311: A Better Mousetrap - This American Life
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00:00 00:00 Transcript Share This American Life Life Partners How to Listen Episodes Recommended About Overview Staff Announcements Fellowships Jobs Music Make Radio On The Road FAQ Submissions Merch Contact Us Our Other Shows Merch Follow Us Life Partners Subscribe to our newsletter Full episode Toggle Audio and Transcript Sync Transcript | Episode #311 | April 14, 2006 311: A Better Mousetrap Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard.
00:00 00:00 文字记录 分享此 美国生活 生活伙伴 如何收听 剧集 推荐 关于 概述 员工公告 奖学金 工作 音乐 在路上制作电台 常见问题解答 提交 商品 联系我们 我们的其他节目 商品 关注我们 生活伙伴 订阅我们的时事通讯 整集 切换音频和文字记录同步 文字记录 | 内容第 311 集 | 2006 年 4 月 14 日 311：更好的捕鼠器 注：《美国生活》是为耳朵而制作的，旨在让人们听到。
If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page.
如果可以的话，我们强烈建议您收听音频，其中包括页面上没有的情感和重点。
Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
文字记录是使用语音识别软件和人工转录员结合生成的，可能包含错误。
Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
请在印刷版引用前检查相应的音频。
Prologue Ira Glass Andy's grandfather ran the business.
序言 艾拉·格拉斯 安迪的祖父经营着这家公司。
Then his father ran the business.
然后他的父亲开始经营这家公司。
They make mousetraps, Victor brand mousetraps with the big red V on them.
他们制作捕鼠器，维克多牌捕鼠器，上面有大红色的V字。
But also glue traps, and electric traps, and those humane catch and release things.
还有胶水陷阱、电陷阱以及那些人道的捕捉和释放东西。
And traps that only professionals use.
还有只有专业人士才能使用的陷阱。
Andy's in charge of the part of the company that develops the new products and the job suits him.
安迪负责公司新产品开发部分，这份工作适合他。
I called him in his office.
我给他打电话到他的办公室。
I remember coming out here on Saturdays when I was very young and seeing the mousetraps being made and just being intrigued by the business.
我记得我很小的时候每周六都会来到这里，看到捕鼠器的制作过程，并对这项业务很感兴趣。
So I understand that because you guys are the number one mousetrap company in the world, people pitch you ideas on how to make a better mousetrap, right?
所以我明白，因为你们是世界上第一的捕鼠器公司，所以人们向你们提出如何制作更好的捕鼠器的想法，对吧？
All the time.
一直以来。
Ira Glass Can I ask you to just talk about some ones that were especially bad?
Ira Glass 我可以请你谈谈一些特别糟糕的事情吗？
Oh my.
天哪。
One that we rejected was one that is basically a pail that, in essence, the mouse can run up the side of.
我们拒绝的一个基本上是一个桶，本质上，老鼠可以在其侧面跑动。
Up a stairway, and then between one side of the bucket and the other, there's a dowel.
爬上楼梯，然后在水桶的一侧和另一侧之间有一根销钉。
And in the middle of it, a little cup of bait.
中间还有一小杯诱饵。
So they run across the dowel, and once they get to the cup, it turns over and spills them--
所以他们跑过销钉，一旦他们到达杯子，杯子就会翻过来，把他们洒出来——
Into the bucket.
进桶里。
Andy Woolworth Into a pail of-- and since they wanted to be environmentally friendly, a pail of antifreeze that was environmentally friendly.
安迪·伍尔沃斯 (Andy Woolworth) 放入一桶——因为他们想要环保，所以一桶环保的防冻剂。
Wait, wait.
等等，等等。
Andy Woolworth Right, and I believe that the antifreeze would also keep the scent problem down of a dead rodent.
安迪·伍尔沃斯（Andy Woolworth） 是的，我相信防冻剂还可以减少死去的啮齿动物的气味问题。
You might have a whole 20 drowned mice in this thing.
这东西里可能有整整 20 只被淹死的老鼠。
And so it's incredibly ingenious and very clever.
所以它非常巧妙而且非常聪明。
So do you think that actually could work?
那么你认为这实际上可行吗？
Oh it does work.
哦，它确实有效。
Ira Glass It does work, but it's not the sort of thing that you think many people are going to want to buy?
Ira Glass 它确实有效，但你认为很多人不会想买这种东西？
Right, people really don't want a pail, to end up with a-- I mean having a dead mouse for a lot of people is a problem.
是的，人们真的不想要一桶，最后得到的是——我的意思是，对于很多人来说，有一只死老鼠是一个问题。
Having a dead mouse in a pail of antifreeze and dumping it out, or in this case having maybe six or seven, just is not commercially, in our opinion, a great opportunity.
在我们看来，将一只死老鼠放在一桶防冻剂中并将其倒掉，或者在这种情况下可能有六七只，这在商业上并不是一个很好的机会。
I mean people are incredibly creative.
我的意思是人们非常有创造力。
I mean I've got a book of patents that were just from the late 80's to 1950.
我的意思是，我有一本 80 年代末到 1950 年代的专利书。
And there are thousands and thousands of tanks and cages, all sorts of weird looking shaped boxes and things that look like medieval torture chambers.
还有成千上万的坦克和笼子，各种形状怪异的盒子和看起来像中世纪酷刑室的东西。
Can you tell me one where you totally admired the ingenuity, but you just thought, no way.
你能告诉我一个你完全钦佩这种独创性的地方吗，但你只是想，不可能。
Well, yeah I sure will.
嗯，是的，我肯定会的。
This one is alarming in its ingenuity.
这件作品的独创性令人震惊。
A mouse went into a little box area, and when it nibbled at the bait, the door shut behind it.
一只老鼠走进了一个小盒子区域，当它咬住诱饵时，门就在它身后关上了。
OK, nothing too abnormal about that.
好吧，这没什么太反常的。
But it dropped a pill into a little bit of water.
但它把一颗药丸扔进了一点水里。
And the pellet dropped into water and it gave off a gas the killed them.
颗粒落入水中，释放出气体杀死了他们。
And it would die of carbon monoxide poisoning.
它会死于一氧化碳中毒。
In other words, it went into a gas chamber.
换句话说，它进入了毒气室。
I am not kidding.
我不是在开玩笑。
Ira Glass I'm sitting here literally stunned.
Ira Glass：我坐在这里简直惊呆了。
As as a Jewish person, I actually am stunned.
作为一个犹太人，我真的很震惊。
I was horrified.
我很害怕。
We didn't think that had very good commercial liability in the United States.
我们认为这在美国没有很好的商业责任。
And we were surprised that it was available, that people were trying to market it in Germany.
我们很惊讶它是可用的，人们试图在德国销售它。
So with all of these people trying to invent a better mousetrap, the dirty secret of trapping mice is, mice are really easy to catch.
因此，尽管所有这些人都试图发明一种更好的捕鼠器，但捕捉老鼠的肮脏秘密是，老鼠真的很容易捕捉。
That's why every inventor thinks that he can do it.
这就是为什么每个发明家都认为他能做到。
Catching a mouse is basically playing against a casino where you always win.
抓老鼠基本上就是在赌场里玩，你总是赢。
The regular, old-fashioned, cheap little mousetrap, Andy says, will usually catch the mouse in 24 to 48 hours.
安迪说，普通的老式廉价小捕鼠器通常会在 24 到 48 小时内捕获老鼠。
It will kill it 88% of the time.
88%的情况下它会杀死它。
Other traps that aren't much more expensive have 100% lethality.
其他价格不高的陷阱也有 100% 的杀伤力。
Mice are easy to kill because mice, unlike rats, are incredibly inquisitive animals.
老鼠很容易被杀死，因为老鼠与老鼠不同，是一种好奇心极强的动物。
They investigate anything that's new.
他们调查任何新事物。
Anything that's in their normal territory for the evening, and that's typically-- most people don't know this but most mice only stay within 10 feet of where they are, max.
晚上正常活动范围内的任何事物，这通常是——大多数人不知道这一点，但大多数老鼠最多只停留在距其所在位置 10 英尺的范围内。
And oftentimes it's less than that.
通常情况下，这个数字要少一些。
And they may investigate that area 30 times during the night.
他们可能会在夜间对该区域进行 30 次调查。
They're not just going out once.
他们不只是出去一次。
Well in a way what you're describing is almost the ideal animal to be caught.
从某种程度上来说，你所描述的几乎是最理想的捕获动物。
Exactly.
确切地。
Ira Glass And so the problem for the mousetrap inventor is the world actually does not need a better mousetrap.
Ira Glass 因此，对于捕鼠器发明者来说，问题是世界实际上并不需要更好的捕鼠器。
The world will not beat its way to that person's door.
世界不会主动找上那个人的门。
Andy sells two mousetraps for $0.99 that do the job just great, 88% lethality.
安迪以 0.99 美元的价格出售了两个捕鼠器，效果非常好，杀伤力高达 88%。
That is the reality of what a mousetrap inventor is competing with.
这就是捕鼠器发明者所面临的竞争的现实。
Whereas the inventors almost never understand.
而发明者几乎从来不理解。
Well they are always persistent, whether it's letters, or phone calls, or stopping here.
那么他们总是执着的，无论是信件，还是电话，或者停在这里。
They are passionate about their idea and are so disappointed when we turn them down.
他们对自己的想法充满热情，当我们拒绝他们时他们感到非常失望。
Like they can't believe it.
就像他们不敢相信一样。
Andy Woolworth They can't believe it.
安迪·伍尔沃斯 他们简直不敢相信。
Because for them, there is the magic of the moment of invention, right?
因为对他们来说，发明那一刻的魔力是存在的，对吧？
They actually came up with a new idea.
他们实际上想出了一个新主意。
That's right.
这是正确的。
Ira Glass And it turns out that's just not enough in this cold, cold world.
Ira Glass 事实证明，在这个寒冷的世界里，这还不够。
It's very hard.
这很难。
It's their baby.
这是他们的孩子。
Again, they have nurtured this thing.
再次，他们培育了这个东西。
Well today on our program, we have four stories of inventions in a world that does not always need or want new ideas.
今天在我们的节目中，我们有四个关于发明的故事，这个世界并不总是需要或想要新想法。
From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life distributed by Public Radio International.
这是来自芝加哥 WBEZ 的《This American Life》，由国际公共广播电台发行。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
We have four stories for you of ingenuity and heartbreak.
我们为您准备了四个关于独创性和心碎的故事。
Stay with us.
留在我们身边。
Act One, Mother of Invention.
第一幕，发明之母。
So we start with somebody inventing a new way to do something and in an area of life where you might not think there could be any new ways to do anything left.
因此，我们从某人发明了一种新的做事方式开始，在生活的某个领域，你可能认为不会有任何新的方式来做任何事情。
Karen Sosnoski tells the story.
凯伦·索斯诺斯基讲述了这个故事。
Her son Anton was born with Mosaic Down syndrome, which is this very rare form of Down Syndrome.
她的儿子安东出生时患有马赛克唐氏综合症，这是一种非常罕见的唐氏综合症。
Essentially some of his cells have the extra chromosome that causes Down Syndrome and the other cells don't.
本质上，他的一些细胞具有导致唐氏综合症的额外染色体，而其他细胞则没有。
So as he grows, he could actually end up having all the health risks and challenges of Down Syndrome or very few of them.
因此，随着他的成长，他实际上可能最终会面临唐氏综合症的所有健康风险和挑战，或者其中很少的风险和挑战。
There's no way to know.
没有办法知道。
Some kids with MDS look totally normal but then have all kinds of learning disabilities.
