Elizabeth Lindsey: Curating humanity's heritage

翻译人员: Felix Chen 校对人员: Jenny Yang

As a child,

在小时候，

I was raised by native Hawaiian elders --

我由夏威夷原住民长者抚养 --

three old women

三位老夫人

who took care of me while my parents worked.

在我父母去工作时照看我。

The year is 1963.

那是1963年。

We're at the ocean.

我们在海边，

It's twilight.

正是黄昏。

We're watching the rising of the stars

我们看着星星升起

and the shifting of the tides.

和潮起潮落。

It's a stretch of beach we know so well.

那是一段我们非常熟悉的海滩。

The smooth stones on the sand

沙滩上光滑的石头

are familiar to us.

也为我们熟知。

If you saw these women on the street

如果你看看街上那些

in their faded clothes,

穿着褪色的衣物的妇女们，

you might dismiss them

你也许会认为她们

as poor and simple.

贫困且无知。

That would be a mistake.

这将是个错误。

These women are descendants

这些妇女是波利尼西亚航海家

of Polynesian navigators,

的后代，

trained in the old ways

由他们的长辈

by their elders,

用古老的方式训练。

and now they're passing it on to me.

现在她们正在把它传授给我。

They teach me the names of the winds and the rains,

她们教给我风的名字、雨的名字 --

of astronomy according to a genealogy of stars.

天文学中的星系。

There's a new moon on the horizon.

当一轮新月出现在地平线上时。

Hawaiians say it's a good night for fishing.

夏威夷人会说这个晚上是捕鱼的好时机。

They begin to chant.

他们开始歌唱。

[Hawaiian chant]

[夏威夷歌声]

When they finish,

唱完之后，

they sit in a circle

他们坐成一圈

and ask me to come to join them.

并邀请我也加入其中。

They want to teach me about my destiny.

他们想要教我些与我的命运有关的事。

I thought every seven-year-old went through this.

我想每个七岁的孩子都会经历这些。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"Baby girl,

“宝贝儿，

someday the world will be in trouble.

有一天，这世界会陷入困境。

People will forget their wisdom.

人们将遗忘他们的智慧。

It will take elders' voices

从世界遥远的角落

from the far corners of the world

传来的长者的声音

to call the world into balance.

将让这世界回归平衡。

You will go far away.

你将远走高飞。

It will sometimes be a lonely road.

有时会走上一条孤独的路途。

We will not be there.

我们不再你身边。

But you will look into the eyes

但你直视那些

of seeming strangers,

貌似陌生的人的眼睛，

and you will recognize your ohana,

你将认出你的‘奥哈纳’，

your family.

你的家人。

And it will take all of you.

而他会照顾你的一切。

It will take all of you."

它会照顾你的一切。”

These words, I hold onto

这些话，我一生

all my life.

谨记。

Because the idea of doing it alone

因为那个孤独面对的说法

terrifies me.

让我感到恐惧。

The year is 2007.

这是2007年。

I'm on a remote island in Micronesia.

我在密克罗尼西亚的一座偏远的岛屿上。

Satawal is one half-mile long

萨塔瓦尔岛有一英里半长

by one mile wide.

一英里宽。

It's the home of my mentor.

这是我的导师的家。

His name is Pius Mau Piailug.

他的名字是庇乌斯·皮埃勒格。

Mau is a palu,

毛是名巴鲁，

a navigator priest.

一名航海牧师。

He's also considered

他也被视为

the greatest wave finder in the world.

世界上最大海浪的发现者。

There are fewer than a handful

这个岛上只有

of palu left on this island.

很少的巴鲁。

Their tradition is so extraordinary

他们的传统是如此的非凡

that these mariners sailed

以至于那些水手

three million square miles across the Pacific

不用任何仪器航行也能穿越

without the use of instruments.

三百万平方英里的太平洋。

They could synthesize patterns in nature

他们能综合自然中的模式

using the rising and setting of stars,

星辰的起落，

the sequence and direction of waves,

海浪的顺序和方向，

the flight patterns of certain birds.

特定鸟类的飞行模式。

Even the slightest hint of color

甚至云层下

on the underbelly of a cloud

颜色一丝半点的变化

would inform them

也能被他们察觉

and help them navigate with the keenest accuracy.

并帮他们非常精确的导航。

When Western scientists would join Mau on the canoe

当西方科学家们乘坐毛的独木舟，

and watch him go into the hull,

并观察他进入船体时，

it appeared that an old man

看起来就像是位老人

was going to rest.

准备休息。

In fact, the hull of the canoe

实际上，这个独木舟的船体

is the womb of the vessel.

是船的子宫。

It is the most accurate place

这是能对海浪的

to feel the rhythm and sequence

节奏、顺序和方向

and direction of waves.

感觉最精确的地方。

Mau was, in fact,

实际上，毛是在

gathering explicit data

用他整个身体

using his entire body.

在收集详细的数据。

It's what he had been trained to do

这就是他自从五岁起

since he was five years old.

就受训做的事。

Now science may dismiss this methodology,

现在科学也许摒弃了这一方法，

but Polynesian navigators use it today

但波利尼西亚航海家今天仍在使用这一方法

because it provides them

因为它能为他们提供

an accurate determination

对他们的船的

of the angle and direction

角度和方向

of their vessel.

