名校励志英语演讲 第30期:如何解决这个世界上最严重的不平等?
日期:2012-08-03 11:22

(单词翻译:单击)

演讲原文

If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world. This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.
如果我们能够找到这样的方法,既可以帮到穷人,又可以为商人带来利润,为政治家带来选票,那么我们就找到了一种可持续的减少世界上不平等现象的发展道路。这是一项永无止境的任务。它不可能完全完成,但是任何有意识地解决这一问题的尝试都可以改变这个世界。
I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope. They say: "Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us until the end—because people just…don't…care." I completely disagree.
我们可以做到这个,对于这一点我很乐观。但是,我与宣称没有希望的怀疑主义者谈论时,他们说:“不平等从人类诞生的第一天就存在,到人类灭亡的最后一天也将存在。——因为人类根本不在乎这个问题。”我完全不能同意这种观点。
I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.
我相信,问题不是我们不在乎,而是不知道怎么做。
All of us here in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing—not because we didn't care, but because we didn't know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted.
此刻在这个院子里的所有人,生命中总有这样或那样的时刻,目睹人类的悲剧,感到万分伤心。但是我们什么也没做,并非我们无动于衷,而是因为我们不知道做什么和怎么做。如果我们知道怎样做才会有所帮助,那么我们就会采取行动。
The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.
改变世界的阻碍,并非人类的冷漠,而是世界实在太复杂。
To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps.
为了将关心转变为行动,我们需要发现问题,找到解决问题的方法,并评估其造成的影响。但是世界的复杂性使得所有这些步骤都难以做到。
Even with the advent of the Internet and 24-hour news, it is still a complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems.
即使有了互联网和24小时直播新闻,让人们真正发现问题所在,仍然十分困难。

热词空间

approach
n. 方法;途径;接近
eg. A storm is approaching.
暴风雨即将来临。

open-ended
adj. 无止境的;开放式的
eg. What investors need is an open-ended vehicle.
投资者需要的是一种开放式投资工具。

conscious
adj. 自觉的,意识到的
eg. She became conscious of an inequality.
她有了一种相形见绌的感觉。

skeptic
n. 怀疑者,怀疑论者
eg. He is a perspicacious skeptic who makes no claim to be able to explain the world.
他是一个怀疑者和洞察者,而并不声称他能解释世界。

tragedy
n. 悲剧
eg. Tragedy is a type of literature that involves death, suffering or disaster."
悲剧作品是文学的一种,内容常涉及死亡,不幸和灾难。

complexity
n. 复杂,复杂性
eg. The situation presents great complexity.
形势显得极为复杂。

with the advent of
随着……的出现
eg. With the advent of electricity, streetcars and subways were introduced in many large cities."
随着电力时代来临,许多大型城市引进了有轨电车和地下铁。

enterprise
n. 事业;企业;进取心;事业心
eg. All our capital is locked up in that enterprise.
我们的资金全部搁死在那个企业了。

分享到
重点单词
  • barriern. 界线,屏障,栅栏,障碍物
  • impactn. 冲击(力), 冲突,影响(力) vt. 挤入,压紧
  • complexadj. 复杂的,复合的,合成的 n. 复合体,综合体,
  • inequityn. 不公平,不公正
  • disastern. 灾难
  • vehiclen. 车辆,交通工具,手段,工具,传播媒介
  • perspicaciousadj. 颖悟的,聪明的,有洞察力的
  • inequalityn. 不平等,不平均,差异,多变性,不等式
  • skepticn. 怀疑者,怀疑论者,无神论者
  • complexityn. 复杂,复杂性,复杂的事物