一些患有 MDS 的孩子看起来完全正常，但实际上却存在各种学习障碍。
Others have all the physical features of a person with Down Syndrome but then have a high IQ.
其他人具有唐氏综合症患者的所有身体特征，但智商很高。
It's a diagnosis that's so vague it can drive a parent crazy.
这种诊断如此模糊，可能会让父母抓狂。
And Karen had no idea what the diagnosis would mean for her son's future.
凯伦不知道这个诊断对她儿子的未来意味着什么。
So she started doing some research.
于是她开始做一些研究。
She found a Mosaic Down Syndrome website.
她找到了一个马赛克唐氏综合症网站。
And on that website, she started reading about a boy named Tim.
在那个网站上，她开始读到一个名叫蒂姆的男孩的故事。
A boy who, in a bunch of different ways, was not what she was expecting, and whose mom had invented a radical way of dealing with the diagnosis, something Karen had never heard of.
这个男孩在很多方面都不是她所期待的，而他的妈妈发明了一种激进的方法来处理诊断，这是凯伦从未听说过的。
Here she is.
她在这里。
Tim was 13 when I first saw his picture on the internet.
当我第一次在互联网上看到他的照片时，蒂姆 13 岁。
He had geeky, blunt-cut bangs and a wide, innocent smile.
他有一头怪异的直刘海，笑容灿烂、天真无邪。
He had the same diagnosis as my son Anton, but he had the happy face of an ordinary boy.
他和我儿子安东有同样的诊断，但他有着普通男孩般的快乐表情。
And when I looked at this photo, my heart raced with hope.
当我看到这张照片时，我的心充满希望。
Here was a kid I could imagine as my own.
这是一个我可以想象为我自己的孩子。
"A late bloomer," his mom wrote, but so what?
“大器晚成”，他妈妈写道，但那又怎样呢？
He had hobbies and friends.
他有自己的爱好和朋友。
He was a bookworm like I am.
他和我一样是个书虫。
To be honest, Tim's bio made me feel less guilty about Anton.
老实说，蒂姆的简历让我对安东的愧疚感减轻了。
Part of me blamed myself for what had happened.
我的一部分因为所发生的事情而责怪自己。
Everyone knew advanced maternal age was a major risk factor for having a baby with Down Syndrome.
每个人都知道高龄产妇是生出患有唐氏综合症的婴儿的主要危险因素。
And here I'd waited until 40 to have him.
在这里我一直等到40岁才得到他。
But maybe if I played my cards absolutely right from here on in, he could still turn out just fine.
但也许如果我从现在开始就完全正确地打牌，他仍然会表现得很好。
Tim's mother, Kristy, was like a role model for me.
蒂姆的母亲克里斯蒂就像我的榜样。
She founded an international support group for parents of kids with Mosaic Down Syndrome.
她为患有马赛克唐氏综合症的孩子的父母成立了一个国际支持小组。
She wanted us to be sure the world gave them a fair shake, and I like this.
她希望我们确保世界给予他们公平的对待，我喜欢这一点。
But to make this happen for her own son, she did something I could never have imagined, something that shocks people every time I tell them.
但为了让自己的儿子实现这一目标，她做了一些我从未想象过的事情，每次我告诉人们时都会感到震惊。
For years, she kept her son's diagnosis a secret.
多年来，她一直对儿子的诊断保密。
She didn't tell his teachers.
她没有告诉他的老师。
She didn't tell her neighbors.
她没有告诉邻居。
And most incredibly, for the first 14 years of his life, she didn't tell Tim.
最令人难以置信的是，在蒂姆出生的前 14 年里，她没有告诉蒂姆。
I first heard Kristy talk about her secret at a conference.
我第一次听到克里斯蒂谈论她的秘密是在一次会议上。
Then, a couple months ago, I left my one year old son Anton for the first time and travelled down to Texas to find out more from Kristy and Tim.
然后，几个月前，我第一次离开一岁的儿子安东，前往德克萨斯州，从克里斯蒂和蒂姆那里了解更多信息。
How had Tim turned out so well?
蒂姆怎么会表现得这么好呢？
How much of it was because she had kept his diagnosis a secret?
有多少是因为她对他的诊断保密？
She told me she didn't start off planning to deceive anyone.
她告诉我她一开始并没有打算欺骗任何人。
When Tim started kindergarten, Kristy did what most parents do.
当蒂姆开始上幼儿园时，克里斯蒂做了大多数父母所做的事情。
She didn't keep his disability a secret.
她没有把他的残疾保密。
She explained to the teachers that he had Mosaic Down Syndrome.
她向老师解释说他患有马赛克唐氏综合症。
She asked the teachers to treat him like any other kid, and she crossed her fingers.
她请求老师们像对待其他孩子一样对待他，她祈祷着。
But it didn't work out as she had planned.
但事情并没有按照她的计划进行。
This is Kristy.
这是克里斯蒂。
I know one time I went in there to visit the classroom, and all the little children are sitting up in their nice little story time circle.
我知道有一次我去那里参观教室，所有的小孩子都坐在他们漂亮的小故事时间圈里。
And he's lying in the middle of the carpet, rolling around and lying around.
而他就躺在地毯中央，滚来滚去，躺着。
And I asked the teacher, why is he laying when everyone else is sitting down?
我问老师，为什么其他人都坐着的时候他却躺着？
And she said, well he likes to do that.
她说，好吧，他喜欢这样做。
And we just want to make him happy.
我们只是想让他开心。
And so it was because he had Mosaic Down Syndrome.
这是因为他患有马赛克唐氏综合症。
And so I knew then, maybe it's not a good idea for everybody to know because they are going to make excuses for him.
所以我当时就知道，也许让每个人都知道不是一个好主意，因为他们会给他找借口。
And I wanted him more than anything to just be as normal as normal is, to have the same opportunities that everyone else had.
我最希望他能像平常一样正常，拥有和其他人一样的机会。
So the next year when school began, I didn't tell his teacher.
所以第二年开学的时候，我没有告诉他的老师。
And then we thought, if he knows that he has Mosaic Down Syndrome, he's going to use that for a crutch, big time.
然后我们想，如果他知道自己患有马赛克唐氏综合症，他会用它作为拐杖，非常重要。
So we decided, we're just not going to tell him until he gets a little bit older.
所以我们决定，在他长大一点之前我们不会告诉他。
Which could get kind of complicated.
这可能会变得有点复杂。
She had to talk behind Tim's back and over his head.
她不得不在蒂姆背后、越过他的头说话。
She had to tell family members never to mention Tim's condition in front of him.
她必须告诉家人永远不要在蒂姆面前提及蒂姆的病情。
And it's OK if you people know it, but I don't want him to know it.
如果你们知道也没关系，但我不想让他知道。
I turned into a tricky person.
我变成了一个狡猾的人。
Were there times when you were tempted to tell him?
有时候你很想告诉他吗？
One time stands out really, really deeply in my mind.
有一次，我的脑海里留下了深刻、深刻的印象。
He was around 10 years old, and he had a little treehouse.
他大约10岁，有一个小树屋。
And all the kids would come over to be in his treehouse with him.
所有的孩子都会过来和他一起住在他的树屋里。
And this one little boy in our neighborhood had Down Syndrome.
我们邻居的这个小男孩患有唐氏综合症。
And I looked outside.
我向外看了看。
All the kids are playing.
所有的孩子都在玩耍。
And Tim pushed this little boy down.
蒂姆把这个小男孩推倒了。
And I was like, "No, you don't push him down.
我当时想，“不，你不能把他推倒。
That's not nice." And I made him come inside and I said, "Why did you push this little boy down?" And he goes, "I don't like him.
这不太好。”我让他进来，我说：“你为什么要把这个小男孩推倒？”他说：“我不喜欢他。
He looks different." That crushed me.
他看起来不一样了。”这让我心碎。
That crushed me.
这让我心碎。
And I said, "Well, why don't you like him?
我说：“那你为什么不喜欢他呢？
Just because he looks different?
就因为他长得不一样？
Everybody looks different." And he said, "No, he talks funny.
每个人看起来都不一样。”他说：“不，他说话很有趣。
I don't like him." And I wanted so much at that point to say don't you know that you have the same chromosomes as him?
我不喜欢他。”那时我很想说你难道不知道你和他有相同的染色体吗？
When I was a lot younger I used to think that because I was different I thought maybe I was from another world, that I was an alien or something.
当我年轻得多的时候，我曾经认为，因为我与众不同，所以我认为我可能来自另一个世界，我是一个外星人什么的。
This is Tim.
这是蒂姆。
He's almost 20 now but he doesn't look much older than his picture at 13.
现在他已经快20岁了，但看起来并不比照片上13岁的时候老多少。
It's not super obvious that he has a medical condition, but if you're at all tuned into Down Syndrome, you can probably guess.
他患有唐氏综合症并不是很明显，但如果你有唐氏综合症，你可能会猜到。
His eyes have those extra folds, and he talks in a slow careful way like he's having to work to shape his words.
他的眼睛有多余的褶皱，说话的语气缓慢而小心，就像他必须努力塑造自己的措辞一样。
Academically though, Tim blows any stereotypes about Down Syndrome out of the water.
但在学术上，蒂姆打破了人们对唐氏综合症的刻板印象。
His IQ is 110, higher than the national average.
他的智商为110，高于全国平均水平。
He got A's and B's with no special help at a mainstream school.
他在主流学校没有得到任何特殊帮助，就取得了 A 和 B 的成绩。
But by junior high, Tim was starting to have a hard time fitting in with other kids.
但到了初中，蒂姆开始很难融入其他孩子。
He would do weird things like burp or rock on his heels in class.
他会在课堂上做出一些奇怪的事情，比如打嗝或用脚后跟晃动。
He'd say inappropriate things, like the time he got so excited about a slasher movie that he confused himself with the main character.
他会说一些不恰当的话，比如有一次他对一部恐怖电影太兴奋，以至于把自己和主角搞混了。
"I started shooting people," he told the kids at his lunch table.
“我开始向人开枪，”他在午餐桌上告诉孩子们。
As you can imagine, he didn't make a lot of friends this way.
你可以想象，他并没有通过这种方式结交很多朋友。
All I knew is that I was different because people were bothering me all the time.
我只知道我与众不同，因为人们一直在打扰我。
Can you give an example?
你能举个例子吗？
Tim Colvin Insults, being picked on, teased, hazing-- if you know what that is.
蒂姆·科尔文 (Tim Colvin) 侮辱、被欺负、被嘲笑、被欺负——如果你知道那是什么的话。
Tim started realizing that there was something different about him.
蒂姆开始意识到他有些不同。
And when Tim was around 12 years old, we were on our way to the grocery store.
当蒂姆 12 岁左右时，我们正在去杂货店的路上。
And I was driving and Tim was sitting in the front seat next to me.
我正在开车，蒂姆坐在我旁边的前排座位上。
And we hadn't been talking at all.
而且我们根本没有说话。
I mean the radio is going.
我的意思是收音机正在播放。
We're not listening to-- talking to each other.
我们没有互相倾听。
And all of a sudden--
突然间——
I asked my mom, "Do I have a medical problem that you don't want to tell me about because you think I'm not mature enough to handle it?"
我问妈妈：“我有什么健康问题，你不想告诉我，是不是因为你认为我还不够成熟，无法处理它？”
We pulled over at the park.
我们在公园停下来。
And I stopped the car.
我把车停了下来。
And I looked at him and I said, "Why do you want to know this?" And he said, "You know, I just know that I'm different."
我看着他说：“你为什么想知道这个？”他说：“你知道，我只知道我与众不同。”
But she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth.
但她无法让自己告诉他真相。
She didn't know if Tim was ready, and she didn't feel ready.
