402: Save the Day - 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 #402 | December 9, 2022 402: Save the Day 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 402 集 | 2022 年 12 月 9 日 402：拯救世界 注意：《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 Luke was eleven when his family moved from the normal, boring suburbs to what amounted to, basically, the coolest place on earth.
序言 艾拉·格拉斯 卢克十一岁的时候，他的家人从普通、无聊的郊区搬到了基本上是地球上最酷的地方。
His dad got this job as the manager of this tourist park called the Butterfly Farm.
他的父亲得到了这份工作，担任这个名为蝴蝶农场的旅游公园的经理。
--that had domes filled with rainforest and exotic birds and butterflies and a miniature train track and pony rides and mini bike rides and a launching ramp for the water skiers who came and skied--
——那里有充满雨林、奇异鸟类和蝴蝶的圆顶，还有微型火车轨道、小马游乐设施和迷你自行车游乐设施，以及为前来滑雪的滑水者提供的启动坡道——
Also, a spider house, a picnic area, a snake house, and a guy named Vic, who did a show with his collection of deadly snakes.
此外，还有一个蜘蛛屋、一个野餐区、一个蛇屋，还有一个名叫维克的人，他用他收集的致命蛇做了一场表演。
It's This American Life, by the way, from WBEZ Chicago.
顺便说一下，这是来自芝加哥 WBEZ 的《This American Life》。
And the only bad thing about being 11 and living out in the countryside on the grounds of such an incredible place was the school that Luke attended.
11 岁的时候，在这样一个令人难以置信的地方生活在乡村，唯一不好的就是卢克就读的学校。
This was in Australia, outside what was then a little town called Wilberforce.
这是在澳大利亚，当时一个叫威尔伯福斯的小镇外面。
And the other students were these tough kids who didn't accept Luke at all, which is why it was such a great day for Luke when his whole class took a field trip to the Butterfly Farm.
其他学生都是这些顽强的孩子，他们根本不接受卢克，这就是为什么当卢克全班去蝴蝶农场实地考察时，这对卢克来说是如此美好的一天。
It was my place, my kingdom, my turf, and I felt extremely excited and filled with anticipation that I could kind of relax and show off at the same time.
这是我的地方，我的王国，我的地盘，我感到非常兴奋，充满期待，我可以同时放松和炫耀。
Show off, especially because his dad had asked the snake handler, Vic, to come in and do a show for Luke's class.
炫耀，特别是因为他的父亲邀请驯蛇师维克进来为卢克的班级表演。
Normally, Vic didn't work during the week.
通常情况下，维克一周都不工作。
There weren't big enough crowds to justify it.
没有足够多的人群来证明这一点。
But Luke's dad, knowing this would be good for Luke, asked him to come in special.
但卢克的父亲知道这对卢克有好处，所以特意让他来。
And that meant that I was going to help Vic.
这意味着我要帮助维克。
We'd been living there for about six months.
我们在那里住了大约六个月。
And now my brothers and I, we were allowed into the snake room, the snake house.
现在我和我的兄弟们，我们被允许进入蛇室，蛇屋。
And he would deal with the poisonous snakes, and we would deal with the nonpoisonous snakes and the pythons.
他会对付毒蛇，我们会对付无毒蛇和蟒蛇。
So that was fun, and that was exciting, as you could imagine, for an 11-year-old boy, being watched behind the glass by his 80 classmates and teachers.
所以这很有趣，也很令人兴奋，你可以想象，对于一个 11 岁的男孩来说，他的 80 名同学和老师在玻璃后面注视着他。
Oh, right, you're going to seem like this brave kid dealing with snakes and getting to do something that's so cool.
哦，对了，你会看起来像一个勇敢的孩子，与蛇打交道，并做一些很酷的事情。
Yeah, totally cool, and I would be totally at home with it, because I was by that stage and loved doing it.
是的，非常酷，我会完全适应它，因为我在那个阶段并且喜欢这样做。
Every weekend I would watch Vic do his shows.
每个周末我都会看 Vic 的表演。
I knew them off by heart.
我对他们了如指掌。
And I just used to love standing there amongst the crowd every weekend and feeling everybody's amazement as he would milk the death adder and show the venom dripping down the glass.
我以前很喜欢每个周末站在人群中，感受每个人的惊讶，因为他会榨取死亡蝰蛇的奶，并展示毒液从玻璃上滴下来。
And Vic was fearless.
维克无所畏惧。
That was his world.
那是他的世界。
He was very, very comfortable handling snakes.
他对蛇的处理非常非常得心应手。
And they came up, and all the kids piled out of the buses.
他们来了，所有的孩子都从公共汽车上涌了出来。
And I got to saunter out to the buses and say hi to my teachers.
我必须漫步到公共汽车上并向我的老师们问好。
And the day began.
这一天开始了。
And so at a certain point, around the middle of the day, it was time to see the snake show.
所以在某个时间点，大约中午，是时候看蛇表演了。
So then everybody's in the snake house.
那么每个人都在蛇屋里。
I'm in there with Vic putting the snakes in the bags.
我和维克一起把蛇放进袋子里。
Everybody's watching us through the window.
每个人都透过窗户看着我们。
This is just prep for the show.
这只是为演出做准备。
They would put the snakes into bags, and then they would carry them to the stage for Vic's presentation.
他们会将蛇放入袋子中，然后将它们带到舞台上进行维克的演示。
And all of a sudden, this incredible thing happens.
突然之间，这令人难以置信的事情发生了。
Beside me, Vic picks up a tiger snake, the second-deadliest snake in Australia.
在我旁边，维克捡起了一条虎蛇，这是澳大利亚第二致命的蛇。
And it bites him three times, tf, tf, tf, like that.
它咬了他三下，tf，tf，tf，就这样。
And it made this little sort of thump, thump, thump sound on his hand as it bit him.
当它咬他的时候，他的手上发出了轻微的扑通、扑通、扑通的声音。
No, no, nothing had ever gone wrong.
不，不，从来没有出过什么差错。
I had never seen a snake bite a human being before.
我以前从未见过蛇咬人。
And now I saw it from one of the deadliest snakes in the world, and it was massively powerful, the moment of the bite.
现在我从世界上最致命的蛇之一身上看到了它，在被咬的那一刻，它的力量非常强大。
And it was a triple bite, bang, bang, bang.
那是三重咬，砰，砰，砰。
And Vic drops the snake, and he says, damn, and starts sucking the web of his hand where the snake bit him.
维克放下了蛇，他说，该死，然后开始吮吸蛇咬过他的手网。
And I'm completely astonished.
我完全惊讶了。
I'm just on my knees, looking at him, thinking, what happens next?
我跪在地上，看着他，心想，接下来会发生什么？
How bad is this?
这有多糟糕？
Well, I knew it was bad.
好吧，我知道这很糟糕。
I heard him give the talk every weekend about how bad the tiger snake bite is.
我听到他每个周末都会谈论虎蛇咬伤的严重程度。
And Vic says, listen, run down to the kiosk and get me a pint of milk.
维克说，听着，跑到售货亭给我买一品脱牛奶。
So I say, OK, and I run out the door.
所以我说，好吧，然后我就跑出了门。
And I've got a task, now, you know?
现在我有一个任务，你知道吗？
And there's this little general store, kind of kiosk thing at the place.
这里有一家小杂货店，类似售货亭之类的东西。
So I run down.
于是我就跑下去了。
I get the pint of milk.
我得到一品脱牛奶。
I say, this is for Vic.
我说，这是给维克的。
Like, I don't have to pay.
比如说，我不用付钱。
This is the beginning of all the rules of the day being broken, you know?
这是当今所有规则被打破的开始，你知道吗？
It's one of my clearest memories of this day, is how everything went the way it shouldn't have gone, and all bets were off.
这是我这一天最清晰的记忆之一，一切都朝着不应该的方向发展，所有的赌注都落空了。
I get the pint of milk.
我得到一品脱牛奶。
I run back up.
我跑回来。
He opens it, and he drinks this pint down, drinks the whole thing down in one long mouthful.
他打开它，喝下了这一品脱，一大口喝完了。
And I say, so are you OK, Vic?
我说，你还好吗，维克？
And he's like, yeah, yeah, everything's fine, mate.
他说，是的，是的，一切都很好，伙计。
Everything's fine.
一切都很好。
Let's do the show.
我们来表演一下吧。
And this is because like, milk is some sort of thing you do if you get bitten by a deadly snake?
这是因为，如果你被致命的蛇咬伤，你会喝牛奶吗？
I think the milk thing was just one of those weird old wives tales or one of those Australian Bush recipes that this helps if you get bitten by a snake.
我认为牛奶只是那些奇怪的老太太故事之一，或者是澳大利亚丛林食谱之一，如果你被蛇咬伤，这会有所帮助。
So we're ready to go now.
所以我们现在准备出发了。
We have all the snakes in the bags, and we leave the snake house.
我们把所有的蛇都装进袋子里，然后离开蛇屋。
And it's this weird Pied Piper kind of thing.
这是一种奇怪的花衣魔笛手之类的事情。
It's me and Vic, weighed down with these little blue canvas bags filled with writhing snakes.
我和维克被这些装满扭动的蛇的蓝色小帆布袋压得喘不过气来。
And we all walk down to the snake platform where he gave the shows, followed by all of my classmates and our teachers, and the only other people there that day at the Butterfly Farm was a couple of busloads of kids in wheelchairs.
我们都走到他表演的蛇台上，后面跟着我所有的同学和老师，那天蝴蝶农场唯一的其他人是几辆公共汽车上坐着轮椅的孩子。
They were kind of the spina bifida kids, or kids who are disabled in various ways.
他们是患有脊柱裂的孩子，或者是患有各种残疾的孩子。
And they were there with their minders, these middle-aged women mostly, pushing these very disabled kids in wheelchairs.
他们和他们的监护人一起在那里，这些监护人大多是中年妇女，推着这些坐在轮椅上的残疾孩子。
So they, too, are following us all down for the big snake show.
所以他们也跟着我们一起观看大型蛇表演。
And the snake platform was about the size of a boxing ring.
而蛇台大约有拳击场那么大。
It was a raised platform, and people would circle the platform on all four sides.
这是一个高台，人们会从四个侧面围着平台转一圈。
And Vic begins the show.
维克开始表演。
And he gets about 10 minutes into the show, and he's holding a green tree snake, which is a thin little whippet-like snake.
节目开始大约 10 分钟后，他手里拿着一条绿树蛇，这是一条像惠比特犬一样的瘦小蛇。
And suddenly, he says, uh, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to have to stop the show now, because-- and he's standing straight up, and his eyes glaze over.
突然，他说，呃，女士们先生们，我现在必须停止演出了，因为——他站直了，眼神呆滞。
And he's instantly unconscious, that's clear, and he starts to fall backwards.
很明显，他立刻失去了知觉，然后开始向后倒下。
And at the instant that he falls backwards, the snake in his hands, he releases it, and it falls over the edge of the platform and into the lap of one of these kids in a wheelchair and starts writhing around in the kid's lap.
在他向后倒下的那一瞬间，手里拿着蛇，他松开了蛇，蛇从平台边缘掉到了其中一个坐在轮椅上的孩子的腿上，并开始在孩子的腿上扭动。
OK, crazy, and nobody knows what to do.
好吧，太疯狂了，没人知道该怎么办。
The snake is on this child's lap.
蛇在这个孩子的腿上。
And because Vic has turned stiff as a board--
因为维克已经变得僵硬如木板——
He doesn't break his fall at all.
他根本没有停止摔倒。
He's completely unconscious from a standing position.
他站立时完全失去知觉。
And he hits the wooden platform with this thwack, this enormous thump, a horrible cracking sound of his head hitting the wood.
