TED2008
Wade Davis: The worldwide web of belief and ritual
韋德戴維斯：信仰和儀式的世界網絡
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人類學家韋德戴維斯思考這個信仰和儀式的世界網絡是如何使我們變成人類. 他與我們分享激動人心的照片和“哥哥，” 一群住在內華達山脈上的印第安人。他們的精神修行將世界維持在一個平衡狀態.
Wade Davis - Anthropologist, ethnobotanist
A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.” Full bio
A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.” Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
You know, culture was born of the imagination,
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文化來源於想像,
00:16
and the imagination -- the imagination as we know it --
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而這些想像
00:19
came into being when our species descended
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就在人類一代又一代繼傳下去時行成了
00:22
from our progenitor, Homo erectus,
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從我們的祖先猿人開始直立行走
00:25
and, infused with consciousness, began a journey that would carry it
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人類已有了意識, 而且開始了一個旅程
00:28
to every corner of the habitable world.
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這個旅程就是將這種意識帶到地球上每一個可居住的角落.
00:31
For a time, we shared the stage with our distant cousins, Neanderthal,
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曾與我們共同居住在這片土地上的尼安德特人(穴居人),
00:34
who clearly had some spark of awareness,
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已有了某種意識火花,
00:36
but -- whether it was the increase in the size of the brain,
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不管是腦部的進化
00:39
or the development of language,
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還是語言的發展
00:41
or some other evolutionary catalyst --
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又或者是某種其它的進化因素,
00:43
we quickly left Neanderthal gasping for survival.
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我們順速地與這些只懂得尋求生存的穴居人脫離了關係.
00:47
By the time the last Neanderthal disappeared in Europe,
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當最後的穴居人在歐洲消失
00:50
27,000 years ago,
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於27,000年前,
00:52
our direct ancestors had already,
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我們的直係祖先已經開始了,
00:54
and for 5,000 years,
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5000年的
00:56
been crawling into the belly of the earth,
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向地球的中心靠近，
00:58
where in the light of the flickers of tallow candles,
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在獸脂蠟燭的閃光下,
01:01
they had brought into being
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他們創造了
01:03
the great art of the Upper Paleolithic.
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舊石器時代早期的偉大藝術.
01:05
And I spent two months in the caves of southwest France
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我在法國的西南部的洞穴呆了兩個月
01:08
with the poet Clayton Eshleman, who wrote a beautiful book called "Juniper Fuse."
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期間與一位名叫克莱頓-埃爾什尼曼的詩人一起, 他曾寫過一本優美的書，叫《Juniper Fuse》
01:11
And you could look at this art and you could, of course,
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從他的這本書中,
01:13
see the complex social organization
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你可以發現複雜的社會組織
01:15
of the people who brought it into being.
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還有那些創造這個組織的人們.
01:17
But more importantly, it spoke of a deeper yearning,
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但更重要的是：它說明了更深的渴望,
01:20
something far more sophisticated than hunting magic.
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一種比搜尋魔法更複雜的東西.
01:23
And the way Clayton put it was this way.
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克萊頓對此的解釋是：
01:25
He said, "You know, clearly at some point,
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“曾經的某個時候
01:29
we were all of an animal nature, and at some point, we weren't."
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我們都帶著動物的本性，某個時候又沒有.”
01:31
And he viewed proto-shamanism as a kind of original attempt,
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他認為原始薩滿教就是這樣的一種嘗試，
01:33
through ritual, to rekindle a connection
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通過儀式，我們又一次的點燃了一種聯繫
01:36
that had been irrevocably lost.
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這種聯繫已經不見了，永遠無法挽回.
01:38
So, he saw this art not as
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所以克萊頓覺得這種藝術不是在追尋魔法
01:41
hunting magic, but as postcards of nostalgia.
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而是我們對懷舊的明信片.
01:45
And viewed in that light,
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從這個角度來看，
01:47
it takes on a whole other resonance.
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這種藝術會產生一種完全相反的迴響.
01:49
And the most amazing thing about the Upper Paleolithic art
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而舊石器時期晚期藝術最神奇的事情
01:51
is that as an aesthetic expression,
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是一種對審美觀的表達,
01:54
it lasted for almost 20,000 years.
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因為它持續了進兩萬年.
01:57
If these were postcards of nostalgia,
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如果這些是讓我們的懷舊明信片,
02:00
ours was a very long farewell indeed.
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我們的過去已離現在有非常遙遠的一段距離.
02:03
And it was also the beginning of our discontent,
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但它同時也是我們不滿足的開始，
02:05
because if you wanted to distill all of our experience
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如果你想獲得我們從舊石器時期開始的經歷
02:07
since the Paleolithic, it would come down to two words:
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你將會得到兩個字：
02:10
how and why.
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怎樣和為甚麼.
02:12
And these are the slivers of insight upon which cultures have been forged.
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這兩個辭彙鍛造著人類的文化。
02:15
Now, all people share the same
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當今，所有的人都有著同樣的
02:17
raw, adaptive imperatives.
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原始的、適應生存的欲求。
02:19
We all have children.
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我們都有孩子.
02:21
We all have to deal with the mystery of death,
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都需要了解死亡的奧祕，
02:23
the world that waits beyond death,
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和死後的世界,
02:25
the elders who fall away into their elderly years.
