The Rhythm and Rhyme of Memory, Solitude and Community | Rosanne Cash | TED

翻译人员: 思辰 李 校对人员: Yan Li Xiao

I had a friend,

我有位朋友，

a songwriting mentor and a great songwriter, John Stewart,

一位伟大的导师和写歌人： 约翰·斯图尔特（John Stewart）。

who told me just before he died,

他在去世前告诉我，

"We are all just radios,

“我们都只是收音机，

hoping to pick up each other's signals."

渴望着能接收到别人的信号。”

I found that to be true and profound.

我发现这句话如此真实而又深刻。

And I've spent my life trying to clear the static.

我一生都在努力清除 我收音机上的静电。

The strongest signals that come to me are musical

音乐是传递给我的最强信号。

in the form of songs or stories told in rhythm and rhyme.

音乐以歌曲或以节奏 和韵律装点的故事传递给我。

Sometimes I can tune in to a revolution in the heart.

有时，我可以找到 内心中革命的曲调。

Sometimes I hear a keen from my Celtic ancestors.

有时我听到来自我的先祖 凯尔特人的热切呼唤。

And some songs have been postcards from my future.

有些歌曲则是未来寄给我的明信片。

In my family, there was a song for every loss, every celebration,

在我家里， 每一次失去、每一次欢庆、

every unspoken need, every longing.

每一次未能言说的需求、 每一次渴望、都构成了一首歌。

But there was also so much chaos that often I was the only one

但世界上有如此多的混乱，

who recognized what was being communicated.

以至于我常常成了人群中 唯一听清了音乐所蕴含的东西的人。

My grandmother, Carrie Cash,

我的祖母， 卡莉·卡什（Carrie Cash），

moved with my grandfather and their five children

与我的祖父和他们的五个孩子一起

into a New Deal era colony

搬到了新政时代的殖民地。

created by FDR for poor families

这块殖民地是由民主党 在 1935 年建立的。

in the sunken lands of the Arkansas Delta in 1935.

是为阿肯色三角洲 沉没了的土地上的贫困家庭建立的。

So they moved into this freshly painted cottage,

他们搬进了一间刚刷漆的小屋，

and she gave birth to two more babies there

她在那里又生了两个孩子，

with the assistance only of a doctor

当时仅仅只有一位医生助产。

who came by in a horse and buggy

只见这位医生坐着马车来了，

and pulled two loose aspirin from his pocket to give to her.

从口袋里掏出 两片散装阿司匹林给她吃。

The same pocket in which he kept his fishing worms.

这也是他放虫子做的鱼饵的口袋。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

That's true.

真的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I read once that every time an old woman dies,

我曾经读到过，

每当一位老妇人去世， 一座图书馆就消失了。

a library disappears.

And before her library disappeared,

而在我祖母的图书馆消失之前，

I tuned into my grandmother's signals

我调整了一下她的信号，

and gleaned her tenacity

刻录下了她坚韧的精神。

which I borrowed,

我借来了这种精神

and her long suffering in her life of constant work with seven children,

和她多年辛勤工作中 照顾七个孩子的艰辛，

six of whom made it to adulthood.

其中有六个孩子得以长大成人。

In a house without electricity.

在一个没有电的房子里，

In the sweltering cotton fields,

在闷热的棉花地里，

and I wrote these words about her.

我写下了这些关于她的词句。

(Music)

（音乐）

(Singing) Five cans of paint

（唱歌）五罐油漆

in the empty fields

在旷野里。

And the dust reveals

尘土飞扬。

And the children cry

孩子哭泣。

the work never ends

辛劳不止。

There’s not a single friend

朋友无踪无迹。

Who will hold her hand

谁会在沉没的土地上与她携手相依？

in the sunken lands?

And the mud and tears melt the cotton balls

棉团融化在泪与泥里。

It’s a heavy toll

损失沉重。

Oh, oh

噢，噢～

His words are cruel

他言之残酷，

and they sting like fire

如火灼烧刺痛，

Like the devil’s choir

似魔鬼般的合唱让人心痛。

Oh, oh

噢，噢～

Who will hold her hand

谁会在陷没的土地上与她携手相依？

in the sunken lands?

(Music)

（音乐）

The river rises and she sails away

河水上涨，她黯然离去。

She could never stay

她总是无法停留在这片土地。

Oh, oh

噢，噢～

Now her work is done

终于结束辛劳，

in the sunken lands

在沉没的土地上。

There’s five empty cans

空余五个空罐。

(Music)

（音乐）

(Music ends)

（音乐结束）

(Applause)

（掌声）

In 1992,

在 1992 年，

I was writing a song about my divorce,

我写了一首关于我离婚的歌，

which hadn't happened yet.

虽然还没离呢。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But which I saw coming like a freight train.

但是我当时觉得真是指日可待。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So I was stuck in this song

所以我被这所歌所困，

like I was stuck in my life.

