The 4 a.m. mystery | Rives

翻译人员: Jenny Yang 校对人员: Xiangyi Kong

This is a recent comic strip from the Los Angeles Times.

这是最近洛杉矶时报的一幅漫画。

The punch line?

笑点是？

"On the other hand, I don't have to get up at four

“另一方面，我不用每天凌晨4点起来

every single morning to milk my Labrador."

给我的拉布拉多猎犬喂奶。”

This is a recent cover of New York Magazine.

这是纽约杂志最近的封面。

Best hospitals where doctors say they would go for cancer treatment,

这是最好的医院，医生说他们会去那里去治疗癌症，

births, strokes, heart disease, hip replacements, 4 a.m. emergencies.

生育，中风，心脏病，换臀，以及凌晨4点的急救。

And this is a song medley I put together --

这是一首我混合的歌--

(Music)

音乐（歌词中“凌晨4点”反复出现）

Did you ever notice that four in the morning has become

你发现凌晨4点成了什么？

some sort of meme or shorthand?

仿佛迷因或者缩略符号?

It means something like you are awake at the worst possible hour.

它意味着你在最糟糕的时辰醒来。

(Laughter)

笑声

A time for inconveniences, mishaps, yearnings.

那是一个不便，意外，渴望的时间，

A time for plotting to whack the chief of police,

一个暗算攻击警察局长的时间，

like in this classic scene from "The Godfather."

就像《教父》中的经典镜头。

Coppola's script describes these guys as, "exhausted in shirt sleeves.

Coppola的剧本将这些人描述成：

It is four in the morning."

“那些人穿着短袖，筋疲力竭，现在是凌晨4点”

(Laughter)

笑声

A time for even grimmer stuff than that,

还有比那个更冷酷的

like autopsies and embalmings in Isabel Allende's

像伊丽莎白.阿连德<<精灵之屋>>里的

"The House of the Spirits."

剖尸防腐。

After the breathtaking green-haired Rosa is murdered,

当惊艳的绿发女郎Rosa被害以后，

the doctors preserve her with unguents and morticians' paste.

医生用油膏和处置尸体的防腐剂来保存她。

They worked until four o'clock in the morning.

他们一直工作到到4点

A time for even grimmer stuff than that,

那个时辰里还有更严酷的事情发生过，

like in last April's New Yorker magazine.

比如去年4月纽约人杂志

This short fiction piece by Martin Amis

中Martin Amis 的短篇小说是

starts out, "On September 11, 2001, he opened his eyes

这样开始的： “ 2001年9月11日， 他睁开眼睛,

at 4 a.m. in Portland, Maine,

凌晨4点， 缅因州， 波特兰市，

and Mohamed Atta's last day began."

Mohamed Atta 的最后一天开始了。 ”

For a time that I find to be the most placid

在这个我觉得是最温和

and uneventful hour of the day, four in the morning sure gets

最平静的时刻，凌晨4点真的

an awful lot of bad press --

为我们带来了很多恶劣的坏消息

(Laughter)

笑声

across a lot of different media from a lot of big names.

很多大媒体都传递着这样的信息，

And it made me suspicious.

这让我感到怀疑。

I figured, surely some of the most creative artistic minds in the world, really,

我想， 当然， 这个世界上那么多富有创造力的艺术家,

aren't all defaulting back to this one easy trope

并不都会像默认设置般地选用这个简单的隐喻,

like they invented it, right?

好像他们自己发明这个隐喻似的？是吗？

Could it be there is something more going on here?

是不是其中还有什么奥妙？

Something deliberate, something secret,

刻意的， 神秘的，

and who got the four in the morning bad rap ball rolling anyway?

那是谁让这个凌晨4点的厄运之球滚动开来的呢？

I say this guy -- Alberto Giacometti, shown here

我说，是这个家伙：阿尔贝托.贾科梅蒂。

with some of his sculptures on the Swiss 100 franc note.

他的一些作品印在100瑞士法郎上。

He did it with this famous piece

他的这个著名的作品

from the New York Museum of Modern Art.

展览在纽约现代艺术馆里，

Its title -- "The Palace at Four in the Morning --

题目就叫：凌晨4点的宫殿

(Laughter)

笑声

1932.

1932年。

Not just the earliest cryptic reference

这不仅是我可以找到的最早的

to four in the morning I can find.

凌晨4点的神秘参考。

I believe that this so-called first surrealist sculpture

我认为，这个所谓的第一个超现实主义雕塑

may provide an incredible key to virtually

可能提供了一个令人难以置信的基点

every artistic depiction of four in the morning to follow it.

几乎被每一个描述过凌晨4点的艺术作品所遵循。

I call this The Giacometti Code, a TED exclusive.