她不知道蒂姆是否准备好了，她也觉得自己还没有准备好。
She said nothing.
她什么也没说。
I was really-- probably lost sleep over it because I kept going back and forth with, have I done the right thing keeping this from him?
我真的——可能为此失眠了，因为我一直在想，我是否做了正确的事情来让他不知道这件事？
But at that time I wasn't sure.
但当时我并不确定。
No matter how hard I tried to make his world so great, still kids picked on him.
无论我如何努力让他的世界变得如此美好，孩子们仍然欺负他。
And so as years progressed, one day he came home and he was about 14.
随着岁月的流逝，有一天他回到家，那时他已经14岁了。
And he came home and he said, "Mom, I feel like I'm the only person in the whole world who has the same problems as me." And it just broke my heart.
他回到家说：“妈妈，我觉得我是全世界唯一一个和我有同样问题的人。”这让我心碎。
My husband came home from work that night.
那天晚上我丈夫下班回家。
And I said, "We're going to have to probably pretty soon tell him."
我说：“我们可能很快就会告诉他。”
But they didn't.
但他们没有。
For another six whole months.
又过了整整六个月。
It seemed so difficult.
看起来太难了。
Here Kristy had to tell Tim that she had kept the fundamental truth about his identity from him for most of his life.
在这里，克里斯蒂必须告诉蒂姆，她在蒂姆一生的大部分时间里都对他隐瞒了有关他身份的基本真相。
What's more, it seemed that her efforts to protect him might have actually made things worse.
更何况，她为保护他所做的努力，似乎反而让事情变得更糟了。
I think that we just worried how he was going to react.
我想我们只是担心他会如何反应。
We didn't know how he was going to.
我们不知道他会怎样。
We didn't know what to expect at all whatsoever.
我们根本不知道会发生什么。
We didn't know if he would be happy or mad or sad or what.
我们不知道他会高兴、生气、悲伤还是什么。
We just didn't know what to expect at all.
我们根本不知道会发生什么。
And so I think that was our main worry.
所以我认为这是我们主要担心的。
So we sat down on the couch.
于是我们就坐在沙发上。
My husband tried to leave.
我丈夫试图离开。
And so Tim comes in from his bedroom and sits down.
于是蒂姆从他的卧室进来并坐下来。
And I said, "We've got something to tell you." And he said, "What?" I said, "Remember how a while back you asked me if you had a medical problem that I didn't want you to know about?" And he said yes.
我说：“我们有话要告诉你。”他说：“什么？”我说：“还记得不久前你问我是否有我不想让你知道的健康问题吗？”他说是的。
And I said, "Do you remember when you said you felt like you're the only person in the whole world who had the problems that you had?" And he said yes.
我说：“你还记得你说过你觉得你是全世界唯一一个遇到你所遇到的问题的人吗？”他说是的。
She told me I had Mosaic Down Syndrome.
她告诉我我患有马赛克唐氏综合症。
I don't know her exact words, but that's what she said.
我不知道她具体说了什么，但她就是这么说的。
What came into your mind when she told you that?
当她告诉你这件事时，你想到了什么？
Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, X-Men.
暴风女、独眼巨人、侠盗、X战警。
Karen Sosnoski Why did X-Men come into your mind?
凯伦·索斯诺斯基 (Karen Sosnoski) 为什么你会想到 X 战警？
Because the X-Men are mutants, genetic.
因为X战警是基因突变体。
They gain those genetic problems.
他们患有这些遗传问题。
And that's what I felt like.
这就是我的感受。
I felt like an X-Men.
我感觉自己像个X战警。
I thought that was kind of cool.
我觉得这很酷。
And just like that, the truth was out.
就这样，真相大白了。
Ironically, what happened next was exactly the opposite of what Kristy had feared.
讽刺的是，接下来发生的事情与克里斯蒂所担心的完全相反。
Tim didn't seem angry.
蒂姆看上去并没有生气。
He didn't stop trying in school.
他并没有停止在学校的尝试。
The diagnosis actually made him more conscious of his strange behaviors, like the rocking on his heels, so he could work harder at controlling them.
这个诊断实际上让他更加意识到自己的奇怪行为，比如脚后跟的摇晃，这样他就可以更加努力地控制它们。
Mostly he was relieved.
主要是他松了口气。
He had spent so many years feeling like there was something wrong with him that finding out there was wasn't so bad.
多年来他一直感觉自己有什么问题，但发现问题并没有那么糟糕。
In his junior year, Tim came out to his classmates during a presentation on genetics.
大三时，蒂姆在一次遗传学演讲中向同学出柜。
After that, the kids started cutting him some slack.
从那以后，孩子们开始放纵他。
He wasn't the weird kid anymore.
他不再是那个奇怪的孩子了。
He was a kid with that Mosaic Down thing.
他小时候就患有马赛克羽绒服。
And you couldn't blame him for that.
你不能因此责怪他。
So that was a real big turning point.
所以那是一个真正的大转折点。
He got a bunch of friends, real friends.
他有一群朋友，真正的朋友。
And it was our first time to have real friends.
这是我们第一次有真正的朋友。
And then all these three big teenage boys came back to our house to spend the night.
然后这三个大男孩都回到我们家过夜。
Never had such a thing, I mean never.
从来没有过这样的事情，我的意思是从来没有。
And so they're going to spend the night.
所以他们要过夜。
And so we've got all these boys and I'm going, we have to make popcorn.
所以我们有所有这些男孩，我要去，我们必须做爆米花。
We have to watch movies.
我们必须看电影。
And after I got them settled, I came in the bedroom and I bawled my head off because it was just so wonderful.
安顿好它们后，我走进卧室，大哭起来，因为那真是太棒了。
In fact it was 10:30 at night and I'm calling my mother, "I have teenage boys in the house."
事实上，当时是晚上 10:30，我打电话给妈妈，“我家里有十几岁的男孩。”
You would think, given how things turned out, Kristy might have had some regrets about waiting so long to tell Tim the truth.
你可能会想，考虑到事情的结果，克里斯蒂可能会后悔等了这么久才告诉蒂姆真相。
I kept waiting for her to crack or something during our interview, to admit she had made a mistake.
在我们的采访中，我一直等着她崩溃或者承认她犯了一个错误。
But she didn't.
但她没有。
And frankly, I was relieved.
坦白说，我松了一口气。
I don't want to cast judgment on Kristy.
我不想对克里斯蒂做出评判。
Tim's a great kid.
蒂姆是个好孩子。
Whether that's because of what Kristy did or in spite of it, I don't think anyone can say.
无论是因为克里斯蒂的所作所为还是尽管如此，我想没有人能说得清。
And anyway, Kristy and Tim have moved on to other issues like teaching Tim how to balance a checkbook, how to drive, how to get ready to live on his own.
不管怎样，克里斯蒂和蒂姆已经开始讨论其他问题，比如教蒂姆如何平衡支票簿、如何开车、如何准备独自生活。
And from Tim's point of view, Kristy has her own learning to do.
从蒂姆的角度来看，克里斯蒂有她自己的学习要做。
My mom is being a control freak right now.
我妈妈现在是个控制狂。
I'm going to be 20 this May.
今年5月我就20岁了。
It's time I started to be a bit more independent.
是时候我开始变得更加独立了。
How will you have to change to be more independent?
你必须如何改变才能变得更加独立？
When I leave this house, I plan to never wash the dishes again.
当我离开这个家时，我打算再也不洗碗了。
Who's going to wash them?
谁来洗它们？
Tim Colvin My wife.
蒂姆·科尔文 我的妻子。
I'm kidding.
我在开玩笑。
I'll have the kids do it.
我会让孩子们做的。
It's funny, or maybe just typical.
这很有趣，或者也许只是典型的。
Tim's critical of his mom, but when I ask him how he thinks I should raise Anton, his advice to me is to do just what she did.
蒂姆批评他的妈妈，但当我问他认为我应该如何抚养安东时，他给我的建议是像她那样做。
"Let people get to know Anton first before you tell them anything," Tim says to me.
“在你告诉人们任何事情之前，先让人们了解安东，”蒂姆对我说。
"Tell Anton when he's a teenager, when he's old enough to handle it." I know I probably won't do this.
“当安东十几岁的时候，当他大到可以处理这件事的时候，告诉他。”我知道我可能不会这样做。
After all, Kristy's secrecy didn't protect Tim from pain, which is what I want for my son.
毕竟，克里斯蒂的保密并不能保护蒂姆免受痛苦，而这正是我希望我儿子得到的。
So I'm back to square one with no trick to give Anton the perfect future, any more than I could give him those perfect chromosomes.
所以我又回到了原点，没有办法给安东一个完美的未来，就像我无法给他那些完美的染色体一样。
I'm like any other parent, waiting to see who my son becomes.
我像其他父母一样，等着看我的儿子成为谁。
[MUSIC - "I KNOW WHO I AM" BY BUNNY RUGGS]
[音乐 - BUNNY RUGGS 的“我知道我是谁”]
Act Two, Everything Must Go.
第二幕，一切都必须过去。
In the early 1990's, Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh was researching the underground economies in the city of Chicago.
1990 年代初期，Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh 正在研究芝加哥市的地下经济。
He was a grad student back then.
那时他还是一名研究生。
He wanted to know how people made money off the books, and he spent a lot of time in the poorer areas of the city where people had to invent ways to make their own livings.
他想知道人们如何从账面上赚钱，他花了很多时间在城市的贫困地区，那里的人们不得不发明谋生的方法。
He hung out with women selling food from their homes, car mechanics who ran their business from an alleyway, store owners who hosted late night gambling and dice games.
他和在家里卖食物的妇女、在小巷里经营生意的汽车修理工、举办深夜赌博和骰子游戏的商店老板一起出去玩。
None of them was reporting their income to the government.
他们没有人向政府报告自己的收入。
Then there was Nellie, who had a problem that not many people faced.
然后是内莉，她遇到了一个很少有人遇到的问题。
Here's Sudhir.
这是苏迪尔。
Nellie Thomas was a hustler who worked in and around his South Side neighborhood.
内莉·托马斯是一名骗子，在他的南区社区及其周边地区工作。
And over the course of his life, he was a pimp, drug dealer, car thief, extorter, jack roller, prostitute and burglar.
在他的一生中，他是一个皮条客、毒贩、偷车贼、勒索者、杰克·罗纳尔多、妓女和窃贼。
I met Nellie because I wanted to know how people bought guns in Chicago.
我遇见内莉是因为我想知道芝加哥人们如何购买枪支。
By the time I met him, Nellie had made a name for himself, not because he sold guns but because he sold ammunition.
当我见到他时，内利已经出名了，不是因为他卖枪，而是因为他卖弹药。
It's illegal to buy handguns in the city of Chicago.
在芝加哥市购买手枪是违法的。
For guns and ammo, people usually have to trek out to the suburbs, which isn't so easy.
为了获得枪支和弹药，人们通常必须长途跋涉到郊区，这并不容易。
Most gun stores are in white suburbs, and the black people in Nellie's community don't like to go there.
大多数枪支商店都在白人郊区，内莉社区的黑人不喜欢去那里。
So they buy guns in their own neighborhood for the most part.
所以他们大部分都是在自己的社区购买枪支。
Now, in the South Side where Nellie lived, if you have money and a little patience, you can probably find a gun within a few days.
现在，在内莉居住的南区，如果你有钱，有一点耐心，几天之内你可能就能找到一把枪。
But it's a lot harder to find ammo.
但寻找弹药要困难得多。
Nellie understood this, and he capitalized on the demand by becoming an ammunitions trader.
