Over the decades, my colleagues and I have exposed terrible misdeeds and crimes by large corporations,
在过去的几十年，我和我的同事揭露了很多大公司不当行为。
which have taken many lives and caused injuries and diseases, on top of damaging economic costs, affecting many incidents.
除了经济上的损失，他们还造成了很多伤亡和疾病，引发了很多事端。
But exposure was not enough. We had to secure congressional mandates to prevent such devastation.
但仅仅是揭露他们的罪行还不够。我们还需要有效的行政命令来避免这种事情发生。
As a result, many lives were saved and many traumas prevented,
我们拯救了很多生命，避免了很多损失，
especially in the areas of automobile, pharmaceutical, environmental and workplace health and safety.
尤其是在汽车制造、医疗、环境以及办公场所的安全方面。
Along the way, we kept getting one question again and again:
在这个过程中，我们经常被反复问到同一个问题：
"Ralph, how do you do all this? Your groups are small, your funds are modest and you don't make campaign contributions to politicians."
“拉尔夫，你是怎么做到的？你的团队这么小，也没什么钱，而且你也并不会为政治家捐款。”
My response points to an overlooked, amazing pattern of American history.
我的答案是美国历史上一个一直被忽视的神奇的规律。
Just about every advance in justice, every blessing of democracy, came from the efforts of small numbers of individual citizens.
公正和民主，每一点一滴的进步都来自于一小群公民的贡献。
They knew what they were talking about. They expanded public opinion, or what Abraham Lincoln called "the all-important public sentiment."
他们知道自己在做什么。他们扩大了公众的舆论影响，或者像林肯总统所说的，“最重要的是公众的意见。”
The few citizens who started these movements enlisted larger numbers along the way to achieving these reforms and redirections.
一小群发起这些运动的公民，会逐渐召集更多的人来一起完成这些改革和变化。
However, even at their peak, the actively engaged people never exceeded one percent of the citizenry, often far less.
然而，即使在各种运动的最高峰，这些运动也从没有召集到所有公民的百分之一，通常远低于这个比例。
These builders of democracy and justice came out of the antislavery drives, the pressures for women's right to vote.
这些民主和公平的缔造者的动力，来自对奴隶制度的反对以及为女性争取投票权的压力。
They rose from farmers and workers in industrial sectors demanding regulation of banks, railroads and manufacturers and fair labor standards.
他们从农民和工人中走出来，要求制定银行、铁路和制造业的法规，以及公平的劳工标准。
In the 20th century, improvements of life
在二十世纪，生活的每一点进步
came with tiny third parties and their allies pushing the major parties in the electoral arena to adopt such measures,
都来自于小组织和他们的盟友推动选举舞台上主要的政党采取措施，
such as the right to form labor unions, the 40-hour week, progressive taxation,
例如组织工会的权利，每周40小时工时，累进制的税率，
the minimum wage, unemployment compensation and social security.
以及最低工资，失业补助和公共安全。
More recently came Medicare and civil rights, civil liberties, nuclear arms treaties, consumer and environmental triumphs
后来又有了Medicare医疗保险制度，公民权、公民自由、核武器条约，消费者和环境保护法的胜利...
all sparked by citizen advocates and small third parties who never won a national election.
这都是来自于公民倡议者和那些从没有赢得过选举的小政党。
If you're willing to lose persistently, your causes can become winners in time.
如果你愿意一直失败，那么你总有一天会成功的。
The story of how I came to these civic activities
我开始参与公民运动的经历，
may be instructive for people who go along with Senator Daniel Webster's belief, "Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth."
对于信奉参议员丹尼尔·韦伯斯特所说的，“公正，是地球上所有人最大的心愿”的那些人可能会有所启发。
I grew up in a small, highly industrialized town in Connecticut with three siblings
我在康州一个小工业城市长大，有三个兄弟姐妹，
and parents who owned a popular restaurant, bakery and delicatessen.
父母拥有一家生意很好的餐厅兼面包和熟食店。
Two waterways, the Mad River and the Still River, crossed alongside our main street.
两条河，麦德河和静河在主街上交汇。
As a child, I asked why couldn't we wade and fish in them, like the rivers we read about in our schoolbooks.
