ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aimee Mullins - Athlete and actor
A record-breaker at the Paralympic Games in 1996, Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor and advocate for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetics.

Why you should listen

Aimee Mullins was born without fibular bones, and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was an infant. She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run -- competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. At Georgetown, where she double-majored in history and diplomacy, she became the first double amputee to compete in NCAA Division 1 track and field.

After school, Mullins did some modeling -- including a legendary runway show for Alexander McQueen -- and then turned to acting, appearing as the Leopard Queen in Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. In 2008 she was the official Ambassador for the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

She's a passionate advocate for a new kind of thinking about prosthetics, and recently mentioned to an interviewer that she's been looking closely at MIT's in-development powered robotic ankle, "which I fully plan on having."

More profile about the speaker
Aimee Mullins | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Aimee Mullins: My 12 pairs of legs

艾美·穆琳斯和她的十二双义腿

Filmed:
4,380,008 views

作为运动员、演员和社会活动家的艾美·穆琳斯谈起她的义腿——整整一打的双腿,以及它们给予她的超人能量:速度、魅力和6英寸的增高效果……很简单地,她重定义了身体的意义。
- Athlete and actor
A record-breaker at the Paralympic Games in 1996, Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor and advocate for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetics. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I was speaking请讲 to a group of about 300 kids孩子,
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我曾经和一群大约300人的六到八岁的孩子们
00:15
ages年龄 six to eight, at a children's儿童 museum博物馆,
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在儿童博物馆交谈
00:17
and I brought with me a bag full充分 of legs,
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我随身带着一个装满义肢的包
00:21
similar类似 to the kinds of things you see up here,
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和你们在这里所看到的相像
00:23
and had them laid铺设 out on a table for the kids孩子.
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然后我把它们摆在一个桌子上,给孩子们看
00:25
And, from my experience经验, you know, kids孩子 are naturally自然 curious好奇
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从我的经验来看,要知道,孩子们天生对
00:29
about what they don't know, or don't understand理解,
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他们不知道、不明白
00:31
or is foreign国外 to them.
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或者不熟悉的东西好奇。
00:33
They only learn学习 to be frightened受惊 of those differences分歧
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只有在成年人的影响下
00:35
when an adult成人 influences影响 them to behave表现 that way,
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他们才会学会去害怕
00:38
and maybe censors检查员 that natural自然 curiosity好奇心,
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与生俱来的好奇心就这样被抹杀
00:41
or you know, reins in the question-asking问题提出
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或者是约束孩子们问问题
00:44
in the hopes希望 of them being存在 polite有礼貌 little kids孩子.
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好让他们做有礼貌的好孩子
00:46
So I just pictured合照 a first grade年级 teacher老师 out in the lobby前厅
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想象一下,大厅里一个一年级老师
00:50
with these unruly不羁 kids孩子, saying, "Now, whatever随你 you do,
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带着一群不守规矩的孩子,老师会说:”好啦,不管你干什么,
00:53
don't stare at her legs."
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就是别盯着她的腿看。“
00:55
But, of course课程, that's the point.
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但是,问题就在这儿
00:57
That's why I was there, I wanted to invite邀请 them to look and explore探索.
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我之所以会在那儿,就是想让孩子们观察和探索
01:00
So I made制作 a deal合同 with the adults成年人
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所以我就和成年人达成了协议
01:04
that the kids孩子 could come in without any adults成年人 for two minutes分钟
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让孩子们在们有成人陪伴下
01:07
on their own拥有.
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自己待两分钟
01:09
The doors open打开, the kids孩子 descend降落 on this table of legs,
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门打开后,孩子们俯身摆弄起义肢
01:13
and they are poking and prodding打回原形, and they're wiggling摆动 toes脚趾,
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他们这儿戳戳那儿碰碰,摇摇脚趾头
01:16
and they're trying to put their full充分 weight重量 on the sprinting冲刺 leg
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还试着把整个身体压在短跑义肢上
01:18
to see what happens发生 with that.
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看看会有什么反应
01:20
And I said, "Kids童装, really quickly很快 --
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我说道:”孩子们,抓紧啊--
01:22
I woke醒来 up this morning早上, I decided决定 I wanted to be able能够 to jump over a house --
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我早上起来,一心想要能够一下子跳过比房子
01:26
nothing too big, two or three stories故事 --
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没什么大不了的,不过两三层的高度
01:28