就像我被生活所困一样。

And the same time across the country,

同一时间，不同的地点，

my mother was going through a box of my school assignments

我的母亲在一个盒子里 翻到了我上学时候写的作业

and childhood drawings,

和一些儿时的画。

and she sent it to me.

她就把这些东西寄给我了。

So I started going through this box, and I came across this yellowed paper,

我就开始翻这个盒子， 然后我看到了一张黄纸。

this school assignment I had done in the seventh grade

这是一张我在天主教学校 上 7 年级时写的

in Catholic school

on metaphors and similes.

关于暗喻和明喻的作业。

Now I vividly remember the pleasure I took in that assignment

我清楚地记得 做那份作业时我有多开心

because it was literally the only thing

因为那真的是修女们 让我做的所有事情里

the nuns had ever given me to do that I enjoyed.

唯一一件我享受的事。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So this line I had written popped out at me.

于是我灵光乍现，就有了这句歌词：

"A lonely road is a bodyguard."

“孤独之路即是保镖。”

What did it mean?

什么意思呢？

I had even pasted a picture of this empty road

我甚至还在这句歌词的边上

next to the line.

贴上了一张空旷道路的图片。

It was a metaphor.

这是个比喻。

It wasn't "a lonely road is like a bodyguard," a simile.

这不是在说 “孤独之路‘就好像’保镖。”

It was the much more poetic: “A lonely road is a bodyguard.”

而是富有诗意的说 “孤独之路‘就是’保镖。”

As painful as that was then, and as it still can be painful now,

想象一下那时的痛苦， 或许现在也痛苦依然。

I knew what she was telling me.

我知道她想告诉我什么。

That ...

那就是...

Solitude can protect the seeds of creativity.

孑然一身呵护了创造力的种子。

And that loneliness contains a priceless gift

孤寂会给你带来无价的礼物，

if we can tolerate the initial discomfort

但你要能忍受最初的不适，

and avoid the seduction of despair.

抵御绝望的侵蚀。

So my 12-year-old waved at me across the decades,

我仿佛看到几十年前 12 岁的我在招手，

saying that who I was

她告诉我她曾经的样子，

was who I would become.

和我要成为的样子。

And I waved back

我挥手回应，

and I dropped her line right in the song I was writing.

然后在我写的歌里给她送去答句。

(Singing) I’ll send the angels to watch over you tonight

（唱歌）今晚我会派天使来关照你，

And you send them right back to me

你也会叫天使与我相依。

A lonely road is a bodyguard

独行的道路即是保镖，

If we really want it to be

会让我们称心满意。

(Music ends)

（音乐结束）

We're all just radios

我们都只是收音机，

hoping to pick up each other's signals.

渴望着能接收到别人的信号。

And some of those signals have a backbeat and a melody,

有些信号则带着强节拍和旋律。

and they're universal.

这是很普遍的。

And music can unlock a frozen memory

音乐可以取出冰封的记忆，

that melts into the seeds of our creativity.

将它们融化成创造力的种子。

And the reverse is also true.

反之亦然。

A memory can unlock a song that's waiting to be written.

一段记忆可以带来 一首等待书写的歌曲。

It can reveal us to ourselves across time and generations,

它可以在时移世易中看清自己，

in community, in solitude.

在集体中，在孤独中揭示自己。

Some frequencies are sound,

有些频率构成声音，

and some frequencies are light.

有些频率化作了光芒。

And some take a half a lifetime

有些则花上半辈子

to reach their destination.

才找到自己的归处。

(Music)

(音乐）

(Singing) Light is particle and wave

（唱歌）光是粒子也是波。

Our histories written large upon the page

历史化作纸上笔墨。

The star in middle age

中世纪的星彩。

The love that fades to black

黑暗中隐去的爱。

Once revealed, won’t be taken back

一旦揭开，就收不回来。

Light nothing can escape

没有什么能避开光，

The ignorance we once forgave

我们的无知被原谅。

In the future, if we don't decide to change

若不改变，从今往后，

The things we cannot save

有些无法被拯救。

But it slows to shine upon your face

缓缓洒向你的脸，

We owe everything

我们一切都相欠，

Everything

一切、

Everything

一切。

To this rainbow of suffering

与苦痛的彩虹相欠。

Light is particle and wave

光是粒子也是波。

Refractions of this place

折射此地，

Reflections of our grace

映出恩典。

It reveals what we hold dear

它揭示我们一切挂念，

And it’s slow so I can hold you near

慢慢攀行，让我好把你抱在身边。

(Music ends)

（音乐结束）

(Applause)

（掌声）

There's one thing I know for certain.

有件事情我相当肯定。

That we clear the static by being vulnerable

脆弱和真诚让我们 消除了我们之间的静电。

and by telling the truth.

And here we are doing just that.

而我们正在付诸行动。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）