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面對那些沉浸在以往生活中的年長的人們。
02:28
All of this is part of our common experience,
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這些只是我們普通經歷的一部分,
02:30
and this shouldn't surprise us, because, after all,
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我們不應為此感到驚訝，
02:32
biologists have finally proven it to be true,
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因為生物學家最終已證明了它的真實性－－
02:34
something that philosophers have always dreamt to be true.
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哲學家一直都希望是真實的：
02:37
And that is the fact that we are all brothers and sisters.
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我們都是兄弟姊妹的事實.
02:39
We are all cut from the same genetic cloth.
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我們都是從同樣的基因演變而來的
02:42
All of humanity, probably, is descended from a thousand people
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也許所有人類的祖先只有幾千人,
02:45
who left Africa roughly 70,000 years ago.
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他們在大約七萬年前離開了非洲.
02:48
But the corollary of that is that,
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但這說明了一個無法更變的事實
02:50
if we all are brothers and sisters
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如果我們真的有某種程度的血緣關係
02:52
and share the same genetic material,
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而且有共同的基因，
02:54
all human populations share the same raw human genius,
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那麼，所有的人類都會有同樣的自然本能，
02:56
the same intellectual acuity.
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有著同樣敏銳的智慧.
02:58
And so whether that genius is placed
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不管這種天賦是應用在
03:00
into -- technological wizardry
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西方世界偉大的
03:02
has been the great achievement of the West --
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卓越的科技發明
03:05
or by contrast, into unraveling the complex threads
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或相反的，用來解釋神話故事裡
03:08
of memory inherent in a myth,
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隱含的深刻意義與啟發
03:10
is simply a matter of choice and cultural orientation.
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這些不同，僅僅是一種選擇和文化定位的不同。
03:12
There is no progression of affairs
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連續的事件
03:14
in human experience.
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在人類經歷中是不會發生的.
03:16
There is no trajectory of progress. There's no pyramid
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這裡沒有進步的軌跡.
03:18
that conveniently places Victorian England at the apex
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沒有將維多利亞時代的英國帶到頂峰的金字塔
03:21
and descends down the flanks
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把其他的視為
03:23
to the so-called primitives of the world.
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所謂的原始世界.
03:25
All peoples are simply cultural options,
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人類只不過是文化的選項,
03:28
different visions of life itself.
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對生命其本身不同的看法.
03:30
But what do I mean by different visions of life
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生命不同的看法？是什麼意思？
03:32
making for completely different
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完全不同的
03:34
possibilities for existence?
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存在的不同可能性？
03:36
Well, let's slip for a moment into the greatest culture sphere
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讓我們到最偉大的地球層看看吧
03:38
ever brought into being by the imagination,
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是人類所能想像的最偉大的，
03:41
that of Polynesia.
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玻里尼西亞
03:43
10,000 square kilometers,
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一萬平方英米,
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tens of thousands of islands flung like jewels upon the southern sea.
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成千上萬的島嶼像珠寶一樣地灑在南海上.
03:48
I recently sailed on the Hokulea,
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我不久前用Hokulea航海,
03:50
named after the sacred star of Hawaii,
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這艘艇的名字是來自夏威夷的一顆聖星,
03:53
throughout the South Pacific to make a film
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穿越南太平洋拍攝一部
03:55
about the navigators.
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關於航海者的電影。
03:57
These are men and women who, even today, can name
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即使是今天
03:59
250 stars in the night sky.
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還能說出夜晚天空上的250顆星星的名字.
04:01
These are men and women who can sense the presence of distant atolls
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這些人能夠感知到
04:04
of islands beyond the visible horizon,
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那些不在視野範圍內、遙遠珊瑚礁的存在，
04:07
simply by watching the reverberation of waves
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僅僅通過觀察
04:09
across the hull of their vessel, knowing full well
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拍打船壁的波浪的反射形狀，
04:11
that every island group in the Pacific
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他們清楚地知道太平洋上每個島嶼群
04:13
has its unique refractive pattern
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都有著不一樣的反射模式，
04:15
that can be read with the same perspicacity
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通過洞察力
04:18
with which a forensic scientist would read a fingerprint.
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法證專家分析指紋
04:21
These are sailors who in the darkness, in the hull of the vessel,
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這些水手在黑暗中，在船裏，
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can distinguish as many as 32 different sea swells
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就能夠及時分辨多達32種
04:26
moving through the canoe at any one point in time,
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在任何時刻流過船體的海水的漲落，
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distinguishing local wave disturbances
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分辨本地海上的風浪，
04:31
from the great currents that pulsate across the ocean,
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通過觀察振動整個海洋的水流
04:34
that can be followed with the same ease
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這對於他們非常輕鬆，
04:36
that a terrestrial explorer would follow a river to the sea.
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就像地址學家追蹤水流入海。
04:39
Indeed, if you took all of the genius
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確實，如果你把所有
04:41
that allowed us to put a man on the moon
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把人類送上月球的智慧
04:43
and applied it to an understanding of the ocean,
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都用於理解海洋，
04:45
what you would get is Polynesia.
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那就等同於這些航海員對於玻里尼西亞的海洋的了解與熟悉
04:47
And if we slip from the realm of the sea
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如果我們離開海的領域
04:49
into the realm of the spirit of the imagination,
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來到想像力的精神領域,
04:52
you enter the realm of Tibetan Buddhism.
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這個領域就好比西藏佛教.
04:54
And I recently made a film called "The Buddhist Science of the Mind."
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我最近拍攝了一部名為“心靈的佛教科學”電影。
04:57
Why did we use that word, science?
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為什麼我們採用“科學”一詞？
05:00
What is science but the empirical pursuit of the truth?
