399: Contents Unknown - 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 #399 | January 24, 2014 399: Contents Unknown 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 399 集 | 2014 年 1 月 24 日 399：内容未知 注：《This American Life》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 Last resort letters aren't exactly a secret, but most of us haven't heard of them.
序言 艾拉·格拉斯 最后的求助信并不完全是一个秘密，但我们大多数人都没有听说过它们。
Journalist Ron Rosenbaum came across them because he's got a Google alert that brings him any news story with the phrase "World War III" in it.
记者罗恩·罗森鲍姆（Ron Rosenbaum）偶然发现了它们，因为他收到了谷歌警报，可以为他带来任何含有“第三次世界大战”一词的新闻报道。
He's written about nuclear war on and off for decades.
几十年来，他断断续续地撰写有关核战争的文章。
And news came across the Google about a BBC documentary that details what these last resort letters are all about.
谷歌上出现了有关 BBC 纪录片的消息，该纪录片详细介绍了这些最后手段信件的内容。
Ron explained.
罗恩解释道。
On every British nuclear submarine, there's a safe.
每艘英国核潜艇上都有一个保险箱。
And then within that safe is another safe, and within that safe, the inner safe, is a letter from the British prime minister.
然后在那个保险箱里还有另一个保险箱，在那个保险箱里，最里面的保险箱里，有一封来自英国首相的信。
And every new prime minister that comes into office is required to handwrite this letter and seal it.
每一位上任的新首相都必须手写这封信并盖章。
And the letter instructs the submarine commander what to do when the homeland has been wiped out by a nuclear attack.
这封信指示潜艇指挥官当祖国被核攻击摧毁时该怎么做。
In other words, Britain's destroyed.
换句话说，英国已经被摧毁了。
And maybe it's better if you hear this in a British accent.
如果你用英国口音听到这句话也许会更好。
This is from the BBC documentary.
这是来自 BBC 纪录片。
The letter tells the sub commander--
这封信告诉副指挥官——
--whether to retaliate or not if Britain is already a smoking, irradiated ruin, and they're dead.
——如果英国已经是一片冒烟、受辐射的废墟，而他们已经死了，是否要进行报复。
It's a system peculiar to the British, and emulated by no other nuclear nations.
这是英国特有的制度，没有其他核国家效仿。
You write, with all due respect for our British cousins, this seems, well, insane.
您写道，尽管对我们的英国表兄弟充满了应有的尊重，但这似乎很疯狂。
The old-fashioned pen and ink on paper quality of it all somehow makes the system seem like it emanated from a 19th century madhouse.
老式笔墨在纸上的品质在某种程度上使该系统看起来像是来自 19 世纪的疯人院。
It's so absurd.
太荒唐了。
It's Kubrick territory.
这是库布里克的领地。
It's Dr. Strangelove territory.
这是奇爱博士的领地。
I mean, I can't imagine, you know, someone writing, "Dear Mr. Submarine commander, I'm dead.
我的意思是，我无法想象，你知道，有人写道：“亲爱的潜艇指挥官先生，我死了。
Everyone you know is dead.
你认识的每个人都死了。
We're all radioactive ashes.
我们都是放射性灰烬。
Here's what I'd like you to do.
这就是我希望你做的事情。
Number one,--"
第一，——”
Rosenbaum says that the letter poses some immediate practical questions.
罗森鲍姆说，这封信提出了一些直接的实际问题。
If the whole country was just destroyed, how would the sub commander know who killed them and where to target his bomb?
如果整个国家都被摧毁了，副指挥官怎么知道是谁杀了他们以及他的炸弹要瞄准哪里？
Does the sub commander have to show his letter to anybody else?
副指挥官是否必须向其他人出示他的信？
If he's the only one reading the letter, what's to stop him from substituting his own judgement for what's on the paper?
如果他是唯一读这封信的人，那么什么可以阻止他用自己的判断来代替纸上的内容呢？
And it raises a few broader questions.
它还提出了一些更广泛的问题。
If the purpose of a nuclear deterrent is to convince your enemies that if they destroy you, you're going to destroy them, doesn't it undermine the whole point of having nuclear weapons in the first place to publicize the fact that there's a secret letter that very well might say no, don't retaliate?
如果核威慑的目的是让你的敌人相信，如果他们摧毁了你，你就会摧毁他们，那么首先公开有一封密信很可能会说不，不要报复，这难道不会破坏拥有核武器的全部意义吗？
Which, Rosenbaum says, gets to the moral paradox that is at the heart of all nuclear doctrines.
罗森鲍姆说，这触及了所有核学说核心的道德悖论。
If your nation has been wiped out by a nuclear strike, is there any point in retaliating and killing tens, hundreds of millions of innocent people when the threat to retaliate has already failed?
如果你的国家已经被核打击消灭了，那么在报复威胁已经失败的情况下，进行报复并杀害数千万、数亿无辜人民还有什么意义呢？
Yeah.
是的。
Your nation's been annihilated.
你们的国家已经被消灭了。
Is there any point in killing millions out of pique, vengeance, or is it justice?
出于愤怒、复仇而杀害数百万人有什么意义，还是正义？
You know, I was at this conference of generals and admirals in July, and I actually made a point of asking them, what's the point of retaliation?
你知道，我七月份参加了这次将军和海军上将会议，我实际上特意问他们，报复有什么意义？
And they all recognized that this was a difficult question, but they all said that well, to talk about it invites attack.
他们都承认这是一个难题，但他们都说，谈论这个问题会招致攻击。
Because you're undermining the threat of retaliation by even discussing your Hamlet-like doubts and dithering about whether you'd retaliate.
因为你甚至通过讨论哈姆雷特式的疑虑并犹豫是否要报复来削弱报复的威胁。
And so then why have a letter?
那么为什么要有一封信呢？
Why let people know there's a handwritten letter that might say, oh, don't launch the missiles?
为什么要让人们知道有一封手写信可能会说，哦，不要发射导弹？
It doesn't make any sense.
这没有任何意义。
Why did they make the existence of this letter known?
他们为什么要公开这封信的存在？
Ron Rosenbaum contacted the British Defense Ministry and was told essentially that the letter was a fail-safe, almost a formality.
罗恩·罗森鲍姆联系了英国国防部，并被告知这封信本质上是一种保险措施，几乎是一种形式。
If Britain were destroyed, somebody was going to need to issue an order to launch those nuclear missiles.
如果英国被摧毁，就需要有人下令发射这些核导弹。
The letter is that order.
这封信就是那个命令。
But of course, this is what they would have to say, even if it's not true, to make the threat seem credible.
但当然，这是他们必须说的话，即使这不是真的，以使威胁看起来可信。
And you really need all the theatrics of the two safes and the personal handwritten note for all that, you know?
你真的需要两个保险箱和个人手写便条的所有戏剧性效果，你知道吗？
And remember, no one knows what's in the letter.
请记住，没有人知道信中的内容。
It's sealed.
是密封的。
Or-- maybe this is something that's maybe better to hear in a British accent.
或者——也许用英国口音来听会更好。
As the BBC puts it--
正如 BBC 所说——
History will never find out, because nobody knows what's in the prime minister's letters of last resort, and they're destroyed unread by the cabinet office when the premiership changes.
历史永远不会找到答案，因为没有人知道首相最后的信件里写的是什么，而且当首相更迭时，内阁办公室不会阅读这些信件就将其销毁。
Rosenbaum believes that most people, faced with the choice of ordering genocide after the threat of genocide has failed, would not launch the missiles.
罗森鲍姆认为，大多数人在种族灭绝威胁失败后面临下令种族灭绝的选择时，不会发射导弹。
And one of the few people who've had their finger on Britain's nuclear button, have ever talked about this publicly, a former defense minister named Dennis Healy, says in the BBC documentary--
前国防部长丹尼斯·希利 (Dennis Healy) 在英国广播公司 (BBC) 纪录片中表示，他是少数接触过英国核按钮并公开谈论此事的人之一——
I realize I would find it very, very difficult indeed to agree to use a nuclear weapon, and I think most people would.
我意识到我会发现同意使用核武器确实非常非常困难，而且我认为大多数人都会这样做。
Because most of the people you've killed will be innocent civilians.
因为你杀死的大多数人都是无辜的平民。
Which brings us back to the question, why do it this way?
这让我们回到了这个问题，为什么要这样做？
What's the advantage of a secret that's inside a safe, inside another safe, deep below the surface of the ocean?
秘密存在于一个保险箱内、另一个保险箱内、深海之下，有什么好处？
A secret sealed away where nobody can get to it?
一个秘密，被封存起来，无人能触及？
Well, Rosenbaum found himself asking a very similar question while researching a very different subject years ago.
好吧，罗森鲍姆发现自己在几年前研究一个非常不同的主题时提出了一个非常相似的问题。
He spent ten years writing a book about Adolf Hitler.
他花了十年时间写了一本关于阿道夫·希特勒的书。
And he said that when he was researching that, some of the evidence that he's heard about-- there was stories, for example, of a hypnotherapist report on Adolf Hitler from when Adolf Hitler was in a sanitarium after the first World War-- that supposedly explained why Hitler wanted to conquer the world.
他说，当他进行研究时，他听到的一些证据——例如，第一次世界大战后阿道夫·希特勒在疗养院时，催眠治疗师对阿道夫·希特勒的报告——据说可以解释为什么希特勒想要征服世界。
And this was, supposedly, again, sealed away in a safe deposit box in Switzerland.
据说，这又被密封在瑞士的一个保险箱里。
And Rosenbaum has a theory about the appeal of that kind of thing.
罗森鲍姆对此类事物的吸引力有一个理论。
It allows us to believe that certain truths do exist.
它让我们相信某些真理确实存在。
There's an explanation for Hitler, but it's locked away in some safe deposit box beyond our grasp.
对希特勒有一个解释，但它被锁在我们无法掌握的某个保险箱里。
So it gives us a feeling that this is not some numinous, irretrievable mystery.
所以它给我们一种感觉，这不是什么超自然的、无法解开的谜团。
We could explain Hitler, if only we had found the right safe deposit box.
如果我们找到了合适的保险箱，我们就可以解释希特勒。
To follow your logic, then the advantage of having this letter with the order locked away in a box inside another box-- what it does is that you don't want your enemy to know that you're not going to launch those missiles, but you don't want to think for yourself that you are.
按照你的逻辑，那么将这封带有命令的信件锁在一个盒子里另一个盒子里的好处是——它的作用是你不想让你的敌人知道你不会发射这些导弹，但你不想自己认为你会发射这些导弹。
So it lets you believe both things.
所以它让你相信这两件事。
It lets two truths exist at the same time.
它让两个真理同时存在。
Yes, I suppose that's true.
是的，我想确实如此。
It allows us to have it both ways.
它使我们能够两全其美。
From WEBZ Chicago, it's This American Life, distributed by Public Radio International.
这是来自芝加哥 WEBZ 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。
Today on our show, Contents Unknown.
今天我们的节目，内容未知。
Stories of truths, big and small, that are locked away.
大大小小的真相故事都被锁了起来。
Sometimes the most exciting thing about these truths is knowing that they're out there, the answer exists, but you don't know it.
有时，关于这些真理最令人兴奋的事情是知道它们就在那里，答案存在，但你不知道。
Our show today in three acts.
我们今天的演出分三幕。
Act one is about the truths contained in America's mini storage lockers.
第一幕讲述美国迷你储物柜中蕴含的真相。
No kidding.
不开玩笑。
Act two is about the truth of an entire empire 1,400 years ago.
