Why should you read sci-fi superstar Octavia E. Butler? - Ayana Jamieson and Moya Bailey

420,758 views ・ 2019-02-25

TED-Ed


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翻译人员: Lipeng Chen 校对人员: Tianji (Homer) Li
00:07
Following a devastating nuclear war,
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在一场摧毁性的核战之后,
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Lilith Iyapo awakens after 250 years of stasis
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莉莉丝·里亚波在两百五十年的 休眠沉睡之后醒来,
00:14
to find herself surrounded by a group of aliens called the Oankali.
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发现她自己被一群叫做 欧万卡利的外星人包围。
00:18
These highly evolved beings want to trade DNA
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这些高度进化的生物 想要交易DNA,
00:21
by breeding with humans
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通过和人类繁殖,
00:23
so that each species’ genes can diversify and fortify the other.
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来让每一种基因都能 更多样化、更强化。
00:27
The only alternative they offer is sterilization of the entire human race.
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如果不照做, 他们就会消灭全人类。
00:32
Should humanity take the leap into the biological unknown,
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人类应该要放手一搏, 进入生物的未知领域?
00:35
or hold on to its identity and perish?
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还是为了坚持自己的身份到死?
00:38
Questions like this haunt Octavia Butler’s "Dawn,"
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类似这样的问题萦绕在 奥克塔维娅·巴特勒的《黎明》中,
00:41
the first in her trilogy "Lilith’s Brood."
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该作是她的三部曲 《莉莉丝的后代》中的第一部。
00:44
A visionary storyteller who upended science fiction,
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巴特勒是位有远见的小说家, 她颠覆了科幻小说界。
00:47
Butler built stunning worlds throughout her work–
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她在她的作品中建立起了 惊人的世界——
00:50
and explored dilemmas that keep us awake at night.
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并探究那些让我们 难以入眠的两难问题。
00:53
Born in 1947,
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生于1947年,
00:54
Butler grew up shy and introverted in Pasadena, California.
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巴特勒在加州的帕萨迪纳 以害羞和内向的性格长大。
00:59
She dreamt up stories from an early age,
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她从很小的时候就会幻想故事,
01:01
and was soon scribbling these scenarios on paper.
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很快就开始将这些情境写在纸上。
01:04
At twelve, she begged her mother for a typewriter
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十二岁时,她在看了一部很奇怪的 科幻电影《来自火星的恶魔女孩》之后,
01:07
after enduring a campy science fiction film called "Devil Girl From Mars."
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她恳求妈妈给她一台打字机。
01:12
Unimpressed with what she saw,
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她为这部电影毫不所动,
01:14
Butler knew she could tell a better story.
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因为她知道她能讲出更好的故事。
01:16
Much science fiction features white male heroes
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大部分的科幻小说 都用白人男性来当主角,
01:19
who blast aliens or become saviors of brown people.
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他们打败外星人 或成为原住民的救星。
01:22
Butler wanted to write diverse characters for diverse audiences.
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巴特勒想要写多元化的角色, 给多元化的读者看。
01:26
She brought nuance and depth to the representation of their experiences.
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她把主人公的经验呈现得 更加细致、更有深度。
01:31
For Butler,
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对巴特勒来说,
01:32
imagination was not only for planting the seeds of science fiction–
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想像不只是 为科幻小说种下种子——
01:35
but also a strategy for surviving an unjust world on one’s own terms.
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也是在不公平的世界中用自己 喜好的方式求得生存的一种策略。
01:40
Her work often takes troubling features of the world
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她的作品通常会谈到 世界上让人不安的特征,
01:43
such as discrimination on the basis of race, gender, class, or ability,
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比如根据种族、性别、阶级 或能力来进行歧视,
01:48
and invites the reader to contemplate them in new contexts.
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她也启发读者在新的 情境中思考这些问题。
01:52
One of her most beloved novels,
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她最被人喜爱的小说之一
01:53
the "Parable of the Sower,"
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《播种者的寓言》
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follows this pattern.
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就是依循这个模式。
01:56
It tells the story of Lauren Oya Olamina
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它讲述的是劳伦·欧亚·欧拉米亚的故事,
01:59
as she makes her way through a near-future California, ruined by corporate greed,
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时间是不远的将来, 她在加州求生存,
