，我們都很幸運，
03:39
to hear some exhilarating
new ideas and discoveries
new ideas and discoveries
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能夠聽到一些令人激動的
新想法和發現，
新想法和發現，
03:42
and, really, about all the ways
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而真的就是在這樣的時刻
03:44
in which knowledge is being
pushed excitingly forwards.
pushed excitingly forwards.
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知識被熱情地往前推動。
03:48
But at some point, knowledge gives out.
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但是有的時候，知識不起作用
03:52
And that is the moment
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那就是
03:54
when your life is truly decided:
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在人生的關鍵點上：
03:57
you fall in love;
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墜入愛河，
04:00
you lose a friend;
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失去朋友，
04:02
the lights go out.
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面對死亡。
04:05
And it's then, when you're lost
or uneasy or carried out of yourself,
or uneasy or carried out of yourself,
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然後，當你失敗或失落的時候，
04:10
that you find out who you are.
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你才會發現你是誰。
04:14
I don't believe that ignorance is bliss.
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我不相信無知是福。
04:18
Science has unquestionably made our lives
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科學無庸置疑讓我們的生活
04:21
brighter and longer and healthier.
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變得更光明，更長久，更健康。
04:24
And I am forever grateful to the teachers
who showed me the laws of physics
who showed me the laws of physics
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我永遠感激教導我物理定律的老師
04:29
and pointed out that
three times three makes nine.
three times three makes nine.
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和教會我三三得九的老師。
04:33
I can count that out on my fingers
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我能在任何時候
04:36
any time of night or day.
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用手指算出來。
04:40
But when a mathematician tells me
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但是當一個數學家告訴我，
04:42
that minus three times
minus three makes nine,
minus three makes nine,
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負三乘負三等於九，
04:45
that's a kind of logic
that almost feels like trust.
that almost feels like trust.
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這種邏輯感覺有點像信任。
04:52
The opposite of knowledge, in other words,
isn't always ignorance.
isn't always ignorance.
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知識的對岸，換句話說，不一定是無知。
04:56
It can be wonder.
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也可能是思考，
04:58
Or mystery.
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或者懷疑，
04:59
Possibility.
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都有可能。
05:01
And in my life, I've found
it's the things I don't know
it's the things I don't know
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在我的人生中，我發現，那些我不知道的事情
05:05
that have lifted me up
and pushed me forwards
and pushed me forwards
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為我帶來的進步和成長，
05:08
much more than the things I do know.
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遠超過我所知道的事情。
05:12
It's also the things I don't know
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而且也是我不知道的那些事情，
05:14
that have often brought me closer
to everybody around me.
to everybody around me.
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讓我和身邊的人更親近。
05:18
For eight straight Novembers, recently,
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過去的八個十一月，
05:20
I traveled every year across Japan
with the Dalai Lama.
with the Dalai Lama.
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我和達賴喇嘛在日本遊歷。
05:26
And the one thing he said every day
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有一句話他每天都說，
05:29
that most seemed to give people
reassurance and confidence
reassurance and confidence
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也似乎最能夠讓人們感到安慰和自信，
05:32
was, "I don't know."
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就是“我不知道。”
05:36
"What's going to happen to Tibet?"
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“西藏會發生什麼？”
05:39
"When are we ever
going to get world peace?"
going to get world peace?"
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“什麼時候世界會和平？”
05:42
"What's the best way to raise children?"
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“培養孩子最好的方式是什麼？”
05:46
"Frankly," says this very wise man,
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“坦白說”，這個智者說，
05:49
"I don't know."
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“我不知道。”
05:52
The Nobel Prize-winning
economist Daniel Kahneman
economist Daniel Kahneman
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諾貝爾奬得主
經濟學家 丹尼爾 卡爾曼
經濟學家 丹尼爾 卡爾曼
05:55
has spent more than 60 years now
researching human behavior,
researching human behavior,
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花了超過60年研究人類行為，
06:00
and his conclusion is
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他的結論是，
06:02
that we are always much more confident
of what we think we know
of what we think we know
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相較於我們真正知道的事情，
我們總是對
自認為知道的事情更為自信。
自認為知道的事情更為自信。
06:07
than we should be.
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06:08
We have, as he memorably puts it,
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他的表述是，“我們擁有
06:11
an "unlimited ability
to ignore our ignorance."
to ignore our ignorance."
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無限忽視無知的能力。”
06:16
We know -- quote, unquote -- our team
is going to win this weekend,
is going to win this weekend,
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我們知道”我們隊伍這週末會贏。“
06:21
and we only remember that knowledge
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而我們只會在極罕見的時刻
06:24
on the rare occasions when we're right.
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記得那些我們正確的知識。
06:27
Most of the time, we're in the dark.
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大多數時候，
我們都處在無知當中，
我們都處在無知當中，
06:31
And that's where real intimacy lies.
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這是所謂的親密。
06:36
Do you know what your lover
is going to do tomorrow?
is going to do tomorrow?
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你知道你的愛人明天要做什麼嗎？
06:40
Do you want to know?
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你想知道嗎？
06:43
The parents of us all,
as some people call them,
as some people call them,
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對於一些人來說，我們的父母，
06:46
Adam and Eve,
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亞當和夏娃，
06:47
could never die, so long as they
were eating from the tree of life.
were eating from the tree of life.
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如果他們只從生命之樹獲取食物，
他們可以永生。
他們可以永生。
06:52
But the minute they began nibbling
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但是他們開始一點一點地從
06:54
from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil,
of good and evil,
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知善惡樹上獲取食物的時候，
06:57
they fell from their innocence.
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他們落入了無知的陷阱。
06:59
They grew embarrassed and fretful,
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他們萌生害羞，煩躁
07:02
self-conscious.