第二幕讲述 1,400 年前整个帝国的真相。
Act three is about truth wiped away from inside someone's head.
第三幕讲述的是真相从某人头脑中被抹去的故事。
Stay with us.
留在我们身边。
Act one.
行动一。
Needle in a crap sack.
针插在垃圾袋里。
Self storage units.
自存储单元。
There's a lot of them.
有很多。
2.35 billion with a B square feet in the United States, according to the Self Storage Association.
根据自助仓储协会的数据，美国 B 平方英尺的价值为 23.5 亿美元。
That, in case you're wondering, is 7.4 square feet of self storage for every man, woman, and child in this country, meaning all of us, all of us, could stand inside self storage at the same time.
如果你想知道的话，这个国家的每个男人、女人和孩子都有 7.4 平方英尺的自助储藏室，这意味着我们所有人，我们所有人，都可以同时站在自助储藏室里。
And when people do not pay their self storage bills after the facility tries to collect through all the normal means and fails, often the contents of the storage lockers get auctioned off.
当人们在设施尝试通过所有正常方式收集但失败后不支付自助存储费用时，储物柜中的物品通常会被拍卖。
Jon Mooallem went to some of those auctions in Northern California.
乔恩·穆阿勒姆 (Jon Mooallem) 参加了北加州的一些拍卖会。
They're a big exercise in guessing at the unknown.
这是猜测未知事物的一项大练习。
This morning, a little after nine, a crowd of a few dozen prospectors is already waiting in the fog outside Bridgehead Self Storage, an hour east of San Francisco.
今天早上九点刚过，几十名探矿者已经在雾中等待在旧金山以东一小时车程的桥头堡自助仓库外。
The auctioneer, a guy with the briskly mustache named John Cardoza, runs a company called Storage Auction Experts.
拍卖师名叫约翰·卡多萨 (John Cardoza)，留着小胡子，经营着一家名为“存储拍卖专家”(Storage Auction Experts) 的公司。
Today he'll go to six different storage places in three different towns and auction off upwards of 50 units.
今天，他将前往三个不同城镇的六个不同存储地点，拍卖超过 50 个单位。
The crowd will follow him for nine hours.
人群将跟随他九个小时。
Hey Ricky?
嘿瑞奇？
Go ahead and open up this one too, please.
请也打开这个。
We've got two of them open.
我们已经打开了其中两个。
Here's how it works.
这是它的工作原理。
A unit's door is rolled open.
一个单元的门被推开。
No one's allowed to step inside or open any boxes or touch anything at all.
任何人都不允许踏入内部或打开任何盒子或触摸任何东西。
The mob just stands there, sweeping their flashlights around, making educated guesses about what's inside.
暴民只是站在那里，用手电筒扫视周围，对里面有什么进行有根据的猜测。
They crane their necks, contort their bodies, or step up on little folding stools they brought for a better look into the nooks and corners.
他们伸长脖子，扭曲身体，或者踩上带来的小折叠凳，以便更好地观察角落和角落。
"You gotta get all up in there, like a proctologist," one guy explains.
“你必须全力以赴，就像直肠科医生一样，”一个人解释道。
I spoke to a giddy-looking woman in the crowd about what she saw.
我向人群中一位看上去头晕的女士讲述了她的所见所闻。
There is an unusual-shaped box that is behind these old mattresses that are leaned up, and the mattresses did not lean all the way up against the wall.
这些倾斜的旧床垫后面有一个形状不寻常的盒子，床垫并没有完全靠在墙上。
So I kind of was really trying to look behind there and see.
所以我真的很想看看后面的情况。
So that's what drew my attention to it, right there.
这就是引起我注意的原因。
So hopefully it is what I'm thinking it might be.
所以希望这就是我所想的那样。
I don't know yet, but I have something in my head, yeah.
我还不知道，但我脑子里有一些东西，是的。
I couldn't get her to even say it out loud.
我什至无法让她大声说出来。
She didn't want to jinx it.
她不想给它带来厄运。
Locker number A80, the one out here.
储物柜编号为 A80，就是这里的那个。
The one out here.
就是这里的那个。
Here we go, ladies and gentlemen.
女士们先生们，我们开始吧。
How many dollars?
多少钱？
Can I get $50 start it?
我能得到 50 美元开始吗？
It's informal.
这是非正式的。
The auctioneer stands right in front of the open locker.
拍卖师站在打开的储物柜前面。
People raise their hands to bid.
人们纷纷举手竞价。
Most of them are regulars.
他们中的大多数都是常客。
They all know each other and are here to make a modest second income.
他们都互相认识，来这里是为了赚取微薄的第二收入。
They resell what they buy on eBay or at flea markets.
他们转售在 eBay 或跳蚤市场上购买的东西。
They have their niches.
他们有自己的利基市场。
One guy does antiques.
一个人做古董。
Several are into tools.
有几个人热衷于工具。
One loves anything military.
一个人喜欢任何军事的东西。
But they all know the stories of blockbuster hauls, too.
但他们也都知道大获成功的故事。
The hippies who, for $225, bought the unit of a Sacramento rail yard heir several years ago and found a stockpile of silver coins inside.
几年前，嬉皮士们以 225 美元的价格买下了萨克拉门托火车站继承人的一套公寓，并在里面发现了一堆银币。
In 2007, a guy in Southern California bought Paris Hilton's storage locker when she fell $200 behind on the rent.
2007 年，南加州的一名男子在帕丽斯·希尔顿 (Paris Hilton) 拖欠租金 200 美元时买下了她的储物柜。
He resold it to another guy who set up a website called Paris Exposed and charged $39.97 for a virtual tour of the contents.
他将其转售给了另一个人，该人建立了一个名为“巴黎曝光”的网站，并收取 39.97 美元的虚拟游览内容。
There were topless photos in there, ones people hadn't seen yet.
那里有人们还没有见过的裸照。
A more common scenario, though, goes like this.
不过，更常见的情况是这样的。
You spend several hundred dollars on what turns out to be cheap halogen lamps, cassette singles by Heavy D & the Boyz, and a couple of bent mattresses.
你花了几百美元买了一些廉价的卤素灯、Heavy D & the Boyz 的单曲卡带以及几张弯曲的床垫。
Then you've got to spend the rest of your day shoveling all that crap to the dump, which charges you more money to throw it out.
然后你就得花一天剩下的时间把所有这些垃圾铲到垃圾场，这会花费你更多的钱来扔掉它们。
People think you find, like, diamond rings and stuff, and everybody's doing this for a decade.
人们认为你找到了钻戒之类的东西，十年来每个人都这样做。
That's Christine.
那是克里斯汀。
She's here with her friend Lois.
她和她的朋友路易斯在这里。
They say for every good score, there are plenty of disappointments.
他们说，每一个好的成绩，都会有很多令人失望的事情。
All you find is other people's porno, stuff that goes along with that, nasty clothes that smell like mildew, dead rats.
你能找到的只是别人的色情内容，与之相伴的东西，肮脏的衣服，闻起来像霉味，死老鼠。
Oh, definitely dead rats.
噢，肯定是死老鼠了。
Christine And you know how long it's been there, and [UNINTELLIGIBLE].
克里斯汀：你知道它已经存在多久了，而且[难以辨认]。
With such a great likelihood of failure, you have to give yourself an edge.
由于失败的可能性如此之大，你必须给自己一个优势。
And everybody's got their own arsenal of tricks.
每个人都有自己的技巧。
What do you look for when the door opens?
当门打开时你在寻找什么？
Cobwebs.
蜘蛛网。
Seriously, cobwebs.
说真的，蜘蛛网。
That stuff hasn't been moved in a long time, so you know no one's gone through it.
这些东西已经很长时间没有动过了，所以你知道没有人经过它。
Cobwebs tell you the renters didn't have a chance to whisk away their valuables before the manager locked them out.
蜘蛛网告诉你，在经理把他们锁在门外之前，租客没有机会带走他们的贵重物品。
When it looks like a unit's been churned over, you see upside down furniture, boxes crushed on boxes.
当一个单元看起来像是被翻腾过时，你会看到家具倒置，盒子压在盒子上。
It just indicates either low quality, or they took what they wanted out of there before they knew they were losing it.
这仅仅表明要么质量低劣，要么他们在知道自己失去了东西之前就从那里拿走了他们想要的东西。
So you're not going to get anything.
所以你不会得到任何东西。
That's Dave Lewis, a stick-thin guy with a beard.
那是戴夫·刘易斯，一个身材瘦削、留着胡子的家伙。
He's wearing a denim work jacket that's way too big for him.
他穿着一件对他来说太大的牛仔工作夹克。
He looks like a precocious kid in a smock.
他看起来就像一个穿着罩衫的早熟孩子。
Dave's been going to auctions off and on for most of his life.
戴夫一生中的大部分时间都在断断续续地参加拍卖会。
But you know, you see a unit that's neatly stacked and organized, thought went into it, certain brand names or a tendency for a lot of the items in there to be brand or quality items versus, say, just generics or that kind of thing-- so people tend to print really nicely, and just the level of organization goes into some of them lets you know, hey.
但你知道，你看到一个整齐堆叠和组织的单元，考虑到它，某些品牌名称或其中的许多物品倾向于品牌或优质物品，而不是仿制药或类似的东西 - 所以人们倾向于打印得非常好，只是其中一些物品的组织水平让你知道，嘿。
Somebody took the time as value here.
有人在这里把时间视为价值。
And the kinds of boxes matter, too.
盒子的种类也很重要。
Crisp, brand new moving boxes, good.
清爽，全新的搬家盒子，不错。
Rat-bitten old diaper boxes, not good.
被老鼠咬过的旧尿布盒，不好。
A plasma TV box is almost guaranteed not to have a plasma TV in it, but it tells you something about the income bracket you're dealing with.
等离子电视盒几乎肯定不会有等离子电视，但它可以告诉您一些有关您正在处理的收入阶层的信息。
No unit's a sure thing, Lois tells me.
路易斯告诉我，没有哪个单位是确定的。
Every once in a while, one breaks your heart.
每隔一段时间，就会有人伤你的心。
I know one guy, a story I heard a few years ago.
我认识一个人，这是我几年前听到的一个故事。
This guy-- they opened a huge unit, and it was all boxes packed neatly, and they all said "Fragile Crystal" on the side.
这家伙——他们开了一个巨大的单位，里面都是装得整整齐齐的盒子，旁边还写着“易碎水晶”。
He bid up to $500 or $600 or something on that.
他的出价高达 500 美元或 600 美元之类的。
And when he emptied it, it was all just a bunch of garbage that belonged to someone named Crystal.
当他倒空它时，它只是一堆垃圾，属于一个名叫克里斯托的人。
I haven't seen him for a while either, come to think of it.
我也有一段时间没见到他了，想起来。
Still, the game is the same for everyone.
尽管如此，游戏对每个人来说都是一样的。
You're trying to analyze what you can see to get a sense of what you can't.
你试图分析你能看到的东西，以了解你看不到的东西。
Dave makes it sound a little mystical, even.
戴夫甚至让这听起来有点神秘。
As soon as the door opens, he starts building a profile of the renter in his head, really trying to get to know the person.
门一打开，他就开始在脑海中构建租客的个人资料，真正尝试了解这个人。
This looks to me like somebody who did in-home daycare.
在我看来，这就像一个做家庭日托的人。
Beanbags, a number of individual tubs that have crayons, chalk-- you know, not enough for one kid, about enough for 20.
懒人沙发、一些单独的桶，里面有蜡笔、粉笔——你知道，对于一个孩子来说不够，但大约够 20 个孩子用。
So it probably, in my estimation, this should not go anywhere over a hundred.