他重重地撞在了木平台上，这巨大的重击声，他的头撞到木头上发出可怕的破裂声。
So at the same instant, this kid in the wheelchair, this kid had sort of claw hands and so on, and he's looking down at the snake in his lap.
所以在同一时刻，这个坐在轮椅上的孩子，这个孩子有类似爪子的手等等，他低头看着腿上的蛇。
And he starts to just go-- [MOANS] And everybody around the kid in the wheelchair just runs away screaming, including the lady who's looking after him.
然后他开始走—— [呻吟] 坐在轮椅上的孩子周围的每个人都尖叫着跑开，包括照顾他的女士。
At the same instant, Vic has hit the ground, and his arms have spread out, and arms and legs spread in a kind of star shape.
同一瞬间，维克已经落地，双臂展开，手臂和双腿呈星形展开。
And I'm staring at him and the kid.
我盯着他和孩子。
And then I catch the eye of one of my teachers who's looking at me, as if to say, what's going on.
然后我注意到了一位老师的目光，他看着我，好像在说发生了什么事。
So I have to act suddenly.
所以我必须突然行动。
There's this moment now where I suddenly realize that I'm the one with the greatest knowledge, and that my teachers, in a sense, are standing there powerless and beginning to be freaked out and not having a clue what to do.
现在这一刻，我突然意识到我是最有知识的人，而我的老师，从某种意义上说，站在那里，无能为力，开始被吓坏了，不知道该怎么办。
It was an amazing moment.
这是一个奇妙的时刻。
And an amazing moment for a kid to have at 11.
对于 11 岁的孩子来说，这是一个奇妙的时刻。
Like, when you're 11, you don't get many situations where you are the one, and adults need to look to you to take control of a situation.
就像，当你 11 岁的时候，你不会遇到很多情况，而成年人需要指望你来控制情况。
Yeah.
是的。
So I run over to the kid, and there's this moment where I look in his eye, and I say something like, it's OK.
所以我跑向那个孩子，此时我看着他的眼睛，我说，没关系。
And I take the snake out of his lap in the way that I was taught to do, which is gently and without any jerky movements, and run up the stairs onto the platform.
我按照老师教我的方式把蛇从他的腿上拿下来，动作很轻，没有任何急促的动作，然后跑上楼梯到平台上。
And that's the moment where I see how incredibly bad things are, in terms of Vic's state of health.
就在那一刻，我看到维克的健康状况有多么糟糕。
First of all, it's horrendously embarrassing, because he's pissed his pants, this guy who I looked up to so much.
首先，这真是太尴尬了，因为他尿裤子了，这个我非常尊敬的家伙。
And it's everywhere.
它无处不在。
The whole bottom half of his body is soaked, and it's all around him, spreading on these floorboards.
他的整个下半身都湿透了，遍布在他周围，散布在地板上。
It was very much no longer a matter of, this is so good for me because this might change my place in the pecking order amongst these difficult school kids in this difficult situation, but just a matter of, oh, my god, I think Vic's dying, or Vic's dead.
这不再是一个问题，这对我来说太好了，因为这可能会改变我在这些困难学校的孩子中的地位，而只是一个问题，哦，天哪，我想维克快死了，或者维克已经死了。
His face is almost black by now.
现在他的脸已经快黑了。
It's this kind of bruised purple-black color.
就是这种青紫黑色的颜色。
So I put the snake back into the blue canvas bag and tied the knot the way Vic had taught me.
于是我把蛇放回蓝色帆布袋里，并按照维克教我的方式打了结。
And then I said to my teachers, I'll get my dad.
然后我对老师说，我去找我爸爸。
And then I proceeded to sprint up the hill to the house, screaming at the top of my lungs, Dad, Dad, Dad!
然后我就冲上山，跑到家里，大声喊着：爸爸，爸爸，爸爸！
It was a pretty far way to go.
还有很长的路要走。
And he gets his dad, and Luke's dad came back with them.
他找到了他的父亲，卢克的父亲也和他们一起回来了。
And when they got back, none of the adults had taken any action at all.
而当他们回来的时候，那些大人却根本没有采取任何行动。
One of Luke's teachers was kneeling next to Vic, but he wasn't administering CPR or doing mouth to mouth or anything at all.
卢克的一位老师跪在维克旁边，但他根本没有进行心肺复苏或进行口对口或任何其他操作。
He was just kneeling there, not sure what to do.
他只是跪在那里，不知道该怎么办。
Luke's dad lifted Vic's limp body into the car, tore off to the hospital.
卢克的爸爸把维克瘫软的身体抱进车里，开往医院。
And that was it.
就是这样。
Luke gathered up the snakes and put them back where they belonged.
卢克把蛇收集起来，放回原来的地方。
So Vic survived.
所以维克活了下来。
But the incredibly sad thing was, that was the last snake show he ever gave in his life.
但令人难以置信的是，那是他一生中最后一场蛇表演。
He was on a kidney machine for three months.
他使用肾机治疗了三个月。
His skin took three months to gradually, gradually return back to its color.
他的皮肤用了三个月的时间，才逐渐、逐渐恢复到原来的颜色。
And that was it.
就是这样。
Yeah.
是的。
That was kind of, end of career.
那是职业生涯的结束。
When I tell the story, even now, it's absolutely vivid, and it's always vivid in my gut, you know?
当我讲这个故事时，即使是现在，它也绝对生动，而且在我的直觉中总是生动的，你知道吗？
All of the main moments of what happened that day are still in my gut.
那天发生的所有主要时刻仍然在我的脑海里。
It's, to this day, one of the most vivid and intense memories in my life, because in some weird way, it was a turning point.
直到今天，这仍然是我一生中最生动、最强烈的记忆之一，因为以某种奇怪的方式，这是一个转折点。
It was one of those series of events heading towards adolescence and heading towards developing a concept of yourself as an autonomous human being, as an adult.
这是走向青春期并走向发展自己作为一个自主的人、作为一个成年人的概念的一系列事件之一。
And how often in your life do you have a moment where it suddenly becomes so utterly clear what you have to do and only you can do it?
在你的一生中，有多少时候你会突然变得非常清楚你必须做什么，而且只有你才能做到？
I think it's really rare.
我认为这确实很少见。
For me, that was it.
对我来说，就是这样。
That was that moment.
就是那一刻。
I mean, I love every moment of my life.
我的意思是，我热爱生命中的每一刻。
And without sounding pretentious, I hope it doesn't sound pretentious, but at some absolutely primal level, it was this deeply satisfying sense of actually doing something heroic.
听起来不自命不凡，我希望这听起来不自命不凡，但在某种绝对原始的层面上，这是一种真正做英雄事的深深满足感。
Well, today on our radio show, stories of people saving the day and what takes them over when they do it.
好吧，今天在我们的广播节目中，讲述了人们拯救世界的故事以及当他们这样做时是什么接管了他们。
And these stories of people who jump in are just seized by the sense that they have to act.
这些故事讲述了那些跳入其中的人只是被他们必须采取行动的感觉所抓住。
They don't have a choice.
他们别无选择。
They won't be able to live with themselves if they don't jump into action.
如果他们不立即采取行动，他们将无法忍受自己。
There's something incredibly pure about it.
它有一种令人难以置信的纯粹。
Our show in two acts, one in the wilds of Mexico, one in the halls of academia.
我们的演出分为两幕，一场在墨西哥的荒野，一场在学术界的大厅。
Stay with us.
留在我们身边。
Act 1, Midlife Cowboy.
第一幕，中年牛仔。
We have this story from James Spring, who lives in a city that's not so far from the Mexican border, San Diego.
我们从詹姆斯·斯普林那里听到了这个故事，他住在一个距离墨西哥边境不远的城市圣地亚哥。
At 39, I took a little inventory of my life and found myself to be unremarkable in almost every way.
39岁的时候，我回顾了一下自己的生活，发现自己几乎在各个方面都平平无奇。
For more than a decade, I'd held a job writing ad copy in radio commercials in San Diego.
十多年来，我一直在圣地亚哥从事广播广告撰写广告文案的工作。
I had a wife, two kids, two mortgages, TiVo, prescription reading glasses, and about 20 extra pounds that I no longer had the energy or ambition to lose.
我有一个妻子、两个孩子、两笔抵押贷款、TiVo、处方老花镜，还有大约 20 磅额外的体重，我不再有精力或雄心去减掉它们。
My 40th birthday was only a couple of months away in April.
距离 4 月份我的 40 岁生日只有几个月了。
My wife, Kelly, had a brighter attitude about it all.
我的妻子凯莉对这一切的态度更加乐观。
We'll throw you a big party, she said.
我们将为你举办一场盛大的派对，她说。
It'll be fun.
会很有趣的。
I don't think so, I said.
我不这么认为，我说。
I didn't want a party.
我不想举办派对。
It's your big 4-0, she said.
这是你的大4-0，她说。
Think about what you want to do for it.
想想你想为此做什么。
I did think about it, for a long time.
我确实思考过这个问题，思考了很长一段时间。
In the end, what I thought was, I'm going to do something big to help somebody else in a big way.
最后，我的想法是，我要做一些大事来帮助别人。
It's going to be a great big thing.
这将是一件伟大的大事。
And when it's done, I'm going to feel really, really good and helpful.
当它完成时，我会感觉非常非常好并且很有帮助。
What do you mean help somebody, my wife said.
“帮助别人是什么意思？”我妻子说。
I don't know, I said.
我不知道，我说。
It was still pretty shapeless inside my head.
它在我的脑海里仍然很不成形。
I used to be a boat captain.
我曾经是一名船长。
I knew parts of Mexico better than pretty much anybody.
我比任何人都更了解墨西哥的部分地区。
Maybe that was a start.
也许那是一个开始。
Who are you going to help, my wife said.
你要帮助谁，我妻子说。
Help them what?
帮助他们什么？
I don't know, I said.
我不知道，我说。
Something's going to come up.
将会有事情发生。
Maybe an earthquake will hit, and I'll help dig people out.
也许地震来了，我就帮忙把人挖出来。
Maybe a helicopter will go down in Baja.
也许一架直升机会在巴哈坠毁。
I could help find it.
我可以帮忙找到它。
This was all met with the most epic of eye-rolling and sighing.
这一切都引起了最史诗般的翻白眼和叹息。
At least twice a week, this conversation continued to divide us.
每周至少有两次这样的谈话继续让我们产生分歧。
She'd talk about party planning, and I'd have to remind her that I might not even be around.
她会谈论聚会计划，而我必须提醒她我什至可能不在场。
I might be out, you know, rescuing people.
你知道，我可能会出去救人。
April arrived and still no earthquakes or helicopters.
四月到了，仍然没有地震或直升机。
So on Friday, about 5 o'clock, right after work, I thought, maybe I should be a little more proactive.
所以周五下午 5 点左右，下班后，我想，也许我应该更主动一点。
I did a Google search on two words that seemed to make the most sense for my plan-- "Baja" and "missing."
我在谷歌上搜索了两个似乎对我的计划最有意义的词——“巴哈”和“失踪”。
It might be time to explain the Baja part.
也许是时候解释一下巴哈部分了。
In the late '80s, I worked in the area that the Drug Enforcement Agency calls the Western Mexico Baja Corridor.
八十年代末，我在缉毒局称为西墨西哥巴哈走廊的地区工作。
But I wasn't one of the good guys.
但我不是好人之一。
It was over 20 years ago.
那是20多年前的事了。
I had just dropped out of college, and I was a little aimless.
我刚从大学退学，有点漫无目的。
I reconnected with a friend that I'll call Alex, back in San Diego.
我和一位回到圣地亚哥的朋友重新取得了联系，我称之为亚历克斯。
Alex had put together an enterprise moving methamphetamine along the West Coast.
亚历克斯组建了一家沿西海岸运输冰毒的企业。
Right about the time I arrived, a new law had been passed in the US that made it tough to get the main ingredient, ephedrine.