小时候我曾问过，为什么我们不能在里面玩耍钓鱼，就像我们在课本里读到的那样。
The answer: the factories freely use these rivers to dump harmful toxic chemicals and other pollutants.
得到的回答是：工厂可以随意使用这条河来排泄有毒的化学品和其他污染物。
In fact, the companies took control of rivers that belonged to all of us for their own profitable pursuits.
其实，这些公司控制了本应属于我们所有人的河来为他们自己赚取利益。
Later, I realized the rivers were not part of our normal lives at all, except when they flooded our streets.
后来，我意识到这些河，除了流过我们的街道外，跟我们平时的生活一点关系都没有。
There were no water pollution regulations to speak of then.
当时没有任何关于水污染的法规。
I realized only strong laws could clean up our waterways.
我意识到，只有强制性的法律才能治理我们的河流。
My youthful observation of our town's two river-sewers
我小时候对家乡的两条河流的观察，
started a straight line to my eighth-grade graduation speech about the great conservationist, national park advocate John Muir,
直接导致了我在八年级毕业演讲时提到了，伟大的保守主义者、国家公园的倡导者约翰·缪尔，
then to my studies at Princeton on the origins of public sanitation, and then to Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring."
也是我后来在普林斯顿研究公共卫生起源和了解瑞秋卡森的《寂静的春天》的原因。
These engagements prepared me for seizing the golden hour of environmental lawmaking in the early 1970s.
这些经历让我做好准备抓住70年代初制定环保法的黄金时间。
I played a leading citizen role in lobbying through Congress the Clean Air Act; the clean water laws, EPA;
我带头向国会游说清洁空气法，向环保局游说清洁水源法，
workplace safety standards, OSHA; and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
向职业安全与保健管理总署游说办公场所安全标准，还有饮用水安全法。
If there's less lead in your body, no more asbestos in your lungs and cleaner air and water, it's because of those laws over the years.
如果你身体中的铅少了，肺里吸进的石棉少了，空气和水都更加干净了，那都是这些年这些法律的贡献。
Today, enforcement of these lifesaving laws under Trump is being dismantled wholesale.
如今，这些能救命的法律的执行正在特朗普的领导下逐步瓦解。
Rolling back these perils is the immediate challenge to a resurgent environmental movement for the young generation.
重新面对这些危险是对新一代环保运动的紧迫挑战。
As for consumer advocates, there are no permanent victories.
倡导消费者权益没有永久性的胜利。
Passing a law is only the first step. The next step, and the next step, is defending the law.
通过立法仅仅只是第一步。下一步，再下一步，就是捍卫法律。
For me, some of these battles were highly personal.
对我来说，某些斗争是出于个人原因。
I lost friends in high school and college to highway collisions, the first leading cause of death in that age group.
我在高中和大学因为交通事故失去了一些朋友，这是这个年龄最常见的致死原因。
Then, the blame was put on the driver, derisively called "the nut behind the wheel."
当时，司机要承担主要责任，他们被戏称为“轮子背后的疯子”。
True, drunk drivers had responsibility,
的确，醉酒的司机有责任，
but safer-designed vehicles and highways could prevent crashes and diminish their severity when they occurred.
但设计更加安全的汽车和公路可以减少事故，即使发生也可以降低事故的严重程度。
There were no seat belts, padded dash panels, no airbags or other crash-worthy protections to diminish the severity of collisions.
当时没有安全带、仪表盘，也没有安全气囊或者其他安全保障来减轻事故的后果。
The brakes, tires and handling stability of US vehicles left much to be desired, even in comparison with foreign manufacturers.
美国汽车的刹车、轮胎和操作稳定性跟理想状况相去甚远，也比外国制造的要差。
I liked to hitchhike, including back and forth from Princeton and Harvard Law School.
我喜欢搭便车，比如在普林斯顿和哈佛法学院之间往返。
Sometimes, a driver and I came upon ghastly crash scenes. The horrors made a deep impression on me.
有时候，我跟司机会目睹可怕的事故现场。那种恐怖的场景给我留下了很深的印象。
They sparked my writing a paper at law school on unsafe automotive design and the need for motor vehicle safety laws.