因此，据我估计，这可能不会超过一百。
Although there is some Star Wars sheets right there, so you might have the fanatic collector who notices that or something.
尽管那里有一些《星球大战》的床单，所以狂热的收藏家可能会注意到这一点或其他东西。
You never know.
你永远不知道。
You can see if a lot of people are interested in it, see how long it's taking them to look.
你可以看看是否有很多人对此感兴趣，看看他们花了多长时间去看。
They're trying to find something to draw themselves into buying it.
他们试图找到一些东西来吸引自己购买它。
Something to say, buy me.
有话要说，买我吧。
That's Mike DeHaas.
那是迈克·德哈斯。
He's not like Dave at all.
他一点也不像戴夫。
He's not like anyone else here.
他和这里的其他人不一样。
Mike doesn't fantasize or make projections about what can't be seen.
迈克不会对看不见的事物进行幻想或预测。
The stacks of anonymous boxes, the big, enticing furniture shapes draped over with blankets.
一堆堆不知名的盒子，巨大而诱人的家具形状，上面盖着毯子。
To some bidders, these just mean more chances to win.
对于一些竞标者来说，这仅仅意味着更多的获胜机会。
To Mike, they're traps, a mirage.
对迈克来说，它们是陷阱，是海市蜃楼。
His strategy is the anti-strategy.
他的策略是反策略。
He just bids on what's visible.
他只对可见的东西出价。
When the door rolls up, Mike quickly tallies up the value of everything he can see and definitively identify in the unit, and then bids based on that and only that.
当门打开时，迈克迅速计算出他能看到并明确识别出的单元中所有物品的价值，然后据此出价。
It could be a piece of art, it could be a coin, it could be a baseball card, it could be a toy, it could be an old military item, it could be a piece of clothing.
它可以是一件艺术品，它可以是一枚硬币，它可以是一张棒球卡，它可以是一个玩具，它可以是一件旧军用物品，它可以是一件衣服。
You just never know.
你永远不知道。
So I look at everything realistically.
所以我现实地看待一切。
I've just had a rough life and I've been through a lot of things that most people shouldn't, so I don't see things like, you know, I see it for what it is.
我刚刚经历了一段艰难的生活，经历了很多大多数人不应该经历的事情，所以我看不到这样的事情，你知道，我看到的是它的本来面目。
Two plus two is four.
二加二等于四。
That's how I describe everything, and that's how I see it.
这就是我描述一切的方式，这就是我的看法。
So I don't do this with a lot of hope.
所以我并没有抱太大的希望去做这件事。
I do it realistically.
我实事求是地做。
Mike's buying at auctions and reselling at flea markets around the state full time, just barely supporting his girlfriend and two little kids.
迈克全职在拍卖会上买东西，然后在全州各地的跳蚤市场转售，勉强养活他的女朋友和两个小孩。
I keep noticing Mike far away from the rest of the crowd, staring at the ground with his hood pulled over his head and a Maglite flung through his belt.
我一直注意到迈克远离人群，盯着地面，兜帽拉过头，腰带上挂着一把 Maglite。
Mike's got a history with these storage places.
迈克对这些存储场所有着丰富的历史。
He tells me his parents did a lot of drugs his whole childhood.
他告诉我，他的父母在整个童年时期吸食了大量毒品。
And he got to the point where we ended up homeless and put everything into a storage unit.
他到了我们无家可归并把所有东西都放进储藏室的地步。
And instead of trying to save our storage unit, they spent all the money they had on more drugs, and kept repeating that process, so we lost our unit.
他们没有试图挽救我们的存储单元，而是把所有的钱都花在了更多的药品上，并不断重复这个过程，所以我们失去了我们的存储单元。
I've had a whole 10 by 30 just gone one day.
有一天我已经走了整整 10 乘 30。
My whole life up until the age of 15.
我的一生一直到15岁。
Everything before my parents lost because of their drug habit.
我父母因为吸毒而失去了之前的一切。
So it was rather disappointing and things like that.
所以这是相当令人失望的事情。
And that's why what I try to do is make sure like anything personal, especially baby photos, baby books, things of that nature, I try to put it all in a box and give it back to the office, and they will return it to the people.
这就是为什么我尝试做的就是确保像任何私人物品一样，尤其是婴儿照片、婴儿书籍等类似性质的东西，我尝试将它们全部放入盒子中并将其返还给办公室，然后他们会将其返还给人们。
Because it makes me feel a little better.
因为这让我感觉好一点。
We got to get to the next one because there's bad parking.
我们必须去下一趟，因为那里停车不好。
When we reach the sixth and final storage facility of the day, San Miguel Mini Storage, a short, barrel-chested Asian guy shows up, turning heads.
当我们到达当天的第六个也是最后一个存储设施——生力迷你存储时，一个身材矮小、胸肌发达的亚洲人出现了，引起了人们的注意。
Darren, someone whispers.
达伦，有人低声说道。
Well, I came back here because I scored last time, so I'm going to come back again, see if I can score again.
好吧，我回到这里是因为我上次进球了，所以我会再回来，看看我是否能再次进球。
Last time Darren came to an auction at this place, he found a big box of jewelry buried in the back of a unit.
上次达伦来这个地方拍卖时，他发现一个单位的后面埋着一大箱珠宝。
He made 40 grand from it, or 400 grand, maybe.
他从中赚了 40 格兰特，也许是 400 格兰特。
The number changes as the story gets told and retold and passes into legend.
随着故事的讲述和重述，这个数字会发生变化，并成为传奇。
This helps explain why, when we get here, the crowd's suddenly tripled in size.
这有助于解释为什么当我们到达这里时，人群数量突然增加了两倍。
There's close to 100 people here now, because word's gotten around that San Miguel Mini Storage is the kind of place where Darrens happen.
现在这里有近 100 人，因为有传言说 San Miguel Mini Storage 就是 Darrens 的聚集地。
But not today.
但今天不行。
There were 27 units to auction here, and one after the other, the doors went up, and none looked even remotely like a Darren-maker.
这里有 27 套待拍卖的房子，一栋又一栋，门都打开了，没有一栋看起来像达伦制造商。
[?
[？
Last chance today.
今天最后一次机会。
Here we go now, locker--
现在我们开始吧，储物柜——
To be honest, the afternoon has blurred together in a model of obsolete computer monitors, dusty sweatpants, vacuums, and bingo cards.
说实话，下午的时光在陈旧的电脑显示器、沾满灰尘的运动裤、吸尘器和宾果卡的模型中模糊在一起。
I remember seeing a black bedazzled sombrero somewhere, the kind that Three Amigos wore.
我记得在某个地方看到过一顶令人眼花缭乱的黑色宽边帽，就是三个朋友戴的那种。
I remember a big box of snack food-- "Chicken Ranch Flavor-Blasted Goldfish," they were called.
我记得一大盒零食——“鸡牧场风味炸金鱼”，它们的名字是这样的。
Those are starting to feel like really fun memories now.
现在这些回忆开始变得非常有趣。
The sun's set.
太阳落山了。
The temperature's dropped.
气温下降了。
The hardcore veterans are all feeling crappy and disappointed.
铁杆老兵们都感到蹩脚和失望。
And then--
然后——
Oh, [BLEEP] [BLEEP] Jon Mooallem This last unit, a 10 by 25, is a cartoonish mound of junk.
哦，[BLEEP] [BLEEP] Jon Mooallem 最后一个单位是 10 x 25，是一个卡通垃圾堆。
It's such a jumbled, ridiculous end of the long day that all the jaded old-timers have perked up.
漫长的一天结束得如此混乱、可笑，所有疲惫的老前辈们都振作了起来。
They're almost enjoying it.
他们几乎已经很享受了。
Oh my God.
我的天啊。
Shopping carts?
购物车？
Man 3 Was this a family?
男3 这是一家人吗？
Wow, what's in the back?
哇，后面是什么？
Jon Mooallem I ask Mike if he sees anything here worth bidding on.
乔恩·穆阿勒姆（Jon Mooallem） 我问迈克，他是否认为这里有什么值得竞标的东西。
Everyone's just baffled.
每个人都感到困惑。
Oh, there's nothing to describe here.
哦，这里没什么可描述的。
I don't even know what to use as a word.
我什至不知道该用什么词来形容。
An abomination.
令人憎恶。
It's like a wall, right?
它就像一堵墙，对吧？
It's like a wall of stuff with something behind it.
它就像一堵东西墙，后面有东西。
It's a wall of-- somebody was really desperate, and in a big hurry to unload wherever, their garage, their house, whatever, they shoved it all in.
这是一堵墙——有人真的很绝望，急忙想把货物卸到任何地方，他们的车库、他们的房子，无论什么，他们把所有东西都塞进去了。
And when they opened the door, stuff just spilled out of the bottom.
当他们打开门时，东西就从底部溢出了。
A bunch of books and a camping chair.
一堆书和一把露营椅。
There's a pizza stone.
有一块披萨石。
There's books about U-boats, boxes.
有关于潜艇、箱子的书。
It looks as though someone had a bulldozer inside the unit and just pushed everything all the way to the front.
看起来好像有人在单位里放了推土机，把所有东西都推到了前面。
And behind there, people are saying they see a giant Santa Claus.
在那后面，人们说他们看到了一个巨大的圣诞老人。
Someone shouts out the name of a bar to head to.
有人喊出要去的酒吧的名字。
A man tells his girlfriend, "Go use the bathroom.
一个男人对他的女朋友说：“去厕所吧。
Let's get out of here."
我们离开这里吧。”
The auctioneer starts the bidding.
拍卖师开始竞价。
Some people are actually raising their hands.
有些人确实举手了。
Now 325 now 350 new blood now 375.
现在 325 现在 350 新血 现在 375。
Now 400.
现在400了。
It gets competitive.
它变得有竞争力。
John Cardoza Now 425.
约翰·卡多萨现年425岁。
400, 425, now 450.
400、425、现在 450。
Anybody else?
还有其他人吗？
450?
450？
Sold them out.
把它们卖光了。
425.
425.
The winner turns out to be Dave and his girlfriend Linda for $425 plus fees.
获胜者是 Dave 和他的女朋友 Linda，奖金为 425 美元（另加费用）。
They own his giant pile of tetanus now.
他们现在拥有了他那一大堆破伤风。
And the weird thing is, they're thrilled.
奇怪的是，他们很兴奋。
Wait, wait, wait.
等等，等等，等等。
We have to get a full explanation on this.
我们必须对此做出全面的解释。
Because you understand that this was very controversial unit.
因为你知道这是一个非常有争议的单元。
So you knew right away you wanted this one?
所以你立刻就知道你想要这个？
I did, as soon as I knew that there was a hollow spot behind there.
当我知道那里后面有一个空洞时，我就这么做了。
That could be-- could be nothing.
那可能是——可能什么都不是。
They could have been just idiots.
他们可能只是白痴。
And Dave says they took the good stuff out.
戴夫说他们把好东西拿走了。
But who's going to pay $225 on a unit every month to store this?
但谁会每月花 225 美元购买一个设备来存储它呢？
There could be motorcycles, jet skis, a car.
可能有摩托车、摩托艇、汽车。
Could be anything.
可以是任何东西。
It could be nothing.
可能没什么。
We could've just flushed $485 down the toilet.
我们可以直接把 485 美元冲进马桶冲掉。
So we'll see.
所以我们拭目以待。
I do, I do.
我愿意，我愿意。
But I don't have a flashlight.