就在我到达的时候，美国通过了一项新法律，使得获取主要成分麻黄碱变得困难。
But I was pretty sure we could still get it in Mexico.
但我很确定我们仍然可以在墨西哥买到它。
The border was less than a half hour away.
距离边境不到半小时。
The ephedrine pipeline was easy to establish, and soon it got filled with other stuff, too-- coke, marijuana.
麻黄素管道很容易建立，很快它就充满了其他东西——可乐、大麻。
Personally, the drugs held no attraction for me, which made it easy to justify my actions.
就我个人而言，这些药物对我没有吸引力，这让我很容易为自己的行为辩护。
I mean, if these dirtbags wanted to ruin their lives with meth, let them.
我的意思是，如果这些混蛋想用冰毒毁掉自己的生活，那就随他们去吧。
It turned out I was really good at the job.
事实证明我真的很擅长这份工作。
I got to know my way around Mexico, around the marinas and hidden ranchos and dirt airstrips, around the cops and soldiers.
我熟悉了墨西哥周围的路，周围的码头和隐藏的牧场和泥土飞机跑道，周围的警察和士兵。
I came to love the Baja Peninsula.
我开始爱上巴哈半岛。
But during this time, the business was falling apart back on the US side.
但在此期间，美国方面的业务却分崩离析。
Alex and his pals had developed bad drug habits, and they got really sloppy.
亚历克斯和他的朋友们养成了不良的吸毒习惯，而且他们变得非常草率。
I'd been away in Mexico during two police raids on the house in San Diego, but I was there for the third one.
警方两次突袭圣地亚哥的房子时，我都在墨西哥，但第三次我却在那里。
I was arrested and taken to jail with the others.
我和其他人一起被捕并被关进监狱。
But the cops didn't have a warrant, so they had to drop the charges.
但警方没有逮捕令，因此不得不撤销指控。
I moved out of the house.
我搬出了房子。
But a couple of weeks later, some bad guys came in the middle of the night, black sweatshirts, black ski masks.
但几周后，一些坏人在半夜来了，穿着黑色运动衫，戴着黑色滑雪面具。
They beat Alex into a coma, raped his girlfriend.
他们将亚历克斯打至昏迷，并强奸了他的女朋友。
They stole everything they could get their hands on.
他们偷走了一切他们能拿到的东西。
After that, I packed up my red Jeep and I drove south to Baja.
之后，我收拾好我的红色吉普车，向南开往巴哈。
I didn't come back for four years.
我已经四年没有回来了。
By the time I moved back to San Diego in 1993, I'd fashioned myself into an upstanding citizen, an ambitious and enthusiastic member of the workforce.
1993 年我搬回圣地亚哥时，我已经把自己塑造成一个正直的公民、一个雄心勃勃、充满热情的劳动力队伍成员。
And life rolled along pretty much like I suppose it does for most people-- an HMO, a 401(k), a family.
生活就像我想的大多数人一样——一个 HMO、一个 401(k)、一个家庭。
I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but life was really steady.
我一直在等待另一只鞋落地，但生活真的很稳定。
It was good, far better than I deserved.
这很好，比我应得的要好得多。
And so, on the eve of my 40th birthday, I brought up Google and typed the words "Baja" and "missing." The top result on Google was a day-old newspaper article about a fugitive couple wanted for kidnapping and murder.
于是，在我 40 岁生日前夕，我打开谷歌并输入了“巴哈”和“失踪”这两个词。谷歌上的最高搜索结果是一篇报纸文章，内容是关于一对因绑架和谋杀而被通缉的逃亡夫妇。
The story, essentially, was that this couple, Richard Carelli and Michelle Pinkerton, were a pair of chronic meth heads who killed their landlord in San Francisco.
这个故事的本质是，理查德·卡雷利（Richard Carelli）和米歇尔·平克顿（Michelle Pinkerton）这对夫妇是一对长期吸毒的人，他们杀死了旧金山的房东。
And then they drove to Santa Cruz and kidnapped their own six-year-old daughter from the grandparents who'd been given legal custody.
然后他们开车前往圣克鲁斯，从获得合法监护权的祖父母手中绑架了自己六岁的女儿。
And oh, yeah, also on the run with them, their two-month-old baby girl with Down syndrome.
哦，是的，还有和他们一起逃亡的还有他们两个月大的患有唐氏综合症的女婴。
Clearly, these were not great parents.
显然，他们都不是伟大的父母。
A year earlier they were holed up in a motel when police raided the room and found them with a pile of stolen property and methamphetamines.
一年前，他们躲在一家汽车旅馆里，警察突袭了房间，发现他们藏有一堆偷来的财物和冰毒。
Their daughter, Viana, then four years old, was found hiding under the motel bed.
他们的女儿维亚娜当时四岁，被发现藏在汽车旅馆的床底下。
The newspaper picture of Viana showed a smiling little girl with blond hair and blue eyes and a dress with pink polka dots.
报纸上维亚纳的照片是一个微笑的小女孩，金发碧眼，穿着粉色圆点连衣裙。
She looked just like my daughter Addie.
她看起来就像我的女儿艾迪。
Police had been searching for Viana and her parents for more than three months.
警方一直在寻找维亚娜和她的父母三个多月了。
This article said that a month earlier a tourist might have spotted the family in a town called San Quintín on Baja California's Pacific coast.
这篇文章称，一个月前，一名游客可能在下加利福尼亚州太平洋海岸的一个名为圣金廷的小镇上发现了这家人。
Meth head kidnapper murderers on the run-- I was a former meth supplier.
正在逃亡的冰毒头目绑架凶手——我曾是一名冰毒供应商。
I absolutely do not believe in destiny, but Jesus Christ.
我绝对不相信命运，而是耶稣基督。
There was a link to a Missing flyer with pictures and a phone number to call.
有一个失踪传单的链接，上面有照片和电话号码。
I dialed, and a switchboard operator answered for the San Francisco Police Department.
我拨打了电话，接线员接听了旧金山警察局的电话。
I realized I had no idea what to say.
我意识到我不知道该说什么。
Hi, I said, I'm calling about a flyer for a missing girl, Viana Carelli.
嗨，我说，我打电话来是想为失踪的女孩维亚娜·卡雷利（Viana Carelli）寄一份传单。
A flyer sir, the operator said.
接线员说，先生，是传单。
Or I guess a poster, I said, like a Missing poster.
或者我猜是一张海报，我说，就像一张失踪的海报。
Sir, do you know the whereabouts of a missing person?
先生，您知道失踪者的下落吗？
No, I said, I just want to he-- I just need to talk to somebody in charge of the Viana Carelli case.
不，我说，我只是想——我只需要和负责维亚纳·卡雷利案的人谈谈。
Can you spell that, sir?
先生，你能拼出这个词吗？
I spelled the name.
我拼写了名字。
She put me on hold three times.
她让我等了三次。
Obviously, I hadn't called the right person.
显然，我没有打电话给正确的人。
I looked up other contact info for the San Francisco Police Department.
我查找了旧金山警察局的其他联系信息。
I made a couple more calls and quickly realized I needed to fake a little more competence.
我又打了几个电话，很快意识到我需要假装更有能力。
Here's what I was going to say.
这就是我要说的。
Look, I'm certain that there's a team of officers and volunteers conducting canvassing and search parties.
看，我确信有一队官员和志愿者在进行游说和搜查。
I would like to volunteer to join the effort.
我愿意自愿加入这一努力。
But the conversation never got that far.
但谈话从未进行到这一步。
Instead, each time, nobody knew what I was talking about.
相反，每次都没有人知道我在说什么。
I finally convinced somebody to transfer me to the Detectives division.
我终于说服了有人把我调到侦探部。
I got an answering machine saying that the office was closed until Monday morning.
我接到电话答录机说办公室直到周一早上才关闭。
The lack of information, the lack of interest by the police department was surprising-- unbelievable, really.
警察部门对信息的缺乏和兴趣的缺乏令人惊讶——真的令人难以置信。
This whole story had become front-page news because of the way the San Francisco police had already bungled it.
整个故事已经成为头版新闻，因为旧金山警方已经搞砸了。
The newspaper said that after Carelli and Pinkerton's landlord was reported missing, the police didn't respond for a month.
该报称，卡雷利和平克顿的房东被报告失踪后，警方一个月没有做出回应。
And when they did finally arrive at his building to look for him, they found his tenants, Carelli and Pinkerton, unwilling to let them search the property.
当他们最终到达他的大楼寻找他时，他们发现他的房客卡雷利和平克顿不愿意让他们搜查房子。
A police dog keyed on Carelli's van in the driveway.
一条警犬在车道上盯住了卡莱利的货车。
There were blood stains visible in the open garage, but the officers had no warrant.
露天车库里有明显的血迹，但警察没有搜查令。
They allowed the couple to drive away in their beat-up white Mercury sedan.
他们允许这对夫妇开着那辆破旧的白色水星轿车离开。
The cops eventually towed Carelli's van, but then, incredibly, they didn't search it.
警察最终拖走了卡雷利的货车，但令人难以置信的是，他们没有搜查它。
On the impound lot, somebody finally looked inside and found the body of the landlord.
在扣押地里，终于有人往里看，发现了房东的尸体。
He'd been dead for six weeks.
他已经死了六个星期了。
By this time, Carelli and Pinkerton were already hundreds of miles away.
此时，卡雷利和平克顿已经距离数百英里了。
Cell phone records showed that they made it as far as Vegas, and then, for three months, nothing.
手机记录显示，他们最远到达了维加斯，但接下来的三个月里，却一无所获。
So maybe the San Francisco police were not the best resource here.
所以也许旧金山警察并不是这里最好的资源。
I looked online for volunteer groups, flyer passer-outers, candlelight vigils.
我在网上寻找志愿者团体、传单路人、烛光守夜活动。
Again, nothing.
再说一次，什么也没有。
All that was left at this point was the little girl's family, the grandparents and an uncle that the newspaper had called the family spokesman.
此时只剩下小女孩的家人、祖父母和一位被报纸称为家庭发言人的叔叔。
Probably every nut job in the world was calling them, the smarmy investigators and the psychics, grifters, con men.
也许世界上每一个疯狂的工作都在称呼他们为那些狡猾的调查员和通灵者、骗子、骗子。
I found the uncle's phone number and then just sort of dialed.
我找到了叔叔的电话号码，然后就拨通了。
It went exactly like you'd think it would, which is to say, badly.
事情的进展和你想象的一模一样，也就是说，很糟糕。
If your main objective in a conversation is to convince someone that you're not crazy, you've already lost.
如果你在谈话中的主要目标是让别人相信你没有疯，那么你就已经输了。
Essentially, what the uncle said was, thank you for your concern.
本质上，叔叔说的是，谢谢你的关心。
The police are doing everything they can.
警方正在竭尽全力。
We appreciate the support.
我们感谢您的支持。
And then the call was over.
然后电话就结束了。
I was on my own.
我独自一人。
To be honest, it felt sort of good, sort of familiar, but better, because I knew without a doubt that this was the right thing to do.
说实话，这感觉有点好，有点熟悉，但更好，因为我毫无疑问地知道这是正确的做法。
I was going to Baja.
我本来要去巴哈。
Now I just had to go home and tell my wife.
现在我只需要回家告诉我的妻子。
She wasn't happy.
她不高兴。
You said you were going to help people in an earthquake, she said.
“你说过你要帮助地震中的人们，”她说。
This isn't our problem.
这不是我们的问题。
This isn't your fight.
这不是你的战斗。
She was crying and yelling.
她又哭又喊。
They're drug addicts.
他们是吸毒者。
They're murderers.
他们是杀人犯。
She spent a long time listing reasons why I shouldn't go.
她花了很长时间列出我不应该去的理由。
I understood why she was worried.