的精确测定。

The palu also had

巴鲁还有

an uncanny ability

一项奇异的能力，

to forecast weather conditions

能在数天前事先

days in advance.

预测天气状况。

Sometimes I'd be with Mau on a cloud-covered night

有时，我与毛在一个乌云密布的夜晚

and we'd sit at the easternmost coast of the island,

我们坐在岛的最东岸，

and he would look out,

他会留心观察。

and then he would say,

然后他会说，

"Okay, we go."

“好，我们走吧。”

He saw that first glint of light --

他看到第一道闪电 --

he knew what the weather was going to be three days from now.

他就知道今后三天的天气会是怎么样的。

Their achievements, intellectually and scientifically,

他们的这些能力，在智慧上和科学上

are extraordinary,

都很非凡，

and they are so relevant

而且这与

for these times that we are in

我们逃离风暴时

when we are riding out storms.

所在的时机息息相关。

We are in such a critical moment

我们处在我们共同的历史中的

of our collective history.

一个重要的时刻。

They have been compared

人们曾经把他们跟

to astronauts --

宇航员对比 --

these elder navigators

这些年长的航海者

who sail vast open oceans

驾驶着双体独木舟

in double-hulled canoes

从一个小岛出发

thousands of miles

在辽阔的海洋之上

from a small island.

航行数千英里。

Their canoes, our rockets;

他们的独木舟，我们的火箭，

their sea, our space.

他们的海洋，我们的太空。

The wisdom of these elders

这些长者的智慧

is not a mere collection

不仅仅是

of stories about old people

在某个偏远地方的老人们

in some remote spot.

故事的集合。

This is part of our collective narrative.

这是我们集体叙事的一部分。

It's humanity's DNA.

这是人性的DNA。

We cannot afford to lose it.

我们不能失去它。

The year is 2010.

这是2010年。

Just as the women in Hawaii

正如在夏威夷抚养我的

that raised me predicted,

那位女性所预言的，

the world is in trouble.

世界陷入了困境。

We live in a society

我们生活在

bloated with data,

数据爆炸的社会之中，

yet starved for wisdom.

但仍然渴望智慧。

We're connected 24/7,

我们全天候的互联，

yet anxiety,

但焦虑、

fear, depression and loneliness

担心、沮丧和孤独的感觉

is at an all-time high.

却达到了历史最高的程度。

We must course-correct.

我们必须朝着正确的方向前行。

An African shaman said,

一位非洲巫师说过，

"Your society worships the jester

“你们的社会崇拜小丑，

while the king stands

而王者则穿着平常地

in plain clothes."

站在一旁。”

The link between the past and the future

过去和未来间的联系

is fragile.

是脆弱的。

This I know intimately,

这我非常熟悉，

because even as I travel

因为在我

throughout the world

环游世界

to listen to these stories and record them,

的时候听到这些故事并记录下来。

I struggle.

我挣扎着。

I am haunted

我不再记得

by the fact that I no longer remember

风和雨的名字的这一事实

the names of the winds and the rains.

一直在我心头萦绕。

Mau passed away

毛在五个月之前

five months ago,

去世了，

but his legacy and lessons live on.

但他的遗产和教训继续存在。

And I am reminded

这提醒我

that throughout the world

整个世界

there are cultures

有许多包含

with vast sums of knowledge in them,

无数知识的文化，

as potent as the Micronesian navigators,

与密克罗尼西亚航海家一样强大，

that are going dismissed,

这些文化正在消失，

that this is a testament

这是那些

to brilliant, brilliant

非常非常灿烂的

technology and science and wisdom

技术、科学和智慧

that is vanishing rapidly.

快速消亡的证据。

Because when an elder dies a library is burned,

因为一名长者逝去，如同一座图书馆被焚毁。

and throughout the world, libraries are ablaze.

全世界的图书馆都着火了。

I am grateful for the fact

我对我能有一个

that I had a mentor like Mau

像毛这样的导师充满感激，

who taught me how to navigate.

他教会了我如何航海。

And I realize

我记得

through a lesson that he shared

在他教授的一节课中

that we continue to find our way.

我们不断地寻找出路。

And this is what he said:

这时他说道：

"The island is the canoe;

“这岛就是独木舟；

the canoe, the island."

这独木舟，这岛。”

And what he meant was,

他的意思是，

if you are voyaging

如果你正在航行

and far from home,

远离家乡，

your very survival depends

你的生存依赖于

on everyone aboard.

每个在船上的人。

You cannot make the voyage alone,

你不能独自航行，

you were never meant to.

你从未这么想过。

This whole notion of every man for himself

每个人都只为自己的想法

is completely unsustainable.

是完全无法持续的。

It always was.

一直都是这样。

So in closing I would offer you this:

在最后，我想想大家说这些：

The planet is our canoe,

这个星球是我们的独木舟，

and we are the voyagers.

而我们就是航行者。

True navigation

真正的航行

begins in the human heart.

从人类的心中开始。

It's the most important map of all.

这是最为重要的地图。

Together, may we journey well.

让我们一起，祝愿我们路途愉快。

(Applause)

（掌声）