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和自我意識。
07:04
And they learned,
a little too late, perhaps,
a little too late, perhaps,
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他們意識到，可能晚了一點，
07:07
that there are certainly some things
that we need to know,
that we need to know,
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總有些事情是需要了解的，
07:10
but there are many, many more
that are better left unexplored.
that are better left unexplored.
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但是有更多的事情還是不要知道指導的好。
07:15
Now, when I was a kid,
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當我還是個孩子的時候，
07:17
I knew it all, of course.
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當然，我覺得我什麼都知道，
07:21
I had been spending 20 years
in classrooms collecting facts,
in classrooms collecting facts,
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我已經花了20年在教室裡了解事實，
07:25
and I was actually
in the information business,
in the information business,
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我在資訊業工作，
07:28
writing articles for Time Magazine.
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給時代雜誌寫文章。
07:31
And I took my first real trip to Japan
for two-and-a-half weeks,
for two-and-a-half weeks,
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我的第一次日本之旅花了兩週半，
07:36
and I came back with a 40-page essay
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回來的時候，
我寫了一份40頁的文章，
我寫了一份40頁的文章，
07:39
explaining every last detail
about Japan's temples,
about Japan's temples,
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詳述每一個細節。
日本寺廟
日本寺廟
時尚潮流，棒球比賽，
07:43
its fashions, its baseball games,
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07:46
its soul.
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日本的民主魂。
07:49
But underneath all that,
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但是，深埋底下的，
07:51
something that I couldn't understand
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一些我無法理解的東西，
07:54
so moved me for reasons
I couldn't explain to you yet,
I couldn't explain to you yet,
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無法言表地打動了我，
08:00
that I decided to go and live in Japan.
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讓我決定到日本定居。
08:04
And now that I've been there for 28 years,
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現在，我已經在那兒待了28年，
08:07
I really couldn't tell you
very much at all
very much at all
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我真的沒有辦法告訴你們很多
08:09
about my adopted home.
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關於我的第二個家。
08:12
Which is wonderful,
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這真的很棒，
08:13
because it means every day
I'm making some new discovery,
I'm making some new discovery,
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因為這意味著我每天都有新發現。
08:16
and in the process,
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在這個過程中，
08:18
looking around the corner
and seeing the hundred thousand things
and seeing the hundred thousand things
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我環視角落，發現上萬的
08:21
I'll never know.
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我永遠不會知道的東西。
08:24
Knowledge is a priceless gift.
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知識是無價的禮物。
08:28
But the illusion of knowledge
can be more dangerous than ignorance.
can be more dangerous than ignorance.
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但是知識的幻象可能比無知更危險。
08:33
Thinking that you know your lover
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你以為你了解你的愛人，
08:37
or your enemy
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或者你的敵人，
08:38
can be more treacherous
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可能會認知到你不了解他們
08:40
than acknowledging you'll never know them.
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還要危險。
08:43
Every morning in Japan, as the sun
is flooding into our little apartment,
is flooding into our little apartment,
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在日本的每一個早上，
當陽光湧入我們的小公寓時，
當陽光湧入我們的小公寓時，
08:48
I take great pains not to consult
the weather forecast,
the weather forecast,
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我都掙扎著看不看天氣預報，
08:52
because if I do,
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因為如果我看了，
08:54
my mind will be overclouded, distracted,
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我的意念會被烏雲遮蔽，渙散，
08:57
even when the day is bright.
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即使那是個晴天。
09:02
I've been a full-time
writer now for 34 years.
writer now for 34 years.
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我當全職作家已經34年了，
09:06
And the one thing that I have learned
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我學到一件事，
09:09
is that transformation comes
when I'm not in charge,
when I'm not in charge,
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就是改變是在不去掌控的時候發生的，
09:13
when I don't know what's coming next,
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當我不知道接下來會發生什麼，
09:15
when I can't assume I am bigger
than everything around me.
than everything around me.
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當我不自以為是。
09:21
And the same is true in love
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這也發生在墜入愛河的時候，
09:23
or in moments of crisis.
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或者身陷危機的時候。
09:26
Suddenly, we're back in that trishaw again
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突然，我們又回到那台三輪車，
09:30
and we're bumping off the broad,
well-lit streets;
well-lit streets;
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我們顛簸地駛離寬大明亮的馬路，
09:34
and we're reminded, really,
of the first law of travel
of the first law of travel
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我們記得，旅行的真諦，
09:38
and, therefore, of life:
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也是生命的真諦:
09:41
you're only as strong
as your readiness to surrender.
as your readiness to surrender.
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你因面對未知的能力而強壯，
09:47
In the end, perhaps,
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可能，到最後，
09:49
being human
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做普通人，
09:51
is much more important
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比做一個無所不知的人，
09:53
than being fully in the know.
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還要重要。
09:56
Thank you.
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謝謝。
09:57
(Applause)
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（鼓掌）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Pico Iyer - Global authorPico Iyer has spent more than 30 years tracking movement and stillness -- and the way criss-crossing cultures have changed the world, our imagination and all our relationships.
Why you should listen
In twelve books, covering everything from Revolutionary Cuba to the XIVth Dalai Lama, Islamic mysticism to our lives in airports, Pico Iyer has worked to chronicle the accelerating changes in our outer world, which sometimes make steadiness and rootedness in our inner world more urgent than ever. In his TED Book, The Art of Stillness, he draws upon travels from North Korea to Iran to remind us how to remain focused and sane in an age of frenzied distraction. As he writes in the book, "Almost everybody I know has this sense of overdosing on information and getting dizzy living at post-human speeds ... All of us instinctively feel that something inside us is crying out for more spaciousness and stillness to offset the exhilarations of this movement and the fun and diversion of the modern world."
Pico Iyer | Speaker | TED.com