but, if you could think of any animal动物, any superhero超级英雄, any cartoon动画片 character字符,
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但是,想想哪些动物、哪些超级英雄、那些卡通人物
01:33
anything you can dream梦想 up right now,
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你能想到的任何一个
01:35
what kind of legs would you build建立 me?"
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你会给我造一副什么样的腿呢?“
01:37
And immediately立即 a voice语音 shouted喝道, "Kangaroo袋鼠!"
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立即有孩子答道:“袋鼠!”
01:40
"No, no, no! Should be a frog青蛙!"
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“不对,不对!应该是青蛙!”
01:42
"No. It should be Go Go Gadget小工具!"
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“不对,应该是神探佳杰特(上世纪80年代动画人物)!”
01:44
"No, no, no! It should be the Incredibles超人特攻队."
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“不对,不对,都不对!应该是超人特工队(迪斯尼2004年出品动画电影)”
01:46
And other things that I don't -- aren't familiar with.
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还有其他一些我不太熟悉的
01:49
And then, one eight-year-old八岁 said,
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然后,一个8岁的孩子说道,
01:51
"Hey, why wouldn't不会 you want to fly too?"
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“嗨,为什么你不想飞呢?”
01:56
And the whole整个 room房间, including包含 me, was like, "Yeah."
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所有在场的人,包括我,惊叹道“对啊”
01:59
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
02:01
And just like that, I went from being存在 a woman女人
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就这样,我从女人
02:04
that these kids孩子 would have been trained熟练 to see as "disabled"
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一个这些孩子被教育成看待的“残疾人”
02:08
to somebody that had potential潜在 that their bodies身体 didn't have yet然而.
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到一个一个潜能尚待开发的人
02:13
Somebody that might威力 even be super-abled超体健.
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一个很有可能有超人能力的人
02:15
Interesting有趣.
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很有趣吧
02:17
So some of you actually其实 saw me at TEDTED, 11 years年份 ago.
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在座的有些人11年前在TED见过我
02:22
And there's been a lot of talk about how life-changing改变生活 this conference会议 is
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当时人们热烈讨论这个会议是如何如何改变人生
02:26
for both speakers音箱 and attendees与会者, and I am no exception例外.
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不管你是听众还是发言人,我也不例外
02:30
TEDTED literally按照字面 was the launch发射 pad to the next下一个 decade of my life's人生 exploration勘探.
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TED可以说是我接后10年探索的发射台
02:36
At the time, the legs I presented呈现 were groundbreaking奠基 in prosthetics假肢.
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当时,我展示的义肢是修复术的前沿技术
02:41
I had woven编织 carbon fiber纤维 sprinting冲刺 legs
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我当时接上了碳纤维制成的
02:43
modeled仿照 after the hind leg of a cheetah猎豹,
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仿猎豹后肢的短跑义肢
02:45
which哪一个 you may可能 have seen看到 on stage阶段 yesterday昨天.
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可能你们昨天见过
02:47
And also these very life-like逼真, intrinsically本质 painted silicone legs.
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这些栩栩如生的喷漆硅胶义肢
02:53
So at the time, it was my opportunity机会 to put a call out
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当时,我有机会
02:57
to innovators创新 outside the traditional传统 medical prosthetic假肢 community社区
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在传统医学修复领域创新
03:01
to come bring带来 their talent天赋 to the science科学 and to the art艺术
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把他们的才智与科学、艺术相结合
03:05
of building建造 legs.
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制造义肢
03:07
So that we can stop compartmentalizingcompartmentalizing form形成, function功能 and aesthetic审美,
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这样我们就不必把外观、功能和美学划分开来
03:12
and assigning分配 them different不同 values.
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并赋予不同的价值
03:14
Well, lucky幸运 for me, a lot of people answered回答 that call.
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幸运的是,很多人做出了响应
03:18
And the journey旅程 started开始, funny滑稽 enough足够, with a TEDTED conference会议 attendee与会者 --
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旅程就这样开始了,很有趣的是,有一个TED参会者
03:23
Chee Pearlman珀尔曼, who hopefully希望 is in the audience听众 somewhere某处 today今天.
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琪 皮尔曼,希望她今天也在场
03:26
She was the editor编辑 then of a magazine杂志 called IDID,
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她当时是一本名为《ID》的杂志的编辑
03:29
and she gave me a cover story故事.
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她把我作为封面故事刊登在杂志上
03:32
This started开始 an incredible难以置信 journey旅程.
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接下来我开始了一场奇妙的旅程
03:35
Curious好奇 encounters遭遇 were happening事件 to me at the time;
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当时我奇妙地碰到了很多人和事
03:37
I'd been accepting验收 numerous众多 invitations邀请函 to speak说话
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我被邀请去做了很多演讲
03:40
on the design设计 of the cheetah猎豹 legs around the world世界.
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在世界各地讨论仿猎豹义肢技术
03:43
