So earlier this year, I was informed that I would be doing a TED Talk. So I was excited, then I panicked, then I was excited, then I panicked, and in between the excitement and the panicking, I started to do my research, and my research primarily consisted of Googling how to give a great TED Talk.

今年早些时候，我得知要来TED做演讲。一开始我很兴奋，然后开始紧张，继续兴奋，继续紧张，在兴奋与紧张之间，我开始做研究，研究内容主要就是在谷歌上搜索：如何做好一次精彩的TED演讲。

And interspersed with that, I was Googling Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. How many of you know who that is?

在这期间，我还谷歌了齐玛曼德·恩戈奇·阿蒂切。你们知道她是谁吗？

So I was Googling her because I always Google her because I'm just a fan, but also because she always has important and interesting things to say. 

我总是在谷歌她，因为我是她的粉丝，因为她总是分享一些有意义又有意思的事情。

And the combination of those searches kept leading me to her talk on the dangers of a single story, on what happens when we have a solitary lens through which to understand certain groups of people, and it is the perfect talk. It's the talk that I would have given if I had been famous first.

我在搜索这些内容的时候，总是会把我带到她的演讲，关于一面之词的危险之处，关于我们片面去看待某一个群体的人，会产生哪些后果，这是一个完美的演讲。我也会做这样的演讲，前提是，我也是个名人。

You know, and you know, like, she's African and I'm African, and she's a feminist and I'm a feminist, and she's a storyteller and I'm a storyteller, so I really felt like it's my talk.

你看，她是非洲人，我也是非洲人，她是女权主义者，我也是女权主义者。她讲故事，我也讲故事，所以，我真心觉得那是我的演讲。

So I decided that I was going to learn how to code, and then I was going to hack the internet and I would take down all the copies of that talk that existed, and then I would memorize it, and then I would come here and deliver it as if it was my own speech. 

所以我决定要去学编程，然后黑掉整个因特网把那个演讲的所有备份都删掉，把演讲背下来，然后来到这里把它讲出来，就像是我自己的演讲。

So that plan was going really well, except the coding part, and then one morning a few months ago, I woke up to the news that the wife of a certain presidential candidate had given a speech that --

整个计划进展得很不错，除了编程的那一部分，然后几个月前的一个早晨，我醒来，新闻里在播某一个总统候选人的夫人，所做的一次演讲——

that sounded eerily like a speech given by one of my other faves, Michelle Obama.

真是奇了怪了，听起来特别像我另一位偶像的演讲，米歇尔·奥巴马。

And so I decided that I should probably write my own TED Talk, and so that is what I am here to do. I'm here to talk about my own observations about storytelling. I want to talk to you about the power of stories, of course, but I also want to talk about their limitations, particularly for those of us who are interested in social justice.

于是我想通了，也许我应该准备一个我自己的TED演讲，于是今天我站在了这里。我想谈谈我自己对于讲故事的观察。我想谈谈故事的力量，这毫无疑问，但我也想讲讲它的局限性，尤其对那些对社会公义感兴趣的人。

So since Adichie gave that talk seven years ago, there has been a boom in storytelling. Stories are everywhere, and if there was a danger in the telling of one tired old tale, then I think there has got to be lots to celebrate about the flourishing of so many stories and so many voices. Stories are the antidote to bias. 

自从7年前在阿蒂切做了那次演讲后，讲故事这件事发生了翻天覆地的变化。故事无处不在，如果说老调重谈是一种危险，那么我们真的应该欢呼雀跃，因为有如此多的故事，如此多不同的声音。故事是治疗偏见的良药。

In fact, today, if you are middle class and connected via the internet, you can download stories at the touch of a button or the swipe of a screen. You can listen to a podcast about what it's like to grow up Dalit in Kolkata. 

事实上，今时今日，如果你属于上网的中产阶级，你随便按一个按钮，或者扫一下屏幕，就可以下载到很多故事。你可以听播客，了解加尔各答的一名贱民是如何生活的。

You can hear an indigenous man in Australia talk about the trials and triumphs of raising his children in dignity and in pride. Stories make us fall in love. They heal rifts and they bridge divides. Stories can even make it easier for us to talk about the deaths of people in our societies who don't matter, because they make us care. Right?