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如果追究真理的實踐都不被稱為科學，那科學還是什麼？
05:02
What is Buddhism but 2,500 years
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佛教就是兩千五百年來對
05:04
of empirical observation
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對心靈本質
05:06
as to the nature of mind?
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進行觀察的經驗結果。
05:08
I travelled for a month in Nepal with our good friend, Matthieu Ricard,
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我與我的好朋友，馬修•李卡得在尼泊爾旅行了一個月，
05:11
and you'll remember Matthieu famously said to all of us
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或許你還記得馬修曾給我們做過一個講座，
05:13
here once at TED,
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在TED。
05:15
"Western science is a major response to minor needs."
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“西方科學是對小需求的大反應。”
05:18
We spend all of our lifetime trying to live to be 100
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我們花費一生的時間盡力保證牙齒不掉，活到
05:20
without losing our teeth.
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100歲。
05:22
The Buddhist spends all their lifetime trying to understand the nature of existence.
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佛教徒花費一生的時間極力去理解存在的本質。
05:25
Our billboards celebrate naked children in underwear.
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我們宣傳的是慶祝給赤裸的孩子穿上衣褲。
05:27
Their billboards are manuals,
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他們宣傳的是發自內心的，
05:29
prayers to the well-being of all sentient creatures.
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為眾生的幸福祈禱。
05:32
And with the blessing of Trulshik Rinpoche, we began a pilgrimage
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帶著，第十四代達賴喇嘛Trulshik Rinpoche的祝福，我們開始了
05:34
to a curious destination,
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前往好奇之地的朝聖之旅，
05:36
accompanied by a great doctor.
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和我們同行的還有一個醫生。
05:38
And the destination was a single room in a nunnery,
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目的地是尼姑庵中的一個小房間
05:41
where a woman had gone into lifelong retreat
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在那裏有一位終身隱居的女士，
05:43
55 years before.
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55年前就開始了隱居。
05:46
And en route, we took darshan from Rinpoche,
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沾了Rinpoche的光，
05:49
and he sat with us and told us about the Four Noble Truths,
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他坐在我們身邊，告訴我們四大真理，
05:52
the essence of the Buddhist path.
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佛教徒之路的精髓。
05:54
All life is suffering. That doesn't mean all life is negative.
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生命即苦難。這並不代表我們就可以否定生命。
05:57
It means things happen.
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它的意思是事事皆可能發生。
05:59
The cause of suffering is ignorance.
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苦難的根源在於無知。
06:01
By that, the Buddha did not mean stupidity;
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通過這句話，佛並不是愚蠢。
06:03
he meant clinging to the illusion
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他堅守這樣的信念，
06:05
that life is static and predictable.
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即生活是靜止的、可預測的。
06:07
The third noble truth said that ignorance can be overcome.
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第三個貴族的事實說明無知是可擊敗的.
06:09
And the fourth and most important, of course,
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第四個也是最重要的，當然，
06:11
was the delineation of a contemplative practice
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是對冥想做法的描述，
06:13
that not only had the possibility
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冥想帶來人類心靈的昇華
06:15
of a transformation of the human heart,
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不僅僅是一種可能，
06:17
but had 2,500 years of empirical evidence
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它已經有兩千五百年的經驗證據，
06:20
that such a transformation was a certainty.
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表明昇華是必然的結果。
06:23
And so, when this door opened onto the face of a woman
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所以當門打開，看到那個女人，
06:25
who had not been out of that room in 55 years,
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那個55年都沒有出門的人，
06:28
you did not see a mad woman.
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你並沒有看到一個瘋子。
06:30
You saw a woman who was more clear
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你看到了一個比山間清泉
06:32
than a pool of water in a mountain stream.
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更澄澈的人。
06:35
And of course, this is what the Tibetan monks told us.
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當然，這是西藏的僧人告訴我們的：
06:39
They said, at one point, you know, we don't really believe
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他們說，“曾幾何時，我們對你能否登陸月球持有懷疑
06:42
you went to the moon, but you did.
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但事實是你去了.
06:44
You may not believe that we achieve enlightenment
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你或許並不相信一輩子可以到達開悟的境界，
06:46
in one lifetime, but we do.
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但是事實就是如此。
06:49
And if we move from the realm of the spirit
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如果我們從精神領域
06:51
to the realm of the physical,
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轉移到物質的領域,
06:53
to the sacred geography of Peru --
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來到神聖的秘魯土地上，
06:55
I've always been interested in the relationships of indigenous people
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我向來都對土族人的關係有興趣
06:58
that literally believe that the Earth is alive,
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他們相信地球是有生命的，
07:00
responsive to all of their aspirations,
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地球會給他們的渴望和所有的需求，
07:02
all of their needs.
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一個答覆.
07:04
And, of course, the human population
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當然
07:06
has its own reciprocal obligations.
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人類也有回報地球的義務.
07:08
I spent 30 years living amongst
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我花了30年的時間
07:10
the people of Chinchero
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與Chincherro的人住在一起
07:12
and I always heard about an event that I always wanted to participate in.
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我聽說他們有一個活動，我一直都很想參與的.
07:15
Once each year, the fastest young boy
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一年一次，每個村莊最快的小男孩
07:18
in each hamlet is given the honor of becoming a woman.
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都會被授與轉性的榮譽.