And people would come up to me after the conference会议, after my talk,
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人们在演讲后找到我
03:46
men男人 and women妇女.
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不论男女
03:48
And the conversation会话 would go something like this,
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谈话内容不外乎
03:50
"You know Aimee艾梅, you're very attractive有吸引力.
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“要知道艾美,你很迷人。
03:54
You don't look disabled."
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一点不像有残疾的。”
03:56
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
03:57
I thought, "Well, that's amazing惊人,
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我想“这还挺神的,
03:59
because I don't feel disabled."
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因为我一点也不感到残疾。”
04:01
And it really opened打开 my eyes眼睛 to this conversation会话
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我的有关演讲的视野也被打开了
04:06
that could be explored探讨, about beauty美女.
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美也可以被探索
04:08
What does a beautiful美丽 woman女人 have to look like?
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一个美丽的女人应该长什么样?
04:11
What is a sexy性感的 body身体?
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什么是性感的身体?
04:13
And interestingly有趣, from an identity身分 standpoint立场,
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很有趣的是,从一个身份角度
04:15
what does it mean to have a disability失能?
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残疾意味着什么?
04:18
I mean, people -- Pamela帕梅拉 Anderson安德森 has more prosthetic假肢 in her body身体 than I do.
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我是说,有人--比如帕米拉·安德森(美国艳星,以其硕大的隆胸著称)的修复程度可大大高过我
04:21
Nobody没有人 calls电话 her disabled.
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可没人说她残疾
04:23
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
04:29
So this magazine杂志, through通过 the hands of graphic图像 designer设计师 Peter彼得 Saville萨维尔,
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后来这期《ID》杂志,经美术设计师皮特·萨维耶之手
04:33
went to fashion时尚 designer设计师 Alexander亚历山大 McQueen麦昆, and photographer摄影师 Nick缺口 Knight骑士,
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传到了时装设计师亚历山大·麦昆和摄影师尼克·奈特手中
04:38
who were also interested有兴趣 in exploring探索 that conversation会话.
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他们也对探索相关方面很感兴趣
04:40
So, three months个月 after TEDTED I found发现 myself on a plane平面
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参加完TED几个月后,我就搭上了前往
04:43
to London伦敦, doing my first fashion时尚 shoot射击,
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伦敦的航班,摄制我的第一组时尚杂志照片
04:48
which哪一个 resulted导致 in this cover --
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结果可以从这本杂志封面看出--
04:49
"Fashion-able时髦"?
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时尚吗?
04:52
Three months个月 after that, I did my first runway跑道 show显示 for Alexander亚历山大 McQueen麦昆
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3个月后,我为亚历山大·麦昆做了第一场时装秀
04:56
on a pair of hand-carved手工雕刻 wooden legs made制作 from solid固体 ash.
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腿着一副硬木手工义肢
05:01
Nobody没有人 knew知道 -- everyone大家 thought they were wooden boots靴子.
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没人知道--大家都以为是木制长靴
05:04
Actually其实, I have them on stage阶段 with me:
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事实上,它们就在台上
05:07
grapevines葡萄藤, magnolias木兰 -- truly stunning令人惊叹.
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葡萄藤、木兰花,惊人的美
05:12
Poetry诗歌 matters事项.
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诗意很重要
05:15
Poetry诗歌 is what elevates提升 the banal平庸 and neglected被忽视的 object目的
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诗歌能把陈腐和受忽视的东西提升到高层次
05:20
to a realm领域 of art艺术.
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进入艺术的境界
05:22
It can transform转变 the thing that might威力 have made制作 people fearful可怕
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能把令人生畏的东西转化成
05:28
into something that invites邀请 them to look,
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引人入胜的东西
05:30
and look a little longer,
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让人驻足良久
05:33
and maybe even understand理解.
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也许会让人们理解
05:35
I learned学到了 this firsthand第一手 with my next下一个 adventure冒险.
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这些是我从我的下一个冒险中第一手学到的
05:39
The artist艺术家 Matthew马修 Barney巴尼, in his film电影 opusOPUS called the "The Cremaster悬丝 Cycle周期."
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艺术家马修·巴尼在他的影片《悬丝》
05:43
This is where it really hit击中 home for me --
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这部影片真是醍醐灌顶
05:46
that my legs could be wearable穿戴式 sculpture雕塑.
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我的双腿竟可以成为雕塑品
05:48
And even at this point, I started开始 to move移动 away from the need to replicate复制 human-ness人类岬
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这时,我就游离开模仿人体
05:55
as the only aesthetic审美 ideal理想.
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开始探索美学的理想
05:57
So we made制作 what people lovingly含情脉脉 referred简称 to as glass玻璃 legs
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后来我们研制了人们昵称为玻璃腿的义肢
06:01
even though虽然 they're actually其实 optically光学 clear明确 polyurethane聚氨酯,