我明白她为什么担心。
Baja's rough.
巴哈很粗糙。
Every couple of weeks, there's another string of beheadings or a government official hung from a bridge, usually thanks to the drug cartels.
每隔几周，就会发生一连串斩首事件或一名政府官员被吊死在桥上，这通常是贩毒集团的功劳。
Last year, a guy nicknamed [SPEAKING SPANISH], the Stew Maker, confessed to dissolving the bodies of more than 300 of his victims in acid.
去年，一个绰号为“说西班牙语”的炖菜制造者承认，他用酸溶解了 300 多名受害者的尸体。
These stories helped keep Baja pristine, free of tourists, free of development, free of laws.
这些故事帮助巴哈保持了原始状态，没有游客，没有开发，没有法律。
It's like the old Wild West.
这就像古老的狂野西部。
And like the Old West, there's no cell phone service, so Kelly knew she couldn't even call me down there.
和老西部一样，这里没有手机服务，所以凯利知道她甚至无法给我打电话。
I kept repeating the one thing she couldn't argue with.
我不断地重复她无法反驳的一件事。
Nobody's looking for those little girls, I said.
没有人在寻找那些小女孩，我说。
If I don't go, who will?
我不去，谁去？
The next day, Saturday, I packed-- gas cans, topo maps, GPS, water jugs, fix-a-flat.
第二天，周六，我收拾了行李——煤气罐、地形图、GPS、水壶、修理公寓。
I sent an email to my boss saying that something sudden had come up and that I'd be taking a vacation week, or maybe two.
我给老板发了一封电子邮件，说突然发生了一些事情，我要休假一周，或者可能两周。
I took the lousy Missing flyer that I'd found online and redesigned it.
我把在网上找到的那张糟糕的失踪传单重新设计了。
I added a picture of the infant and a photo of a car from the Autotrader that matched Richard Carelli's white Mercury.
我添加了一张婴儿的照片和一张来自 Autotrader 的汽车照片，与理查德·卡雷利的白色 Mercury 相匹配。
I translated the flyer to Spanish and changed the headline to read [SPEAKING SPANISH], which means kidnapped.
我将传单翻译成西班牙语，并将标题改为[说西班牙语]，这意味着被绑架。
I went to Kinko's and printed 2,500 copies.
我去了 Kinko's 印了 2,500 份。
Baja, California itself is a dusty peninsula that begins near the San Diego-Tijuana border and ends 1,000 miles later in the resort town of Cabo San Lucas.
加利福尼亚州巴哈本身是一个尘土飞扬的半岛，始于圣地亚哥-蒂华纳边境附近，止于 1,000 英里后的度假胜地卡波圣卢卡斯。
There's only one road that runs from top to bottom.
从上到下只有一条路。
And at various points along the way, it passes tiny villages and military checkpoints, and about two dozen of the state-run Pemex gas stations.
沿途的各个地点，它都会经过小村庄和军事检查站，以及大约两打国营墨西哥国家石油公司加油站。
Without much to go on, this is what I chose to believe.
无需多说，这就是我选择相信的。
Richard Carelli knew nothing of Baja.
理查德·卡雷利对巴哈一无所知。
He spoke no Spanish and had no friends.
他不会说西班牙语，也没有朋友。
He had no weapons at this point and no money.
此时他没有武器，也没有钱。
The family was still traveling in the Mercury sedan.
一家人仍然乘坐水星轿车旅行。
They would not willingly double-back through military checkpoints or cross into areas where they'd be required to show ID and register.
他们不愿意折回通过军事检查站或进入需要出示身份证件和登记的区域。
Between the beat-up sedan and the newborn, they had to be somewhere close to the highway.
在破旧的轿车和新生儿之间，他们必须在靠近高速公路的地方。
I spent the first day passing out flyers at gas stations, at police stations, at military checkpoints, where I also passed out old Playboy magazines I had put in my truck to grease the skids with soldiers, a trick I resurrected from the old days.
第一天，我在加油站、警察局、军事检查站分发传单，还分发了我放在卡车上的旧《花花公子》杂志，用来给士兵们润滑，这是我从前的伎俩。
I made countless stops and starts.
我无数次停下来又开始。
At every market and rancho near a dusty crossroads, I told the story.
在尘土飞扬的十字路口附近的每个市场和牧场，我都讲述了这个故事。
Not a single person had heard it before, but they were all titillated now by the drama of the murderous couple and their poor children.
以前没有人听过这个故事，但现在他们都被这对凶残的夫妇和他们可怜的孩子的戏剧所刺激。
Just before dark, I arrived in San Quintín, the town where the couple might have been spotted a month earlier.
天黑前，我抵达圣金廷，一个月前这对夫妇可能就在那里被发现。
Taco stands, bars, hotels, campgrounds, nobody had seen or heard of the family.
玉米卷摊、酒吧、酒店、露营地，没有人见过或听说过这个家庭。
I went to bed sometime around midnight, but I couldn't fall asleep.
午夜时分，我上床睡觉，但我无法入睡。
I lay on the lumpy mattress and tried to envision every possibility.
我躺在凹凸不平的床垫上，试图想象每一种可能性。
Were Carelli and Pinkerton living in a village?
卡雷利和平克顿住在一个村庄吗？
Had they squatted in an abandoned ranch?
他们蹲在一个废弃的牧场里吗？
Had they found a benefactor?
他们找到恩人了吗？
Were they already dead?
他们已经死了吗？
I wondered if maybe I was insane to be here.
我想知道我来这里是不是疯了。
And some time, before I fell asleep, it hit me that they might not even have come to Mexico at all.
有一次，在我入睡之前，我突然意识到他们可能根本就没有来过墨西哥。
The next morning, I woke to the sounds of roosters, day two.
第二天早上，我在公鸡的叫声中醒来，这是第二天。
I got in my truck and headed south.
我上了卡车，向南行驶。
I had my doubts, but I figured I had to keep going.
我心存疑虑，但我想我必须继续前进。
An hour later, I came to a tiny farming community called Santa Maria.
一小时后，我来到了一个名叫圣玛丽亚的小型农业社区。
I went into a market and left a stack of flyers.
我走进一个市场，留下一叠传单。
A small group of men was milling around a pot of coffee.
一小群男人围着一壶咖啡转来转去。
When I went back outside to the gas pumps, the guy who ran the market came out with one of the flyers in his hand.
当我回到外面的加油站时，经营市场的那个人手里拿着一张传单走了出来。
These people, he said, they were here.
他说，这些人就在这里。
Really, I said.
真的，我说。
Somehow I doubted it.
不知怎的，我对此表示怀疑。
He looked at the flyer again.
他又看了一眼传单。
They bought water, milk, and potato chips.
他们买了水、牛奶和薯片。
They asked if we sold diapers, but we don't.
他们问我们是否卖尿布，但我们不卖。
His grocery list was so specific.
他的购物清单非常具体。
They were here.
他们就在这里。
They had to be.
他们必须如此。
What vehicle were they driving, I asked.
我问他们开什么车。
This one.
这个。
He pointed at the flyer.
他指着传单。
How long ago?
多久以前？
Three weeks.
三个星期。
The timing was exactly right.
时机完全正确。
Did you see the children, I asked.
我问，你看到孩子们了吗？
No, he said.
不，他说。
I thanked him and left with a new plan.
我感谢了他，然后带着新的计划离开了。
I would race straight down to the Baja Sur state line, the halfway point of the peninsula where the family would be forced to register.
我会径直跑到巴哈苏尔州界线，那里是半岛的中点，家人将被迫在那里登记。
I would bribe the immigration officials for a peek at the book and confirm that Carelli and Pinkerton didn't sneak past.
我会贿赂移民官员，让他们看一眼这本书，并确认卡雷利和平克顿没有偷偷溜过去。
And then I'd double back, and they'd scoop them up like a net.
然后我会折回来，他们就会像网一样把它们捞起来。
I was driving so fast now that the tire squealed on the turns.
我现在开得太快了，轮胎在转弯时发出尖叫声。
Before a half hour passed, I reached the village of El Rosario.
不到半小时，我就到达了埃尔罗萨里奥村。
The Pemex station there could be the last gas for 200 miles.
那里的墨西哥国家石油公司加油站可能是 200 英里内的最后一站加油站。
I'd probably filled my tank in El Rosario 300 times.
我在埃尔罗萨里奥可能已经加满了 300 次油箱。
It was too important a place to not stop for a minute and hang some flyers.
这是一个太重要的地方，不能停下来挂一些传单。
I jammed on the brakes and skidded across the lane into the gas station.
我猛踩刹车，滑过车道进入加油站。
I was posting a flyer near a gas pump when one of the attendants approached.
当一名服务员走近时，我正在加油站附近张贴传单。
[SPEAKING SPANISH], he said.
[说西班牙语]，他说。
I saw her, the blonde.
我看到了她，金发女郎。
Where, I asked.
我问，在哪里。
At pump number one, he said.
在一号泵处，他说。
She asked me about a cheap place to eat.
她问我有什么便宜的吃饭的地方吗？
When, I said.
什么时候，我说。
Three days ago.
三天前。
Three days, I said.
三天，我说。
You mean three weeks?
你是说三个星期？
Days, he said, three days ago.
几天前，他说，三天前。
Next door to the gas station was a small motel.
加油站的隔壁是一家小汽车旅馆。
I showed the flyer to the two ladies working behind the reception desk.
我把传单拿给前台后面工作的两位女士看。
When they saw it, they both shrieked and covered their mouths.
看到这一幕，两人都尖叫起来，捂住了嘴。
Yes, the family was here in El Rosario.
是的，他们一家人就在埃尔罗萨里奥。
They were living in a small house just two doors away from the home of one of the receptionists.
他们住在一所小房子里，距离一位接待员的家只有两扇门。
Yes, they were still driving the white car, but they'd been trying to sell it in the village.
是的，他们仍然开着那辆白色汽车，但他们一直试图在村里卖掉它。
And yes, the little girls were still with them.
是的，小女孩们还和他们在一起。
But the infant, whose name was Faith, was very sick.
但这个名叫费斯的婴儿病得很重。
The blonde woman, they told me, was earning money by teaching dance lessons to children in the village for 10 pesos an hour, $1 an hour.
他们告诉我，那位金发女郎通过向村里的孩子们教授舞蹈课来赚钱，每小时 10 比索（约合 1 美元）。
The house was 100 meters away, less.
房子距离不到100米。
What time are the classes, I asked.
我问，几点上课。
3 o'clock, one of them said.
3点钟，其中一个人说。
I looked at my watch.
我看了看手表。
It was 2:45.
当时是 2 点 45 分。
Carelli and Pinkerton were here, now, a block away.
卡雷利和平克顿现在就在这里，相隔一个街区。
Things were moving so fast through my head that it felt like Earth time had stopped.
事情在我脑海中飞快地闪过，感觉地球时间已经停止了。
I could suddenly see everything that I needed to do next so clearly.
我突然可以清楚地看到接下来需要做的一切。
I told the women at the motel not to tell anyone about our conversation.
我告诉汽车旅馆里的女人们不要告诉任何人我们的谈话。
I ran back to the gas station and ripped down the flyers and took back the stack I'd left.
我跑回加油站，撕下传单，拿回我留下的那叠传单。
I needed to get my truck and its American license plates off the road fast.
我需要尽快让我的卡车及其美国车牌离开道路。
It was a tiny town.
那是一个小镇。
I had to assume that word would soon get back to Carelli and Pinkerton.
我不得不假设这个消息很快就会传到卡雷利和平克顿那里。
I drove a half block to the town's small payphone office and hid my car behind the building.
我开了半个街区到镇上的小型公用电话办公室，把车藏在大楼后面。
An operator connected me to the uncle in Santa Cruz.
接线员帮我联系到了圣克鲁斯的叔叔。
I found them, I said.