07:21
And for one day, he wears the clothing of his sister
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在活動的那一天，他可以穿他姊姊或妹妹的衣服
07:23
and he becomes a transvestite,
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在那天，他將是一個異裝癖者，
07:25
a waylaka. And for that day,
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一個 "waylaka." (土族語),
07:27
he leads all able-bodied men on a run,
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在那天,他帶領所有健壯的男子奔跑，
07:30
but it's not your ordinary run.
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但是這不是慣常的跑步。
07:32
You start off at 11,500 feet.
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在11500高英尺的地方開始奔跑，
07:35
You run down to the base of the sacred mountain, Antakillqa.
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跑到聖山Antkilka的山腳下，
07:37
You run up to 15,000 feet,
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然後再爬上15000英尺，
07:39
descend 3,000 feet.
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下去3000英尺，
07:41
Climb again over the course of 24 hours.
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在24小時之內再次往上爬。
07:44
And of course, the waylakama spin,
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當然，Waylakamaspin，
07:46
the trajectory of the route,
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也就是這一線路，
07:48
is marked by holy mounds of Earth,
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是以地球上的聖山為標誌的
07:50
where coke is given to the Earth, libations of alcohol to the wind,
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可可獻給大地，美酒獻給為風
07:53
the vortex of the feminine is brought to the mountaintop.
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女性的旋風被帶到山頂，
07:56
And the metaphor is clear: you go into the mountain as an individual,
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寓意很明顯：你獨自一人如山，
07:59
but through exhaustion, through sacrifice,
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歷經疲倦，歷經犧牲，
08:02
you emerge as a community that has once again
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你最終成為集體的一員
08:04
reaffirmed its sense of place in the planet.
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再一次確認了存在于地球的意義。
08:07
And at 48, I was the only outsider ever to go through this,
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在48歲的年紀，我是唯一一個跑完全程的外來者，
08:10
only one to finish it.
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唯一跑完的一個。
08:12
I only managed to do it by chewing more coca leaves in one day
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我在那一天咀嚼了多於4000年以來任何人一天吃的更多的可可葉
08:15
than anyone in the 4,000-year history of the plant.
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才能夠跑完的。
08:19
But these localized rituals become pan-Andean,
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這種區域性的儀式變成了整個安第斯山的傳統，
08:21
and these fantastic festivals,
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這些極好的節日，
08:23
like that of the Qoyllur Rit'i, which occurs
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好比當昴宿星出現在冬日的天空時，
08:25
when the Pleiades reappear in the winter sky.
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所舉行的Qoyllur Rit'i的節日
08:28
It's kind of like an Andean Woodstock:
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就像安第斯山的伍德斯托克音樂節：
08:30
60,000 Indians on pilgrimage
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6萬印第安那原著民
08:32
to the end of a dirt road
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踏上土地
08:34
that leads to the sacred valley, called the Sinakara,
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走往名叫“ Sinakara”的聖村，
08:36
which is dominated by three tongues
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這個聖村有3種說法，
08:38
of the great glacier.
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關於冰山。
08:40
The metaphor is so clear. You bring the crosses from your community,
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寓意也很明顯。你從你的群體中帶來十字架，
08:43
in this wonderful fusion of Christian
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在這個融合基督精神
08:45
and pre-Columbian ideas.
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和前哥倫比亞思想的地方。
08:47
You place the cross into the ice,
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你把十字架放入冰河中
08:49
in the shadow of Ausangate, the most sacred of all Apus,
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在Ausangate的陰影中，所有Apus中最神聖的，
08:52
or sacred mountains of the Inca.
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或者說Inca最神聖的山。
08:54
And then you do the ritual dances that empower the crosses.
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之後，你跳起為十字架賦予力量的宗教舞蹈。
08:57
Now, these ideas and these events
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現在，這些思想和事件
08:59
allow us even to deconstruct iconic places
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允許我們得以重構這些象徵性的地方
09:02
that many of you have been to, like Machu Picchu.
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像你們很多人去過的馬丘比丘。
09:04
Machu Picchu was never a lost city.
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馬丘比丘並不是一個失落之城。
09:06
On the contrary, it was completely linked in
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相反，它完全與
09:08
to the 14,000 kilometers of royal roads
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印加人在最近一個世紀修的
09:11
the Inca made in less than a century.
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一萬四千公里聖道相聯繫。
09:13
But more importantly, it was linked in
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更重要的是，它與
09:15
to the Andean notions of sacred geography.
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安第斯山所謂的神聖地理相聯繫。
09:18
The intiwatana, the hitching post to the sun,
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Intiwatana，挽留太陽的地方，
09:21
is actually an obelisk that constantly reflects the light
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事實上一座持續反射光線的方尖石塔
09:24
that falls on the sacred Apu of Machu Picchu,
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坐落在神聖的馬丘比丘的Apu，
09:27
which is Sugarloaf Mountain, called Huayna Picchu.
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是座圓錐形的山，叫做Huayna Picchu。
09:30
If you come to the south of the intiwatana, you find an altar.
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當你到達 Intiwatana南部時，你會發現一個聖壇。
09:33
Climb Huayna Picchu, find another altar.
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爬上Huayna Picchu，你會發現另外一個聖壇。
09:35
Take a direct north-south bearing,
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向正南-北的方向看，
09:37
you find to your astonishment
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你會驚奇地發現，
09:39
that it bisects the intiwatana stone,
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它把Intiwatana一分為二，
09:41
goes to the skyline,
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一直延伸到天際線，
09:43
hits the heart of Salcantay, the second of the most important mountains
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到達Salcantay山的正中心，Salcantay是印加帝國中
09:46
of the Incan empire.