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虽然它们实际上是剔透的聚亚安酯制作的
06:05
a.k.a. bowling保龄球 ball material材料.
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也就是制造保龄球的材料
06:07
Heavy!
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相当重的!
06:08
Then we made制作 these legs that are cast in soil
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后来我们用根与土壤的东西塑造这种义肢
06:10
with a potato土豆 root system系统 growing生长 in them, and beetroots甜菜根 out the top最佳,
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把土豆根系植于其中,把甜菜根植在上头
06:14
and a very lovely可爱 brass黄铜 toe脚趾.
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还装上了很可爱的铜质脚趾
06:16
That's a good close-up特写 of that one.
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就这样完成了一个杰作
06:18
Then another另一个 character字符 was a half-woman半女人, half-cheetah半猎豹 --
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另一个造型是半人半兽
06:20
a little homage尊敬 to my life as an athlete运动员.
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是对我运动员生涯的小小致敬
06:22
14 hours小时 of prosthetic假肢 make-up化妆
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14个小时的义肢彩绘
06:25
to get into a creature生物 that had articulated铰接式 paws爪子,
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才看起来像有灵活爪子、
06:29
claws and a tail尾巴 that whipped鞭打 around,
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摇来摇去的尾巴的生物
06:33
like a gecko壁虎.
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有点像壁虎
06:35
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
06:37
And then another另一个 pair of legs we collaborated合作 on were these --
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另一付我们合作创作的义肢
06:41
look like jellyfish海蜇 legs,
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看起来有那么一点像水母
06:43
also polyurethane聚氨酯.
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同样也是聚亚安酯制成的
06:45
And the only purpose目的 that these legs can serve服务,
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这副义肢唯一的用途就是
06:48
outside the context上下文 of the film电影,
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除了电影里的展示,
06:51
is to provoke the senses感官 and ignite点燃 the imagination想像力.
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就是给人们感官刺激并激发人们的想象
06:54
So whimsy怪念头 matters事项.
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所以诡谲多变很重要
06:57
Today今天, I have over a dozen pair of prosthetic假肢 legs
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今天,我带了至少12副义肢
07:03
that various各个 people have made制作 for me,
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它们是由不同的人为我制作的
07:05
and with them I have different不同 negotiations谈判 of the terrain地形 under my feet,
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不同的义肢给了我与我脚下大地的不同体验
07:09
and I can change更改 my height高度 --
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我还可以改变身高
07:11
I have a variable变量 of five different不同 heights高度.
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我有5个不同的身高
07:13
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
07:15
Today今天, I'm 6'1".
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今天,我有6尺1(约186cm)
07:17
And I had these legs made制作 a little over a year ago
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我身上这副义肢大概是一年前做的
07:20
at Dorset赛特 Orthopedic骨科 in England英国
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在英国的多西特整形外科做的
07:22
and when I brought them home to Manhattan曼哈顿,
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当我把它们带回曼哈顿的家里
07:24
my first night out on the town, I went to a very fancy幻想 party派对.
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我回来后第一次出来是去一个化妆舞会
07:26
And a girl女孩 was there who has known已知 me for years年份
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舞会上有个姑娘我认识多年了
07:29
at my normal正常 5'8".
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不过那时我只有5尺8(约177cm)
07:31
Her mouth dropped下降 open打开 when she saw me,
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她看到我惊讶不已
07:33
and she went, "But you're so tall!"
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她说道“你怎么那么高!”
07:36
And I said, "I know. Isn't it fun开玩笑?"
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我说道“是啊,挺好玩的,不是吗?”
07:38
I mean, it's a little bit like wearing穿着 stilts高跷 on stilts高跷,
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有点像站在高跷上踩高跷
07:40
but I have an entirely完全 new relationship关系 to door jams果酱
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但我从此对门框有了全新体验
07:43
that I never expected预期 I would ever have.
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始料未及的新天地
07:45
And I was having fun开玩笑 with it.
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我乐在其中
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And she looked看着 at me,
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她看着我
07:50
and she said, "But, Aimee艾梅, that's not fair公平."
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说道:“但是,艾美,这可不公平。”
07:52
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑)
07:55
(Applause掌声)
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(鼓掌)
07:57
And the incredible难以置信 thing was she really meant意味着 it.
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最奇妙的是她是认真的
08:01
It's not fair公平 that you can change更改 your height高度,
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能随意改变身高
08:03
as you want it.
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可不公平