你可以听澳大利亚的一名土著讲述他克服重重困难，把自己的孩子养大，那种骄傲和自豪。故事让我们陷入爱河。能弥补裂痕，消除分歧。甚至还能帮助我们自如地讨论那些逝去的人们。可能原本他们无关紧要，但故事可以让我们更关心他们。对吗？

I'm not so sure, and I actually work for a place called the Centre for Stories. And my job is to help to tell stories that challenge mainstream narratives about what it means to be black or a Muslim or a refugee or any of those other categories that we talk about all the time. 

我也不是那么确定，我在一个叫做“故事中心”的地方工作。我的工作是帮助那些与主流描述不同的故事，关于黑人穆斯林、难民，或者其他群体，那些我们成天谈论的群体。

But I come to this work after a long history as a social justice activist, and so I'm really interested in the ways that people talk about nonfiction storytelling as though it's about more than entertainment, as though it's about being a catalyst for social action. It's not uncommon to hear people say that stories make the world a better place.

但在做这件工作之前，我当了很久的社会公义活动家，于是我的兴趣点在于，人们谈论纪实文学的方式，好像它会更严肃一些，好像它会是社会活动的催化剂。人们总是会说某些故事让这个世界变得更美好。

Increasingly, though, I worry that even the most poignant stories, particularly the stories about people who no one seems to care about, can often get in the way of action towards social justice. Now, this is not because storytellers mean any harm. Quite the contrary. Storytellers are often do-gooders like me and, I suspect, yourselves. 

然而，我却越来越担心，即便是最让人心酸的故事，特别是那些讲述无人关心的人群的故事，常常会成为社会公义行动的阻碍。并不是因为故事的讲述者有意为之。恰恰相反。讲述者往往是不切实际的改良主义者，就像你我一样。

And the audiences of storytellers are often deeply compassionate and empathetic people. Still, good intentions can have unintended consequences, and so I want to propose that stories are not as magical as they seem. 

而故事的听众们往往都是富有同情心和同理心的人们。尽管如此，好心常常会办坏事，因此我想说，故事并不会那么神奇。

So three -- because it's always got to be three -- three reasons why I think that stories don't necessarily make the world a better place.

因此，有3点理由——貌似理由总是要有3点，为什么我会认为故事并不一定会把世界变得更美好。

Firstly, stories can create an illusion of solidarity. There is nothing like that feel-good factor you get from listening to a fantastic story where you feel like you climbed that mountain, right, or that you befriended that death row inmate. But you didn't. You haven't done anything. Listening is an important but insufficient step towards social action.

首先，故事会创造一种团结的假象。没有什么东西会比听到一个很棒的故事更让你感觉良好，就像你自己登上了一座山峰，对吧，或者你是那群被处死的犯人的朋友。但你并没有。你什么都没做。倾听对于社会活动而言非常重要，但是又不够充分。

Secondly, I think often we are drawn towards characters and protagonists who are likable and human. And this makes sense, of course, right? Because if you like someone, then you care about them. But the inverse is also true. 

其次，我觉得我们往往会被讨人喜欢的，有人性的角色或者主人公所吸引。这其实无可厚非，对吧？因为如果你喜欢某个人，你就会在乎他。但反过来说也是对的。

If you don't like someone, then you don't care about them. And if you don't care about them, you don't have to see yourself as having a moral obligation to think about the circumstances that shaped their lives.

如果你不喜欢某个人，你就不会在乎他。如果你不在乎他，你就不会觉得自己有义务去考虑他们的生活被干涉会有什么后果。

I learned this lesson when I was 14 years old. I learned that actually, you don't have to like someone to recognize their wisdom, and you certainly don't have to like someone to take a stand by their side. So my bike was stolen while I was riding it --

我是在14岁的时候学到这一点的。具体来说就是，你不需要喜欢一个人，才能看到他的智慧，你也不必因为喜欢一个人，就要站在他那边。我的自行车被偷了，在我骑的时候被偷的—— 

which is possible if you're riding slowly enough, which I was.