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第二座最重要的山，
09:48
And then beyond Salcantay, of course,
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過了Salcantay山，當然，
09:50
when the southern cross reaches the southernmost point in the sky,
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當到達天際的最南端，
09:53
directly in that same alignment, the Milky Way overhead.
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你會發現銀河就在頭頂，呈現相同的佈局。
09:56
But what is enveloping Machu Picchu from below?
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包圍馬丘比丘的是：
09:59
The sacred river, the Urubamba, or the Vilcanota,
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聖河，烏魯班巴，或叫Vilcanota，
10:02
which is itself the Earthly equivalent of the Milky Way,
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與銀河一樣古老，
10:05
but it's also the trajectory that Viracocha walked
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這也是Viracocha走過的道路
10:08
at the dawn of time when he brought the universe into being.
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在他創造宇宙那天的傍晚。
10:11
And where does the river rise?
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這條河的起源在哪里？
10:13
Right on the slopes of the Koariti.
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正在Koiariti的斜坡上。
10:17
So, 500 years after Columbus,
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所以在哥倫布發現新大陸的五百年之後，
10:19
these ancient rhythms of landscape
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這些古老的對大自然的讚美之歌
10:22
are played out in ritual.
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在儀式中得以體現。
10:24
Now, when I was here at the first TED,
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在我第一次到TED時，
10:26
I showed this photograph: two men of the Elder Brothers,
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我展示了這張照片——兄弟倆的照片，
10:29
the descendants, survivors of El Dorado.
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理想黃金國（Eldorado）的倖存者，子孫。
10:32
These, of course, are the descendants
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他們，當然是後裔
10:35
of the ancient Tairona civilization.
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是古老的榮泰納（Tairona）文化的後繼者。
10:38
If those of you who are here remember that I mentioned
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如果你們中有人還記得我提到過的
10:40
that they remain ruled by a ritual priesthood,
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他們仍然被儀式祭司管束，
10:43
but the training for the priesthood is extraordinary.
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但是訓練成為祭司是很特別的。
10:45
Taken from their families, sequestered in a shadowy world of darkness
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從家裏面被帶出來，躲避在黑暗的地方
10:48
for 18 years -- two nine-year periods deliberately chosen
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長達18年——特意挑選兩個九年來
10:51
to evoke the nine months they spend in the natural mother's womb.
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喚起在母親子宮中度過的九個月。
10:54
All that time, the world only exists as an abstraction,
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在那時，整個世界就是抽象的，
10:58
as they are taught the values of their society.
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此時，他們被教導以他們社會的價值規範。
11:00
Values that maintain the proposition that their prayers,
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那種價值觀讓他們相信
11:03
and their prayers alone, maintain the cosmic balance.
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他們的祈禱本身就可以維繫宇宙的平衡。
11:06
Now, the measure of a society is not only what it does,
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現今，對社會的衡量已經不僅如此，
11:09
but the quality of its aspirations.
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還包括它有什麼美好的渴望。
11:11
And I always wanted to go back into these mountains,
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我時常想回到那些山裏，
11:13
to see if this could possibly be true,
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去看這是否是真的，
11:16
as indeed had been reported by the great anthropologist,
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就像偉大的人類學家，
11:19
Reichel-Dolmatoff.
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雷赫爾•多爾馬托夫報導的那樣。
11:21
So, literally two weeks ago,
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事實上兩周以前，
11:23
I returned from having spent six weeks with the Elder Brothers
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我剛回來，與兄弟們度過了六周時間
11:26
on what was clearly the most
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這個旅程，
11:28
extraordinary trip of my life.
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無疑是我生命中最奇特的。
11:30
These really are a people who live and breathe
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他們真的是生活在、呼吸著
11:33
the realm of the sacred,
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神聖的氣息，
11:35
a baroque religiosity that is simply awesome.
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異常虔誠。
11:37
They consume more coca leaves than any human population,
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他們消費的可哥葉比其他民族都多，
11:40
half a pound per man, per day.
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每天每個男人半英鎊。
11:42
The gourd you see here is --
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你在這裏能看到的是——
11:45
everything in their lives is symbolic.
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每樣事物都具有寓意。
11:48
Their central metaphor is a loom.
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他們核心的隱喻是織布機。
11:50
They say, "Upon this loom, I weave my life."
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生活就像一個織布機，而自己就在這台機器上編織著五光十色的人生。
11:52
They refer to the movements as they exploit the ecological niches of the gradient
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他們將他們開發傾斜的生態壁櫥的做法視為
11:55
as "threads."
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“穿線”。
11:57
When they pray for the dead, they make these gestures with their hands,
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當他們為死去的人們祈禱時，他們就用他們的雙手做出這樣的姿勢，
12:00
spinning their thoughts into the heavens.
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將他們的思想帶入天堂。
12:03
You can see the calcium buildup on the head of the poporo gourd.
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你能夠看到鈣質在Poporo 瓢的頂部結晶。
12:06
The gourd is a feminine aspect; the stick is a male.
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葫蘆的外表是雌性的，梗是雄性的。
12:09
You put the stick in the powder
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當你把梗研成粉末
12:11
to take the sacred ashes -- well, they're not ashes,
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得到神聖的粉末——它們也不是普通的粉末，
12:14
they're burnt limestone --
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它們是燒過的石灰石——
12:15
to empower the coca leaf, to change
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能夠使得可哥葉具有
12:17
the pH of the mouth to facilitate the absorption
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改變嘴裏PH值以幫助
12:19
of cocaine hydrochloride.