08:05
And that's when I knew知道 --
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那时我才知道--
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that's when I knew知道 that the conversation会话 with society社会
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那时我才知道社会交往的
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has changed profoundly深深
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巨大变革
08:12
in this last decade.
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在近10年来
08:14
It is no longer a conversation会话 about overcoming克服 deficiency不足.
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这不再是克服先天障碍
08:19
It's a conversation会话 about augmentation增强.
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是关于增量
08:21
It's a conversation会话 about potential潜在.
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是关于潜能
08:25
A prosthetic假肢 limb doesn't represent代表 the need to replace更换 loss失利 anymore.
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义肢的作用不再仅局限于代替身体缺失部分
08:30
It can stand as a symbol符号 that the wearer佩戴者
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它们可以作为佩戴者身份的象征
08:33
has the power功率 to create创建 whatever随你 it is that they want to create创建
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可以创造佩戴者天马行空的想象
08:36
in that space空间.
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在这个空间
08:38
So people that society社会 once一旦 considered考虑 to be disabled
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所以那些社会一度认为是残障的人
08:41
can now become成为 the architects建筑师 of their own拥有 identities身份
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可以成为自己塑造身份的建筑师
08:46
and indeed确实 continue继续 to change更改 those identities身份
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并且切实继续改变身份
08:48
by designing设计 their bodies身体
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仅凭设计自己的身体
08:50
from a place地点 of empowerment权力.
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从一个强大的源泉获取灵感
08:53
And what is exciting扣人心弦 to me so much right now
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现在令我激动不已的是
08:58
is that by combining结合 cutting-edge前沿 technology技术 --
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通过尖端科技
09:02
robotics机器人, bionics仿生学 --
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机器人技术、仿生学--
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with the age-old古老 poetry诗歌,
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及由来已久的诗意
09:06
we are moving移动 closer接近 to understanding理解 our collective集体 humanity人性.
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我们向自身的集体人性迈进了一步
09:12
I think that if we want to discover发现 the full充分 potential潜在
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我认为要发掘自身
09:17
in our humanity人性,
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人性的的潜质
09:19
we need to celebrate庆祝 those heartbreaking令人心碎 strengths优势
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我们要赞美那些令人心碎的力量
09:23
and those glorious辉煌 disabilities残疾人 that we all have.
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那些人人都有的光荣的残障
09:26
I think of Shakespeare's莎士比亚 Shylock夏洛克:
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我认为莎士比亚笔下的夏洛克
09:29
"If you prick us, do we not bleed流血,
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“你们要是用刀剑刺我们,我们不是也会出血的吗?
09:33
and if you tickle痒痒 us, do we not laugh?"
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你们要是搔我们的痒,我们不是也会笑起来的吗?”
09:36
It is our humanity人性,
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这就是我们的人性
09:39
and all the potential潜在 within it,
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及其所有的潜质
09:41
that makes品牌 us beautiful美丽.
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是这些让我们熠熠生辉
09:44
Thank you.
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谢谢
09:45
(Applause掌声)
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(鼓掌)
Translated by Wang Qian
Reviewed by Jenny Yang

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aimee Mullins - Athlete and actor
A record-breaker at the Paralympic Games in 1996, Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor and advocate for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetics.

Why you should listen

Aimee Mullins was born without fibular bones, and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was an infant. She learned to walk on prosthetics, then to run -- competing at the national and international level as a champion sprinter, and setting world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta. At Georgetown, where she double-majored in history and diplomacy, she became the first double amputee to compete in NCAA Division 1 track and field.

After school, Mullins did some modeling -- including a legendary runway show for Alexander McQueen -- and then turned to acting, appearing as the Leopard Queen in Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle. In 2008 she was the official Ambassador for the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

She's a passionate advocate for a new kind of thinking about prosthetics, and recently mentioned to an interviewer that she's been looking closely at MIT's in-development powered robotic ankle, "which I fully plan on having."

More profile about the speaker
Aimee Mullins | Speaker | TED.com