内利明白这一点，他利用这种需求成为了一名弹药商人。
Nellie would drive to the suburbs or he would hire people to go there and buy boxes of ammo for a few dollars each.
内莉会开车去郊区，或者他会雇人去那里买几箱弹药，每箱几美元。
Back in his own neighborhood, it might cost you a $100 for a box.
在他自己的社区，一盒可能要花 100 美元。
He sold bullets to gang members, robbers, drug dealers, prostitutes and just regular people who liked to have a weapon around.
他向帮派成员、强盗、毒贩、妓女以及喜欢随身携带武器的普通人出售子弹。
And when the gang wars heated up in the mid to late 90's, people bought several boxes at a time and Nellie was flush with cash.
当90年代中后期帮派战争愈演愈烈时，人们一次买了好几盒，内莉现金充裕。
"Good money, no hassle," he liked to say.
“钱好，没麻烦，”他喜欢说。
"Cops don't care much about me."
“警察不太关心我。”
When I started hanging out with Nellie, he was becoming bothered by his success.
当我开始和内莉一起出去玩时，他开始为自己的成功而烦恼。
He was making so much money that he didn't know what to do with it.
他赚了这么多钱，以至于他不知道该怎么花。
His needs were pretty minimal.
他的需求非常少。
He had a beat-up old truck that he fixed himself, and his parents had long ago paid off the mortgage on the bungalow where he was born and where he still lived.
他有一辆自己修理的破旧卡车，他的父母很早就还清了他出生和仍然居住的平房的抵押贷款。
The house was a modest, two-story and basement and backyard design that you could see all over Chicago.
这所房子是一个朴素的两层楼，有地下室和后院的设计，你在芝加哥随处可见。
Nellie was hardly a big consumer.
内莉算不上一个大消费者。
He liked to listen to a pocket-size radio, and although he had a fancy TV, he usually watched a little black and white in his bedroom.
他喜欢听袖珍收音机，虽然他有一台漂亮的电视，但他通常在卧室里看一点黑白片。
And he never traveled.
而且他从未旅行过。
For 20 years, he'd been eating at the same soul food restaurant every day.
20年来，他每天都在同一家灵魂美食餐厅吃饭。
He wore the same three or four pairs of clothes.
他穿着同样的三四套衣服。
And almost every day you could see him walking or playing golf-- very badly he said-- in the park next to his house.
几乎每天你都能看到他在他家旁边的公园里散步或打高尔夫球——他说得很糟糕。
Nellie also lived in a world of cash.
内莉也生活在一个金钱的世界里。
Like most underground traders, he couldn't take large sums of money to the bank.
和大多数地下交易者一样，他无法将大笔资金存入银行。
And for small sums, he simply didn't trust banks.
对于小额资金，他根本不信任银行。
So he put his cash in mattresses and in large, black trash bags that he hid inside his house or that he buried outside in the backyard.
因此，他将现金放入床垫和黑色大垃圾袋中，将其藏在屋内或埋在室外后院。
But Nellie was losing sleep because he was running out of places to keep his cash.
但内利却失眠了，因为他没有地方存放现金了。
He worried because there were other people living in his home, a girlfriend and her two children, a niece, his grandmother, an aunt and a brother with his girlfriend and two kids.
他很担心，因为他家里还有其他人，一个女朋友和她的两个孩子，一个侄女，他的祖母，一个阿姨和一个兄弟以及他的女朋友和两个孩子。
Nellie was scared he'd be robbed.
内莉害怕他会被抢劫。
And so he began staying up all night with a big shotgun next to his window.
于是他开始整夜不眠，窗边放着一把大猎枪。
His anxiety grew so bad that he started taking medication and drinking more.
他的焦虑变得如此严重，以至于他开始服用药物并增加饮酒量。
He was restless and fidgety, and he said he was yelling at his family for no good reason.
他焦躁不安，他说他无缘无故地对家人大喊大叫。
Sometimes he would call me early in the morning.
有时他一大早就给我打电话。
We both knew many of the local gang leaders, and he wanted me to tell him whether they were planning to raid his house.
我们都认识许多当地的帮派头目，他想让我告诉他他们是否计划袭击他的房子。
He also asked me strange questions, like whether squirrels could smell paper money and whether they would dig in his backyard and eat his holdings.
他还问了我一些奇怪的问题，比如松鼠是否能闻到纸币的味道，以及它们是否会在他的后院挖洞并吃掉他的财产。
He admitted he was going to the hospital nearly every two weeks due to panic attacks.
他承认，由于惊恐发作，他几乎每两周就去一次医院。
At first I wondered why Nellie didn't just give his money away to his family or to a charity.
起初我想知道内利为什么不把他的钱捐给他的家人或慈善机构。
But it wasn't so simple for him.
但对他来说，事情并没有那么简单。
He said he was ashamed of how he had earned it.
他说他为自己是如何赢得这个奖项感到羞愧。
He didn't want to tell people that he sold ammo to gang members for a living.
他不想告诉人们他以向帮派成员出售弹药为生。
I suppose Nellie could have bought some property or found a way to launder his money, but that really wasn't in his character.
我想内利本可以买一些房产或者找到洗钱的方法，但这确实不符合他的性格。
Nellie didn't think in terms of the future, at least not in that way.
内莉没有考虑未来，至少不是这样。
And because he was very depressed and his job was so dangerous, Nellie didn't think he'd live long enough to spend his money on anything worthwhile.
因为他非常沮丧，而且他的工作又很危险，内莉认为他不会活得足够长，不能把钱花在任何有价值的事情上。
One morning I went to Nellie's house and found him in tears.
一天早上，我去内莉家，发现他泪流满面。
No one was home, and he was lying on his bed with his money all over the room.
家里没人，他躺在床上，房间里到处都是他的钱。
He kept saying he couldn't take it anymore and he wanted a way out.
他一直说他不能再忍受了，他想要一条出路。
I noticed a few large bills, but there were mostly piles and piles of $1 and $5 bills crumpled up like waste paper.
我注意到有几张大钞，但大部分是成堆的 1 美元和 5 美元钞票，像废纸一样皱巴巴的。
He was pleading with me to help him to do something with all of his money, which he estimated was about $15,000 or $20,000.
他恳求我帮他用他所有的钱做点什么，他估计大约是 15,000 美元或 20,000 美元。
He asked me, "What do your people do when they have all this stuff that they can't use?" I'm Indian, but I assumed he meant middle class folks.
他问我：“当你们的员工拥有这些无法使用的东西时，他们会做什么？”我是印度人，但我以为他指的是中产阶级。
"Well," I said, "when my family has a lot of stuff, we give it away or we have a garage sale." His eyes lit up.
“嗯，”我说，“当我家里有很多东西时，我们会把它送出去，或者举办旧货拍卖。”他的眼睛亮了起来。
"That's it.
“就是这样。
I'm going to have a garage sale."
我要去举办车库拍卖会。”
I wasn't sure I understood what he meant.
我不确定我是否明白他的意思。
"Let me get this straight.
“让我说清楚。
You're going to sell your money?" He grinned, stood up, hugged me and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you for getting me out of this mess."
你要卖钱吗？”他笑着站起来，拥抱我说：“谢谢你，谢谢你，谢谢你让我摆脱了困境。”
So I made myself a cup of coffee, sat on the couch and watched as Nellie put some of the money inside a television.
于是我给自己泡了一杯咖啡，坐在沙发上，看着内莉把一些钱放进了电视机里。
Then he dumped a handful of bills inside a vacuum cleaner.
然后他把一把钞票扔进吸尘器里。
Then he shoved bags full of cash inside his couch cushions and in a mattress.
然后他把装满现金的袋子塞进沙发垫和床垫里。
He picked up a basketball, examined it, looked over to me and agreed when I shook my head no.
他拿起一个篮球，检查了一下，看着我，当我摇头表示不同意时，他同意了。
And then with my help he dragged everything out to the front lawn.
然后在我的帮助下，他把所有东西都拖到了前面的草坪上。
He ran into the garage and came back with a hammer, nails and cardboard.
他跑进车库，回来时带着锤子、钉子和纸板。
He made several For Sale signs and tacked them onto the trees and on the windshield of his car.
他制作了几个待售标志，并将它们钉在树上和汽车的挡风玻璃上。
He was so happy.
他很高兴。
He was running around like a child building a treehouse.
他像个搭建树屋的孩子一样跑来跑去。
For his final gesture, Nellie ran back inside the house, grabbed two chairs and a six-pack of beer and brought them outside.
为了做出最后的动作，内莉跑回屋内，抓起两把椅子和六罐装啤酒，然后把它们带到外面。
He told me that I couldn't tell anyone what he just did.
他告诉我，我不能告诉任何人他刚刚做了什么。
I exchanged my coffee for a beer and sat on Nellie's well manicured front lawn, unsure of exactly what was supposed to transpire.
我把咖啡换成了啤酒，坐在内莉修剪整齐的前草坪上，不确定到底会发生什么。
We sat on the lawn for about 10 minutes.
我们在草坪上坐了大约10分钟。
I was getting a little agitated.
我有点激动。
My cell phone rang.
我的手机响了。
Nellie looked at me and said, "Remember, you can't say what's in them things.
内莉看着我说：“记住，你不能说出它们里面有什么。
You can't mention the money."
你不能提钱的事。”
It was a friend of mine, Autry.
这是我的朋友奥特里。
He had three children, and he had been looking for a job for about a year.
他有三个孩子，而且他已经找工作大约一年了。
And now he was living off food stamps and was about three months late on his car and rent payments.
现在他靠食品券生活，并且拖欠了大约三个月的汽车和租金。
Autry could definitely have used the money, not to mention the nice TV set sitting in front of my feet.
Autry 绝对可以用这笔钱，更不用说我脚前的那台漂亮的电视机了。
"I'm at a garage sale," I told Autry, checking with Nellie to see if that was OK.
“我正在参加车库拍卖会，”我告诉奥特里，并与内莉核实是否可以。
Nellie nodded approval.
内莉点头表示赞同。
"You should come over," I said, checking with Nellie again, who didn't nod.
“你应该过来，”我说，再次询问内莉，内莉没有点头。
"Autry, listen, you should really come over and see if anything interests you."
“Autry，听着，你真的应该过来看看有没有你感兴趣的东西。”
Autry asked me why the hell would I want him to come to a garage sale when I knew he didn't have any money.
奥特里问我，当我知道他没有钱时，我到底为什么要让他来参加旧货拍卖。
I kept telling him to come anyway.
我一直告诉他无论如何都要来。
Nellie began shaking his head.
内莉开始摇头。
I sank in my chair, lowered my voice and told Autry to call me if he found some cash and wanted to buy some appliances.
我坐在椅子上，压低声音，告诉奥特里，如果他找到现金并想买一些电器，就给我打电话。
And then I hung up.
然后我就挂了电话。
Nellie and I waited for what seemed like hours, though my watch said only 20 minutes had passed.
内莉和我似乎等了几个小时，但我的手表显示只过去了 20 分钟。
Every so often I asked him again whether he really wanted to do this.
我时不时地问他是否真的想这样做。
He would just stare out and tell me that he'd never been more sure about anything in his life.
他只是凝视着窗外，告诉我他一生中对任何事情都从未如此确定过。
"I feel like the Lord gave me a sign," he said.
“我觉得主给了我一个迹象，”他说。
Just then a woman came by and looked at the couch.
就在这时，一个女人走过来，看着沙发。
I leaned forward as if to pounce out of my chair.
我向前倾身，仿佛要从椅子上跳起来。
And I could see that Nellie was doing the same.
我可以看到内莉也在做同样的事情。
"Nice couch," she said.
