Hey, congratulations! You've just won the lottery, only the prize isn't cash or a luxury cruise.
嗨，恭喜！你中彩票了，不过奖品不是现金和豪华游轮船票。
It's a position in your country's national legislature.
而是你在国家立法机构中的席位。
And you aren't the only lucky winner.
你也不是唯一的获奖者。
All of your fellow lawmakers were chosen in the same way.
你在立法机构的所有同事都是这样选出来的。
This might strike you as a strange way to run a government, let alone a democracy.
这种政府运作方式在你看来可能很奇特，更别提这还是民主政府了。
Elections are the epitome of democracy, right?
难道选举不是民主的象征么？
Well, the ancient Athenians who coined the word had another view.
发明“民主”这个词的雅典人，看法却不一样。
In fact, elections only played a small role in Athenian democracy,
事实上，选举在雅典民主中只起很小的作用，
with most offices filled by random lottery from a pool of citizen volunteers.
大部分公职人员都是从一群公民志愿者中随机抽选出来的。
Unlike the representative democracies common today,
不像今天常见的代议制民主体制，
where voters elect leaders to make laws and decisions on their behalf,
选民选出领导人代替他们制定法律和作决策，
5th Century BC Athens was a direct democracy that encouraged wide participation through the principle of ho boulomenos, or anyone who wishes.
公元前五世纪的雅典是直接民主，通过ho boulomenos准则来鼓励任何想要参与的人广泛参与政治。
This meant that any of its approximately 30,000 eligible citizens could attend the ecclesia,
这就意味着希腊接近30000名合格的市民，任谁都可以可以进入国民大会，
a general assembly meeting several times a month.
一个月里全体聚集开会好几次。
In principle, any of the 6,000 or so who showed up at each session had the right to address their fellow citizens,
原则上来说，在每个会期时，与会将近6000人中的任意一位都有权向市民做演说、
propose a law, or bring a public lawsuit.
提案公投或为大众开庭审判。
Of course, a crowd of 6,000 people trying to speak at the same time would not have made for effective government.
当然了，6000人的群体想要在同一时刻发言，那就无法成为一个有效的政府。
So the Athenian system also relied on a 500 member governing council called the Boule, to set the agenda and evaluate proposals,
因此雅典的制度也倚靠一个称为Boule的五百人行政议会来设立议题、评估提案，
in addition to hundreds of jurors and magistrates to handle legal matters.
再加上数百位陪审员、地方法官处理涉法事项。
Rather than being elected or appointed, the people in these positions were chosen by lot.
这些职位的人是从抽奖箱中所抽中的，而不是被大家票选出来或者受指派的。

This process of randomized selection is know as sortition.
这个随机式选取过程就是熟知的抽签。
The only positions filled by elections were those recognized as requiring expertise, such as generals.
唯一利用选举来安插的是那些被认定需要专才的职位，比如说将军。
But these were considered aristocratic, meaning rule by the best, as opposed to democracies, rule by the many.
不过这些人被当成是贵族，代表着精英治理，从而与民主制，即多数人治理，相违背。
How did this system come to be?
那这种体制是如何实现的呢？
Well, democracy arose in Athens after long periods of social and political tension marked by conflict among nobles.
雅典在经历了由贵族冲突导致的长期社会政治动荡之后，民主制开始兴起。
Powers once restricted to elites, such as speaking in the assembly and having their votes counted, were expanded to ordinary citizens.
精英曾经特有的权利，例如在公民大会发言和投票，被扩展给了普通公民。
And the ability of ordinary citizens to perform these tasks adequately became a central feature of the democratice ideology of Athens.
由公民来履行这些职责成为了雅典民主理念的中心特征。
Rather than a privilege, civic participation was the duty of all citizens,
公民履责不是一种权利，而是所有公民的义务，
with sortition and strict term limits preventing governing classes or political parties from forming.
抽签制和严格的届期限制防止了统治阶层和政党的出现。
By 21st century standards, Athenian rule by the many excluded an awful lot of people.
以21世纪的标准来看，雅典的民主制排除了相当多的人。
Women, slaves and foreigners were denied full citizenship,
妇女、奴隶和外国人都没有完全的公民权，
and when we filter out those too young to serve, the pool of eligible Athenians drops to only 10-20% of the overall population.
再除去未成年人，合格的雅典公民仅为总人口的10-20%。
Some ancient philosophers, including Plato, disparaged this form of democracy as being anarchic and run by fools.
一些古典哲学家，包括柏拉图在内，否定这种民主制，认为这种制度毫无秩序，是由愚民进行统治的。
But today the word has such positive associations, that vastly different regimes claim to embody it.
但今天，“民主”这个词是如此正面，以至于截然不同的政府都自称“民主”。
At the same time, some share Plato's skepticism about the wisdom of crowds.
同时，一些人也认同柏拉图对民众智慧的疑虑。
Many modern democracies reconcile this conflict by having citizens elect those they consider qualified to legislate on their behalf.
很多现代民主政府解决这一问题的方法是，由公民选举认可的人来代表公民自身进行立法。
But this poses its own problems, including the influence of wealth,
但这又创造了新问题，例如财富对政治的影响，
and the emergence of professional politicians with different interests than their constituents.
以及职业政客的出现，其利益与其选民的利益有很大不同。
Could reviving election by lottery lead to more effective government through a more diverse and representative group of legislatures?
恢复抽签制会不会让政府更加有效，因为立法机构更广泛更具有代表性？
Or does modern political office, like Athenian military command, require specialized knowledge and skills?
还是现代政治，如同雅典的军事体制一样，需要专业的知识和技巧？
You probably shouldn't hold your breath to win a spot in your country's government.
你或许不能完全寄托于中奖来参加你的政府。
But depending on where you live, you may still be selected to participate in a jury,
但是取决于你住的地方，你仍可能会被抽签进入陪审团、
a citizens' assembly, or a deliberative poll, all examples of how the democratic principle behind sortition still survives today.
公民大会或审慎思辩民调，这些都是随机抽选背后的民主原则在今天发挥作用的例子。