我把它叫做贾科梅蒂密码， 一个TED的专称。

No, feel free to follow along on your Blackberries

不，不， 你们尽管用你们的黑莓手机

or your iPhones if you've got them.

或iPhone手机上网搜索，如果你们带着的话。

It works a little something like -- this is a recent Google search

这是结果， 请看最近的一个谷歌搜索

for four in the morning.

搜索：凌晨4点

Results vary, of course. This is pretty typical.

当然搜索的结果不一， 这是其中最典型的一个。

The top 10 results yield you

最上面的10个结果中，

four hits for Faron Young's song, "It's Four in the Morning,"

4个是Faron Young 的歌：“现在是凌晨4点。”

three hits for Judi Dench's film, "Four in the Morning,"

3个是Judi Dench的电影：“凌晨4点。”

one hit for Wislawa Szymborska's poem, "Four in the Morning."

1个是Wislawa Szymborska的诗：“凌晨4点。”

But what, you may ask, do a Polish poet, a British Dame,

但你们也许会问， 一个波兰诗人，一个英国贵妇，

a country music hall of famer all have in common

一个乡村音乐圣殿的歌星间有什么共同的地方？

besides this totally excellent Google ranking?

除了他们在谷歌搜索结果上都有很高的排名以外

Well, let's start with Faron Young -- who was born incidentally

我们从 Faron Young 开始吧， 他不小心生于：

in 1932.

1932年。

(Laughter)

笑声

In 1996, he shot himself in the head on December ninth --

1996年12月9日他往自己头上开枪自杀那天--

which incidentally is Judi Dench's birthday.

正巧是Judi Dench的生日。

(Laughter)

笑声

But he didn't die on Dench's birthday.

但是他并没在Dench的生日死去。

He languished until the following afternoon when he finally succumbed

他滞留到第二天下午才绝别人世

to a supposedly self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 64 --

终年64岁， 据称是开枪自伤--

which incidentally is how old Alberto Giacometti was when he died.

碰巧的是，阿尔贝托.贾科梅蒂也是这年龄去世的。

Where was Wislawa Szymborska during all this?

那这段时间Wislawa Szymborska都在干什么呢？

She has the world's most absolutely watertight alibi.

她有着世上最无懈可击的不在场证明，

On that very day, December 10, 1996 while Mr. Four in the Morning,

1996年12月10日那天， 当凌晨4点钟先生，

Faron Young, was giving up the ghost in Nashville, Tennessee,

Faron Young 在田纳西州纳什维尔向鬼神投降的时候，

Ms. Four in the Morning -- or one of them anyway -- Wislawa Szymborska

凌晨4点钟女士中的一位， Wislawa Szymborska

was in Stockholm, Sweden, accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature.

在瑞典首都斯德哥尔摩，接受诺贝尔文学奖。

100 years to the day after the death of Alfred Nobel himself.

那也是阿尔弗雷德诺贝尔本人去世100年纪念日。

Coincidence? No, it's creepy.

巧合？不，那是“鬼异”。

(Laughter)

笑声

Coincidence to me has a much simpler metric.

对我来说， 巧合有一个非常简单的魔力。

That's like me telling you,

比如，我对你说，

"Hey, you know the Nobel Prize was established in 1901,

“嗨，诺贝尔奖是1901年建立的，

which coincidentally is the same year Alberto Giacometti was born?"

那正巧合是阿尔贝托.贾科梅蒂出生的那年。”

No, not everything fits so tidily into the paradigm,

并不是一切都正好整齐地组合进一个模式，

but that does not mean there's not something going on

但这并不说明其在高深之处

at the highest possible levels.

没有什么奥妙。

In fact there are people in this room

事实上， 这个屋里的很多人

who may not want me to show you this clip we're about to see.

也许不乐意我给你们看这段你们将要看到的录像。

(Laughter)

笑声

Video: Homer Simpson: We have a tennis court, a swimming pool, a screening room --

录像：我们有一个网球场， 一个游泳池， 一个放映室--

You mean if I want pork chops, even in the middle of the night,

你说我半夜三更要吃排骨？

your guy will fry them up?

你的人会帮我烤好，是吧？

Herbert Powell: Sure, that's what he's paid for.

是， 他收了钱就要会办妥事。

Now do you need towels, laundry, maids?

你需要浴巾，洗衣和女佣吗？

HS: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait -- let me see if I got this straight.

等等等等， 让我核对一下

It is Christmas Day, 4 a.m.

如果是在圣诞节早上4点。

There's a rumble in my stomach.

我觉得我肚子在翻了

Marge Simpson: Homer, please.

Homer, 够了。

Rives: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

等等等等……

Let me see if I got this straight, Matt.