但我没有手电筒。
I think I can-- Jon Mooallem Dave clambers up, sidestepping a not totally empty jar of Red Raspberry Smuckers and an electric carving knife.
我想我可以——乔恩·穆阿勒姆·戴夫爬上来，避开一罐尚未完全空的红树莓烟熏罐和一把电动切肉刀。
Uh-- OK, I don't-- there's nothing like a motorcycle, or-- but for everyone that thought the back half of this unit was empty, they were absolutely dead wrong.
呃——好吧，我不——没有什么比摩托车更好的了，或者——但是对于每个认为这个单元的后半部分是空的的人来说，他们绝对是大错特错了。
This thing is about four feet deep and going all the way about 15 feet back.
这个东西大约有 4 英尺深，一直向后延伸大约 15 英尺。
In fact, I see three more shopping carts, books, boxes, bags, a seven foot tall Santa-- oh, I'm telling you.
事实上，我还看到了三辆购物车、书籍、盒子、袋子，还有一个七英尺高的圣诞老人——哦，我告诉你。
There's no telling here.
这里没什么可说的。
This is one huge heap.
这是一大堆。
No motorcycle?
没有摩托车吗？
Boo!
嘘！
Jon Mooallem If he feels defeated, though, he's trying not to let on.
乔恩·穆阿勒姆 (Jon Mooallem) 如果他感到失败，他会尽量不表现出来。
He and Linda start freeing things from the mass, including bags of recyclable bottles.
他和琳达开始把东西从人群中解放出来，包括一袋袋可回收瓶子。
And Dave especially is trying to put a good spin on whatever they find.
戴夫尤其试图对他们发现的任何东西进行良好的诠释。
Yeah, this is, I don't think it's any kind of a special wine.
是的，这个，我不认为它是什么特别的酒。
It looks like Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon 2001.
它看起来像查尔斯·肖赤霞珠 2001 年。
OK, see, we found two bottles of one unopened wine, a 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2005 something else.
好吧，看，我们发现了两瓶未开封的葡萄酒，一瓶 2001 年的赤霞珠，一瓶 2005 年的其他葡萄酒。
So we may have somebody's wine collection in here, too.
所以我们这里可能也有某人的葡萄酒收藏。
See now, this is the kind of stuff I like to see.
现在看来，这就是我喜欢看到的东西。
This offset seeing those recyclables.
这抵消了看到那些可回收物的影响。
Gradually, though, the bad omens stack up.
然而，渐渐地，不好的预兆越来越多。
I almost hate to comment on this, but I know what it is.
我几乎不想对此发表评论，但我知道它是什么。
Methamphetamine.
甲基苯丙胺。
Not the actual stuff, but this is what people do when they're on meth.
不是真正的东西，但这就是人们服用冰毒时所做的事情。
Can you describe what it is?
你能描述一下它是什么吗？
Dave Lewis I guess somebody thought they would improve on the wheel.
戴夫·刘易斯（Dave Lewis）我猜有人认为他们会改进方向盘。
Yeah, it's a bicycle that somebody thought that they could try to take coat hangers and make a bunch of spokes out of, and then wrap it around the tire, it looks like to try to keep the tire on the rim.
是的，这是一辆自行车，有人认为他们可以尝试用衣架制作一堆辐条，然后将其包裹在轮胎上，看起来像是试图将轮胎保持在轮辋上。
And I just, somebody's got to be on drugs to do this.
我只是，有人必须吸毒才能做到这一点。
I've seen it way too many times.
我已经看过太多次了。
You come across something like this where you see somebody's done something to it that absolutely makes no sense.
你会遇到这样的事情，你看到有人做了一些完全没有意义的事情。
I mean, they've basically made the bike unrideable doing what they tried to do to it.
我的意思是，他们基本上已经让这辆自行车无法骑行了，他们做了他们试图做的事情。
So I would be willing to bet that this person had a drug problem.
所以我愿意打赌这个人有毒品问题。
And that's how I leave them, scrabbling through the unit in a floodlight in the cold.
我就是这样离开他们的，顶着泛光灯在寒冷的天气里爬行。
Maybe they lost.
也许他们输了。
Maybe it was a draw.
也许这是一场平局。
Dave says it'll take a week to sort everything out.
戴夫说需要一周时间才能解决所有问题。
Jon Mooallem is a contributing writer for New York Times Magazine.
乔恩·穆阿勒姆 (Jon Mooallem) 是《纽约时报》杂志的特约撰稿人。
Coming up-- when you lose your memory in India and you're searching for whatever clues you can find to reconstruct who you are.
即将到来——当你在印度失去记忆并寻找任何线索来重建你是谁时。
What's the protocol they use to help you?
他们使用什么协议来帮助您？
And yes, incredibly, this happens enough that there is an informal protocol of sorts, in some places.
是的，令人难以置信的是，这种情况发生得足够多，以至于在某些地方存在某种非正式的协议。
That's in the second half of our show from Chicago Public Radio and Public Radio International when our program continues.
这是芝加哥公共广播电台和国际公共广播电台节目的后半部分，我们的节目仍在继续。
This American Life from Ira Glass.
艾拉·格拉斯的《美国生活》。
Each week on our program, of course, we choose a theme, bring you different kinds of stories on that theme.
当然，我们每周的节目都会选择一个主题，为您带来有关该主题的不同类型的故事。
Today's program-- Contents Unknown.
今天的节目——内容未知。
Stories of people having to guess at the mystery of what is inside all sorts of various things.
人们必须猜测各种事物内部的奥秘的故事。
We've arrived at act two of our show.
我们已经到了演出的第二幕了。
Act Two.
第二幕。
He Shapes Ship Shapes By the Seashore.
他在海边塑造了船的形状。
All right.
好的。
I'm going to say two words to you now.
我现在要对你说两句话。
Byzantine Empire.
拜占庭帝国。
Quick!
快的！
When?
什么时候？
Who?
WHO？
Where?
在哪里？
What?
什么？
Yeah, me neither.
是的，我也一样。
But I look it up.
但我查了一下。
The Byzantine Empire is basically the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which broke off.
拜占庭帝国基本上是罗马帝国的东半部，后来分裂了。
It existed from around 300 AD to the 1400s.
它存在于公元 300 年左右至 1400 年代。
And archaeologists thought they knew most of the big things that you'd want to know about the Byzantine Empire decades ago.
考古学家认为他们几十年前就知道了拜占庭帝国的大部分大事。
So much so that by the 1950s, they'd bulldozed Byzantine sites to get at stuff that seemed more interesting underneath it, Greek and Roman stuff.
以至于到了 20 世纪 50 年代，他们推平了拜占庭遗址，以获取地下似乎更有趣的东西，比如希腊和罗马的东西。
And then everything changed.
然后一切都改变了。
Our whole understanding of the Byzantines changed.
我们对拜占庭人的整体理解发生了变化。
And the way we got to this new understanding starts with one shipwreck.
我们获得这一新认识的方式始于一次沉船事故。
Adam Davidson tells what happened.
亚当·戴维森讲述了发生的事情。
Fred van Doorninck does not do anything on a lark.
弗雷德·范·杜宁克 (Fred van Doorninck) 不会做任何事。
Except one thing, once.
除了一件事，一次。
In 1961, when he was in archaeology grad school, he took a break and went to Turkey, put on some scuba gear, and checked out a 1,400 year old shipwreck off the coast of the tiny island of Yassiada.
1961 年，当他在考古研究生院就读时，他休息了一下，去了土耳其，穿上一些潜水装备，在亚西达小岛海岸附近检查了一艘有 1,400 年历史的沉船。
At the very beginning, I just thought this was a summer of adventure.
一开始，我只是以为这是一个冒险的夏天。
But slowly-- well, not too slowly.
但要慢慢地——嗯，不要太慢。
I think by the second year, I was hooked.
我想到了第二年，我就迷上了。
Hooked on Yassiada?
迷上了亚西亚达？
Fred Van Doorninck Yes.
弗雷德·范·多尼克 是的。
Because this ship was a great mystery, you know?
因为这艘船是一个很大的谜，你知道吗？
It needed to be put back together, and it all needed to be explained.
它需要重新组合起来，并且这一切都需要得到解释。
It was surprising that Fred, of all people, took this on, since Fred, by his on admission, is not a water guy.
令人惊讶的是，弗雷德在所有人中都接受了这一点，因为弗雷德承认，他不是一个水手。
I have a throat that when one little drop of liquid hits it, it closes.
我有一个喉咙，当一小滴液体碰到它时，它就会关闭。
And I never enjoyed diving one minute.
我从来没有享受过潜水一分钟。
Fred used to come up from almost every dive with blood in his mask.
弗雷德几乎每次潜水上来时，面罩上都沾满了血。
That's George Bass, Fred's research partner in what would become a 50 year exploration of this one Byzantine ship.
那就是乔治·巴斯 (George Bass)，弗雷德的研究伙伴，对这艘拜占庭船进行了 50 年的探索。
Speaking of the Byzantines, George remembers a grad school trip to Greece this way.
说起拜占庭人，乔治就这样回忆起一次去希腊的研究生旅行。
I didn't even get out of the bus at Byzantine churches.
我什至没有在拜占庭教堂下车。
I just found them so boring.
我只是发现他们太无聊了。
I found everything about the Byzantine period just awful.
我发现拜占庭时期的一切都很糟糕。
So a guy who hates diving meets a guy bored by the Byzantine Empire.
所以，一个讨厌潜水的人遇到了一个对拜占庭帝国感到无聊的人。
Naturally, an academic buddy movie ensues in which two men find that the path to happiness lies in diving and studying the Byzantines.
自然地，一部学术伙伴电影随之而来，两个男人发现通往幸福的道路在于潜水和研究拜占庭人。
And along the way, they create an entire new field-- underwater archaeology.
一路走来，他们创造了一个全新的领域——水下考古学。
Because they were the first archaeologists to thoroughly excavate a ship on the seafloor.
因为他们是第一批在海底彻底挖掘船只的考古学家。
George remembers diving and seeing Yassiada for the first time.
乔治记得第一次潜水和见到亚西亚达的情景。
It was a mound of jars, amphoras, two-handle jars, we call them amphoras, and it stood maybe three feet high, something like that.
那是一堆罐子，双耳罐，双耳罐，我们称之为双耳罐，它大约有三英尺高，类似这样的东西。
No ship.
没有船。
In the Mediterranean, in fact, most of the oceans of the world are filled with shipworms, or marine borers, mollusks that eat wood.
事实上，在地中海，世界上大部分海洋都充满了船蛆或海洋蛀虫，即以木材为食的软体动物。
Like water termites?
喜欢水白蚁吗？
George Bass Like water termites, exactly.
乔治·巴斯 确实像水白蚁。
You guys must hate those water termites more than anything in the world.
你们一定最讨厌那些水白蚁了。
Oh, yes, very.
哦，是的，非常。
We yet only the part of the ship that's sunk down into the sand.
我们还只是沉入沙中的船的一部分。
So we're always hoping that a ship that we excavate has fallen onto one side, that we will learn more about it.
因此，我们总是希望我们挖掘的一艘船已经向一侧倾倒，以便我们能够了解更多有关它的信息。
Ships are symmetrical.
船是对称的。
You find one side safely buried in the sand, you know what the other side looks like.
你发现一侧安全地埋在沙子里，你知道另一侧是什么样子。
Now remember, these are the first diving archaeologists.
现在请记住，他们是第一批潜水考古学家。
Scuba had only been invented in the 1940s.
水肺潜水是 20 世纪 40 年代才发明的。
It was so new they could only stay on the seafloor for 20 minutes at a time.