“沙发不错，”她说。
"Yes," said Nellie, "you ain't never gonna find another one like it." "That's right ma'am," I chimed in.
“是的，”内莉说，“你永远找不到另一个这样的人了。” “是的，女士，”我插话道。
"This is certainly a one of a kind couch.
“这无疑是一张独一无二的沙发。
You can take my word for it." "$20," she said.
你可以相信我的话。” “20 美元，”她说。
"For a couch?" said Nellie.
“为了沙发？”内莉说。
"Ma'am, I need to make a little more than that." "But sir," she said, trying to be polite, "it ain't worth more than that." "Ma'am," I said, "I think on that count you are mistaken.
“女士，我还需要多做一点。” “但是先生，”她试图保持礼貌，“它的价值不只于此。” “女士，”我说，“我认为在这一点上你错了。
It is certainly worth more." "Hey, shut up," Nellie yelled at me.
它当然更值钱。” “嘿，闭嘴，”内莉对我喊道。
The woman watched as Nellie and I began bickering.
那女人看着内莉和我开始争吵。
"You two need help," she said and walked away.
“你们两个需要帮助，”她说完就走开了。
As the morning turned to afternoon, more people came.
上午到了下午，来的人就多了。
The first successful sale was to a man pushing a shopping cart.
第一个成功的销售对象是一名推着购物车的男子。
He eyed the vacuum cleaner.
他看了看吸尘器。
"What do you want for it?" he asked.
“你想要它做什么？”他问道。
"Give me 15," said Nellie.
“给我 15 个，”内莉说。
"15, are you nuts?" I said.
“15，你疯了吗？”我说。
I couldn't believe Nellie would charge so little.
我不敢相信内莉会收这么少的钱。
Nellie shot me a glance and I put my head in my hands.
内莉看了我一眼，我双手抱头。
"15 my man and it's all yours," Nellie said calmly.
“15 我的男人，这一切都是你的了，”内莉平静地说。
"All right, that'll work," the mad said.
“好吧，那就行了。”疯子说道。
He paid Nellie with some bills and a lot of loose change.
他付给内莉一些账单和大量零钱。
The he grinned and said within an hour he could sell the vacuum cleaner down at the thrift store for $30, double his take just like that.
他笑着说，一个小时之内，他可以在旧货店以 30 美元的价格将吸尘器卖掉，这是他收入的两倍。
"You might want to take it home first," I told the man as he started walking away.
“你可能想先把它带回家，”当那个人开始走开时我告诉他。
Just clean it out.
只要把它清理干净就可以了。
Put a fresh bag in.
放入保鲜袋。
Try it out.
尝试一下。
Take it apart maybe." "Home," the man said looking at me.
也许把它拆开吧。” “回家，”那人看着我说道。
"Boy, are you blind or something?
“小子，你是瞎子还是怎么的？
I live out of this cart.
我靠这辆购物车生活。
I live under the L tracks.
我住在L轨下。
Home?
家？
[BLEEP] I ain't got no home.
[BLEEP] 我没有家。
What the [BLEEP] am I going to do with a vacuum cleaner?"
我要用吸尘器做什么[BLEEP]？”
A Saturday morning church service must have ended because a line of black women wearing beautiful dresses and hats was coming our way.
周六早上的教堂礼拜肯定已经结束了，因为一队黑人妇女穿着漂亮的衣服、戴着漂亮的帽子向我们走来。
They looked at the items on the lawn and liked what they saw.
他们看着草坪上的物品，很喜欢他们所看到的。
One played with the television set, hitting it every so often while a few other sat on the couch.
一个人玩着电视机，时不时地敲击它，而其他几个人则坐在沙发上。
"A little soft, and well, not so even," one said to me and Nellie.
“有点软，而且，不太均匀，”一个人对我和内莉说。
"These cushions are a little old, aren't they?
“这些垫子有点旧了，不是吗？
How old are they?" "Oh, they're fairly new," I said.
他们多大了？” “哦，他们相当新。”我说。
"Made fresh this morning actually." "Boy," Nellie yelled at me.
“实际上是今天早上新鲜出炉的。” “男孩，”内莉对我喊道。
This time he threw some beer on me.
这次他向我泼了一些啤酒。
"Don't mind him, ma'am.
“别理他，女士。
He's not the God fearing sort.
他不是敬畏上帝的人。
You understand." The woman cast a disparaging look my way and said, "Mm-hmm.
你明白。” 那女人轻蔑地看了我一眼，说道：“嗯嗯。
I understand.
我明白。
And Jesus do too.
耶稣也是如此。
OK, I'll take this couch.
好吧，我要这个沙发。
Probably throw these cushions away.
可能会把这些垫子扔掉。
The other parts are fine, but I can't have people sitting on these raggedy things all day."
其他部分都很好，但我不能让人们整天坐在这些破烂的东西上。”
"I would rethink that strategy," I shouted.
“我会重新考虑这个策略，”我喊道。
My voice crackled and beer spilled down my shirt.
我的声音嘶哑，啤酒洒在我的衬衫上。
"I would probably not throw them away just yet." "What he means to say," Nellie interrupted, "is that you may want to take it home first.
“我可能还不会扔掉它们。” “他的意思是，”内莉打断道，“你可能想先把它带回家。
Don't do anything so quick.
别这么快做任何事。
You know, take your time." "Not sure there's really anything to think about," a second woman said, feeling the cushions stuffed with America's legal tender.
你知道，慢慢来。” “不确定是否真的有什么需要考虑的，”第二位女士说道，摸着垫子上塞满了美国法定货币。
"Eunella, you could replace these for $5.
“尤妮拉，你可以花 5 美元更换这些。
Ain't no need wasting your time with these cushions.
没必要在这些垫子上浪费时间。
Smell like cat piss anyway.
反正闻起来像猫尿。
Just throw them out."
把它们扔出去就行了。”
"Oh Lord, I would really think twice about that," I said bending over in frustration.
“天哪，我真的会三思而后行，”我沮丧地弯下腰说道。
I was starting to feel delirious.
我开始感到神志不清。
"Why don't you go inside for a while?" Nellie said, pushing me over and making me fall on the ground.
“你为什么不进去一会儿？”内莉说着，把我推倒在地。
I got up and walked toward the house.
我起身朝屋子走去。
"What is wrong with that young man?" I could hear the woman ask Nellie.
“那个年轻人怎么了？”我听见那个女人问内莉。
"Oh, nothing that a little religion couldn't fix," Nellie said.
“哦，没有什么是一点宗教解决不了的，”内莉说。
Then he told them, "Listen, the truth is ma'am that I'm trying to buy my family all new furniture before they get home.
然后他告诉他们，“听着，女士，事实是，我想在家人回家之前给他们买所有新家具。
And I really need to sell this stuff and get rid of it so that I can surprise my wife."
我真的需要卖掉这些东西并扔掉它，这样我就能给我的妻子一个惊喜。”
"Oh, isn't that sweet?" one of the women said.
“哦，那不是很甜吗？”其中一名女子说道。
"Well, I'll take the television." "Yes," another one chimed in.
“嗯，我去拿电视。” “是的，”另一个人插话道。
"And I could use an extra bed." "I would keep that mattress," I shouted from inside the house.
“而且我可以加一张床。” “我会保留那个床垫，”我在屋内喊道。
"Don't throw away the mattress, please." "That is the strangest young man I have ever seen," one of the women said.
“请不要扔掉床垫。” “这是我见过的最奇怪的年轻人，”其中一名妇女说。
"Yes, said Nellie.
“是的，内莉说。
He twirled his finger in little circles next to his head.
他用手指在头边转着小圈。
"He has a little bit of trouble, you know."
“你知道，他有一点麻烦。”
The woman then turned to me and spoke very slowly.
然后那个女人转向我，非常缓慢地说话。
"You be careful now young man.
“年轻人，你现在小心点。
And beer probably isn't very good for your health." "Neither is throwing away that mattress ma'am."
而且啤酒可能对你的健康不太有好处。” “女士，那个床垫也不能扔掉。”
Nellie asked the women for their address and he loaded the bed into the truck and drove off.
内莉向妇女们询问了地址，然后他把床装进了卡车，然后开走了。
I drank the rest of the beers and stared out into a warm blue sky.
我喝完了剩下的啤酒，凝视着温暖的蓝天。
Nellie sold almost everything on the lawn that afternoon.
那天下午内莉几乎卖掉了草坪上的所有东西。
The only thing that was left was a torn up pillow that couldn't attract anyone's interest.
只剩下一个被撕破的枕头，已经提不起任何人的兴趣了。
I tried for a while to find the people who had bought some of Nellie's furniture and appliances.
我花了一段时间试图找到那些购买了内莉的一些家具和电器的人。
But I didn't have any luck so I'm not really sure if any of them found the cash.
但我运气不好，所以我不确定他们是否找到了现金。
Nellie didn't have any more garage sales.
内莉不再举办车库拍卖会了。
He was still making money by selling ammo.
他仍然靠卖弹药赚钱。
And he still kept the money in those big, black garbage bags.
他仍然把钱放在那些又大又黑的垃圾袋里。
He just stored them all in the attic where nobody ever went.
他只是把它们全部存放在没人去过的阁楼里。
And Nellie's depression didn't end.
内莉的抑郁症并没有结束。
For most people, all that money would have been a sign of success.
对于大多数人来说，所有这些钱都是成功的标志。
But for Nellie, it was just a bunch of paper that he couldn't get rid of.
但对于内莉来说，这只是一堆他无法摆脱的纸。
His problem was that he liked his job.
他的问题是他喜欢他的工作。
He liked the fact that he worked and that he earned a living.
他喜欢工作并谋生。
The part he didn't like was the actual profits.
他不喜欢的是实际的利润。
They made him feel ashamed and he had to hide them from almost everyone he knew and loved.
它们让他感到羞耻，他不得不向几乎所有他认识和爱的人隐瞒它们。
A few years later, Nellie's girlfriend left him.
几年后，内莉的女朋友离开了他。
His kids married and moved out, and there was no one else living in his house.
他的孩子们结婚并搬了出去，他的房子里没有其他人住。
He started going to church to ease his depression.
他开始去教堂，以缓解他的抑郁症。
It wasn't really helping, he said.
他说，这并没有真正的帮助。
But he did start talking a lot about charity and how he wanted to do something good for people.
但他确实开始谈论很多关于慈善事业以及他想如何为人们做点好事。
And he did it in his own peculiar way.
他以自己独特的方式做到了这一点。
Nellie would leave a bag of money on a street corner, or late at night, he would quietly put some cash in front of a homeless person sleeping outside in the park.
内利会把一袋钱留在街角，或者在深夜，他会悄悄地把一些现金放在一个睡在公园外面的无家可归者面前。
He would tell me that it was the only pure thing you can do on this earth.
他会告诉我，这是你在这个地球上能做的唯一纯粹的事情。
Help people without taking credit for it.
帮助别人，但不要因此而获得功劳。
I know of only one person who actually found Nellie's money, my friend Darrell.
据我所知，只有一个人真正找到了内莉的钱，他就是我的朋友达雷尔。
Nellie had stuffed $800 into the bottom part of a toaster oven.
内莉把 800 美元塞进了烤箱的底部。
And he left it near a dumpster where Darrell picked it up.
他把它留在垃圾箱附近，达雷尔捡起了它。
Darrell figured some drug dealer had hidden the money there so his wife wouldn't find it, and she accidentally threw the toaster out.
达雷尔认为某个毒贩把钱藏在那里，这样他的妻子就找不到它，而她不小心把烤面包机扔了出去。
A day before his 45th birthday, Nellie was found dead inside his house.
