听力文本

Now in the nature area, we look at whether or not we are innately equipped with something,
在天份的方面，我们必须要检视我们是否生来就有这天赋，
perhaps in our brains, some abnormal chromosome that causes this muse-like effect.
或者在我们的大脑里，是否有些一些不正常的染色体带来了这些像是灵感的效应。
And some people would say that we're born with it in some other means.
有些人会用别的方法说这是我们与生俱来的。
And others, like my mother, would say that I get my material from past lives.
还有一些人，像我的母亲，会说我是从前世里找到这些写作材料的。
Some people would also say that creativity may be a function of some other neurological quirk -- van Gogh syndrome
有些人会说创作力是一种精神异常的副作用--类似梵高症候群，
that you have a little bit of, you know, psychosis, or depression.
就是你有一点精神失常，或是忧郁症。
I do have to say, somebody -- I read recently that van Gogh wasn't really necessarily psychotic,
但我必须告诉这些人--最近我才读到梵高其实不一定是精神病患，
that he might have had temporal lobe seizures, and that might have caused his spurt of creativity,
而更可能得了一种颞叶癫痫症，造成了他这种突然性的创作力，
and I don't -- I suppose it does something in some part of your brain.
我想那的确会影响你一部分的大脑。

And I will mention that I actually developed temporal lobe seizures a number of years ago,
我也必须提到，事实上数年前我也有过这种颞叶癫痫，
but it was during the time I was writing my last book, and some people say that book is quite different.
那时我正在写我的上一本书，有些人说那本书很不同。
I think that part of it also begins with a sense of identity crisis:
还有一部分是从身份危机开始的：
you know, who am I, why am I this particular person, why am I not black like everybody else?
我是谁，为什么我是这个我，为什么我不像别人一样是黑人？
And sometimes you're equipped with skills, but they may not be the kind of skills that enable creativity.
有时候，你装备着那些技能，但它们可能不是一些能带来创造力的技能。
I used to draw. I thought I would be an artist. And I had a miniature poodle.
我以前还会画画。我曾以为我会成为一个画家。这是我画的迷你贵宾狗。
And it wasn't bad, but it wasn't really creative.
似乎还不坏，但实在算不上什么创意。
Because all I could really do was represent in a very one-on-one way.
因为我所能做的不过是把它们一个个画下来。
And I have a sense that I probably copied this from a book.
而且我很有可能还是从一本书上抄绘下来的。
And then, I also wasn't really shining in a certain area that I wanted to be,
但是我在我真正想要的地方又似乎表现的不是太出色，
and you know, you look at those scores, and it wasn't bad,
你知道，你看着那些成绩，是不很差，
but it was not certainly predictive that I would one day make my living out of the artful arrangement of words.
但也绝不可能让我预测到有天我竟然能用写作来谋生。

演讲介绍

小说家谭恩美寻找她发展创意的过程，探讨创意从何而来。