因为太新了，他们一次只能在海底呆20分钟。
Imagine trying to excavate some ancient pyramid or something, and you can only go there and work for 20 minutes, and then you have to leave.
想象一下，你想要挖掘一些古金字塔之类的东西，你只能去那里工作 20 分钟，然后你就必须离开。
And in those 20 minutes, George and Fred had to solve problems nobody ever faced before.
在那 20 分钟里，乔治和弗雷德必须解决以前从未遇到过的问题。
An ancient hole on the seabed, the wood is very fragmentary.
海底的一个古老洞口，木头非常零碎。
And so if you sweep with your hand to get the sand away, a little piece of wood, not bigger than two playing cards put together, for example, that's just going to float away.
因此，如果你用手扫去沙子，例如一小块木头，不大于两张扑克牌放在一起的大小，那么它就会漂走。
So we had to figure out some way to keep it all intact while we mapped it.
因此，我们必须找到某种方法，在绘制地图时保持其完好无损。
I thought of knitting needles.
我想到了织针。
I couldn't find any.
我找不到任何。
A Turkish colleague suggested bicycle spokes.
一位土耳其同事建议使用自行车辐条。
We ended up buying more than a thousand bicycle spokes, sharpening one end of each one, turning with the other end over so we could pin to the seabed every little fragment of wood we found.
我们最终购买了一千多个自行车辐条，将每个辐条的一端磨尖，将另一端翻过来，这样我们就可以将我们发现的每一个小木头碎片钉在海底。
Oh my God.
我的天啊。
George Bass So at the end we have, like a butterfly on a piece of cardboard all pinned down, we have thousands of sharpened bicycle spokes driven through every wood fragment all the wreck, holding it down while we map it.
乔治·巴斯 所以最后我们就像一只被固定在纸板上的蝴蝶一样，我们有数千个锋利的自行车辐条穿过所有残骸中的每一个木碎片，在我们绘制地图时将其压住。
This bicycle spoke thing became standard practice, although now they have higher tech ways of doing it.
这种自行车辐条的事情成为了标准做法，尽管现在他们有了更高技术的方法来做到这一点。
A lot of stuff George and Fred figured out along the way became standard.
乔治和弗雷德一路上想出的很多东西都成为了标准。
Another thing they were the first to do?
他们首先做的另一件事是什么？
Reconstruct an entire ship from its fragments on the ocean floor.
利用海底的碎片重建整艘船。
At that time, nobody knew what Byzantine ships look like.
当时，没有人知道拜占庭的船只是什么样子。
I asked Fred about this.
我向弗雷德询问了此事。
I mean, frankly, even though you've done it, it still seems impossible to me.
我的意思是，坦白说，即使你已经做到了，但对我来说这仍然是不可能的。
Well, it almost was impossible.
好吧，这几乎是不可能的。
I'm fond of saying, if they had been one less fragment of the ship down there on the seabed, I wouldn't have been able to put the pieces together.
我喜欢说，如果它们是海底那艘船的一小块碎片，我就无法将这些碎片拼凑在一起。
There was just barely enough evidence to reconstruct the shape and dimensions of the ship.
几乎没有足够的证据来重建这艘船的形状和尺寸。
And another part of this was that when this ship sank, it came down on bedrock, and then slid further down the slope, and the stern end of the ship came into sand and made an impression of itself into the sand.
另一部分是，当这艘船沉没时，它落在基岩上，然后进一步滑下斜坡，船尾陷入沙子中，并在沙子中留下了自己的印记。
Incredibly that impression, held in place by some wood fragments, stayed intact for nearly 1,400 years.
令人难以置信的是，这种由一些木片碎片固定的印痕在近 1,400 年来一直保持完好。
In order to figure out what the hull looked like, Fred had to invent a way to measure the dent in the sand.
为了弄清楚船体的样子，弗雷德必须发明一种方法来测量沙子上的凹痕。
He built this contraption using a protractor, some string, and a flashbulb.
他用量角器、一根绳子和一个闪光灯制作了这个装置。
Seriously.
严重地。
Again, that's a technique still used, although in much improved form, today.
再说一次，这种技术至今仍在使用，尽管形式已得到很大改进。
So huge triumph.
如此巨大的胜利。
1967.
1967 年。
Fred's figured it out.
弗雷德已经想通了。
He knows what the ship looks like, and he writes it up, understandably proud, as his PhD thesis.
他知道这艘船是什么样子，并且他将其写成他的博士论文，这是可以理解的自豪。
Except a few years later, a friend sees it, someone who knows more about ships, and says--
只是几年后，一位对船舶更了解的朋友看到了它，并说——
You know, Fred, your ship would never have gotten out of the harbor.
你知道，弗雷德，你的船永远不会离开港口。
It's simply hydrodynamically unsound.
它在流体动力学上根本不健全。
Fred's mistake?
弗雷德的错误？
Although he had the back half of the ship almost perfect-- that's where most of the wood fragments came from-- he had just extended the lines forward to estimate the front of the ship.
虽然他的船后半部几乎是完美的——那是大部分木碎片的来源——但他只是向前延伸了线来估计船的前部。
But since he didn't know anything about ship engineering, he got it wrong.
但由于他对船舶工程一无所知，所以他搞错了。
Working with a colleague who built scale models, it took Fred 15 more years to get the drawings right and ready for publication.
弗雷德与一位制作比例模型的同事合作，又花了 15 年时间才完成正确的图纸并准备出版。
Since Fred's not one to brag, here's George.
由于弗雷德不是一个值得吹嘘的人，所以这是乔治。
What Fred did did not just allow to see what the ship looked like.
弗雷德所做的不仅仅是让人们看到这艘船的样子。
It actually revolutionized all of our ideas about ancient ship construction.
它实际上彻底改变了我们关于古代船舶建造的所有想法。
I mean, it was incredibly important.
我的意思是，这非常重要。
It wasn't just saying, this is what it looked like.
这不仅仅是说，这就是它的样子。
Because he found out that the ship was built in an ancient manner below the waterline and in a modern matter above the waterline.
因为他发现这艘船在水线以下以古代方式建造，而在水线以上以现代方式建造。
In other words, it's a transitional ship in a transitional period, between the ancient and modern world.
换句话说，它是古代与现代世界之间过渡时期的过渡船。
By the way, this is the George and Fred partnership.
顺便说一句，这是乔治和弗雷德的伙伴关系。
Fred does the endless, meticulous scholarship.
弗雷德孜孜不倦、一丝不苟地进行学术研究。
George is certainly also a scholar, but he's the better diver and the better salesman.
乔治当然也是一位学者，但他是更好的潜水员和更好的推销员。
George traveled the world talking up Fred's work, spreading the gospel of nautical archaeology, and raising money to keep Fred hunched over tiny fragments of wood and pottery for 50 years.
乔治环游世界，宣传弗雷德的工作，传播航海考古学的福音，并筹集资金让弗雷德在 50 年来一直弯着腰研究木头和陶器的小碎片。
The partnership worked.
这种伙伴关系奏效了。
By 1982, Fred figured the ship out.
1982 年，弗雷德设计出了这艘船。
As far as he could tell, the wreck was a routine merchant ship.
据他所知，这艘沉船是一艘普通商船。
A bit ho-hum, he called it.
他称这有点乏味。
It was time to move on.
是时候继续前进了。
He was wrapping things up at the site in Turkey.
他正在土耳其现场收尾工作。
But just as Rush Hour was followed by Rush Hour 2, just as Lethal Weapon 2 led to Lethal Weapon 3, the Fred and George franchise was not over yet.
但正如《尖峰时刻》之后是《尖峰时刻 2》，正如《致命武器 2》导致了《致命武器 3》一样，弗雷德和乔治系列还没有结束。
Right when they thought they'd retire, they got pulled back in for one last caper-- their biggest caper yet.
就在他们以为自己要退休的时候，他们又被拉回来进行最后一次冒险——这是他们迄今为止最大的一次冒险。
Fred got surprise news from some of his interns.
弗雷德从一些实习生那里得到了令人惊讶的消息。
Oh, Fred, you have to come and see what's been discovered.
哦，弗雷德，你一定要来看看有什么发现。
And I'm taken to this store room where there were some Turkish college student interns in there, cleaning these amphoras.
我被带到这个储藏室，那里有一些土耳其大学生实习生，正在清洁这些双耳瓶。
And they were discovering graffiti on them, inscriptions on them.
他们发现了上面的涂鸦和铭文。
And you thought there weren't any, right?
你以为没有，对吧？
No. And we had looked for inscriptions on them.
不。我们还寻找过它们上面的铭文。
But the growth, marine growth on them, had concealed these inscriptions.
但它们身上的生长物，海洋生长物，掩盖了这些铭文。
The inscriptions were cryptic.
铭文很神秘。
Just some initials in Greek and some symbols.
只是一些希腊语首字母和一些符号。
To figure out what they signified, Fred went on what would become his very last dive.
为了弄清楚它们的含义，弗雷德进行了他的最后一次潜水。
He went down and brought up hundreds of amphoras, those jars.
他下去拿了数百个双耳细颈瓶，那些罐子。
And this led to a series of discoveries that changed how scholars understand the Byzantine Empire.
这带来了一系列的发现，改变了学者们对拜占庭帝国的理解。
For starters, they realize that the amphoras were made in uniform sizes, with uniform-sized mouths and uniform-sized stoppers.
首先，他们意识到双耳细颈瓶的尺寸、瓶口和塞子的大小都是统一的。
This showed that the Byzantines were using sophisticated mass production techniques more than a thousand years before the Industrial Revolution.
这表明拜占庭人早在工业革命一千多年前就已经使用了复杂的大规模生产技术。
They were way more advanced than anyone realized.
他们比任何人意识到的都要先进得多。
The parts were uniform so that different components could be made all over the empire at different factories.
零件是统一的，因此可以在帝国各地的不同工厂生产不同的零件。
And then Fred cracked the inscriptions, which revealed something surprising.
然后弗雷德破解了铭文，揭示了一些令人惊讶的事情。
We finally realize from an inscription that the captain of the ship was a priest.
我们终于从铭文中得知这艘船的船长是一位牧师。
And in the seventh century, there were a lot of priest sea captains, because the church owned a lot of ships.
而且在七世纪，有很多牧师船长，因为教会拥有很多船只。
So it's a ship owned by the Christian church, transporting supplies for the military.
所以这是基督教会拥有的一艘船，为军队运输物资。
What Fred thought was a ho-hum merchant vessel turned out to be the key to understanding that the Byzantine church and the Byzantine army were far more intertwined than anyone knew.
弗雷德认为是一艘乏味的商船，结果却是理解拜占庭教会和拜占庭军队的相互联系比任何人想象的都要紧密得多的关键。
In fact, Fred believes, on the day they ship sank in 626 AD, the church had lent the ship to the military to get supplies to troops who were fighting the Persian empire.
事实上，弗雷德认为，在公元 626 年船沉没的那天，教会就把这艘船借给了军方，为与波斯帝国作战的军队提供补给。
It was the final year of one of the longest and most exhausting wars in the ancient world.
这是古代世界最漫长、最令人疲惫不堪的战争之一的最后一年。
The church's involvement and those mass production factories were part of this remarkable military supply chain that Fred helped uncover.
教会的参与和那些大规模生产的工厂是弗雷德帮助发现的这个非凡的军事供应链的一部分。
In part because of that industrial sophistication, the Byzantines, who controlled much of modern day Turkey, Eastern Europe, parts of Italy, all the way to Spain, defeated the Persians, who ruled over present-day Iran and most of the Middle East.