内莉 45 岁生日的前一天，被发现死在他的房子里。
He'd had a massive stroke.
他经历了一次严重的中风。
No one was quite sure exactly how long he'd been lying there.
没有人确切知道他在那里躺了多久。
I went to his funeral.
我去参加了他的葬礼。
Not many people were there and I felt sad for Nellie.
那里的人不多，我为内莉感到难过。
I hoped that maybe the homeless man who had bought the vacuum cleaner would come pay his respects.
我希望买吸尘器的那个无家可归的人也许会来吊唁。
But he didn't show up.
但他没有出现。
In the middle of the room there was a casket, but it was closed.
房间中央有一个棺材，但棺材是关着的。
Nellie's body was too decomposed for us to view.
内莉的尸体已经腐烂，我们无法看到。
In the end, Nellie's family got all his money when they cleaned out his house.
最后，内莉的家人清理了他的房子，得到了他所有的钱。
That's when I finally met them.
就在那时我终于见到了他们。
They told me that they had known all along the thing that Nellie was ashamed for them to find out, how he made his money.
他们告诉我，他们一直都知道内莉是如何赚钱的，让他们感到羞耻。
But they could never figure out a way to tell him that it didn't matter.
但他们永远无法找到一种方法来告诉他这并不重要。
Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh.
苏迪尔·阿拉迪·文卡特什。
This story is from his newest book, which comes out later this year and tells the story of the neighborhood in and around the Robert Taylor homes in Chicago.
这个故事摘自他今年晚些时候出版的新书，讲述了芝加哥罗伯特·泰勒住宅及其周围社区的故事。
He is a professor of sociology at Columbia University and the author of Off the Books : The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor.
他是哥伦比亚大学社会学教授，也是《Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor》一书的作者。
Coming up, the celebrity who most reminds us of God and the music that we really want to hear in church as determined by scientific research.
接下来是最让我们想起上帝和科学研究确定的我们真正想在教堂听到的音乐的名人。
In a minute, from Chicago Public Radio and Public Radio International when our program continues.
稍后，芝加哥公共广播电台和国际公共广播电台将继续我们的节目。
[MUSIC - "MY IMMORTAL" BY EVANESCENCE]
[音乐 - EvanESCence 的《我的不朽》]
It's This American Life .
这就是美国生活。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Each week on our program of course we choose a theme and bring you a variety of different kinds of stories on that theme.
当然，我们每周的节目都会选择一个主题，并为您带来有关该主题的各种不同类型的故事。
Today's show, Make a Better Mousetrap, we have stories of people trying to make inventions in the face of a world that does not care, does not want what they are making.
今天的节目《制作更好的捕鼠器》讲述了人们在面对一个不关心、不想要他们所创造的世界的情况下试图创造发明的故事。
We've arrived at act three of our program.
我们已经进入了计划的第三幕。
Act Three, What Would Fill-in-the-Blank Do?
第三幕，填空会做什么？
Among other things, America is a place where people invent religions, the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Scientology.
除其他外，美国是人们发明宗教的地方，比如后期圣徒教会、耶和华见证人教会、山达基教会。
And then of course all kinds of very American brands of Protestantism.
当然还有各种非常美国化的新教品牌。
But despite all that, a lot of Americans still are not part of any organized religion.
但尽管如此，许多美国人仍然不属于任何有组织的宗教。
A 2002 USA Today Gallup poll found that 33% of Americans consider themselves quote, "spiritual, but not religious," while 10% consider themselves neither of those.
2002 年《今日美国》盖洛普民意调查发现，33% 的美国人认为自己“有精神信仰，但没有宗教信仰”，而 10% 的人则认为自己两者都不是。
That is nearly half the country.
这几乎是全国的一半。
What would a church have to be to be appealing to those people?
教会必须怎样才能吸引这些人？
What do those people want?
那些人想要什么？
Well Brett Martin got the idea that somebody could actually create a religion to meet the needs of those people, a modern religion invented using the principles of modern marketing.
布雷特·马丁（Brett Martin）的想法是，有人实际上可以创建一种宗教来满足这些人的需求，这是一种利用现代营销原理发明的现代宗教。
It used to be so easy.
过去是那么容易。
Back in the good old days, who cared what people wanted?
回到过去的美好时光，谁关心人们想要什么？
If you had a new religion, you just sacked some villages, burned one or two folks for heresy and that was that.
如果你有一个新的宗教，你只需洗劫一些村庄，烧死一两个异端邪说的人，仅此而已。
But nowadays, what with a saturated marketplace, media fragmentation and so few budgets allowing for sacking, a new faith would need much more than mere truth.
但如今，在市场饱和、媒体碎片化以及允许解雇的预算如此之少的情况下，新的信仰需要的不仅仅是真理。
It would need a clear sense of what the market demanded.
它需要清楚地了解市场的需求。
It would need guidance on the most minute details, from what God looked like to what color robes the clergy would wear.
它需要在最微小的细节上提供指导，从上帝的样子到神职人员穿什么颜色的长袍。
In short, it would need to be focus-grouped.
简而言之，需要进行焦点分组。
So that's what I set out to do.
这就是我打算做的事情。
To guide me through the process, I turned to Paul Parton, the head of planning for the Brooklyn Brothers, a small advertising collective that's created witty campaigns for clients as diverse as CNN, Bath and Body Works and the United Nations Anti-Landmine task force.
为了指导我完成整个过程，我向布鲁克林兄弟 (Brooklyn Brothers) 的策划主管保罗·帕顿 (Paul Parton) 寻求帮助，这是一个小型广告团体，为 CNN、Bath and Body Works 和联合国反地雷工作组等不同客户制作了诙谐的广告活动。
At 5:00 PM on a weekday night, we gather at a facility called Focus Plus in downtown Manhattan.
工作日晚上 5:00，我们在曼哈顿市中心一家名为 Focus Plus 的机构集合。
The offices contain three focus group rooms, each equipped with wraparound, one-way mirrors, plasma TVs and high tech audio and video recording equipment.
办公室设有三间焦点小组室，每间都配有环绕式单向镜子、等离子电视和高科技音频和视频记录设备。
The scene is so much like a movie version of a focus group that, watching from behind the mirror like the great and powerful Oz, I fully expect the group to burst out laughing as they file in.
这个场景非常像电影版的焦点小组，从镜子后面观看，就像伟大而强大的奥兹国一样，我完全希望这群人在鱼贯而入时爆发出大笑。
But these are old hands.
但这些都是老手了。
All but one have participated in focus groups before, and Parton asks them to tick off what they discussed.
除了一人之外，所有人都曾参加过焦点小组，帕顿要求他们在讨论的内容上打勾。
"Makeup," says one.
“化妆，”其中一位说道。
"Beer," says another.
“啤酒，”另一个人说。
Toothpaste.
牙膏。
IBM.
IBM。
Lung cancer.
肺癌。
Parton assures the group that there will be no cult recruitment following the session, that Tom Cruise is not lurking behind the mirror.
帕顿向大家保证，会议结束后不会有邪教招募，汤姆·克鲁斯也不会潜伏在镜子后面。
Then he asks them to start talking about what they believe, 24 citizens who identified themselves as either dissatisfied with their current religion or unattached to any religion at all.
然后他要求他们开始谈论他们的信仰，24 名公民表示自己要么对当前的宗教不满意，要么根本不信奉任何宗教。
Michael, a 29 year old bartender wearing a Mets jersey says, "I have this funny little thing called the tip god, where when I'm out, I tip a lot because things always come back to you." Everyone nods their heads and seems to agree that the tip god is a sound principle.
穿着大都会队球衣的 29 岁调酒师迈克尔说：“我有一个有趣的小东西，叫做小费神，当我外出时，我会付很多小费，因为事情总会回到你身边。”每个人都点头，似乎都同意小费神是一个合理的原则。
Aside from this basic notion of karma though, it seems that it's hard for our panel to describe what they believe in.
除了业力这个基本概念之外，我们的小组似乎很难描述他们所相信的东西。
It's much easier to rail against what they don't believe.
抱怨他们不相信的事情要容易得多。
Derek, a thin, black lapsed Catholic who clearly has one or two mean nuns lurking in his past, begins to talk about the inconsistencies in the Bible.
德里克（Derek）是一位瘦弱的黑人失信天主教徒，他的过去显然潜伏着一两个卑鄙的修女，他开始谈论圣经中的不一致之处。
"Like, it will contradict itself one phrase after another," he says.
“就像，它会一个接一个地自相矛盾，”他说。
"Yeah," chimes in Lynn, who identifies herself as a Mennonite turned Taoist.
“是的，”林恩附和道，她自称是门诺派教徒，后来转为道教徒。
"And if you ask questions--" "--then you're going to hell," someone else finishes.
“如果你问问题——”“——那么你就会下地狱，”另一个人总结道。
Clearly, a nerve has been touched.
显然，神经已经被触动了。
Speaking of hell, the focus group tends to agree that it's a little harsh.
说到地狱，焦点小组倾向于认为它有点严酷。
"Burning is cruel," someone else says.
“燃烧是残酷的，”有人说。
They want a religion to take into account the sliding scale of sin, the fact that some transgressions are worse than others.
他们希望宗教能够考虑到罪孽的规模，即某些罪行比其他罪行更严重的事实。
Killing and stealing, it's generally agreed, should probably be banned.
人们普遍认为，杀戮和盗窃应该被禁止。
Not mixing meat and milk, avoiding meat on Fridays, facing Mecca to pray, these rules and dozens more, they say, are just too onerous and arbitrary for today's world.
他们说，不将肉和奶混合、周五不吃肉、面向麦加祈祷，这些规则和其他几十个规则对于当今世界来说过于繁琐和武断。
"The Bible says that you're not allowed to spill your seed, except for reproduction," says Micheal.
“圣经说，除了繁殖之外，你不可以撒下你的种子，”迈克尔说。
"That's what it says." "And in today's modern society--" he trails off.
“就是这么说的。” “而在当今的现代社会——”他的声音逐渐减弱。
"That's just not going to fly," finishes a woman.
“那根本不会飞，”一位女士总结道。
After a while, the discussion has devolved into such a dorm room bull session that I'm looking around for the bong and the Georgia O'Keefe print.
过了一会儿，讨论变成了宿舍里的一场激烈的讨论，我四处寻找烟枪和乔治亚·奥基夫的印刷品。
But Parton definitely steers the group back toward the concrete.
但帕顿确实带领团队回到了具体的方向。
And the consensus is simple.
共识很简单。
Just do good.
只要行善就好。
Stick to the basic moral principles but streamline them.
坚持基本道德原则，但要精简它们。
Cut out the fat.
切掉脂肪。
But as Parton leads the discussion, I can't help but notice that just do good is subtly shifting to just do what feels good.
但当帕顿主持讨论时，我不禁注意到，“行善”正在巧妙地转变为“只做感觉良好的事”。
As the group keeps talking, it becomes clear that any new religion would have to avoid any recognizably religious traits.
随着该组织不断讨论，很明显，任何新宗教都必须避免任何可识别的宗教特征。
For instance, at one point Parton plays a selection of religious music that could be played in our new, hypothetical church.
例如，帕顿有一次演奏了一系列宗教音乐，这些音乐可以在我们假设的新教堂中播放。
The group loves the opening bars of this--
乐队很喜欢这首曲子的开头——
[MUSIC - "HALLELUJAH" BY HANDEL]
[音乐 - 亨德尔的《哈利路亚》]
--they nearly recoil in horror.
——他们几乎惊恐地退缩了。
I'm sad to report that they hate this--
我很遗憾地告诉大家，他们讨厌这个——
[MUSIC - SOUL SPIRITUAL] --but like this.