 很有可能啊，如果你骑得非常慢的话，我就是啊。

So one minute I'm cutting across this field in the Nairobi neighborhood where I grew up, and it's like a very bumpy path, and so when you're riding a bike, you don't want to be like, you know --

上一分钟我还骑行在一片田野中那是在我家乡内罗毕，那条路很颠簸，当你骑自行车的时候，你不会想要骑成这样——

And so I'm going like this, slowly pedaling, and all of a sudden, I'm on the floor. I'm on the ground, and I look up, and there's this kid peddling away in the getaway vehicle, which is my bike, and he's about 11 or 12 years old, and I'm on the floor, and I'm crying because I saved a lot of money for that bike, and I'm crying and I stand up and I start screaming. 

于是我蹬得很慢，就像这样，突然之间，我就倒到地上了。我躺在地上，往上看，一个孩子扬长而去，骑着我的车，他差不多11、2岁，我躺在地上，放声大哭，因为我存了好久的钱才买的那辆自行车，我哭着站起来，然后开始尖叫。

Instinct steps in, and I start screaming, "Mwizi, mwizi!" which means "thief" in Swahili. And out of the woodworks, all of these people come out and they start to give chase. This is Africa, so mob justice in action. Right? And I round the corner, and they've captured him, they've caught him. 

之后我反应过来，开始大喊“Mwizi，Mwizi！”是斯瓦希里语“小偷”的意思。突然不知道从哪里冒出来一群人，就开始追那个小孩。那可是在非洲，存在暴民正义的地方。对吧？我转过一个街角，发现他们抓住了他，他被抓住了。

The suspect has been apprehended, and they make him give me my bike back, and they also make him apologize. Again, you know, typical African justice, right? And so they make him say sorry. 

嫌疑人被逮捕了，他们让他归还了我的自行车，让他道歉。又是一次典型的非洲式的正义，对吗？他们逼他说对不起。

And so we stand there facing each other, and he looks at me, and he says sorry, but he looks at me with this unbridled fury. He is very, very angry. 

于是我们面对面站着，他看着我，说对不起，但他盯着我，怀着无法抑制的怒火。他真的非常非常生气。

And it is the first time that I have been confronted with someone who doesn't like me simply because of what I represent. He looks at me with this look as if to say, "You, with your shiny skin and your bike, you're angry at me?"

这是我第一次跟人起冲突，仅仅因为对方不喜欢我所代表的阶层。他盯着我，感觉像是在说，“你这个小妞，皮肤光洁，有自行车，你还生我的气？”

So it was a hard lesson that he didn't like me, but you know what, he was right. I was a middle-class kid living in a poor country. I had a bike, and he barely had food. Sometimes, it's the messages that we don't want to hear, the ones that make us want to crawl out of ourselves, that we need to hear the most. 

我很难相信，他不喜欢我，但你知道吗，他并没有错。我是一名中产阶级的孩子，生活在一个贫穷的国家里。我有自行车，而他常常吃不饱。有时候，那些我们并不想听到的话，那些会让我们觉得恶心想吐的话，往往是我们最需要听到的。

For every lovable storyteller who steals your heart, there are hundreds more whose voices are slurred and ragged, who don't get to stand up on a stage dressed in fine clothes like this. 

对所有曾经抓住你们心灵的、可爱的故事讲述者而言，还有成百上千的声音含糊不清、混乱不堪，他们没法穿得光鲜亮丽站在舞台上，像我这样。

There are a million angry-boy-on-a-bike stories and we can't afford to ignore them simply because we don't like their protagonists or because that's not the kid that we would bring home with us from the orphanage.

还有无数个“偷自行车的愤怒男孩”这样的故事，我们不应该无视，不应该仅仅因为我们不喜欢故事的主人公或者他不是我们想从孤儿院领回家的孩子，就忽视这些故事。

The third reason that I think that stories don't necessarily make the world a better place is that too often we are so invested in the personal narrative that we forget to look at the bigger picture. And so we applaud someone when they tell us about their feelings of shame, but we don't necessarily link that to oppression. 

第3个原因，故事并不一定要让世界变得更美好，我们太过经常加入个人的描述常常忘了看得更全面一些。于是我们常常鼓掌，为了那些勇于分享自己羞愧感的人，但我们没必要自己也觉得压抑。

We nod understandingly when someone says they felt small, but we don't link that to discrimination. The most important stories, especially for social justice, are those that do both, that are both personal and allow us to explore and understand the political.