拜占庭人控制了现代土耳其的大部分地区、东欧、意大利部分地区，一直到西班牙，部分原因是工业的发达，拜占庭人击败了统治当今伊朗和中东大部分地区的波斯人。
And at the very moment Yassiada sank, Muhammad was forming the armies that would, a few years later, lead to the Muslim takeover of much of the weakened Persians' territory.
就在亚西亚达沉没的那一刻，穆罕默德正在组建军队，几年后，这支军队将导致穆斯林接管大部分衰弱的波斯人的领土。
Then those Muslim armies started fighting the Byzantines, Christians, in wars that would continue for centuries, and of course feel pretty relevant today.
然后，那些穆斯林军队开始与拜占庭人和基督徒作战，这场战争将持续几个世纪，当然在今天感觉非常相关。
By the time he was done, Fred had figured out not just what the ship looked like, and who owned it, and what it carried, and what it was doing the day it sank, but how that ship fit into the global politics of the day.
当他完成时，弗雷德不仅弄清楚了这艘船的样子、谁拥有它、它载着什么、沉没那天它在做什么，而且还弄清楚了这艘船如何融入当时的全球政治。
That's right.
这是正确的。
Adam Davidson And that took 50 years.
Adam Davidson 这花了 50 年的时间。
Well, I guess, yeah.
嗯，我想是的。
That's right.
这是正确的。
That's pretty depressing.
这真是令人沮丧。
I mean, I will spend some time today working on finishing, solving that puzzle.
我的意思是，今天我会花一些时间来完成、解决这个难题。
You're working on Yassiada today, 50 years later.
50 年后的今天，您正在研究 Yassiada。
Yes.
是的。
Every day I spend a little time on that project.
我每天都会花一点时间在这个项目上。
The interview was over.
采访结束了。
I left the studio.
我离开了工作室。
And then Fred turned to George while the tape was still rolling.
然后，当磁带还在滚动时，弗雷德转向乔治。
Adam Davidson is part of the Planet Money team at www.npr.org/money.
Adam Davidson 是 www.npr.org/money 的 Planet Money 团队的成员。
Act Three.
第三幕。
The Answer to the Riddle is Me.
谜语的答案是我。
We close our show today with this true story from David MacLean.
我们以大卫·麦克莱恩的真实故事结束今天的节目。
On October 13, 2002, I woke up in a train station in Secunderabad, India with no passport and no idea who I was or why I was in India.
2002 年 10 月 13 日，我在印度塞康德拉巴德的一个火车站醒来，没有护照，也不知道自己是谁，也不知道自己为何来到印度。
I lost my memory.
我失去了记忆。
I lost it along with Fred Flintstone, Marge Simpson, Jack Bauer's wife in the first season of 24, Saleem Sinai in the late middle sections of Midnight's Children, Guy Pearce in Memento, Geena Davis in A Long Kiss Goodnight, Jason Bourne, and scores of sitcom characters who were bonked on the head, only to regain everything with another sizeable bonk.
我和弗莱德·弗林特斯通、玛吉·辛普森、《24小时》第一季中的杰克·鲍尔的妻子、《午夜之子》中后期的萨利姆·西奈、《记忆碎片》中的盖·皮尔斯、《晚安长吻》中的吉娜·戴维斯、杰森·伯恩以及数十个被击中头部的情景喜剧角色一起失去了它，只是用另一次大击中重新获得了一切。
I went to India as a Fulbright scholar.
我作为富布赖特学者去了印度。
I worked out of university of Hyderabad.
我在海得拉巴大学工作过。
I had a small rooftop flat right next to the elevator engine.
我在电梯引擎旁边有一个屋顶小公寓。
At first I thought it was a hell of a score, but these apartments are all over the city, and they're illegal, not included in the original building plan.
起初我以为这是一个了不起的成绩，但这些公寓遍布整个城市，而且它们是非法的，不包括在最初的建筑规划中。
It was incredibly hot, and the elevator engine squeaked and screamed as it lugged people up and down the building.
天气非常热，电梯引擎带着吱吱声和尖叫声拖着人们在大楼里上下。
But I did have the entire roof to myself, and could sit out there and watch kids all over the neighborhood flying kites from other rooftops.
但我确实拥有整个屋顶，我可以坐在那儿看着邻居们从其他屋顶放风筝。
I was settling down to do my work.
我正静下心来做我的工作。
I became a member of a library.
我成为了图书馆的会员。
It had a friend named Veda, a local grad student, and we had dinner together nearly every night.
它有一个叫维达的朋友，是当地的研究生，我们几乎每天晚上都一起吃晚饭。
I was taking my anti-malarial drug, Lariam, every Thursday, just like my doctors told me.
正如医生告诉我的那样，我每周四都会服用抗疟疾药物 Lariam。
One weekend in early October, I got really sick.
十月初的一个周末，我病得很厉害。
Veda brought a doctor over to my flat.
维达带了一位医生到我的公寓。
The doctor took my temperature, my blood pressure, palpated my stomach, gave me three injections.
医生量了我的体温、血压、触诊了我的胃，给我注射了三针。
I asked the doctor what was in the injections, and he said, "medicine." I spent the next two days thrashing in my damp bed in fever dreams.
我问医生注射的是什么，他说：“药。”接下来的两天我在潮湿的床上在发烧的梦中翻腾。
Veda called me in the morning of October 12.
10 月 12 日早上，Veda 给我打电话。
He had nicknamed me hero.
他给我起了个绰号“英雄”。
"Hello, Hero.
“你好，英雄。
Are you up for some dinner or something?" I had no idea who he was.
你去吃晚饭什么的吗？”我不知道他是谁。
He spent the next five minutes trying to draw my memory, but as far as I knew, he was a stranger.
接下来的五分钟里，他试图唤起我的记忆，但据我所知，他是个陌生人。
I explained to him that he had the wrong number, and then hung up.
我向他解释说他打错号码了，然后就挂了电话。
On October 13, 2002, I woke up in a train station in Secunderabad with no passport and no idea who I was.
2002 年 10 月 13 日，我在塞康德拉巴德的一个火车站醒来，没有护照，也不知道自己是谁。
When I say that I woke up, I don't mean I was on a bench passed out and woozily came to.
当我说我醒了的时候，我并不是说我在长凳上昏倒了然后昏昏沉沉地苏醒过来。
I mean all of a sudden, I was aware of my surroundings.
我的意思是突然之间，我意识到了周围的环境。
I was standing on the train platform staring at a monitor.
我站在火车站台上盯着监视器。
People were pushing past me.
人们从我身边挤过去。
Train announcements in another language were coming out of static-filled speakers.
充满静电的扬声器中传出另一种语言的列车广播。
There were crowds of women in burkas standing near a stall where a man was making omelets.
一群穿着罩袍的妇女站在一个摊位附近，一个男人正在做煎蛋卷。
Massive trains would sound their massive horns before they trundled out of the station.
巨大的火车在驶出车站之前会鸣响巨大的喇叭。
And I suddenly was in the midst of all of this.
我突然就陷入了这一切之中。
At that moment, staring at the monitors, I was a blank sheet that had just been rolled in the typewriter.
那一刻，我盯着显示器，就像一张刚刚在打字机里滚动的白纸。
No backstory, no motivation, no distinguishing characteristics, no real idea what I even looked like.
没有背景故事，没有动机，没有显着特征，甚至不知道自己长什么样。
A man came up to me.
一个男人向我走来。
He was wearing a uniform.
他穿着制服。
He had a peaked cap and carried a long stick.
他戴着鸭舌帽，手里拿着一根长棍子。
He wanted to know if anything was wrong.
他想知道是否有什么问题。
I panned down from the monitor to his face.
我从监视器上平移到他的脸上。
He was a little older than I was, but not much.
他比我大一点，但也不大。
His moustache was new and seemed uncertain if it would stay.
他的胡子是新的，似乎不确定它是否会保留。
Mostly, though, his face was kind.
不过，最重要的是，他的表情很友善。
I said to him, I have no idea who I am.
我对他说，我不知道我是谁。
Some chamber of emotion was unlocked in me and I started to cry.
我内心的某个情感空间被打开了，我开始哭泣。
Blubber, really.
胡言乱语，真的。
The policeman pulled a little away from me.
警察把我拉开一点。
He spent a moment considering his strategy, and finally decided on "There, there.
他思考了一会儿自己的策略，最后决定“好了，好了。”
Please calm down.
请冷静。
I'm used to this situation.
我已经习惯了这种情况。
You foreigners come here to my country and do your drugs.
你们外国人来到我的国家吸毒。
I've seen this before many times." He pointed to a patch on his shoulder.
我以前已经见过很多次了。”他指着自己肩膀上的一块补丁。
"I'm here for you.
“我是为了你。
I'm a tourist officer.
我是一名旅游官员。
Now, do you have a passport?"
现在，你有护照吗？”
I shook my sobbing head.
我抽泣着摇摇头。
"I think I slept in a room with monkeys last night."
“我想我昨晚睡在一个有猴子的房间里。”
"OK.
“好的。
Now do you have in your possession a wallet?"
现在你有钱包吗？”
I reached to my back pocket and pulled out a leather wallet stamped with an image of a cowboy with guns drawn.
我把手伸到后面的口袋里，掏出一个皮钱包，上面印着一个拔枪的牛仔的图案。
I was delirious with happiness.
我幸福得神志不清。
I open the wallet and there was my New Mexico driver's license.
我打开钱包，里面是我的新墨西哥州驾驶执照。
"That's me!" I shrieked as I shoved my finger on the square inch picture.
“这就是我！”当我把手指放在那张方寸照片上时，我尖叫起来。
The officer took my wallet and put it in his pocket.
警察拿走了我的钱包，放进了他的口袋里。
"OK," he said.
“好吧，”他说。
"Let's get you somewhere else."
“我们带你去别的地方吧。”
I don't remember what happened next.
我不记得接下来发生了什么。
My memory of that day and the next is a string of Christmas lights where only a few are lit.
我对那天和第二天的记忆是一串圣诞彩灯，但只有少数亮着。
There's no sense to be made of which lights are lit, and you can flick at the dead bulbs as long as you want.
哪些灯亮是没有意义的，你可以根据需要轻弹熄灭的灯泡。
They're not coming back on.
他们不会再回来了。
The officer told me his name was Rajesh, but I could call him Josh.
警官告诉我他的名字叫拉杰什，但我可以叫他乔什。
He explained that it would be easier for me, since I was an American, to call him that.
他解释说，因为我是美国人，所以这样称呼他对我来说会更容易。
I thanked him.
我向他道谢。
We went through my wallet and found an internet cafe membership card.
我们翻了翻钱包，发现了一张网吧会员卡。
We went into a cafe that had the same logo.
我们走进一家有相同标志的咖啡馆。
We got into my Hotmail account.
我们进入了我的 Hotmail 帐户。
By what means I was able to remember my internet address and password, I can't answer.
我通过什么方式记住了我的互联网地址和密码，我无法回答。
All I know is that I send an email to my parents that contained the following information.
我所知道的是，我向我的父母发送了一封电子邮件，其中包含以下信息。
One.
一。
I was sorry for being a drug addict and for being such a terrible son.
我为自己是一个吸毒者和一个如此糟糕的儿子而感到遗憾。
Two.
二。
I was in trouble, but I should be OK soon, since the police were helping me.
我遇到了麻烦，但应该很快就会好起来，因为警察正在帮助我。
Three.
三。
I would be home soon, and would work really hard to be a better person and earn their respect back.