我找到了他们，我说。
I told him the story as quickly as I could.
我尽快告诉他这个故事。
He gave me a phone number for a US marshal handling the case, and I got him on the phone.
他给了我一个处理此案的美国法警的电话号码，我给他打电话。
I found them, I said.
我找到了他们，我说。
The US marshal seemed doubtful, annoyed.
美国元帅看上去很怀疑，很恼火。
I let him know that I could get together a team of local police and go get Carelli.
我让他知道我可以召集当地警察小组去抓卡雷利。
Don't do anything, he said.
什么都不要做，他说。
Call me back in one hour.
一小时后给我回电话。
I looked at my watch again.
我又看了看手表。
It was now after 3 o'clock.
现在已经是三点多了。
Dance class was in session.
舞蹈课正在上课。
If I called the US marshal back in an hour, and he instructed me to contact the local cops-- which was the only reasonable option-- that whole process might take another hour, maybe more.
如果我在一小时内给美国法警打电话，他指示我联系当地警察——这是唯一合理的选择——那么整个过程可能还需要一个小时，甚至更多。
And it might be too late.
可能已经太晚了。
I went across the street to the cinder block police station.
我穿过马路来到煤渣块警察局。
Three cops were gathered around a small television watching a movie with Chuck Norris and a midget.
三名警察围在一台小电视机前，与查克·诺里斯和一个侏儒一起看电影。
I later figured out that the movie was Lone Wolf McQuade, the 1983 classic in which Chuck Norris's character makes an incursion into Mexico to take care of business.
后来我才知道这部电影是 1983 年的经典电影《独狼麦奎德》，其中查克·诺里斯 (Chuck Norris) 饰演的角色入侵墨西哥处理生意。
They got my daughter.
他们抓到了我的女儿。
Man Well, hold on, I'm coming.
伙计，等一下，我来了。
It's not your fight.
这不是你的战斗。
[ENGINE STARTING AND TIRES SQUEALING]
[发动机启动和轮胎尖叫声]
I need to speak with the comandante, I said.
我需要和指挥官谈谈，我说。
One of the cops leaned back in his chair.
一名警察向后靠在椅子上。
I'm the comandante.
我是指挥官。
What do you want?
你想要什么？
He was clearly irritated by the interruption, but he led me to a tiny room with a metal desk and closed the door.
他显然对这种打扰感到恼火，但他把我带到一个有一张金属桌子的小房间里，然后关上了门。
When I'd finished telling him the story, he radioed his off-duty cops and told them to report to the station immediately.
当我告诉他这个故事后，他用无线电通知下班的警察，让他们立即到警察局报到。
They called for backup from San Quintín.
他们向圣金廷寻求支援。
The dance class was half over.
舞蹈课已经过去一半了。
In the police station, bulletproof vests were pulled from lockers.
在警察局里，防弹背心从储物柜里被拿出来。
Weapons were loaded.
武器已上膛。
One of the cops found an extra flak jacket that would fit me.
一名警察找到了一件额外适合我的防弹衣。
At the one-hour mark, I dialed the US marshal from the telephone in the police station.
一小时后，我用警察局的电话拨通了美国法警的电话。
It's no good, he said.
这不好，他说。
The paperwork's not in order.
文书工作没有按顺序进行。
He told me we'd have to wait until tomorrow.
他告诉我我们必须等到明天。
There will be no tomorrow, I said.
不会有明天，我说。
There are two white men in this town, Richard Carelli and me.
这个镇上有两个白人，理查德·卡雷利和我。
Pretty soon, he's going to know it, if he doesn't already.
很快，他就会知道了，如果他还不知道的话。
And then, he's going to do whatever it takes to run again.
然后，他将不惜一切代价再次跑步。
The marshal exhaled sharply.
元帅猛地吐了一口气。
Ugh, he said.
呃，他说。
Call me in a half hour.
半小时后给我打电话。
You got to be kidding me, I thought.
你一定是在跟我开玩笑吧，我想。
The Mexican cops stood all around me waiting for the word.
墨西哥警察站在我周围等待命令。
I told them that I needed to make one more phone call.
我告诉他们我需要再打一个电话。
I dialed the uncle in Santa Cruz.
我拨通了圣克鲁斯的叔叔的电话。
Look, I said.
瞧，我说。
The US marshal says that we have to wait until tomorrow.
美国法警说我们必须等到明天。
I explained that it didn't have to be this way, that I didn't work for the US Marshal.
我解释说事情不必如此，我不为美国元帅工作。
But this wasn't my decision.
但这不是我的决定。
It was his family.
这是他的家人。
Only he could decide.
只有他才能决定。
He conferred for a few moments with the grandparents.
他与祖父母商量了一会儿。
And then he said, the paperwork will be ready by the time it's needed.
然后他说，文件将在需要时准备好。
Go do it.
去做吧。
Mexican federal cops arrived from San Quintín a few moments later, four unmarked truckloads full of guys with big mustaches and leather jackets.
几分钟后，墨西哥联邦警察从圣金廷赶来，四辆没有标记的卡车上装满了留着大胡子、穿着皮夹克的男人。
Most of them carried assault rifles.
他们中的大多数人都携带突击步枪。
One of the trucks was sent out to observe the house.
其中一辆卡车被派去观察这所房子。
They radioed back to the station that the children were out front with the mother.
他们用无线电传回电台，说孩子们和母亲一起在外面。
A few seconds later came the report that the father was now outside, too.
几秒钟后传来消息说父亲也在外面。
The leader of the federal squad said, vamonos.
联邦小队队长说道，瓦莫诺斯。
Then he put a hand on my chest and ordered me to stay put.
然后他把手放在我的胸口上，命令我留在原地。
10 minutes later, they returned.
10分钟后，他们回来了。
Michelle Pinkerton and the children were in the back of one truck.
米歇尔·平克顿和孩子们坐在一辆卡车的后面。
Carelli was handcuffed in another.
卡雷利被戴上手铐。
They jerked him out of his seat and stood him in front of me.
他们把他从座位上拉起来，让他站在我面前。
And when he saw me, the fight drained out of him.
当他看到我时，他的斗志就消失了。
Any fantasy he might have held about the arrest being just a Mexican shakedown was dead.
他对这次逮捕只是墨西哥的一次勒索的任何幻想都破灭了。
He asked me why he was being arrested.
他问我为什么逮捕他。
I didn't respond.
我没有回应。
Viana stared out the door of the other truck, wide-eyed and nervous.
维亚娜盯着另一辆卡车的车门，睁大眼睛，紧张不已。
Michelle Pinkerton was working hard to convince her daughter that everything was OK.
米歇尔·平克顿正在努力让女儿相信一切都好。
She held the baby tightly in one arm and hugged Viana with the other, rocking them both gently against her.
她用一只手臂紧紧抱住婴儿，另一只手臂拥抱维亚娜，轻轻地摇晃着他们。
We caravaned back to the federal headquarters, where a big group of cops whooped as Richard Carelli was pulled from the truck and led up to the station.
我们开着大篷车回到联邦总部，当理查德·卡雷利被从卡车上拉出来并带到警察局时，一大群警察欢呼雀跃。
Michelle and the girls were taken out of the other truck, and Viana watched in horror as her father was led through the doors.
米歇尔和女儿们被从另一辆卡车上救了出来，维亚娜惊恐地看着她的父亲被带进了车门。
She moved onto the sidewalk and stood next to me.
她走到人行道上，站在我旁边。
She was really dirty, but she seemed healthy.
她确实很脏，但看起来很健康。
Hi, I said.
嗨，我说。
Hola, she said.
你好，她说。
Speaking Spanish now, huh?
现在说西班牙语吧？
Si.
斯。
You OK?
你还好吗？
Si.
斯。
The cops asked me to wait in one of the offices with Michelle and the girls.
警察让我和米歇尔以及女孩们一起在一间办公室等候。
Viana kept asking about her father.
维亚娜不断询问她父亲的情况。
Michelle assured her that he was fine.
米歇尔向她保证他很好。
She was trying to find another blanket to wrap around Faith.
她试图找到另一条毯子来包裹费思。
The infant was so tiny, and her breathing was raspy.
婴儿太小了，呼吸急促。
Michelle did everything she could to not look at me.
米歇尔竭尽全力不看我。
I sat for a long time, just watching her trying to stave off this new reality.
我坐了很长时间，只是看着她试图回避这个新的现实。
Viana leaned over Faith and kissed her forehead.
维亚娜靠在费丝身上，亲吻她的额头。
The baby cooed, and Viana laughed.
婴儿咕咕地叫着，维亚娜笑了起来。
And Michelle draped her arms around her daughters, and she smiled a smile so sad that I had to look away.
米歇尔用双臂拥抱着她的女儿们，她的微笑如此悲伤，我不得不把目光移开。
Carelli was next door in a jail cell.
卡雷利就在隔壁的牢房里。
He called to me, sir, excuse me sir.
他叫我，先生，对不起，先生。
Can you please tell me why we're here?
你能告诉我我们为什么来这里吗？
Sir, please.
先生，请。
One of the cops entered the office where we sat and grabbed a leg shackle, this heavy black iron thing that looked like it belonged in a dungeon.
一名警察走进我们坐的办公室，抓住了一个脚镣，这个沉重的黑铁东西，看起来像是属于地牢的东西。
He carried it to Carelli's cell.
他把它带到卡雷利的牢房。
Viana started to cry.
维亚娜开始哭泣。
I have a daughter, I said to her.
我有一个女儿，我对她说。
She's four.
她四岁了。
She looks just like you.
她看起来就像你一样。
She likes to play princess.
她喜欢扮演公主。
Do you play princess, too?
你也玩公主吗？
Viana nodded.
维亚娜点点头。
Michelle straightened up in her chair and asked me, are you from here?
米歇尔从椅子上直起身来，问我，你是这里人吗？
No, I said.
不，我说。
I'm from California.
我来自加利福尼亚州。
Her eyes teared up and she nodded.
她的眼睛里含着泪水，点点头。
Yeah.
是的。
This was not what I signed up for.
这不是我报名的目的。
She just seemed like a mom.
她看起来就像一个妈妈。
Where was the screaming, the blaming, the meth head excuses?
尖叫、责备、吸毒者的借口在哪里？
Where was all the horrible parenting?
那些可怕的养育方式去哪儿了？
Had they all been cured by their time here?
他们来这里的时候都已经痊愈了吗？
Suddenly, I didn't really feel like I was riding in on the white horse.
突然间，我真的不觉得自己骑在白马上了。
I just felt like I was meddling with somebody's family.
我只是觉得我在干涉某人的家庭。
What right did I have to upend the lives of these two little girls?
我有什么权利颠覆这两个小女孩的生活？
What does the baby need, I asked, diapers?
我问，宝宝需要什么，尿布吗？
Michelle nodded.
米歇尔点点头。
Yeah, and formula.
是的，还有公式。
I drove into town and bought way too many baby supplies and some stuff for Viana, too.
我开车进城，买了太多婴儿用品和一些给维亚娜的东西。
Then I stopped at a taco stand and bought three dozen carne asada tacos.
然后我在一个炸玉米饼摊前停下来，买了三打卡内朝田炸玉米饼。
Viana lit up when she saw the food.
当维亚娜看到食物时，她的脸上露出了笑容。
Did you bring food for my daddy, too?
你也给我爸爸带食物了吗？
I asked the cops if it was OK for her to deliver tacos to her father.
我问警察她是否可以给她父亲送玉米饼。
I helped Viana make a plate and then followed her to the cell where Carelli was cuffed to the bars.
我帮维亚娜做了一个盘子，然后跟着她来到了卡雷利被铐在铁栅栏上的牢房。
Hi, honey, he said.
嗨，亲爱的，他说。
Are you OK?
你还好吗？
She nodded.