让我再确定一下， Matt.

(Laughter)

笑声

When Homer Simpson needs to imagine

当Homer Simpson需要

the most remote possible moment of not just the clock,

不仅在钟上， 而且在整个年历上想象一个，

but the whole freaking calendar, he comes up with 0400

最不可思议的时刻时， 他想到了0400

on the birthday of the Baby Jesus.

而且在耶稣的生日那天。

And no, I don't know how it works

不， 我不知道这是怎么回事。

into the whole puzzling scheme of things, but obviously

这是个令人费解的谜， 但是显然，

I know a coded message when I see one.

当我看见一个密码信号的时候我准认得。

(Laughter)

笑声

I said, I know a coded message when I see one.

我是说，当我看见一个密码信号的时候我就能把它认出来。

And folks, you can buy a copy of Bill Clinton's "My Life"

朋友们， 你可以买一本比尔克林顿的《我的人生》，

from the bookstore here at TED.

就在这里的TED书店里。

Parse it cover to cover for whatever hidden references you want.

你可以从头到尾地找你想找的暗示，

Or you can go to the Random House website where there is this excerpt.

你也可以去兰登书屋网站找到这段节选，

And how far down into it you figure we'll have to scroll

你猜猜我们得翻多久，

to get to the golden ticket?

才能找到“金色入场券”？

Would you believe about a dozen paragraphs?

你相信吗？大概就翻十几段：

This is page 474 on your paperbacks if you're following along:

在平装版的474页， 往下找：

"Though it was getting better, I still wasn't satisfied

“虽然就职演说稿已经改得蛮好了，

with the inaugural address.

我还不是很满意。

My speechwriters must have been tearing their hair out

我的撰稿人一定在抓头发了

because as we worked between one and four in the morning

因为我们从早上一点到凌晨四点一直在改

on Inauguration Day, I was still changing it."

就在就职的当天， 我还在改。 ”

Sure you were, because you've prepared your entire life

当然了， 你一生都在准备

for this historic quadrennial event that just sort of sneaks up on you.

被迫接受这个降临到你头上的四年一度的历史性时刻。

And then --

然而

(Laughter)

笑声

three paragraphs later we get this little beauty:

三段以后我们发现了这个微妙之处：

"We went back to Blair House to look at the speech for the last time.

“我们回到布莱尔宫最后看一遍讲稿

It had gotten a lot better since 4 a.m."

凌晨4点以后，讲稿修改得好多了。 ”

Well, how could it have?

噢， 怎么可能呢？

By his own writing, this man was either asleep,

这可是他自己写的， 要么他在打瞌睡，

at a prayer meeting with Al and Tipper or learning how to launch

或者和Al 和Tipper在祈祷，或者在学怎样

a nuclear missile out of a suitcase.

用手提箱启动核武器

What happens to American presidents at 0400 on inauguration day?

总统就职那天的凌晨4点美国总统到底怎么了？

What happened to William Jefferson Clinton?

威廉·杰斐逊·克林顿到底怎么了？

We might not ever know.

我们也许无从知道。

And I noticed, he's not exactly around here today

而且我注意到， 他今天人也不在

to face any tough questions.

来面对难以回答的问题。

(Laughter)

笑声

It could get awkward, right?

这不是很奇怪吗？

I mean after all, this whole business happened on his watch.

我是说， 毕竟， 基本所有事儿都归他宏观掌控。

But if he were here --

但是如果他在这儿，

(Laughter)

笑声

he might remind us, as he does in the wrap-up to his fine autobiography,

他可能会提醒我们说，就像他在自传中所写的

that on this day Bill Clinton began a journey --

从那天起， 比尔 克林顿开始了一个新的旅程--

a journey that saw him go on to become

这个旅程使他成为

the first Democrat president elected

第一个民主党候选人中

to two consecutive terms in decades.

连任两届总统的人，这是几十年来，

In generations.

几代人来，

The first since this man, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

从富兰克林德拉诺 罗斯福以来第一次。

who began his own unprecedented journey

而罗斯福自己史无前例的旅程

way back at his own first election,

从他第一次参选开始，

way back in a simpler time, way back in 1932 --

可以追溯到一个简单的时间：1932年--

(Laughter)

笑声

the year Alberto Giacometti

那年， 阿尔贝托.贾科梅蒂

(Laughter)

笑声

made "The Palace at Four in the Morning."

创造了“凌晨4点的宫殿”。

The year, let's remember, that this voice, now departed,

那年， 让我们记住， 这个声音， 如今已经扩散开来，

first came a-cryin' into this big old crazy world of ours.

初次降临到我们这个疯狂的大千世界。

(Music)

音乐（“凌晨四点”反复在歌词中出现）

(Applause)

掌声