这些经历促使我在法学院写了一篇关于汽车不安全的设计，以及呼吁交通工具安全法的的论文。
One of my closest friends at law school, Fred Condon,
我在法学院最好的朋友之一，弗莱德·康顿，
was driving home one day from work to his young family in New Hampshire and momentarily drowsed behind the wheel of his station wagon.
有一天下班开车回到他在新罕布什尔的家，路上他时不时开始犯困。
The vehicle went to the shoulder of the road and tipped over.
于是车冲出路肩，翻了出去。
There were no seat belts in 1961. Fred became a paraplegic.
当时是1961年，车里还没有配置安全带。于是弗莱德成了截瘫的残疾人。
Such preventable violence created fire in my belly.
这个本可以避免的惨剧让我的内心久久不能平静。
The auto industry was cruelly refusing to install long-known lifesaving safety features and pollution controls.
而汽车工业残忍的拒绝了公认可以救命的安全设施和污染控制装置。
Instead, the industry focused on advertising the annual style changes and excessive horsepower. I was outraged.
反而在广告中着重强调每年的款型变化和额外的马力提升。我彻底出离愤怒了。
The more I investigated the suppression of auto safety devices,
随着我对被压制的车辆安全措施的研究越深入，
publicized evidence from court cases about the auto companies negligently harming vehicle occupants
从法庭案件中公布的汽车公司因疏忽导致乘车人员受伤的证据越多，
especially the instability of a GM vehicle called the Corvair -- the more General Motors was keen on discrediting my writings and testimony.
尤其是通用汽车那款科威尔的性能很不稳定--通用汽车也越来越执着于让公众质疑我文章和证词的可信度。
They hired private detectives to follow me in order to get dirt.
他们雇佣了私家侦探跟踪我，想抓到我的把柄。
After the publication of my book, "Unsafe at Any Speed,"
我的书《任何速度都不安全》出版以后，
GM wanted to undermine my forthcoming testimony before a Senate subcommittee in 1966.
通用汽车公司想要破坏我即将于1966年在参议院小组委员会面前的证词。
The Capitol Police caught them. The media was all over the struggle in Congress between me and giant General Motors.
国会警察抓住了他们。媒体都在报道国会在我和通用汽车这个大公司之间的斗争。
With remarkable speed compared to today, in 1966, Congress and President Johnson
相比于现在，在1966年，国会和约翰逊总统，
brought the largest industry in America under federal regulation for safety, pollution control and fuel efficiency.
以相当快的速度把这个美国最大行业的安全、污染和燃油效率纳入了联邦管辖。
By the year 2015, three and a half million deaths were averted just in the US, millions more injuries prevented, billions of dollars saved.
到2015年，仅仅在美国，就减少了350万人的死亡，避免了几百万人的受伤，并节省了几十亿美元。
What did it take for a victory against such overwhelming odds?
为什么即使面对如此大的困难，我们还是获得了胜利呢？
Well, there were: one, a few advocates who knew how to communicate the evidence everywhere;
原因是：第一，一小部分倡议者知道如何四处散播有力的证据；
two, several key receptive congressional committee chairs led by three senators;
第二，有三位参议员和几位关键国会议员的支持；
three, about seven reporters from major newspapers who regularly reported on the unfolding story;
第三，有大约七位主要报纸的记者持续报道故事的真相；
four, President Lyndon Johnson, with assistance, amenable to creating a regulatory safety agency, NHTSA;
第四，林登·约翰逊总统在其他人的帮助下，成立了安全监管机构，美国国家公路交通安全管理局；
and five, a dozen auto engineers, inspectors and physicians who divulged crucial information, and who need to be better known.
以及第五，一批汽车工程师、检查员和技师向我们透露了关键的信息，他们值得被我们更多人了解。
One more factor was critical: informed public opinion.
还有一项因素很关键：公众的知情。
A majority of people learned about how much safer their cars could be.
大部分人了解到了他们的车能变得多么安全。
They wanted their vehicles to be fuel-efficient. They wanted to breathe cleaner air.
他们希望他们的交通工具更加省油。他们希望呼吸到更干净的空气。
The result: in September 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed the safety legislation in the White House with me by his side, receiving a pen!