[音乐-灵魂精神]——但是就像这样。
[MUSIC - NEW AGE] Likewise the church itself.
[音乐-新时代] 教堂本身也是如此。
If feeling good and doing good are one and the same in this new religion, the place of worship will have to be designed to make one feel as good as possible.
如果在这个新宗教中，感觉良好和行善是一回事，那么礼拜场所的设计就必须让人们感觉尽可能良好。
They imagine an open, airy space with plenty of natural light and flowing water.
他们想象一个开放、通风、拥有充足自然光线和流水的空间。
There would be individual napping pods equipped with customizable music and plasma TVs showing scenes of natural beauty, like a spa.
会有单独的小睡舱，配备可定制的音乐和等离子电视，显示自然美景，如水疗中心。
The space would be filled with warm, inviting smells.
这个空间将充满温暖、诱人的气味。
The focus group likes fabric softener and freshly baked pies.
焦点小组喜欢织物柔软剂和新鲜出炉的馅饼。
And there would also be puppies.
而且还会有小狗。
Priests and priestesses in simple, modern robes would mingle with parishioners, look after their needs and then move on.
身穿简单现代长袍的神父和女祭司会与教区居民混在一起，照顾他们的需求，然后继续前进。
Imagine the sales staff at Banana Republic.
想象一下香蕉共和国的销售人员。
"Now, is there anything else you need to know about this new faith?" Parton asks carefully.
“现在，关于这个新信仰，你还有什么需要了解的吗？”帕顿小心翼翼地问道。
I find myself holding my breath.
我发现自己屏住了呼吸。
This is our Emperor's New Clothes moment.
这是我们皇帝的新装时刻。
I wait for the lone voice to pipe up, but what are the rituals?
我等待着孤独的声音响起，但仪式是什么？
The rules?
规则？
What do I have to do?
我必须做什么？
What do you people believe?
你们这些人相信什么？
But for the first time in two hours, there was silence around the table.
但两个小时以来，桌子周围第一次安静下来。
When asked to essentially create any theology they wanted, the universe carried on the back of a chihuahua perhaps, a female god, a turtle god, multiple robot gods, they weren't exactly interested in breaking any new ground.
当被要求基本上创造他们想要的任何神学时，宇宙可能背在吉娃娃狗的背上，一个女神，一个乌龟神，多个机器人神，他们对开辟任何新天地并不感兴趣。
In the end, it seemed they wanted the new church to do more or less exactly what the old church is supposed to do, encourage good behavior, provide a sense of community and ceremony, be a place of refuge.
最后，他们似乎希望新教堂或多或少地做旧教堂应该做的事情，鼓励良好的行为，提供社区和仪式感，成为避难所。
They just wanted to be less churchy.
他们只是想少一点教会色彩。
Now that we had the makings of our new religion, the next equally important step was how we were going to market it.
既然我们已经具备了新宗教的基础，那么下一个同样重要的步骤就是我们如何营销它。
Obviously, you start with a celebrity.
显然，你是从名人开始的。
So Parton throws the question out to the group.
因此帕顿向小组提出了这个问题。
"Is there anybody," he asks, "who you can see endorsing a religion that you would respect?" "Bill Maher," says one man emphatically.
“你能看到有人支持你尊重的宗教吗？”他问道。 “比尔·马赫，”一名男子强调道。
"He doesn't believe in anything, so you know that if he's endorsing something, it's not BS."
“他什么都不相信，所以你知道，如果他认可某件事，那不是废话。”
Parton shows the panel a selection of head shots.
帕顿向小组展示了精选的头像。
Among the rejects are Scarlett Johansson, too young.
被拒绝的人包括斯嘉丽约翰逊，她太年轻了。
Charlton Heston, too angry.
查尔顿赫斯顿，太生气了。
James Gandolfini, "though there's a certain roundness that I like," one woman allows.
詹姆斯·甘多菲尼（James Gandolfini），“尽管我喜欢某种圆润的感觉，”一位女士承认。
The rock, too Mayan.
岩石，也是玛雅人。
Brian Dennehy, blank stares.
布莱恩·丹内利，眼神空洞。
But the overwhelming choice for the public face of our religion is someone altogether different, a man whose voice we've heard proclaiming calmly from on high so often in the movies that it's almost hard to believe that he's not up there somewhere narrating the action as we go through our daily lives.
但我们宗教的公众形象的压倒性选择是一个完全不同的人，我们经常在电影中听到他的声音从高处平静地宣告，几乎很难相信他不在我们日常生活的某个地方讲述这一事件。
The man who reminded our group most of God himself was none other than Morgan Freeman.
最让我们小组想起上帝的人不是别人，正是摩根·弗里曼。
Wise, kindly supportive and perhaps not coincidentally, invariably a secondary character.
聪明、友善、乐于助人，也许并非巧合，但总是次要角色。
Next up was developing an ad campaign.
接下来是制定广告活动。
Armed with our focus group data, Parton and Brooklyn Brothers creative director Guy Barnett went to work focusing in on the anachronisms our group found in the Bible.
有了我们的焦点小组数据，帕顿和布鲁克林兄弟的创意总监盖伊·巴尼特开始专注于我们小组在圣经中发现的时代错误。
I called it the seed spillers campaign.
我称之为“种子传播者运动”。
Here's how these ads would sound in drive time.
以下是这些广告在行驶时间内的声音效果。
Think about it for a second.
想一想。
Does God really care which way you face when you're praying?
神真的关心你祷告时面对的方向吗？
Is he really offended by the thought of a ham and cheese sandwich?
他真的因为火腿奶酪三明治的想法而生气吗？
Some beliefs don't make sense anymore.
有些信念不再有意义。
Some remain universal and true.
有些仍然具有普遍性和真实性。
Live well.
好好活着。
Be kind.
友善一点。
Don't kill anyone.
不要杀任何人。
Think about it for a second.
想一想。
A modern society needs a modern religion.
现代社会需要现代宗教。
By the way, that's not actually Morgan Freeman.
顺便说一句，那实际上并不是摩根·弗里曼。
It's actor John Viener from The Family Guy doing an impression.
《恶搞之家》的演员约翰·维纳给我们留下了深刻的印象。
Freeman, a very busy man, is off working on other projects including the sequel to Bruce Almight y, in which he plays, well, God.
弗里曼是一个非常忙碌的人，他正在忙于其他项目，包括《布鲁斯全能》的续集，他在其中扮演上帝。
The focus group really comes alive at these ads.
这些广告让焦点小组真正活跃起来。
"Anything that takes potshots at organized religions, I'm going to like it," one man says approvingly.
“任何对有组织的宗教进行猛烈抨击的事情，我都会喜欢，”一名男子赞许地说。
Above all, it seems they're reassured by the form of these ads, by their recognizable ad-ness, that winking tone that says, you and I both know the deal here.
最重要的是，这些广告的形式、可识别的广告性质以及眨眼的语气似乎让他们感到安心，这些语气表明，你和我都知道这里的交易。
And this makes sense.
这是有道理的。
Conversion is a radical, subversive act.
转变是一种激进的、颠覆性的行为。
It helps if the evangelizing assumes a familiar form.
如果传福音采用熟悉的形式，就会有所帮助。
And what could be more familiar and comforting than a man trying to sell a product?
还有什么比一个试图销售产品的人更熟悉、更令人安慰的呢？
By the end of Parton's presentation, a woman named Lee says the six sweetest words a founder of a religion could ever hear, "I would totally visit that website."
在帕顿的演讲结束时，一位名叫李的女士说出了宗教创始人所能听到的最甜蜜的六个字：“我完全会访问那个网站。”
At first the focus group results bothered me.
起初，焦点小组的结果让我感到困扰。
These people wanted all the benefits of a faith without any of the suffering, any of the sacrifice, without believing anything.
这些人想要信仰的所有好处，而不需要任何痛苦，任何牺牲，不相信任何东西。
On the other hand, they invented a vision of religion that, I have absolutely no doubt, would sell.
另一方面，他们发明了一种宗教愿景，我绝对毫不怀疑这种愿景会畅销。
And a few weeks later I have my burning bush moment.
几周后，我迎来了燃烧丛林的时刻。
I find myself, improbably, in a room with none other than Morgan Freeman himself.
不可思议的是，我发现自己在一个房间里，除了摩根·弗里曼本人之外，没有别人。
He's sitting across the room sagely consulting a copy of The New York Times through half-glasses.
他坐在房间的另一边，戴着半副眼镜，明智地查阅着《纽约时报》。
We're in a space filled with comfy chairs and soft couches.
我们身处一个充满舒适椅子和柔软沙发的空间。
Relaxing music is playing.
正在播放轻松的音乐。
There is wifi access, and the aroma of warm snacks and a cool, authoritative and solicitous staff.
这里有无线网络，还有热腾腾的小吃香气，还有冷静、权威、热心的工作人员。
Sunlight streams through huge windows and I can see that it is good.
阳光透过巨大的窗户照射进来，我可以看到天气很好。
Here it is, I think, the scales falling from my eyes.
我想，这就是我眼睛里的鳞片掉下来的情况。
The man in his church.
那个在他的教堂里的人。
We're in the first class waiting lounge at Newark Airport.
我们在纽瓦克机场的头等舱候机室。
Brett Martin in New York.
布雷特·马丁在纽约。
[MUSIC - "MY GOD IS A MIGHTY MAN" BY ANTHONY BUTLER]
[音乐 - 安东尼·巴特勒的《我的上帝是一个强大的人》]
Act Four, Squashing the Creative Spirit.
第四幕，压制创造性精神。
We end our program today with a tale of creativity, ingenuity, the internal striving for something better and the forces that want to stop it all at the dinner table.
我们今天以一个关于创造力、独创性、追求更好的内在努力以及想要在餐桌上阻止这一切的力量的故事来结束我们的节目。
Andy Raskin has this story, which begins at his family's last Thanksgiving.
安迪·拉斯金（Andy Raskin）有一个故事，始于他家人的最后一个感恩节。
I'm serving the soup.
我正在盛汤。
Woman What story is this?
女人 这是什么故事？
Michelle, everybody sit down please.
米歇尔，请大家坐下。
Everybody sit down please.
请大家坐下。
The soup story.
汤的故事。
Mother Everyody, OK pay attention.
大家妈妈好，注意啦。
Those that don't know the soup story have to pay attention.
不知道汤故事的人一定要注意了。
That's my mom, last Thanksgiving, just before she was going to tell everyone at the table, our entire family, the story about the soup that Richard, my dad, made for the meal.
这是我妈妈，去年感恩节，就在她要告诉餐桌上的每个人，我们全家，关于我爸爸理查德为这顿饭做的汤的故事。
We decided that we were going to make butternut squash soup for this meal.
我们决定为这顿饭做胡桃南瓜汤。
We had made it before from a recipe in the Silver Palate Cookbook and it was very good.
我们之前根据《银味食谱》中的食谱做过，非常好。
So I told Richard to make it.
所以我告诉理查德去完成它。
He decides that he's going to create his own version of the recipe, which I told him not to do, by the way.
他决定创建他自己的食谱版本，顺便说一句，我告诉他不要这样做。
And I'm not going to tell you what he put in it yet, but we'll get to that as you eat it and see what's there.
我不会告诉你他在里面放了什么，但我们会在你吃它的时候告诉你，看看里面有什么。
I guess I'll tell you.
我想我会告诉你的。
He also decided to put in candied ginger.
他还决定加入蜜饯姜。
Out of nowhere.
不知从何而来。
How do you think that that belongs in curried soup?