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可卡因鹽酸鹽的吸收。
12:21
But if you break a gourd, you cannot simply throw it away,
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但是當你打開一根梗，你不能輕易扔掉它，
12:24
because every stroke of that stick
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因為一旦扔掉那個梗
12:26
that has built up that calcium,
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那些用於累積鈣質的梗，
12:28
the measure of a man's life,
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對一個男士生活的衡量
12:30
has a thought behind it.
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也就被扔掉了。
12:33
Fields are planted in such an extraordinary way,
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耕種田地的方式如此特別，
12:35
that the one side of the field
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以至於田地的一邊
12:37
is planted like that by the women.
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就像被女性耕種過一樣。
12:39
The other side is planted like that by the men. Metaphorically,
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另一邊像被男性耕種過，
12:42
you turn it on the side, and you have a piece of cloth.
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你在旁邊改變它，你就會得到一塊布。
12:45
And they are the descendants of the ancient Tairona civilization,
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他們是原始的泰榮納（Tairona）文明的後裔，
12:48
the greatest goldsmiths of South America,
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南美最偉大的鐵匠，
12:49
who in the wake of the conquest,
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那些人在征戰的年代，
12:51
retreated into this isolated volcanic massif
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隱退到這片荒涼的火山區域
12:54
that soars to 20,000 feet
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比加勒比海岸的平原
12:56
above the Caribbean coastal plain.
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高出2萬英尺。
12:58
There are four societies:
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這裏有四個社會：
13:00
the Kogi, the Wiwa, the Kankwano and the Arhuacos.
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the Kogi, the Wiwa, the Kankuamo and the Arhuacos。
13:03
I traveled with the Arhuacos,
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我與 Arhuacos一同旅行，
13:05
and the wonderful thing about this story
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關於這個故事美妙的事情是
13:07
was that this man, Danilo Villafane --
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這個名叫Danilo Viathanya的男人，
13:10
if we just jump back here for a second.
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如果我們可以在此跳回過去。
13:13
When I first met Danilo, in the Colombian embassy in Washington,
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當我第一次在華盛頓的哥倫比亞大使館見到達尼洛的時候，
13:16
I couldn't help but say, "You know,
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我脫口說出，
13:18
you look a lot like an old friend of mine."
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你很像我的一個老朋友。
13:20
Well, it turns out he was the son of my friend, Adalberto,
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事實是他就是我朋友Aroberto的兒子，
13:23
from 1974, who had been killed by the FARC.
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Aroberto於1974年被哥倫比亞武裝力量打死，
13:26
And I said, "Danilo, you won't remember this,
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並且我說，Danilo,你肯定不記得，
13:29
but when you were an infant, I carried you on my back,
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當你還是嬰兒的時候，我把你背在背上
13:31
up and down the mountains."
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穿越高山。
13:33
And because of that, Danilo invited us
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正因為如此，達尼祿邀請我們
13:35
to go to the very heart of the world,
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去世界的正中心，
13:37
a place where no journalist had ever been permitted.
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一個任何記者都不被允許進入的地區。
13:39
Not simply to the flanks of the mountains,
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我們不僅到了山的側翼，
13:41
but to the very iced peaks which are the destiny of the pilgrims.
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也到了冰雪覆蓋的山頂，也就是朝聖的目的地。
13:44
And this man sitting cross-legged
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這個盤腿坐的男人
13:46
is now a grown-up Eugenio,
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是一個長大的 “Yuhenio”，
13:48
a man who I've known since 1974.
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我自從1974年就認識他了。
13:51
And this is one of those initiates.
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這就是早期的加入者之一。
13:53
No, it's not true that they're kept in the darkness for 18 years,
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不對，他們在黑暗中待18年的說法並不對，
13:56
but they are kept within the confines
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但是他們是被限制在
13:58
of the ceremonial men's circle
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男儀式主持者的圈子中
14:00
for 18 years.
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長達18年。
14:02
This little boy will never step outside
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這些小孩子從沒有機會走到
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of the sacred fields
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聖地的外面
14:06
that surround the men's hut for all that time,
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聖地由男人的小屋包圍著，
14:09
until he begins his journey of initiation.
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任何時候都不准出去直到宗教旅途的開始。
14:12
For that entire time, the world only exists as an abstraction,
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在整個時間裏，世界被視為一種抽象的存在，
14:15
as he is taught the values of society,
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他被教以社會的價值，
14:17
including this notion that their prayers alone
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包括這樣的觀念，即祈禱者獨自
14:19
maintain the cosmic balance.
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在維持宇宙的和諧。
14:22
Before we could begin our journey,
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在旅程開始之前，
14:24
we had to be cleansed at the portal of the Earth.
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我們在洞穴的門口清潔乾淨自己。
14:26
And it was extraordinary to be taken by a priest.
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被神父帶領是個很神奇的經歷——
14:28
And you see that the priest never wears shoes because holy feet --
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你會看到神父永遠不穿鞋子，因為神聖的雙腳——
14:31
there must be nothing between the feet
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對Mamo來說，腳與大地之間
14:33
and the Earth for a mamo.
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必須不能存在任何東西。
14:36
And this is actually the place where the Great Mother
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這裏也是偉大母親
14:38
sent the spindle into the world
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將紡錘置於世界
14:40
that elevated the mountains and created the homeland
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抬高了山脈，創造了家園
14:42
that they call the heart of the world.
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他們叫此地世界的心臟.