结果就是：在1996年9月，林登·约翰逊总统在白宫签署了安全法，而我就站在他旁边，还拿到了一只笔！
Between 1966 and 1976, those six critically connected factors were used over and over.
在1966到1976年之间，这六项重要的相关因素被反复采纳。
It became the golden age of legislation and regulatory action for consumer, worker and environmental protection.
这段时间成为了消费者、工人和环境保护方面立法和监管的黄金时代。
Those connected elements of our past campaigns need to be kept in mind by people striving to do the same today
这些过去发挥了重要作用的因素，需要被今天那些想做出类似贡献的人们记住，
for drinking water safety, antibiotic resistance deaths, criminal justice reform, risks from climate disruption, bio- and nanotech impacts,
那些为饮用水安全、抗生素耐药性致死、司法改革、气候破坏、生物和纳米技术的影响、
the nuclear arms race, peace treaties, dangers to children, chemical and radioactive perils, and the like.
核装备竞赛、和平条约、儿童安全、化学和放射性危害等领域做出类似贡献的人们。
According to a solid study in 2016 by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,
根据2016年约翰·霍普金斯医学院的研究显示，
preventable hospital deaths take a mind-boggling 5,000 lives a week in America.
在美国，医院可以避免的死亡，每周竟高达5000例。

The 1980s climax: our dramatic struggle to limit smoking in public places,
80年代的热潮：我们力争在公共场所禁烟，
regulate the tobacco industry and establish conditions for reducing smoking.
规范烟草行业，并建立适宜的条件以减少吸烟。
Their struggle began in earnest in 1964, with the US Surgeon General's famous report linking cigarette smoking to cancer and other diseases.
他们的斗争从1964年美国军医长那篇著名的报告，指明吸烟会导致癌症及其他疾病开始，正式打响。
Over 400,000 deaths a year in the United States are related to smoking.
美国每年超过40万的死亡都是与吸烟相关。
Public hearings, litigation, media exposés and industry whistleblowers joined with crucial medical scientists to take on a very powerful industry.
听证会、诉讼、媒体报道以及行业的吹哨人都加入了医学科学家，一同对抗这个非常强大的行业。
I asked Michael Pertschuk, a leading Senate staffer, how many full-time advocates were working on tobacco industry control at that time.
我询问了参议院工作人员，迈克尔·皮尔查克，有多少全职的倡议者当时致力于烟草行业管控。
Mr. Pertschuk estimated no more than 1,000 full-time champions in the US pressing for a smoke-free society.
皮尔查克估计，在美国，呼吁无烟社会的全职倡导者不超过1000人。
I say that's a remarkably small number of people making it happen.
我想，居然只有这么少的人就能取得成功。
They had a public opinion majority of aroused people, nonsmokers, behind them.
他们背后，是广大的公众和不吸烟者的支持。
Many smokers were quitting the nicotine addiction.
很多吸烟者都计划戒烟。
Just think: from 45 percent of adults down to 15 percent by 2018.
只需要想一想：成年人中的吸烟者从45%下降到2018年的15%。
The tipping point was when Congress passed legislation empowering the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the tobacco companies.
转折点发生在国会通过立法允许食品药品监督管理局来规范烟草公司。
Keep in mind that advances for consumers and workers are usually followed by a variety of corporate counterattacks.
请记住，消费者和员工的胜利总会遭到各种大公司的反击。
When the fervor behind such reform fades,
当支持这类改革的热情消退时，
then legislatures and regulatory agencies become very vulnerable to industry capture that stalls existing or further enforcement.
立法机构和监管机构就会变得非常脆弱，容易向行业妥协，从而阻碍现有的或进一步监管的执行。
What's that saying? "Justice requires constant vigilance."
那句话怎么说来着？“公正需要持续的警觉”。
We see the difference between the driven stamina of counterattacking, profit-driven corporate power
我们看到，大公司为了逐利而持续反击，
and the fatigue that overcomes a voluntary citizenry whose awareness and skill need renewal.
而群众却因为获得了短暂的胜利而感到疲惫不堪，亟待休整。
It is not a fair contest between large companies like General Motors, Pfizer, ExxonMobil, Wells Fargo, Monsanto,
那些行业巨头，例如通用汽车、辉瑞制药埃克森美孚、富国银行、孟山都，
plus other very wealthy companies and lobbyists, compared to people protection groups with very limited resources.