你觉得它怎么样属于咖喱汤？
Actually, a cursory internet search yields plenty of curry recipes that call for candied ginger.
事实上，粗略地在网上搜索一下就会发现很多需要蜜饯姜的咖喱食谱。
But because it's so concentrated, it's usually used sparingly.
但由于它的浓度非常高，所以通常很少使用。
My dad threw in six huge cubes.
我爸爸扔了六个巨大的立方体。
What also made my mom mad was that he substituted hot curry for mild curry, and that when he pronounced the soup done, he hadn't even tasted it.
让我妈妈生气的是，他用热咖喱代替了淡咖喱，而且当他宣布汤完成时，他甚至没有尝过。
The soup was a big deal to her because they were planning to serve it in these special soup bowls.
汤对她来说很重要，因为他们计划用这些特殊的汤碗来盛汤。
They had actually bought little pumpkin squashes and hollowed them out, one for each guest.
他们实际上买了一些小南瓜，把它们挖空，给每位客人一个。
Each one probably cost $1 or $2, but the way my mom was carrying on about them, you would think she'd she had ordered a new set of fine china to be shipped in for the occasion.
每件可能要花费 1 或 2 美元，但从我妈妈对它们的处理方式来看，你可能会认为她已经订购了一套新的精美瓷器来为这个场合运送。
I interviewed them about it.
我就此采访了他们。
He totally messed up the soup because he didn't listen to me.
他完全把汤弄乱了，因为他不听我的话。
And that was a shame because now we have all these elaborate, I would say or interesting soup bowls to fill with what should be a soup commensurate with its bowl.
这是一种耻辱，因为现在我们有所有这些精心制作的，我会说或有趣的汤碗来填充应该是与其碗相称的汤。
But it's not.
但事实并非如此。
It sounds to me that you are upset about the investment you made in the soup bowls--
在我看来，你对你在汤碗上的投资感到不安——
That's my dad.
那是我爸爸。
Richard Raskin --and you're not even concerned about my investment of time, money and effort in creating this soup.
理查德·拉斯金——你甚至不关心我在制作这道汤时投入的时间、金钱和精力。
I thought about that.
我想到了这一点。
But then I thought, you're the one who messed up.
但转念一想，你才是搞砸的人。
That's your problem.
那是你的问题。
I told you to start all over again.
我告诉过你要重新开始。
And I thought that that would be apt punishment and maybe stop you from doing this kind of thing in the future.
我认为这将是适当的惩罚，也许可以阻止你将来再做这种事。
You see, it is salvageable to be OK, but it can never be the original recipe, which was excellent the last time we made it.
你看，它是可以挽救的，但它永远不可能是原来的食谱，我们上次做的时候非常棒。
So it is not going to be excellent.
所以它不会很出色。
It may be OK.
可能没问题。
It may even be between OK and good.
它甚至可能介于“好”和“好”之间。
But it will never be excellent.
但它永远不会是优秀的。
This discussion is reminiscent of the inflexibility and rigidity of your mother, which is a historical issue in this family.
这个讨论让人想起你母亲的不灵活和刻板，这是这个家庭的历史问题。
End of story.
故事结束。
When I was growing up, my parents had this fight a million times.
在我的成长过程中，我的父母已经吵过一百万次了。
My dad would do something mildly inventive and then my mom would get on him for it as if he had exposed the family to life or death peril.
我父亲会做一些稍微有创意的事情，然后我妈妈会因此责备他，就好像他让家人面临生死攸关的危险一样。
We had a little boat and he liked to maneuver it really close into beaches so that my sister and I could go swimming and clamming.
我们有一艘小船，他喜欢把它操纵得非常靠近海滩，这样我和妹妹就可以去游泳和捞蛤。
But sometimes he would run aground.
但有时他也会搁浅。
And then my mom would yell at him.
然后我妈妈就会对他大喊大叫。
And her eyes would squint, and her muscles would tense up.
她的眼睛会眯起来，她的肌肉会紧张。
Or when my dad was driving us all in the car, he would sometimes take what he called shortcuts, which typically involved minor traffic violations.
或者，当我父亲开车送我们所有人时，他有时会走他所谓的捷径，这通常会涉及轻微的交通违规。
My mom would yell at him and get all squinty again, but I could see how afraid she was.
我妈妈会对他大喊大叫，然后再次眯起眼睛，但我可以看出她有多么害怕。
Watch this.
注意这个。
Watch this.
注意这个。
Mother Wait.
妈妈等等。
First taste it without the sherry because you have to compare.
首先在不加雪利酒的情况下品尝它，因为你必须进行比较。
This Thanksgiving, in the late morning, my mom demanded that my dad throw away his soup and start over.
今年感恩节的傍晚，我妈妈要求我爸爸扔掉汤并重新开始。
He refused.
他拒绝了。
So my mom proposed making a small batch of the original recipe and mixing that in with his version.
所以我妈妈建议制作一小批原始食谱并将其与他的版本混合。
For some reason he agreed to that, but it was still too spicy.
出于某种原因，他同意了，但还是太辣了。
So my dad doctored it up with even more improvised ingredients, which included apple juice, half and half, pumpkin seeds and Harvey's Bristol Cream.
所以我爸爸用更多的临时配料做了修改，其中包括苹果汁、南瓜子和哈维布里斯托尔奶油。
Watch the soup come alive.
看着汤变得鲜活起来。
Mother Too much.
妈妈太过分了。
I'll tell you something else.
我会告诉你一些别的事情。
If he had followed the pure recipe in the book that I gave him, this would have all been unnecessary.
如果他遵循我给他的书中的纯食谱，那么这一切就都是不必要的。
Finally it was dinner time and time to test the soup.
终于到了晚饭时间，也是试汤的时间。
OK so now we've heated up the squash bowls and we're going to fill them with the quote, unquote, soup.
好的，现在我们已经加热了南瓜碗，我们将用引用的、不引用的汤来填充它们。
OK, soup is on, let's go.
好了，汤好了，走吧。
My relatives, fully briefed about the controversy over the soup, had their personal squash bowls put in front of them.
我的亲戚们充分了解了关于汤的争议，他们把自己的壁球碗放在了他们面前。
What were they going to say?
他们要说什么？
Nobody wanted to take sides.
没有人愿意选边站队。
Finally, Aunt Andrea said she liked the soup, which my dad took as a vote for him.
最后，安德里亚阿姨说她喜欢这汤，我爸爸认为这是对他的投票。
But then she remarked that it was so spicy that he could probably sell the leftovers to an Indian restaurant.
但后来她说太辣了，他可能可以把剩菜卖给一家印度餐馆。
Point for mom.
给妈妈点。
Uncle Robert said he liked the soup, but then we noticed the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.
罗伯特叔叔说他喜欢这汤，但后来我们注意到他额头上滴着汗珠。
All my brother-in-law would say was that the soup exceeded his expectations, which was his way of staying on good terms with both his in-laws.
我姐夫只会说这汤超出了他的预期，这是他与两个姻亲保持良好关系的方式。
And me, I thought the soup had been muddied by too much compromise.
而我，我认为汤因太多妥协而变得浑浊。
But then, a few weeks after I got home, I got an email from my mom.
但是，回家几周后，我收到了妈妈发来的一封电子邮件。
It was one of those lists that gets forwarded around with rules for good living, like be gentle with the earth and spend time alone every day.
这是那些被转发的清单之一，其中包含美好生活的规则，比如善待地球、每天花时间独处。
My mom had received it from a friend.
我妈妈从朋友那里收到的。
And when she forwarded it to me, she had written on the top, "Look at number 17." It was odd because my mom doesn't usually open those kind of emails.
当她把它转发给我时，她在上面写道：“看17号。”这很奇怪，因为我妈妈通常不会打开这类电子邮件。
But I skimmed down and read number 17.
但我快速浏览了一下，读到了第 17 条。
It said exactly, "Make love and cook with abandon." When I saw that, number 17, it just flashed in my mind, oh my god this is so right.
它准确地表达了“放纵地做爱和做饭”。当我看到17号时，我的脑海中闪过，天哪，这太对了。
And let him be.
随他去吧。
And right then I said, you know what, why should I restrict your father's artistic pleasure in creating whatever he's creating when he cooks?
就在那时我说，你知道吗，为什么我要限制你父亲在做饭时创造他所创造的任何东西的艺术乐趣？
It was nice.
很好。
That's about all.
这就是全部了。
It was nice.
很好。
It was nice that she got the message.
很高兴她收到消息。
I don't have to-- this is friends and family.
我不必——这是朋友和家人。
I can give them a soup.
我可以给他们喝汤。
If they don't eat the soup, we throw away the soup.
如果他们不吃汤，我们就把汤扔掉。
It's not the end of the world.
这不是世界末日。
For her I guess it was.
对于她来说我想是的。
Richard Raskin I guess it was for her, but for me it wasn't.
理查德·拉斯金 我想这是给她的，但对我来说不是。
For the record, number 17 in the email my mom sent me said exactly, "Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon." How she got "make love" I'm not sure.
根据记录，我妈妈发给我的电子邮件中的第 17 条准确地说：“不计后果地放弃爱和烹饪。”我不确定她是如何“做爱”的。
And let's not go there.
我们不要去那里。
I don't know if she's really changed, if a single cheesy email could alter the way my parents relate to each other after 42 years of marriage.
我不知道她是否真的改变了，一封俗气的电子邮件是否可以改变我父母在结婚 42 年后的相处方式。
And my dad says that her first reflex is still to criticize him for things.
我爸爸说她的第一反应仍然是批评他的事情。
But now, sometimes, he sees her catch herself and stop.
但现在，有时他会看到她控制住自己并停下来。
Andy Raskin in San Francisco.
安迪·拉斯金在旧金山。
Credits Ira Glass Our program was produced today by Lisa Pollak and myself with Alex Blumberg, Diane Cook, Jane Feltes, Sarah Koenig, Amy O'Leary and Nancy Updike.
图片来源 Ira Glass 我们今天的节目由 Lisa Pollak 和我本人以及 Alex Blumberg、Diane Cook、Jane Feltes、Sarah Koenig、Amy O'Leary 和 Nancy Updike 制作。
Our senior producer is Julie Snyder.
我们的高级制片人是朱莉·斯奈德。
Elizabeth Meister runs our website.
伊丽莎白·梅斯特 (Elizabeth Meister) 负责运营我们的网站。
Production help form Thea Chaloner, Sam Hallgren and Seth Lind.
制作团队由 Thea Chaloner、Sam Hallgren 和 Seth Lind 协助制作。
[ACKNOWLDGEMENTS] Our website, where you can listen to our programs for absolutely free or buy CDs of them, www.thisamericanlife.org.
[鸣谢] 我们的网站 www.thisamericanlife.org，您可以在其中完全免费收听我们的节目或购买节目 CD。
Or you can download today's program in our archives at audible.com/thisamericanlife.
或者您也可以在我们的档案库中下载今天的节目：audible.com/thisamericanlife。
This American Life is distributed by Public Radio International.
《美国生活》由国际公共广播电台发行。
[FUNDING CREDITS] WBEZ management oversight for our show by Mr. Torey Malatia, who I walked in on this week in his office.
[资金来源] WBEZ 管理部门由 Torey Malatia 先生对我们的节目进行监督，本周我在他的办公室拜访了他。
And he's laying in the middle of the carpet, rolling around and laying around.
他躺在地毯中间，滚来滚去，躺着。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Back next week with more stories of This American Life.
下周我们将带来更多《美国生活》的故事。
This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.
《This American Life》与 WBEZ Chicago 合作制作，并由 PRX 公共广播电台传送到各电台。