当别人说自己感到渺小的时候，我们点头表示理解，但我们并不需要因此而歧视。那些最重要的故事，尤其是关于社会公义的，都会有2种效果，它既是关于个人的，同时也让我们去探索和思考政治。

But it's not just about the stories we like versus the stories we choose to ignore. Increasingly, we are living in a society where there are larger forces at play, where stories are actually for many people beginning to replace the news. Yeah? We live in a time where we are witnessing the decline of facts, when emotions rule and analysis, it's kind of boring, right? 

我们讨论的不仅仅是我们喜欢的故事和我们选择忽略的故事间的较量。我们生活的社会，越来越多的力量相互交织，很多人开始用故事来取代新闻。对吧？

Where we value what we feel more than what we actually know. A recent report by the Pew Center on trends in America indicates that only 10 percent of young adults under the age of 30 "place a lot of trust in the media." Now, this is significant. 

我们生活的时代，事实已经不那么重要，情绪掌控一切，然后各种分析，很无聊不是吗？跟事实相比，我们更珍视自己的感受。皮尤研究中心最近有一篇研究美国趋势的报告指出， 30岁以下的成年人中间，只有10% “非常相信媒体”。这很说明问题。

It means that storytellers are gaining trust at precisely the same moment that many in the media are losing the confidence in the public. This is not a good thing, because while stories are important and they help us to have insights in many ways, we need the media. 

意味着故事讲述者在赢得信任，几乎与此同时许多媒体正在失去公众对他们的信任。这很糟糕，因为尽管故事非常重要，它们可以让我们有多种方式来进行了解，但我们仍然需要媒体。

From my years as a social justice activist, I know very well that we need credible facts from media institutions combined with the powerful voices of storytellers. That's what pushes the needle forward in terms of social justice.

在我做社会公义活动家的那些年，我深刻理解到，我们需要从媒体机构了解可信的事实，同时也要听到故事讲述者强有力的声音。这样才能推动社会公义往前发展。

In the final analysis, of course, it is justice that makes the world a better place, not stories. Right? And so if it is justice that we are after, then I think we mustn't focus on the media or on storytellers. We must focus on audiences, on anyone who has ever turned on a radio or listened to a podcast, and that means all of us.

到最后，毫无疑问是公平正义让世界变得更加美好，而不是故事，对吗？既然我们寻求的是公义，那我认为，我们不能关注媒体或者是故事讲述者。我们必须关注听众，关注每一个打开收音机，或者收听播客的人，也就是说，我们每一个人。

So a few concluding thoughts on what audiences can do to make the world a better place. 

最后我想总结一下听众该做些什么来让世界变得更美好。

So firstly, the world would be a better place, I think, if audiences were more curious and more skeptical and asked more questions about the social context that created those stories that they love so much. 

首先，世界肯定会越变越好，我觉得，如果听众更加好奇，更加不轻信，对于产生了如此多令人津津乐道的故事的社会环境有更多疑问的话。

Secondly, the world would be a better place if audiences recognized that storytelling is intellectual work. And I think it would be important for audiences to demand more buttons on their favorite websites, buttons for example that say, "If you liked this story, click here to support a cause your storyteller believes in." Or "click here to contribute to your storyteller's next big idea." 

其次，世界肯定会越变越好，如果听众们意识到讲故事是一项智力活。另外我觉得，还有一点很重要，听众应该要求他们喜欢的网站多设置一些按钮，比如“如果你喜欢这个故事，点击这里支持你的故事讲述者所相信的事业。”或者“点击这里为你的故事讲述者投稿，支持他的下一部作品。”

Often, we are committed to the platforms, but not necessarily to the storytellers themselves. And then lastly, I think that audiences can make the world a better place by switching off their phones, by stepping away from their screens and stepping out into the real world beyond what feels safe.

因为我们常常是冲着平台去的，而没有关注故事讲述者本人。最后，我觉得听众能让世界变得更美好，就是关掉手机，离开整天面对的屏幕，走出安全区，踏入真实的世界。

Alice Walker has said, "Look closely at the present you are constructing. It should look like the future you are dreaming." Storytellers can help us to dream, but it's up to all of us to have a plan for justice.

艾丽斯·沃克说过，“走近观察你目前正在做的，它看起来应该跟你梦想的未来相似。”故事讲述者能帮我们梦想，但要想达成公义还得靠我们每一个人。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

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