我很快就会回家，并且会非常努力地工作，成为一个更好的人，赢得他们的尊重。
Josh took me to a guesthouse which the police use as a safehouse for troubled foreigners.
乔什带我去了一家宾馆，警察用它作为陷入困境的外国人的安全屋。
A Chinese woman ran the place, and she was known for being good with lost sheep tourists.
这个地方是一位中国妇女经营的，她因善于接待走失的羊游客而闻名。
The three of us sat down in our living room.
我们三个人在客厅坐下。
White marble tile, creaking wooden furniture, and a shrine in the corner with a young man's picture on it.
白色的大理石瓷砖，吱吱作响的木制家具，角落里有一座神龛，上面挂着一个年轻人的照片。
She gave me a glass of flat Sprite and she told me her story.
她给了我一杯扁平的雪碧，然后给我讲述了她的故事。
Her son had been traveling in Singapore when some bad men had injected him with drugs.
她的儿子在新加坡旅行时，一些坏人给他注射了毒品。
He overdosed.
他服药过量了。
She never got to see his body.
她从未见过他的尸体。
They sent his ashes to her in a cardboard box.
他们把他的骨灰装在一个纸板箱里寄给了她。
She wept as she told me this.
当她告诉我这件事时，她哭了。
"You do not understand what you are doing to your mother when you put these drugs into your body." She grabbed my hands and squeezed hard.
“当你把这些药物放入你的身体时，你不明白你对你母亲做了什么。”她抓住我的手，用力地握着。
I cried right back at her.
我当场就哭回她。
I was a drug addict, and I was breaking my mother's heart.
我是个吸毒者，我伤透了我母亲的心。
I swallowed the narratives that they had given me.
我吞下了他们给我的叙述。
My brain was empty and famished.
我的大脑一片空白，饥肠辘辘。
I'd taken anything.
我什么都拿走了。
Josh, the woman and I sat down and tried to remember my parents' phone number, which hasn't changed since 1977.
乔什、那个女人和我坐下来，试图记住我父母的电话号码，这个号码自 1977 年以来就没有改变过。
It took six hours for me to remember the first phone number I'd never learned.
我花了六个小时才记住第一个我从未学过的电话号码。
The woman dialed and handed me the phone when it was ringing.
那位女士拨通了电话，并在电话铃声响起时递给了我。
My mother answered.
我妈妈回答道。
I started crying at the sound of her voice.
听到她的声音我开始哭泣。
I recognized it.
我认出了它。
I couldn't picture her, but that voice I knew.
我无法想象她的样子，但那个声音我熟悉。
"I'm so sorry, mom.
“我很抱歉，妈妈。
I didn't mean to do this to you."
我不是故意要对你做这种事的。”
"David, you didn't do anything.
“大卫，你什么也没做。
We got your email.
我们收到了您的电子邮件。
Are you safe?"
你安全吗？”
"I'm in a guesthouse.
“我在宾馆里。
Josh and this woman are helping me.
乔希和这个女人正在帮助我。
I don't have my passport, but I'm going to get to Delhi and come home.
我没有护照，但我要去德里然后回家。
Can I come home?"
我可以回家吗？”
"Of course you can come home.
“你当然可以回家。
You said there's a woman helping you?
你说有女人帮你？
Let me talk to her."
让我和她谈谈。”
"I'm so sorry I've been out of touch for so long.
“我很抱歉这么长时间没有联系。
I've been a terrible person, an awful son."
我是一个糟糕的人，一个糟糕的儿子。”
"David, we talked last Tuesday.
“大卫，我们上周二谈过。
What's the woman's name?"
那个女人叫什么名字？”
"She wants to know your name."
“她想知道你的名字。”
"Mrs. Lee," the woman said.
“李太太。”女人说道。
"Is that your mother?
“那是你妈妈吗？
Let me speak with her."
让我和她谈谈。”
Mom worked at a software company in Marion, Ohio, and one of her coworkers was married to a woman from Hyderabad.
妈妈在俄亥俄州马里恩的一家软件公司工作，她的一位同事嫁给了一位来自海得拉巴的女人。
Mom told Mrs. Lee that she was going to get the phone number for this coworker's family and have them come over to help.
妈妈告诉李太太，她要拿到这位同事家人的电话号码，让他们过来帮忙。
I was put to bed before the sun set.
太阳落山前我就被送上床睡觉了。
I didn't sleep.
我没有睡觉。
The room begin to twist.
房间开始扭曲。
It didn't behave.
它没有表现出来。
One corner of the ceiling would be too close.
天花板的一角太近了。
Another would be miles away.
另一个则在数英里之外。
The blankets itched.
毯子很痒。
I was afraid to drink the Sprite.
我害怕喝雪碧。
Birds flew onto the balcony and looked at me dismissively.
鸟儿飞到阳台上，轻蔑地看着我。
I knew suddenly that if I left the room, I would walk into a wide, pink kitchen, and there were crackers on the cupboard, and if I went into that kitchen and pulled the crackers down from the cupboard and said something, said something specific, a sentence, something that was totally, feignlessly me, then I'd be all right.
我突然知道，如果我离开房间，我会走进一个宽阔的、粉红色的厨房，橱柜上有饼干，如果我走进那个厨房，把橱柜里的饼干拉下来，说些什么，说一些具体的话，一句话，完全是我自己的，那么我就没事了。
I knew that as soon as I said it, all of my loved ones would flood up from the basement and the other rooms where they'd been hiding.
我知道我一说出来，我所有的亲人都会从地下室和他们躲藏的其他房间涌出来。
They would grab me and celebrate me and hold me in their arms.
他们会抓住我并庆祝我并将我抱在怀里。
I stood at the door of the small room in this guesthouse in Secunderabad and was ready to enter into the arms of all of those people who loved me and knew me.
我站在塞康德拉巴德这家宾馆的小房间门口，准备投入所有爱我、认识我的人的怀抱。
I just needed to remember what I was supposed to say.
我只需要记住我应该说的话。
It was right on the tip of my tongue.
它就在我的舌尖上。
I stood at the doorway for over an hour trying to remember.
我在门口站了一个多小时试图回忆。
I would open the door a crack and peer out, looking for where all my loved ones were hidden, then bang the door closed.
我会把门打开一条缝，向外张望，寻找我所爱的人都藏在哪里，然后砰地关上门。
I did this enough times for Mrs. Lee to get freaked out and call my mom's coworker's family.
我这样做了很多次，李太太吓坏了，给我妈妈同事的家人打电话。
I lay back down and tried to remember.
我躺回床上，努力回忆。
The room was getting worse.
房间里的情况越来越糟糕。
There were voices.
有声音。
I flipped the mattress over to find where they were coming from.
我把床垫翻过来，想看看它们是从哪里来的。
They alternated between giving me hints as to the phrase I was supposed to say and mocking me for not knowing it already.
他们时而暗示我应该说的话，时而嘲笑我还不知道。
"Isn't that just like you?" they'd scold.
“这不就是像你一样吗？”他们会骂。
I was sweating.
我满头大汗。
I'd wet myself.
我会把自己弄湿。
Two men walked into my room.
两个男人走进我的房间。
I'd never seen them before.
我以前从未见过他们。
They were both in their early 60s.
他们都 60 岁出头。
One man had a silver beard and a Pompadour.
其中一名男子留着银胡子，留着蓬巴杜发型。
The other had a thick mustache and jet black hair and an overgrown Beatles mop top.
另一个留着浓密的胡子，乌黑的头发，穿着一件披头士乐队杂草丛生的拖把上衣。
They both had dark South Indian complexions.
他们都是南印度人的深色肤色。
"I'm Mr. Desappa and this is Mr. Sampson.
“我是德萨帕先生，这是桑普森先生。
Your mother summoned us here to help you."
你妈妈叫我们来这里是为了帮助你。”
I looked at the two men looming over me.
我看着站在我面前的两个男人。
"This isn't going well at all," I said.
“事情进展得不太顺利，”我说。
Sampson helped me up while Desappa flipped the mattress back over.
桑普森帮我站起来，德萨帕则把床垫翻过来。
They laid me down and knelt on the floor beside me.
他们让我躺下，跪在我旁边的地板上。
"You'll be OK.
“你会没事的。
Jesus loves you." They began to pray.
耶稣爱你。”他们开始祈祷。
The men stayed all night, praying and laying their hands on me as they prayed.
这些人整夜都在祈祷，并在祈祷时按手在我身上。
I'm not sure when they called the ambulance.
我不确定他们什么时候叫了救护车。
The next day I came to again.
第二天我又苏醒了。
Bruises on my wrists from the restraints.
我的手腕上有因束缚而造成的瘀伤。
I was in the mental institution, Greenlands Mental Facility.
我在格陵兰精神病院的精神病院里。
Dirty walls, small table, glass of water, drawn cloth curtain.
肮脏的墙壁，小桌子，一杯水，拉好的布窗帘。
A doctor with a receding hair line sat at the edge of my bed making notes in a file with a pen that wasn't cooperating.
一位发际线后退的医生坐在我的床边，用一支不配合的笔在文件夹中做笔记。
He kept scribbling in the margins to get the ink to flow.
他不停地在页边空白处乱涂乱画，让墨水流淌起来。
The doctors put me on Haloperidol, an anti-psychotic, so my hallucinations slowed, and I quieted enough to be unstrapped.
医生给我服用了氟哌啶醇（一种抗精神病药物），这样我的幻觉减慢了，我安静下来，可以解开安全带了。
I was doped up on enough Valium that I was able to have visitors.
我服用了足够的安定，所以我能够接待访客。
Veda rounded up every American he knew, figuring I'd be more comfortable surrounded by them.
维达把他认识的每一个美国人都围捕起来，认为我在他们身边会更舒服。
These visitors acted like they knew me.
这些访客表现得好像他们认识我一样。
They called me Dave, so I played along.
他们叫我戴夫，所以我也跟着一起玩。
They brought me newspapers and cigarettes.
他们给我带来了报纸和香烟。
I had never smoked a day in my life, but I started chain smoking in the mental institution.
我一生中从未吸烟过，但我在精神病院开始连续吸烟。
The the only thing I would consume other than cigarettes was curd rice.
除了香烟之外我唯一会吃的东西就是豆腐饭。
The nurses brought it to me in heaping platefuls.
护士们把它盛满盘子端给我。
The Valium and Haloperidol made me affable.
安定和氟哌啶醇让我变得和蔼可亲。
The nurses claimed I was the most entertaining psychotic they'd ever had.
护士们声称我是他们见过的最有趣的精神病患者。
At this point, you know more about me than I did at that moment.
此时此刻，你比我当时更了解我。
Those days where I was fed heavy meds through an IV, people treated me a certain way, and I became the kind of person who is treated like that.
在我通过静脉注射大量药物的那些日子里，人们以某种方式对待我，我也成为了那种被这样对待的人。
All I had to go on for my identity was the reactions of the people around me.
我所需要的就是周围人的反应来证明我的身份。
I assembled a working self out of the behavior of others.
我从他人的行为中组装出一个工作中的自我。
The truth, or at least what my family, the State Department, the Fulbright Organization, and I have determined as the truth is that the psychotic break, the hallucinations, the amnesia-- it all was an extreme side effect of the Larium, the anti-malarial drug that was a prescription of choice in those days.
真相，或者至少我的家人、国务院、富布赖特组织和我所确定的真相是，精神崩溃、幻觉、健忘症——这一切都是拉瑞姆（Larium）的极端副作用，拉瑞姆是当时首选的抗疟疾药物。
It's got a reputation for doing things like what happened to me, as well as much worse.