她点点头。
He held her face in his hands and kissed the top of her head through the bars.
他双手捧住她的脸，隔着栅栏亲吻她的头顶。
They spoke softly for a few minutes.
他们轻声交谈了几分钟。
I tried to fade as far away as I could.
我试图尽可能地消失。
Carelli fought to keep it together.
卡雷利努力将其保持在一起。
He looked up at me.
他抬头看着我。
Are you a bounty hunter?
你是赏金猎人吗？
No, I said.
不，我说。
What are you?
你是做什么的？
I'm just a guy trying to help.
我只是一个想帮忙的人。
He seemed to hold this for a long moment.
他似乎把这句话憋了很久。
Thank you, he said.
谢谢你，他说。
I looked down.
我低头一看。
Yeah.
是的。
I called the uncle in Santa Cruz, tried to explain what I'd seen.
我打电话给圣克鲁斯的叔叔，试图解释我所看到的情况。
The girls seemed well cared for, that they seemed loved.
女孩们似乎受到了很好的照顾，她们似乎被爱着。
I told him that things were different than I had expected.
我告诉他事情与我预想的不同。
Well, he said, Viana loves her grandparents, too.
好吧，他说，维亚娜也爱她的祖父母。
I drove home the next day.
第二天我开车回家。
I didn't know it yet, but the media was already in a full frenzy.
我还不知道，但媒体已经完全疯狂了。
CNN and CBS and Fox were calling my office.
美国有线电视新闻网 (CNN)、哥伦比亚广播公司 (CBS) 和福克斯电视台都给我的办公室打电话。
All the news reports were pretty black and white.
所有的新闻报道都是黑白分明的。
--relatives.
- 亲属。
And after a whole month, police had no luck finding the girls.
整整一个月后，警方仍然没有找到这些女孩。
But one guy did in just two days.
但有一个人在短短两天内就做到了。
James Spring, who's also--
詹姆斯·斯普林，他也是——
They were calling me a hero, but I didn't feel like one.
他们称我为英雄，但我并不觉得自己是英雄。
All right, James.
好吧，詹姆斯。
I'm so-- James Spring In a lot of ways, I felt like a homewrecker.
我是如此——詹姆斯·斯普林（James Spring） 在很多方面，我感觉自己就像一个家庭破坏者。
I did a couple of interviews, but they went poorly.
我做了几次采访，但进展都很糟糕。
How in the world did you pull this off?
你到底是怎么做到的？
You went to Mexico, and what did you do?
你去了墨西哥，做了什么？
Basically, I created a flyer in Spanish.
基本上，我用西班牙语制作了一张传单。
And the thing about the Baja--
还有关于巴哈的事情——
So I stopped.
所以我停了下来。
The one bright spot in all the coverage, the one moment that made me feel like maybe I had done the right thing was some video shot at the airport when Viana got off the plane in the US.
所有报道中的一个亮点，让我觉得也许我做了正确的事情的那一刻，是维亚纳在美国下飞机时在机场拍摄的一段视频。
Oh!
哦！
James Spring In it, Viana sees her grandmother at the arrival gate, and she yells Grandma and runs into her arms.
詹姆斯·斯普林 片中，维亚娜在到达口看到了她的祖母，她大喊“奶奶”，然后跑进她的怀里。
And they're both crying.
他们都在哭。
[CHEERING] Grandma OK, you're home now, OK?
[欢呼] 奶奶，好吧，你现在到家了，好吗？
The grandma tells her, it's OK, you're home now.
奶奶告诉她，没关系，你现在回家了。
It's been a hard time, huh?
这段时间很艰难吧？
James Spring I must have watched that video 100 times.
James Spring 我肯定已经看了那个视频 100 遍了。
All week, the phone calls didn't stop.
整个星期，电话都没有停过。
Producers were trying to buy the movie rights.
制片人试图购买电影版权。
Long-lost relatives tried to reconnect.
失散多年的亲人试图重新联系。
Everybody was calling, except Viana's grandparents.
每个人都在打电话，除了维亚纳的祖父母。
I'd been thinking of them a lot.
我一直很想念他们。
I just wanted to know that the girls were happy.
我只是想知道女孩们幸福吗？
Not happy, but you know, that they were OK, that they were going to be OK.
不高兴，但你知道，他们没事，他们会没事的。
But the grandparents didn't call, and I couldn't call them.
但爷爷奶奶没有打电话，我也无法给他们打电话。
They had to be overwhelmed.
他们不得不不知所措。
I felt like maybe I'd intruded into the girls' lives enough already.
我觉得也许我已经足够侵入女孩们的生活了。
But I needed to do something.
但我需要做点什么。
I sent a huge box of presents to the kids and a notebook for Viana, so she could write letters to her parents.
我给孩子们寄了一大盒礼物，还给维亚娜寄了一本笔记本，这样她就可以给父母写信了。
On the inside cover, I wrote her a note.
在内封面上，我给她写了一张纸条。
I tried to make her understand why I'd done this.
我试图让她理解我为什么这么做。
It was kind of an explanation, kind of an apology, even though I knew she was way too young to comprehend any of it.
这是一种解释，一种道歉，尽管我知道她还太年轻，无法理解其中的任何内容。
I got no response.
我没有得到回应。
And then I started learning some odd things.
然后我开始学习一些奇怪的东西。
On one newspaper's website, I found a comment from a guy who said he was Michelle Pinkerton's brother.
在一家报纸的网站上，我发现一个人的评论，他说他是米歇尔·平克顿的兄弟。
He called her white trash, said that he hopes she was brought to justice for her crimes.
他称她为白人垃圾，并表示希望将她的罪行绳之以法。
A reporter told me that he'd interviewed the grandfather and that the guy had made some pretty hateful remarks about Richard Carelli, about hoping that Carelli would become some big black guy's girlfriend in prison.
一位记者告诉我，他采访了这位祖父，那家伙对理查德·卡雷利发表了一些非常仇恨的言论，说他希望卡雷利成为某个黑人大个子在监狱里的女朋友。
And then there was a photographer who'd been sent to take pictures of the family who gave an equally depressing report.
然后，一名被派去给这家人拍照的摄影师给出了同样令人沮丧的报告。
He said he couldn't shoot any photos in the house, because it didn't look like children even lived there-- no toys, no kid stuff on the walls.
他说他不能在房子里拍任何照片，因为看起来根本没有孩子住在那里——没有玩具，墙上也没有儿童用品。
Of course, that doesn't mean anything.
当然，这并不意味着什么。
It's just cosmetic.
这只是装饰性的。
It didn't mean they weren't taking good care of them or didn't love them.
这并不意味着他们没有照顾好他们或不爱他们。
I didn't know what to believe.
我不知道该相信什么。
I was worried about those little girls, and nothing I'd heard since Baja was making me feel any better.
我很担心那些小女孩，但自从巴哈之后，我所听到的一切都没有让我感觉好一点。
Eight months passed.
八个月过去了。
A trial date was set.
审判日期已经确定。
And then one day, in the middle of the week, I got a call from Viana's grandfather.
然后有一天，在一周的中间，我接到了维亚娜祖父的电话。
It wasn't a thank you, but it was like a, man, that thing you did in Mexico was really something.
这不是一句谢谢，但就像是，伙计，你在墨西哥所做的事情真的很了不起。
And I said, yeah?
我说，是吗？
And then he reiterated his hopes that Viana's father be raped in prison every day for the rest of his life.
然后他重申希望维亚娜的父亲余生每天都在监狱里被强奸。
He told me that the trial was about to begin, that I might get some phone calls from prosecutors.
他告诉我审判即将开始，我可能会接到检察官的电话。
And then the call was over.
然后电话就结束了。
Carelli was charged with first-degree murder.
卡雷利被指控犯有一级谋杀罪。
He admitted the landlord had died during a fight they had but said it was unintentional.
他承认房东在他们的争斗中死亡，但表示这是无意的。
At trial, the details came out.
庭审中，细节浮出水面。
The landlord's lip was busted open.
楼主的嘴巴张开了。
His nose was broken.
他的鼻子被打破了。
He was badly bruised and had been stabbed with a small knife.
他受了重伤，并被小刀刺伤。
His body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag bound with duct tape and buried under a pile of trash in the back of the van.
他的尸体被发现包裹在用胶带绑住的睡袋中，并埋在货车后部的一堆垃圾下。
The official cause of death was suffocation.
官方的死因是窒息。
The defense argued that meth had given Carelli a condition called hypofrontality, meaning he couldn't think straight, so he made wacky decisions, like storing a corpse in his van and kidnapping his daughter and fleeing to Baja.
辩方辩称，冰毒使卡雷利出现了一种名为“额叶缺失”的病症，这意味着他无法正常思考，因此他做出了一些古怪的决定，比如在他的货车里存放一具尸体，绑架他的女儿并逃往巴哈。
In other words, the meth made him do it, which, as a former meth smuggler, didn't make me feel so great.
换句话说，冰毒让他这么做了，作为一名前冰毒走私者，这并没有让我感觉那么好。
The trial ended with a hung jury, so Richard Carelli wasn't convicted of first-degree murder.
审判以陪审团悬而未决的方式结束，因此理查德·卡雷利没有被判犯有一级谋杀罪。
He'd have to be retried on a lesser charge.
他必须以较轻的罪名重新受审。
At some point, I got a phone call from a private investigator.
在某个时候，我接到私家侦探的电话。
Michelle Pinkerton's public defender had hired the guy to track me down.
米歇尔·平克顿的公设辩护人雇了这个人来追踪我。
Miss Pinkerton says that you spent a couple of days with her and the kids in Mexico, he said.
平克顿小姐说你和她以及孩子们在墨西哥呆了几天，他说。
I told him that seemed a strange way to describe it.
我告诉他，用这种方式来描述它似乎很奇怪。
Did you see her, he asked, interacting with the children?
他问道，你看到她和孩子们互动了吗？
I told him that I did.
我告诉他我做到了。
Well, she was thinking you might have some good things to say about what you saw there.
嗯，她认为你可能会对在那里看到的东西说一些好话。
It took me a moment to understand that I'd just been asked to be the character witness for a meth addict and accused murderer who had taken her kids on the run.
我花了一会儿才明白，我刚刚被要求成为一名冰毒成瘾者和一名带走她孩子逃跑的凶手的品格证人。
And in a way, I was really tempted, because she did seem like a good mother on that day, a mother who loved her kids, anyway, and whose kids loved her.
在某种程度上，我真的很受诱惑，因为那天她看起来确实是一位好母亲，一位爱她的孩子的母亲，无论如何，她的孩子们也爱她。
But I couldn't do it.
但我做不到。
None of this had really turned out like it was supposed to, not like I imagined it would.
这一切都没有真正按照预期的方式进行，而不是像我想象的那样。
I was afraid to nudge the outcome again one way or the other.
我害怕以某种方式再次推动结果。
I did not want to put my thumb on the scale.
我不想把拇指放在体重秤上。
I could think of too many ways my testimony might just make things worse.
我可以想到太多我的证词可能会让事情变得更糟的方式。
This was none of my business when I went to Baja, and it wasn't my business now.
当我去巴哈时，这不关我的事，现在也不再关我的事。
Only now, I knew it.
直到现在，我才知道。
James Spring in San Diego.
圣地亚哥的詹姆斯斯普林。
Richard Carelli eventually pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and Michelle Pinkerton to child abduction and violating her probation.
理查德·卡雷利最终承认过失杀人罪，米歇尔·平克顿承认绑架儿童罪和违反缓刑规定。
Today's show is a rerun, and in the years since James Spring's 40th birthday, dozens of people who heard about what happened have contacted James, asking him to find their missing loved ones.
今天的节目是重播，自詹姆斯·斯普林 40 岁生日以来，数十名听说此事的人联系了詹姆斯，请求他寻找失踪的亲人。
He's decided help out in a bunch of these cases.