以及其他财力雄厚的大公司和他们的说客，和资源极其有限的群众保护团体之间的对抗是非常不公平的。
Moreover, the corporations have immunities and privileges unavailable to real human beings.
而且，大公司还拥有普通人所没有的豁免权和其他特权。
For example, Takata was guilty of a horrific airbag scandal, but the company escaped criminal prosecution.
比如，高田公司制造了空气气囊丑闻，但却免于刑事起诉。
Instead, Takata was allowed to go bankrupt and its executives kept nice nest eggs.
相反，该公司被允许申请破产保护，高管们还能保住他们的财富。
But organized people need not be awed by corporate power.
但群众组织不需要害怕他们的企业权力。
Lawmakers still want votes more than they need campaign finance from corporations.
相比于企业提供的竞选资金，立法者更想要的是选票。
We far outnumber corporations in potential influence.
我们在这方面的影响远比那些大公司要大。
But voters must be connected clearly to what organized voters want from the lawmakers.
但选民们一定要清楚他们对立法者的诉求。
Delegating the constitutional authority of "we the people," we want them to do the people's work.
作为“我们人民”的代表，我们希望他们能为我们负责。
A people's Congress, the most constitutionally powerful branch of government,
一个人民的国会，政府最有权力的机关，
can override, block or rechannel the most destructive corporations.
可以废除、阻挠或者重组没有良心的企业。
There are only 100 senators and 435 representatives with just two million organized activists back home, a Congress watchdog hobby.
我们只有100名参议员和435名众议员，背后是两百万有组织的维权斗士，他们是忠实的国会看门人。
Congressional justice can be made reliable and prompt. We've proved that again and again with far fewer people.
国会立法可以既可靠又迅速。我们用少得多的人数反复证明过。
But today, Congress, marinated in campaign money,
但如今，国会在竞选资金的浸淫下，
has been abdicating its responsibilities to an executive branch which too often has become a corporate state controlled by big companies.
面对被大公司控制的行政部门已经放弃了他们的使命。
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1938, in a message to Congress,
富兰克林·罗斯福总统在1938年给国会的消息中，
called concentrated corporate power over our government quote -- fascism -- end quote.
把过于集中的企业权力称为“法西斯主义”。
A modest engagement of one percent of adults in each of the 435 congressional districts,
在435个国会选区中，只要有百分之一的成年人适度参与，
summoning senators and representatives or state legislators to their own town meetings,
召集参议员、众议员或州议员参加他们自己的城镇会议，
where the citizenry presents their agenda, backed by a majority of voters, can turn Congress around.
由公民提出他们的议程，并得到大多数选民的支持，就可以改变国会的决定。
Our representatives can become a fountainhead of democracy and justice, elevating human possibilities.
我们的代表可以成为民主与正义的源泉，提升人类发展的可能性。
I dream of our schools, or after-school clinics, teaching community civic action skills, leading to the good life.
我期待我们的学校，或者课外辅导班，可以教授行使公民权利的方法，让我们过上更好的生活。
Adult education classes should do the same. We need to create citizen training and action libraries.
成人教育也是如此。我们需要开设公民培训项目，建立行动目录。
Students and adults love knowledge that relates to their daily lives.
孩子和大人都喜欢跟他们日常生活相关的知识。
Large majorities of Americans, regardless of political labels,
大部分美国人，不论他们持何种政治倾向，
favor a living wage, universal health insurance, real enforcement against corporate crime, fraud and abuse.
都想获得足够维持生计的劳动所得、医疗保障，以及对抗企业犯罪、诈骗和滥用职权的法律保障。
They want a fair, productive tax system,
他们想要一个公平、高效的税收体系，
public budgets returning value to the people back home in modern infrastructure, and an end to most corporate subsidies.
利用公共预算，通过现代化的基础设施让国内民众获益，并取消大多数企业补贴。
Increasingly, they're demanding serious attention to climate disruption and other environmental and global health perils and pandemics.
他们也越来越多的关注气候破坏，以及其他环境和全球健康领域的威胁。
Big majorities of people want efficient government, an end to endless, aggressive wars that boomerang.