它因做过像我这样的事情，甚至更糟糕的事情而闻名。
I started taking the drug a month before leaving, as prescribed.
我在离开前一个月按照处方开始服用该药。
My mother says that she could tell I wasn't acting normally before I left, but she chalked it up to the stress of preparing for a year in India
我母亲说，她在我离开之前就看出我表现得不正常，但她将其归咎于在印度准备一年的压力
When my parents walked into my room in the asylum, a motor spun inside my brain.
当我的父母走进我在精神病院的房间时，我的大脑里有一个马达在旋转。
I recognized them, and through them, I recognized myself.
我认出了他们，通过他们，我认出了我自己。
I wasn't sure of the details of my life, but my parents defined the broad particulars.
我不确定自己生活的细节，但我的父母定义了大致的细节。
We hugged, the three of us making a tent over the bed with our bodies.
我们拥抱在一起，三个人用身体在床上搭起一个帐篷。
I told my mom that I was sorry.
我告诉妈妈我很抱歉。
She told me that she was sorry.
她告诉我她很抱歉。
My dad pushed his glasses up and rubbed his eyes.
爸爸推了推眼镜，揉了揉眼睛。
My sister Betsy had put together a box for me.
我姐姐贝特西为我准备了一个盒子。
In it were two dozen cookies and an array of pictures of me from different times of my life.
里面有两打饼干和一系列我生命中不同时期的照片。
Me in a kilt, me at the beach, me with a dog, me standing on a station wagon smoking a cigar, me with my sisters, me with my arms around different women.
我穿着短裙，我在海滩，我和狗在一起，我站在旅行车上抽着雪茄，我和我的姐妹们，我搂着不同的女人。
Whoever I was, I couldn't keep a straight face for a photograph.
不管我是谁，在拍照时我都无法板着脸。
My parents told me where they were saying.
我的父母告诉我他们在说什么。
They said it was too nice for them, but the restaurant was good and didn't serve them anything too spicy for breakfast.
他们说这对他们来说太好了，但是餐厅很好，早餐没有给他们提供太辣的东西。
They said I needed to stay for another night at Greenlands, and then I'd go home with them to their hotel, and then we'd get on a plane for the U.S. They said that Sally was excited to see me and that Ann was planning on coming to Ohio for a visit.
他们说我需要在格陵兰岛再住一晚，然后我会和他们一起回家到他们的酒店，然后我们就坐飞机去美国。他们说莎莉很高兴见到我，安计划来俄亥俄州参观。
These names mean as much to you as they did to me.
这些名字对你来说意义和对我一样重要。
My parents said them like they were people I knew and loved, so I nodded and said I was excited to see them.
我的父母说他们就像我认识和爱的人一样，所以我点点头说我很高兴见到他们。
They checked me out the next day.
第二天他们就检查了我。
My dad hailed a rickshaw and the three of us piled into the backseat, me in between the two of them.
我爸爸叫了一辆人力车，我们三个人挤进后座，我坐在他们两个中间。
In Ohio I met Sally, who was my dog.
在俄亥俄州，我遇到了莎莉，她是我的狗。
I talked to Ann, my girlfriend, on the phone.
我和我的女朋友安通了电话。
I recognized the dog, but not Ann's voice.
我认出了那只狗，但认不出安的声音。
We hadn't been dating for very long, and my parents didn't have any pictures of her.
我们约会的时间不长，我父母也没有她的照片。
I had no idea what she looked like.
我不知道她长什么样。
She seemed nice.
她看起来不错。
She seemed like she cared about me.
她看起来好像很关心我。
Those days spent in my parents' house, I mostly stared at pictures, trying to recapture anything of who I was.
在父母家里度过的那些日子，我大部分时间都盯着照片，试图重新回忆起我是谁。
I developed a system.
我开发了一个系统。
I would look at the picture and imagine this character of me.
我会看着照片并想象我的这个角色。
Then I would place this character I had developed into these settings.
然后我会将我所开发的这个角色放入这些设置中。
I would imagine the jokes that were told.
我会想象他们讲的笑话。
I would imagine how the character of me would feel.
我会想象我的性格会有何感受。
I was gathering information on this character of me all the time.
我一直在收集有关我这个性格的信息。
Ann came out on Halloween weekend, and even when I picked her up at the airport, even when she kissed me, I wasn't sure I had the right woman.
安在万圣节周末出来了，即使我去机场接她，即使她吻了我，我也不确定我找到了合适的女人。
We spent the weekend hiking with my parents.
我们周末和父母一起徒步旅行。
We had sex that first night of her visit, and she was still a stranger.
她来访的第一晚我们就发生了性关系，但她仍然是个陌生人。
I could not remember her or any details of our relationship.
我不记得她或我们关系的任何细节。
It was wiped clear.
已经被擦干净了。
She was in love with me.
她爱上了我。
I tried the memory trick of placing the character of me in a relationship with her, and it didn't fit.
我尝试了记忆技巧，将我的角色与她联系起来，但这并不合适。
I couldn't conceive of myself loving her.
我无法想象自己会爱她。
Sometimes I think that forgetting her with the cruelest thing I've ever done to a person.
有时我想忘记她是我对一个人做过的最残酷的事情。
I called her a week later and broke up with her.
一周后我给她打电话并和她分手了。
Ann isn't her real name, by the way.
顺便说一句，安不是她的真名。
She asked me to change it for this story.
她要求我为这个故事改变它。
I flew back to India on November 20, a little more than a month after the incident.
11 月 20 日，即事件发生一个多月后，我飞回印度。
I wasn't entirely stable yet, but I was terrified that the Fulbright Organization would pull my funding if I gave them too much time to mull my psychological condition.
我还没有完全稳定下来，但我害怕如果我给富布赖特组织太多的时间来考虑我的心理状况，他们就会取消我的资助。
I figured the best way back to health was to act like I was healthy.
我认为恢复健康的最好方法就是表现得像我很健康一样。
I put on a placid professional exterior while inside I was a full martini glass placed on a rubber ball.
我装出一副平静专业的外表，而内心却是一个装满马提尼酒的玻璃杯，放在一个橡胶球上。
It wasn't until I was on the connecting flight into Hyderabad that I realized I had no idea of where I lived.
直到我搭乘飞往海得拉巴的转机航班时，我才意识到我不知道自己住在哪里。
I panicked as we were touching down.
当我们着陆时我惊慌失措。
I figured I'd get a cab.
我想我应该叫一辆出租车。
I just had no idea where to tell the driver to go.
我只是不知道该告诉司机去哪里。
Instead, Veda was waiting for me at the airport.
相反，维达在机场等我。
I didn't recognize him, but by that time, I recognized the look of someone recognizing me.
我不认识他，但那时我认出了有人认出我的样子。
It was a skill I had developed in Ohio.
这是我在俄亥俄州培养的一项技能。
I'd forgotten that I had emailed him my flight details.
我忘记了我已通过电子邮件向他发送了我的航班详细信息。
He clapped me on my back and said, "The hero returns!" He gave me a bag full of toothpaste, ramen, and milk.
他拍着我的背说：“英雄归来！”他给了我一袋牙膏、拉面和牛奶。
"Enough to last you for a day," he said.
“足够你吃一天了，”他说。
We drove through the city.
我们开车穿过城市。
It was 4 AM and silent.
当时是凌晨四点，万籁俱寂。
We made turn after turn until we ended up in front of a tall building that looked like all of the other apartment complexes.
我们拐了一个又一个弯，最后停在一座高楼前，它看起来和其他公寓楼没什么两样。
Veda took me up the elevator and then up a short flight of stairs.
维妲带我上了电梯，然后上了一小段楼梯。
He handed me a keyring.
他递给我一个钥匙圈。
"OK then, hero.
“那么好吧，英雄。
I will be off.
我会走了。
I can get some sleep before the kids start causing terror."
在孩子们开始制造恐怖之前我可以睡一会儿。”
"You have kids?" "I will call you on your mobile, and we can go for some dinner at your favorite place."
“你有孩子吗？” “我会用你的手机给你打电话，我们可以去你最喜欢的地方吃晚饭。”
I grabbed him, and I learned that Veda didn't like to be hugged.
我抓住了他，我发现维达不喜欢被拥抱。
I opened the door.
我打开门。
Nothing.
没有什么。
The road, the building, and now my apartment.
道路、建筑物，现在是我的公寓。
Nothing was jogged, jostled, or loosened in my memory.
在我的记忆中，没有任何东西被推挤、推挤或松动。
I was alone, and lonelier than I thought it could be in a room filled with things that I'd selected.
我独自一人，而且比我想象的更孤独，在一个装满了我选择的东西的房间里。
There were books.
有书。
I opened them and found my handwriting in the margins.
我打开它们，发现页边空白处有我的笔迹。
Still nothing.
还是什么都没有。
I had read these books.
我读过这些书。
Now I had to read them again.
现在我不得不再次阅读它们。
But why bother?
但何苦呢？
If I lost my memory again, all that work would be futile.
如果我再次失去记忆，那一切的努力就都是徒劳了。
The city started to wake up, and the sounds of bicycles, car horns, and newspaper wallahs rose up to me on the roof.
城市开始苏醒，屋顶上传来自行车声、汽车喇叭声和报纸声。
I lit up a cigarette to fight the tension building in my chest.
我点了一根烟来对抗胸口积聚的紧张情绪。
If it was going to happen again, I would throw myself off the roof.
如果再发生一次，我会从屋顶跳下去。
I stubbed out the cigarette and opened the door to an apartment furnished with the possessions of a stranger.
我掐灭了香烟，打开了一间公寓的门，里面放着一个陌生人的物品。
David MacLean fully recovered all his memory, except for the year proceeding his illness.
大卫·麦克莱恩完全恢复了所有记忆，除了生病前一年的记忆。
The story is an excerpt from a book of essays that he's writing about losing his memory and memory loss.
这个故事摘自他正在写的一本关于失去记忆和失忆的散文集。
He's looking for a publisher.
他正在寻找出版商。
Our program was produced today by Sarah Koenig with Alex Blumberg, Jane Feltes, Lisa Pollak, Robyn Semian, Alissa Shipp, and Nancy Updike.
今天我们的节目由 Sarah Koenig 与 Alex Blumberg、Jane Feltes、Lisa Pollak、Robyn Semian、Alissa Shipp 和 Nancy Updike 共同制作。
Our senior producer is Julie Snyder.
我们的高级制片人是朱莉·斯奈德。
Production help from Brian Reed.
布莱恩·里德 (Brian Reed) 提供制作帮助。
Seth Lind is our production manager, Emily Condon our office manager.
Seth Lind 是我们的生产经理，Emily Condon 我们的办公室经理。
Our music consultant is Jessica Hopper.
我们的音乐顾问是杰西卡·霍珀。
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS] This American Life is distributed by Public Radio International.
[致谢]《美国生活》由国际公共广播电台发行。
WBEZ management oversight for our program by our boss, Mr. Torey Malatia.
我们的老板 Torey Malatia 先生对我们的项目进行 WBEZ 管理监督。
You know, at the WBEZ offices in Chicago, there's a safe within a safe, and inside that, written by hand, some programming ideas Torey has for our show for the year 2111.
你知道，在芝加哥的 WBEZ 办公室，保险柜里有一个保险柜，里面有 Torey 手写的一些关于 2111 年节目的编程想法。
I'm dead.
我死了。
Everyone you know is dead.
你认识的每个人都死了。
Here's what I'd like you to do.
这就是我希望你做的事情。
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。