他决定在这些案件中提供帮助。
There's the paranoid schizophrenic in the Sierra Juarez, the guy who's been missing for 35 years, a surfer that disappeared in Baja, California, the guy in Oaxaca, who he got to confess to a murder and reveal the location of the body.
有华雷斯山脉的偏执型精神分裂症患者、失踪了 35 年的人、在加利福尼亚州巴哈失踪的冲浪者、瓦哈卡州的人，他不得不承认谋杀并透露了尸体的位置。
His current case is tracking down three men who were kidnapped in the Mexican city of Veracruz.
他目前的案件正在追查在墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯市被绑架的三名男子。
He says his wife is not crazy about any of this.
他说他的妻子对这些都不感兴趣。
Coming up, the Devil's Advocate, a Devil's Advocate that is so disturbed by the evidence in front of him that he has no choice but to come out on the side of the angels.
魔鬼代言人登场了，魔鬼代言人对眼前的证据感到如此不安，以至于他别无选择，只能站在天使一边。
In a minute, from Chicago Public Radio, when our program continues.
稍后，芝加哥公共广播电台将继续我们的节目。
It's This American Life.
这就是美国生活。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Today's show, "Save the Day," stories of people who get the impulse to step in where others turn their backs and do good and rescue the needy.
今天的节目“拯救世界”讲述了人们的故事，他们在其他人背弃的时候挺身而出，行善并拯救有需要的人。
We have arrived at Act 2 of our program.
我们已经到了计划的第二幕。
Act 2, I'd Like to Spank the Academy.
第二幕，我想打学院的屁股。
Every year since 1998, the University of Montevallo, a small liberal arts college outside of Birmingham, Alabama, has held an event called The Life Raft Debate.
自 1998 年以来，蒙特瓦洛大学（阿拉巴马州伯明翰郊外的一所小型文理学院）每年都会举办一场名为“救生筏辩论”的活动。
It's got a simple premise.
它有一个简单的前提。
There's been a global catastrophe, nuclear war, something has wiped out the world, except, miraculously, the hundreds of students who are in the audience of The Life Raft Debate.
发生了一场全球性灾难、核战争，某种东西摧毁了世界，除了奇迹般地观看救生筏辩论的数百名学生。
The students are on a life raft.
学生们在救生筏上。
It's only got one spot left.
只剩下一个位置了
And six professors and other university staffers sit up on the stage and make the case, one by one, that their department, their academic discipline, is the one that deserves that one empty seat, that deserves to be saved, that their academic discipline will help the students survive, will make the students' lives so much more meaningful.
六位教授和其他大学工作人员坐在台上，一一说明他们的部门，他们的学科，值得拥有一个空座位，值得被保留，他们的学科将帮助学生生存，将使学生的生活更有意义。
Different professors take part in this every year.
每年都有不同的教授参加。
There are different winners every year.
每年都有不同的获奖者。
Nancy Updike heard about the event from a listener, a student back when we first broadcast today's show named Carrie Matthews.
南希·厄普代克（Nancy Updike）从一位听众那里听说了这件事，她是我们第一次播出今天的节目《嘉莉·马修斯》（Carrie Matthews）时的一名学生。
Hello, Carrie Matthews.
你好，凯莉·马修斯。
And Nancy looked into this.
南希对此进行了调查。
The man who started The Life Raft Debate, a philosophy professor at the University of Montevallo named Michael Patton, warned me when he sent a bunch of DVDs of the event that there had been a sort of convergence of silliness at the 2007 debate.
救生筏辩论的发起人是蒙特瓦洛大学的哲学教授迈克尔·巴顿，他在寄来一堆该活动的 DVD 时警告我，2007 年的辩论中存在着某种愚蠢的现象。
And I was looking forward to the silliness as a corrective to what I figured would be a pretty intense overall intellectualism and dryness.
我期待着这种愚蠢的行为来纠正我认为总体上相当强烈的理智主义和枯燥。
Because what else is there to think when someone says, hey, I've got a DVD of university professors arguing about how their area of study is better than anyone else's area of study?
因为当有人说，嘿，我有一张大学教授的 DVD，他们在争论他们的研究领域如何比其他人的研究领域更好时，还有什么可想的呢？
So I popped the 2007 DVD in.
所以我把2007年的DVD放进去。
And instead of a debate, I watched gimmicks pile up, one after another.
我没有看到一场辩论，而是看到了一个又一个的噱头。
The dean of the business school rolled into the gym where the event was being held on a Harley--
商学院院长骑着哈雷摩托车走进了举办活动的体育馆——
[CHEERING] --to the tune of the song that's not named "Teenage Wasteland," but that we all know as "Teenage Wasteland." He parked, took off his leather jacket, and strolled up to sit next to the other people on stage.
[欢呼]——这首歌的曲调不是“青少年荒原”，而是我们都知道的“青少年荒原”。他把车停好，脱下皮夹克，然后走到台上其他人旁边坐下。
He was the first to make his five-minute pitch to the audience.
他是第一个向观众发表五分钟演讲的人。
Thank you very much.
非常感谢。
Thank you very much indeed.
确实非常感谢。
I'm here tonight to talk to you about strategy.
今晚我来这里是想和你们谈谈策略。
I'm a strategist, so you'll understand what that means.
我是一名战略家，所以你会明白这意味着什么。
I was trained to take the strengths and weaknesses that you may possess, and to put them together with opportunities.
我接受的训练是如何利用你可能拥有的优势和劣势，并将它们与机会结合起来。
Now, on the life raft, you're going to need this, because there's going to be some women, there's going to be some men, and we need to put together your strengths and your weaknesses.
现在，在救生筏上，你需要这个，因为会有一些女性，会有一些男性，我们需要将你的优点和缺点放在一起。
I know I sound like Elvis, but I'm sorry.
我知道我听起来像猫王，但很抱歉。
It just comes out that way.
它就是这样出来的。
[LAUGHTER] Nancy Updike Dean of the business school.
[笑声]南希·厄普代克商学院院长。
He went on to say that strategy would not be enough on the life raft.
他接着说，在救生筏上仅有策略是不够的。
He also promised leadership.
他还承诺发挥领导作用。
He did a demonstration, asking the audience to stand.
他做了一个示范，要求观众起立。
Hey, hey, we got some leadership.
嘿嘿，我们有一些领导。
Yeah, ladies, you get it.
是的，女士们，你们明白了。
You do the other part.
你做另一部分。
We will, we will rock you.
我们会的，我们会震撼你的。
Oh, we will, we will--
噢，我们会的，我们会——
(ALL) Rock you!
（全部）摇滚你！
Dean And we will, we will--
迪恩，我们会的，我们会——
Keep in mind that the stage is set up with a lectern, microphones, tables with professors seated at them facing the audience, just like some earnest think-tank-sponsored political discussion or like a college debate.
请记住，舞台上设有讲台、麦克风和桌子，教授坐在桌子上，面向观众，就像一些认真的智囊团赞助的政治讨论或大学辩论一样。
A professor of education showed up on stage in a formal academic robe and then took it off to reveal a superhero costume to audience cheers.
一位教育学教授穿着正式的学术长袍出现在舞台上，然后脱下它，在观众的欢呼声中露出超级英雄的服装。
He was Captain Education.
他是教育队长。
To his right was an art history professor, who argued that the post-apocalyptic world would be bleak without images, and the survivors would need an art historian to get the most out of any images they created.
他右边是一位艺术史教授，他认为如果没有图像，后世界末日的世界将会变得黯淡，幸存者需要一位艺术史学家来充分利用他们创造的图像。
Her conclusion, out of the blue--
她的结论出乎意料——
We can build a new world, a better world, a world in which women have the power.
我们可以建设一个新的世界，一个更美好的世界，一个女性拥有力量的世界。
Remember, it's the men who have got us into this mess.
请记住，是这些人让我们陷入了困境。
The chair of the English department tried briefly to argue for the importance of storytelling in human culture, and then used up most of his time reciting a three minute and 15 second poem he made up about a mythical women's football team at the university and its champion kicker, Mighty Mitzi.
英语系主任试图简短地论证讲故事在人类文化中的重要性，然后用了大部分时间背诵了一首三分十五秒的诗，这是他为大学里一支神话般的女子足球队及其冠军踢球手 Mighty Mitzi 创作的。
Mighty Mitzi might get to kick once more.
强大的米兹可能会再次上场。
She put it through for three good points.
她通过了三个好点。
Her foot was sure to score.
她的脚肯定会得分。
Watching the debate, I found myself getting strangely mad, like I'd gone to a wrestling match, and all the wrestlers worried that the audience would find wrestling too violent, so they just walked around doing the preening and smack-talking.
看着辩论，我发现自己莫名其妙地生气了，就像我去看摔跤比赛一样，所有的摔跤手都担心观众会觉得摔跤太暴力，所以他们只是走来走去，打理、打骂。
And as I remember it, pretty much every student getting a liberal arts degree worries at some point that their education might actually be useless.
我记得，几乎每个获得文科学位的学生都会在某种程度上担心他们的教育实际上可能毫无用处。
That's what makes The Life Raft Debate a funny idea and a serious one.
这就是使“救生筏辩论”成为一个有趣而又严肃的想法的原因。
It's a forum for the students to say to their professors, make us believe in the value of what we're doing here.
这是一个供学生向教授表达意见的论坛，让我们相信我们在这里所做的事情的价值。
That cause seemed lost in this debate.
这一事业似乎在这场辩论中消失了。
And then the Devil's Advocate got up to rescue us all.
然后魔鬼代言人站起来拯救了我们所有人。
[CHEERING] Every Life Raft Debate has a Devil's Advocate.
[欢呼]每次救生筏辩论都有一位魔鬼代言人。
He makes the same argument every year.
他每年都会提出同样的论点。
Vote for no one, and he never wins.
不投票给任何人，他就永远不会获胜。
In this debate, the Devil's Advocate was an untenured English professor named Jon Smith, who, when he heard how the debate was going, threw out most of his prepared notes and spoke of the cuff, making the most impassioned speech of the entire event and one of the most satisfying speeches I've heard in a long time.
在这场辩论中，魔鬼代言人是一位名叫乔恩·史密斯的未获终身教职的英语教授，当他听到辩论的进展情况时，他扔掉了大部分准备好的笔记并谈到了袖口，发表了整个活动中最热情的演讲，也是我很长一段时间以来听过的最令人满意的演讲之一。
I'm going to let it play through the end.
我会让它玩到最后。
I required my freshmen to come to this, because I thought, because we're covering argument, that they would be exposed to argument.
我要求我的新生来参加这个活动，因为我认为，因为我们正在报道争论，他们会面临争论。
What I'd like to do is to give you a little history of The Life Raft Debate and try to explain how we got to the present pass, by way, I guess, of apology.
我想做的是向你们介绍一下救生筏辩论的历史，并尝试解释我们是如何走到现在这一步的，我想，顺便道歉。
It used to be that The Life Raft Debate-- it's sponsored by the Philosophy Club, and it was a fairly semi-philosophical discussion about which disciplines truly contributed the most to a liberal education.
曾经是救生筏辩论——它是由哲学俱乐部赞助的，这是一场相当半哲学的讨论，讨论哪些学科真正对自由教育做出了最大的贡献。
That's what was being contested.
这就是人们争论的问题。
I haven't been here the whole 10 years they've been doing it.
他们这样做的整整十年里我都没有来过这里。
But I've been here five, and I can dimly remember when Michael Patton won.
但我已经来过这里五次了，我依稀记得迈克尔·巴顿获胜的时间。
He was funny, but he also made a case.
他很有趣，但他也提出了一个案例。
He made a serious argument.
他提出了一个严肃的论点。
Steve Parker, the next year, won.