绝大多数人想要更高效的政府，想要结束无休止的、只会适得其反的侵略战争。
They want clean elections and fair rules for voters and candidates.
他们想要更透明的选举以及更加公平的选民和候选人制度。
These are changes that bring people together, changes Congress can make happen.
这些都是能够团结大众的变化，也是国会可以实现的改变。
People around the world favor democracy, because it brings the best out of its inhabitants and its leaders.
全世界人民都想要民主，因为它能够让群众和领导者的价值得到最大程度的发挥。
But this objective requires citizens to want to spend time on this great opportunity called democracy, between and at elections.
但要想实现这个目标，人们需要愿意在选举前和选举时，为伟大的民主目标付出时间。
History gives examples that encourage us to believe that breaking through power is easier than we think.
历史上有很多这样的例子让我们相信，打破权力的壁垒比我们想的要容易。
People say to me, "I don't know what to do!" Start to learn by doing.
人们常常跟我说，“我不知道该怎么做！”那就从行动中学习。
The more they practice citizen action, the more skilled and innovative they become at it.
他们越多的行使自己的公民权力，就越善于使用和创新。
Like learning a trade, a profession, a hobby, learning how to swim,
就像学习做生意、一门专业、一项爱好、学游泳，
their doubts, prejudgments and hesitancy begin to melt away in the crucible of action.
一旦开始行动，他们的怀疑、偏见和疑惑都会逐渐消失。
Their arguments for change become deeper and sharper.
他们呼吁变革的观念会更加深刻和清晰。
From 1965 to 1966, when I was making the case for safer automobiles,
从1965到1966年，我在呼吁加强汽车安全措施的过程中，
I realized that there were a lot of industries making a lot of money from dealing with the horrific results of crashes:
意识到很多行业都能从事故中赚得盆满钵满：
medical care, insurance sales, repairing cars... There was a perverse incentive to do nothing but maintain the status quo.
医疗、保险、汽车维修...他们有动力不去改变，而是维持现状。
By contrast, preventing these tragedies frees consumer dollars to spend or save in voluntary for better livelihoods.
相反的，阻止这些悲剧能够使消费者省下这些钱购买其他东西或是储蓄，以获得更好的生活。
What it takes is a small number of people to exert their civic muscle, both as individuals and organized groups, on our legal decision makers.
我们需要的是一小部分人，以个人和有组织的团体的身份，向我们的法律决策者行使公民权利。
Ideally, it only takes a few enlightened rich people contributing funds
理想情况下，只需要几位开明的富人提供资金，
to accelerate citizen efforts against the commanders of greed and power.
来帮助公民们对抗贪婪的执政者。
Why, in our past, rich people donated essential money for the antislavery, women's right to vote and civil rights movements.
原因是，以往，比较富裕的人群为反对奴隶、争取妇女投票权和其他民权运动都贡献了重要的资金。
We should remember that. With the onset of climate catastrophe,
我们要牢记他们的奉献。面对即将到来的气候灾难，
every one of us needs to have a higher estimate of our own significance, of our own sustained dedication to the civic life,
我们每个人都需要对自己的重要性，对自己对公民生活的持续奉献有更高的评价，
as part of a normal way of daily living, along with our personal family life.
应该和个人家庭生活一样，成为我们日常生活中的重要部分。
Showing up thoughtfully is half of democracy. That's what advances life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
有意识的参与只是民主的一部分。这是生活和民主进步的原因，也是我们对快乐的追求。
Remember, our country is full of problems we don't deserve and solutions which we do not apply.
请记住，我们的国家充斥着我们本不应该面对的问题和我们用不到的解决方法。
That gap is a democracy gap that no power can stop us from closing. We owe this to our posterity.
这是民主的缺口，没有力量能够阻止我们把它填平。这是我们理应为后人做的。
Don't we want our descendants, instead of cursing us for our shortsighted neglect,
难道我们希望后代咒骂我们的短视，
don't we want them to bless our foresight and bright horizons which can fulfill their lives peacefully and advance the common good? Thank you.
而不是感谢我们的远见卓识，让他们的生活更加和平和进步吗？谢谢。