14:44
We traveled high into the paramo,
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我們爬到Potomo的高處，
14:46
and as we crested the hills,
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當我們沿著山脊攀爬時，
14:48
we realized that the men were interpreting
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當地人們對
14:50
every single bump on the landscape
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每個自然景色的詮釋
14:52
in terms of their own intense religiosity.
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都帶有強烈的宗教色彩。
14:55
And then of course, as we reached our final destination,
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當然，等我們到達最終的目的地，
14:58
a place called Mamancana,
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一個叫做Mananakana的地方時，
15:00
we were in for a surprise,
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我們著實吃了一驚，
15:02
because the FARC were waiting to kidnap us.
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因為哥倫比亞革命武裝力量等著綁架我們。
15:04
And so we ended up being taken aside into these huts,
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所以當我們最終被帶到他們的洞穴，
15:07
hidden away until the darkness.
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在黑暗中被藏起來。
15:09
And then, abandoning all our gear,
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然後丟掉我們所有的工具，
15:11
we were forced to ride out in the middle of the night,
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我們在午夜被強制趕著騎行離開，
15:14
in a quite dramatic scene.
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那是一個很戲劇化的場面。
15:16
It's going to look like a John Ford Western.
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看起來就像導演約翰•福特拍攝的西部片。
15:18
And we ran into a FARC patrol at dawn, so it was quite harrowing.
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當黎明時我們遇到了哥倫比亞革命武裝力量的巡邏隊，所以是很慘的經歷。
15:21
It will be a very interesting film. But what was fascinating
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那一定會是一部非常有趣的電影。但是更神奇的是
15:24
is that the minute there was a sense of dangers,
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當感到危險的那一刻，
15:26
the mamos went into a circle of divination.
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Mamos做了個占卜。
15:29
And of course, this is a photograph
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當然，這張照片
15:31
literally taken the night we were in hiding,
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實際上拍攝於我們躲起來的那個晚上，
15:33
as they divine their route
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那時他們占卜出了
15:35
to take us out of the mountains.
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帶領我們出山的道路。
15:37
We were able to, because we had trained
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我們能夠，因為我們事前訓練過
15:39
people in filmmaking,
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人們如何拍攝電影，
15:41
continue with our work,
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繼續我們的工作，
15:43
and send our Wiwa and Arhuaco filmmakers
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把我們的Wiwa和 Arhuaco 的電影製作者派到
15:46
to the final sacred lakes
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終點的聖湖
15:48
to get the last shots for the film,
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去拍攝最後一個場景，
15:50
and we followed the rest of the Arhuaco back to the sea,
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我們讓其他的Arhuaco回到海上，
15:52
taking the elements from the highlands to the sea.
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從山丘處拍攝海。
15:55
And here you see how their sacred landscape
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現在我們就看到了神聖的景色
15:57
has been covered by brothels and hotels and casinos,
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被妓院、旅店和賭場包圍著，
16:00
and yet, still they pray.
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他們仍然，祈禱。
16:03
And it's an amazing thing to think
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想到
16:05
that this close to Miami,
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距離邁阿密這麼近，
16:08
two hours from Miami, there is an entire civilization of people
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兩個小時的車程，這裏有一個完整的民族
16:11
praying every day for your well-being.
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為你的幸福在日日祈禱。
16:14
They call themselves the Elder Brothers.
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他們自稱為兄長。
16:16
They dismiss the rest of us who have ruined the world
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他們將我們這些毀壞世界的人
16:19
as the Younger Brothers. They cannot understand
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稱作弟弟。他們無法理解
16:21
why it is that we do what we do to the Earth.
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我們對大自然的破壞行為。
16:24
Now, if we slip to another end of the world,
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現今，如果我們到世界的另一端。
16:26
I was up in the high Arctic
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我在北極
16:28
to tell a story about global warming,
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講述全球變暖的故事，
16:30
inspired in part by
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部分受到
16:32
the former Vice President's wonderful book.
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副總統的著作的啟發。
16:34
And what struck me so extraordinary
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使我震驚的是
16:36
was to be again with the Inuit --
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再次與因紐特人在一起——
16:38
a people who don't fear the cold, but take advantage of it.
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這個民族的人並不懼怕寒冷反而利用它。
16:41
A people who
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這個民族的人
16:43
find a way, with their imagination,
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發現了用想像，
16:45
to carve life out of that very frozen.
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在冰天雪地中開創生活。
16:48
A people for whom blood on ice
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這個民族的人們並不會把冰上的血滴
16:50
is not a sign of death, but an affirmation of life.
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視為死亡的標誌，反而是對生活的肯定。
16:53
And yet tragically, when you now go to those northern communities,
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悲慘的是，當你現在再去那些北方地區，
16:55
you find to your astonishment
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你會吃驚地發現
16:57
that whereas the sea ice used to come in in September
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那些在九月份凍結起來，
16:59
and stay till July,
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直到次年七月的冰，
17:01
in a place like Kanak in northern Greenland,
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在像被格陵蘭到的Kanak地區，
17:03
it literally comes in now in November
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事實上到十一月份才結冰，
17:05
and stays until March.
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三月份就化掉了。
17:07
So, their entire year has been cut in half.
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所以他們的整年就被一分兩半。
17:10
Now, I want to stress that none of these peoples
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現在，我想強調的是，
17:12
that I've been quickly talking about here
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這些我快速講述的民族，
17:14
are disappearing worlds.
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並沒有消失。
17:16
These are not dying peoples.