第二年，史蒂夫·帕克获胜。
He made a good argument, which is a double achievement, because sociology is not a real discipline.
他提出了一个很好的论点，这是双重成就，因为社会学不是一门真正的学科。
But something went terribly awry in about 2004.
但 2004 年左右，事情发生了严重的问题。
And I can remember this, because I was on the stage.
我能记住这一点，因为我在舞台上。
Wilson Fallin stood on a chair and declared that God is a historian.
威尔逊·法林站在椅子上宣称上帝是一位历史学家。
And the audience ate it up and voted for him.
观众们接受了并投票给了他。
They weren't really voting for Wilson Fallin, the scholar or the historian.
他们并不是真正投票给学者或历史学家威尔逊·法林。
I'm sure he's both those things, but they were voting for Wilson Fallin, the Baptist preacher.
我确信他都是这些人，但他们投票给了浸信会牧师威尔逊·法林。
The next year, you voted for a cook.
第二年，你投票选举了一名厨师。
And I thought it couldn't get any worse, and the year after that, you voted for an administrator.
我认为情况不会变得更糟，在那之后的一年，你投票选举了一位管理员。
Because seriously, these are smart people up here.
因为说真的，这里的人都是聪明人。
They have stooped to some of the stupidest crap to make you laugh.
他们做出一些最愚蠢的废话来逗你笑。
And all of us who are serious teachers sometimes can fall into that trap.
我们所有认真的老师有时都会陷入这个陷阱。
We want to be funny.
我们想变得有趣。
We want to be entertaining.
我们想要变得有趣。
And we get this sense that, if they're laughing, we must be teaching.
我们感觉到，如果他们在笑，我们一定是在教学。
It isn't always true.
这并不总是正确的。
I think there's a general argumentative fallacy that's gone on with every single one of these poor people up here, and I don't know how they got sucked into it, but it's probably your fault.
我认为这里的每一个穷人都存在一种普遍的争论谬误，我不知道他们是如何陷入其中的，但这可能是你的错。
It's what I call the Sherry Ford fallacy.
这就是我所说的雪莉·福特谬误。
Sherry, are you here tonight?
雪莉，你今晚在吗？
OK.
好的。
You may remember this from the 2004 debate.
你可能还记得2004年辩论中的这一点。
It's always stuck in my mind.
它始终深深地印在我的脑海里。
Sherry argued that, because you need to communicate to have sex, you need a communications professor to have sex.
雪莉认为，因为你需要沟通才能发生性行为，所以你需要一位传播学教授才能发生性行为。
I'm pretty sure you don't.
我很确定你不知道。
Images are great, but we haven't yet heard the case made, how much do you need an art historian to have images?
图像很棒，但我们还没有听说过这样的案例，你需要多少艺术史学家才能拥有图像？
You're probably going to have images anyway.
无论如何，你可能都会有图像。
Education is wonderful, but people were doing education for a couple of thousand years before someone got the idea of having education professors.
教育是美好的，但人们从事教育工作已经有几千年了，才有人提出教育学教授的想法。
People have been telling stories for a long time before there were departments of English and foreign languages and so forth.
在英语系、外语系等学科出现之前，人们就已经开始讲故事了。
And I hate to do that, because that's my own discipline that I have to shoot down.
我讨厌这样做，因为这是我自己的纪律，我必须打破它。
But good lord, the guy recited a poem.
但是上帝啊，那家伙背诵了一首诗。
That's not an argument.
这不是一个论点。
Look, folks, it's gone too far.
各位，看吧，这已经太过分了。
You may have been entertained for the last half hour or so, 45 minutes, whatever.
在过去的半小时左右、45 分钟等时间里，您可能已经被娱乐了。
But I don't think you were intellectually challenged.
但我不认为你在智力上受到挑战。
I don't think a strong case was made for anybody's discipline.
我认为没有人为任何人的纪律提出强有力的理由。
And I honestly think The Life Raft Debate has gotten kind of far away from what it initially used to be and what it should be.
老实说，我认为救生筏辩论已经远离了它最初的样子和应该的样子。
You have a chance tonight to change that.
今晚你有机会改变这一点。
To vote for no one is not to say, oh, I don't like any of them, or they're not all funny, or they're not charming, or whatever.
不投票给任何人并不是说，哦，我不喜欢他们中的任何一个，或者他们并不都有趣，或者他们不迷人，或者诸如此类。
It's just to say, come on, treat us like adults.
只是想说，来吧，像对待成年人一样对待我们。
Argue for your discipline.
为你的纪律辩护。
You can do that and be funny.
你可以做到这一点并且很有趣。
But please, you can send that message, and I hope tonight you will.
但是，请您发送该消息，我希望今晚您会这样做。
Here's what I realized when I felt so thrilled that the students, for the first time ever in The Life Raft Debate, voted for the Devil's Advocate.
当学生们在救生筏辩论中第一次投票支持魔鬼代言人时，我感到非常兴奋，这就是我意识到的事情。
At some point for me, the whole thing became a metaphor for politics in the US right now-- the non-debates, the pandering, the flimsiness, the endless stagecraft, and all of it swallowing up the serious people along with the vacuous ones.
在某些时候，对我来说，整件事成了现在美国政治的隐喻——不争论、迎合、脆弱、无休止的舞台技巧，所有这些都将严肃的人和空虚的人吞没。
Part of the time, I was seated in the bleachers watching it.
有段时间，我坐在看台上观看比赛。
And then part of the time, I was off to the side pacing madly.
然后有一段时间，我在一边疯狂地踱步。
Jon Smith, the Devil's Advocate himself, also saw politics in the debate when I got in touch with him after watching.
乔恩·史密斯（Jon Smith），魔鬼代言人本人，在我观看后与他取得联系时，也看到了辩论中的政治。
There's a degree to which we sort of expect public discourse is going to be just horrifically debased, that you're going to have these god-awful arguments.
在某种程度上，我们预计公共话语将会被可怕地贬低，你将会有这些可怕的争论。
And there's nothing else except crappy emotional appeals that may or may not actually impact on real issues.
除了蹩脚的情感诉求之外，没有其他任何东西可能会或可能不会对真正的问题产生实际影响。
So one thing that did feel really good is that the students responded.
所以感觉真的很好的一件事是学生们的回应。
They said, no, we do care about substance.
他们说，不，我们确实关心实质内容。
Caring about substance doesn't mean we have to surround ourselves with massive bores.
关心物质并不意味着我们必须让自己被巨大的无聊包围。
But it does mean we have to stiffen our spines and raise our standards, which Jon says he's done with help from role models.
但这确实意味着我们必须坚定自己的决心并提高我们的标准，乔恩说他是在榜样的帮助下做到了这一点。
People like Simon Cowell, actually, have done wonders for us as teachers.
事实上，像西蒙·考威尔这样的人作为教师为我们创造了奇迹。
Of American Idol, right.
《美国偶像》，对吧。
As of the '90s, everybody was so frickin' concerned with everybody's self-esteem, that it was very hard to just actually come out and say something that everybody knew was true, but it would have been perceived as being impolite.
到了 90 年代，每个人都非常关心自己的自尊，很难真正站出来说一些每个人都知道是真的的话，但会被认为是不礼貌的。
It became very hard or unusual if you actually said, this is a bad argument, to a student, on a paper.
如果你真的在论文上说，对于学生来说，这是一个糟糕的论证，那就变得非常困难或不寻常。
And you would think that students who have been brought up being told they're special all the time-- everybody talks about the millennials as the generation that were brought up being told they're special all the time-- would be these fragile narcissists who would collapse at the instant that they got some real criticism.
你可能会认为，那些一直被告知自己很特别的学生——每个人都在谈论千禧一代，因为他们从小就被告知自己很特别——会是这些脆弱的自恋者，一旦受到真正的批评，他们就会崩溃。
But what I've found is that they're quite robust.
但我发现它们非常坚固。
In the years since Jon spoke in 2007, The Life Raft Debate has been more substantive, while still being funny.
自乔恩 2007 年发表讲话以来，救生筏辩论变得更加实质性，同时仍然很有趣。
One year, a history professor told the audience that history shows that in the chaos following a global catastrophe, one person on the life raft, one of you in the audience, he said, would definitely become a dictator.
有一年，一位历史学教授告诉观众，历史表明，在一场全球性灾难后的混乱中，救生筏上的一个人，观众中的一个人，他说，肯定会成为独裁者。
And he, as a historian, would be the ideal advisor to this dictator, to tell them how to be benevolent.
作为一名历史学家，他将成为这位独裁者的理想顾问，告诉他们如何仁慈。
A mathematics professor, all in camouflage gear, calmly argued that without mathematics, the life raft survivors would have trouble navigating anywhere and building anything durable once they got there.
一位身着迷彩服的数学教授平静地辩称，如果没有数学，救生筏幸存者将很难在任何地方航行并在到达那里后建造任何耐用的东西。
He also promised that no one on the life raft would have to do math ever again.
他还承诺救生筏上的任何人都不必再做数学了。
He won.
他赢了。
Nancy Updike is one of the producers of our show.
南希·厄普代克是我们节目的制片人之一。
In the years since her interview with Jon Smith, he switched schools from Montevallo and teaches elsewhere.
自从她采访乔恩·史密斯以来，他从蒙特瓦洛转校到其他地方任教。
Our program was produced today by Robyn Semien and myself, with Alex Blumberg, Jane Feltes, Lisa Pollak, Sarah Koenig, Alissa Shipp, and Nancy Updike.
今天我们的节目由 Robyn Semien 和我本人以及 Alex Blumberg、Jane Feltes、Lisa Pollak、Sarah Koenig、Alissa Shipp 和 Nancy Updike 制作。
Our senior producer for today's show is Julie Snyder.
我们今天节目的高级制片人是朱莉·斯奈德。
Our music consultant for today's show, Jessica Hopper.
我们今天节目的音乐顾问杰西卡·霍珀。
Our technical director is Matt Tierney, production help from Anna Martin, mixing help today from Jared Floyd.
我们的技术总监是马特·蒂尔尼 (Matt Tierney)，安娜·马丁 (Anna Martin) 提供制作帮助，贾里德·弗洛伊德 (Jared Floyd) 今天提供混音帮助。
Special thanks today to Liz Armstrong, Mary [?
今天特别感谢莉兹·阿姆斯特朗、玛丽 [？
Wattenberg, ?] [INAUDIBLE], Starlee Kine, and Curtis Gilbert.
瓦滕伯格，？] [听不清]、Starlee Kine 和柯蒂斯·吉尔伯特。
Luke Davies, who told this story at the beginning of our show, writes poetry and novels and makes films and TV.
卢克·戴维斯（Luke Davies）在节目开始时讲述了这个故事，他写诗歌和小说，还制作电影和电视。
His newest film, Beautiful Boy, opens at the Toronto Film Festival this week.
他的最新电影《美丽男孩》本周在多伦多电影节上上映。
Our website, where you can listen to our archive of over 600 shows for absolutely free, thisamericanlife.org.
我们的网站 thisamericanlife.org，您可以在其中完全免费收听我们存档的 600 多个节目。
This American Life is distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.
《美国生活》由公共广播电台 PRX 发行。
Thanks as always to our program's co-founder, Mr. Torey Malatia.
一如既往地感谢我们计划的联合创始人 Torey Malatia 先生。
We were hanging out at the beach just at the end of summer.
夏末我们在海滩闲逛。
And I told him, Torey, sunscreen, sunscreen!
我告诉他，Torey，防晒霜，防晒霜！
But he didn't listen.
但他不听。
His skin took three months to gradually, gradually return back to its color.
他的皮肤用了三个月的时间，才逐渐、逐渐恢复到原来的颜色。
I'm Ira Glass, back next week with more stories of This American Life.
我是艾拉·格拉斯，下周回来，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。