02:03
inequality, and environmental destruction.
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那里已经被企业的贪婪、 不平等以及环境毁灭给摧毁。
02:06
As she struggles with hyperempathy,
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她饱受超级同理心所苦,
02:08
or a condition in the novel that causes her to feel others’ pain,
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在该书中,这是一种病症, 会让她感受到他人的痛苦,
02:11
and less often, their pleasure.
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但很少感受到他们的愉悦。
02:13
Lauren embarks on a quest with a group of refugees to find a place to thrive.
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劳伦和一群难民展开了 一段追寻之旅。
02:18
There, they seek to live in accordance with Lauren’s found religion, Earthseed,
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他们寻找能生存的场所, 在那里,他们遵循劳伦成立的
02:23
which is based on the principle
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宗教“地球种子”来求生存,
02:24
that humans must adapt to an ever-changing world.
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其信条是人类必须要 适应不断改变的世界。
02:28
Lauren’s quest had roots in a real life event–
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劳伦的追寻之旅其实 源自真实的事件——
02:30
California Prop 187,
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《加州187提案》,
02:32
which attempted to deny undocumented immigrants fundamental human rights,
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它试图拒绝无证移民的 基本人权,
02:36
before it was deemed unconstitutional.
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后来才被认为违宪。
02:39
Butler frequently incorporated contemporary news into her writing.
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巴特勒常常会把时事 整合到她的作品中。
02:42
In her 1998 sequel to "The Parable of the Sower," "Parable of the Talents,"
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她1998年的作品《天赋者的寓言》 是《播种者的寓言》的续集,
02:47
she wrote of a presidential candidate
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内容是一位总统候选人
02:49
who controls Americans with virtual reality and “shock collars.”
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利用虚拟实境和“电击衣领” 来控制美国人。
02:53
His slogan? “Make America great again.”
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他的口号是“让美国再次伟大”。
02:56
While people have noted her prescience,
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虽然大家已经注意到 她的先见之明,
02:58
Butler was also interested in re-examining history.
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巴特勒也对于重新 检视历史很感兴趣。
03:01
For instance, "Kindred" tells the story of
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比如,《亲属》谈的故事就是
03:03
a woman who is repeatedly pulled back in time
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一位女子不断被拉回到过去,
03:06
to the Maryland plantation of her ancestors.
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回到她祖先的马里兰州农场
03:09
Early on, she learns that her mission is to save the life of the white man
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早些时候,她得知她的任务 是要拯救一个白人的性命,
03:13
who will rape her great grandmother.
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而这个白人将来会 强奸她的曾祖母。
03:15
If she doesn’t save him, she herself will cease to exist.
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如果她不救他, 她自己也不会存在。
03:19
This grim dilemma forces Dana to confront the ongoing trauma
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这无情的两难局面 强迫戴娜去正视
03:23
of slavery and sexual violence against Black women.
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黑人女性因为奴役制度 和性暴力正在受到的创伤。
03:26
With her stories of women founding new societies,
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通过这些女性找到新社会的故事,
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time travelers overcoming historical strife,
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时空旅人克服历史冲突的故事,
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and interspecies bonding,
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以及物种间结合的故事,
03:33
Butler had a profound influence on the growing popularity of Afrofuturism.
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巴特勒带来了深远的影响, 让非洲未来主义越来越受欢迎。
03:38
That’s a cultural movement
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那是一项文化运动,
03:40
where Black writers and artists who are inspired by the past, present and future,
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灵感来自过去、现在, 及未来的黑人作家和艺术家
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produce works that incorporate magic, history, technology and much more.
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产出整合了魔法、历史、科技 及许多其他元素的作品。
03:50
As Lauren comes to learn in "Parable of the Sower,"
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如同劳伦在《播种者的寓言》中领悟到的:
03:53
"All that you touch you Change.
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“你触碰的一切被你改变。
03:55
All that you Change Changes you.
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你改变的一切会改变你。
03:57
The only lasting truth is Change.”
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唯一永恒的真相就是改变。”
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