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他們並不是垂死掙扎的人們。
17:18
On the contrary, you know,
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相反，正如你所指，
17:20
if you have the heart to feel and the eyes to see,
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如果你用心去感受，用眼睛去觀察，
17:22
you discover that the world is not flat.
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你會發現世界並不是平的。
17:24
The world remains a rich tapestry.
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世界仍然是色彩豐富的掛毯。
17:27
It remains a rich topography of the spirit.
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它仍然像精神領域高低不平的地質。
17:30
These myriad voices of humanity
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人類種種不同的聲音
17:32
are not failed attempts at being new,
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並不是想要進化的失敗的嘗試，
17:34
failed attempts at being modern.
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並不是想要更現代化的失敗的嘗試。
17:36
They're unique facets of the human imagination.
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他們是人類想像的不同方面。
17:38
They're unique answers to a fundamental question:
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他們是對於一個基本問題的別出心裁的回答：
17:41
what does it mean to be human and alive?
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活著的人類意義是什麼？
17:44
And when asked that question, they respond
437
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當被問起這個問題時
17:46
with 6,000 different voices.
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他們用了六千種不同的聲音回答.
17:48
And collectively, those voices become our human repertoire
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當這些聲音聚在一起時，
17:51
for dealing with the challenges that will confront us
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它們讓人類有了各種技能
17:53
in the ensuing millennia.
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來應對未來幾千年裡將遇到的挑戰.
17:55
Our industrial society is scarcely
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我們的工業社會
17:57
300 years old.
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幾乎只有三百年的歷史.
17:59
That shallow history shouldn't suggest to anyone
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這段歷史對任何人都無法證明
18:01
that we have all of the answers
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我們已有了所有的答案
18:03
for all of the questions that will confront us
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來面對隨之而來的幾千年裡
18:05
in the ensuing millennia.
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我們將會遇到的問題.
18:07
The myriad voices of humanity are not failed attempts at being us.
448
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這些來自人類無數的聲音並不是失敗的嘗試.
18:10
They are unique answers to that fundamental question:
449
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它們是最基本問題的一個特別答案：
18:13
what does it mean to be human and alive?
450
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活著的人類意義是什麼？
18:15
And there is indeed a fire burning over the Earth,
451
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地球上確實燃燒著烈火，
18:18
taking with it not only plants and animals,
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不僅帶著了植物和動物，
18:21
but the legacy of humanity's brilliance.
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還帶走了人類輝煌的傳統。
18:23
Right now, as we sit here in this room,
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此刻，當我們坐在這個房間，
18:25
of those 6,000 languages spoken the day that you were born,
455
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你出生時正在被使用的六千種語言中，
18:28
fully half aren't being taught to children.
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足足有一半都沒有傳授給下一代的孩子們。
18:31
So, you're living through a time
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所以你生活在這樣一個時代
18:32
when virtually half of humanity's intellectual,
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一半的人類智慧、
18:35
social and spiritual legacy
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社會和精神的遺產
18:37
is being allowed to slip away.
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正不知不覺地離我們而去.
18:39
This does not have to happen.
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我們可以阻止它的發生.
18:41
These peoples are not failed attempts at being modern --
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這些人不是無法跟上時代而
18:44
quaint and colorful and destined to fade away
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奇怪、色彩鮮豔並且註定會消亡
18:46
as if by natural law.
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就像是遵循自然法則一樣。
18:48
In every case, these are dynamic, living peoples
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以上的事例說明了這些是人是活的，而且是活動的
18:50
being driven out of existence by identifiable forces.
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已知的力量將他們毀滅.
18:53
That's actually an optimistic observation,
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這事實上是個客觀的發現，
18:56
because it suggests that if human beings
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因為如果人類
18:58
are the agents of cultural destruction,
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是文化毀滅者，
19:00
we can also be, and must be,
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我們有能力，而且必須作
19:02
the facilitators of cultural survival.
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文化生存的協助者.
19:04
Thank you very much.
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非常感謝大家!
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Wade Davis - Anthropologist, ethnobotanistA National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.”
Why you should listen
Wade Davis is perhaps the most articulate and influential western advocate for the world's indigenous cultures. A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, he has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.” Trained in anthropology and botany at Harvard, he travels the globe to live alongside indigenous people, and document their cultural practices in books, photographs, and film. His stunning photographs and evocative stories capture the viewer's imagination. As a speaker, he parlays that sense of wonder into passionate concern over the rate at which cultures and languages are disappearing -- 50 percent of the world's 7,000 languages, he says, are no longer taught to children. He argues, in the most beautiful terms, that language is much more than vocabulary and grammatical rules. Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind.
Indigenous cultures are not failed attempts at modernity, let alone failed attempts to be us. They are unique expressions of the human imagination and heart, unique answers to a fundamental question: What does it mean to be human and alive? When asked this question, the peoples of the world respond in 7,000 different voices, and these collectively comprise our human repertoire for dealing with all the challenges that will confront us as a species over the coming centuries.
Davis is the author of 15 books including The Serpent and the Rainbow, One River, and The Wayfinders. His many film credits include Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-hour documentary series produced for the National Geographic. In 2009 he received the Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for his contributions to anthropology and conservation, and he is the 2011 recipient of the Explorers Medal, the highest award of the Explorers’ Club, and the 2012 recipient of the Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration. His latest books are Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest and The Sacred Headwaters: the Fight to Save the Stikine, Skeena and the Nass.
Wade Davis | Speaker | TED.com