The tyranny of merit | Michael Sandel

495,768 views ・ 2020-09-15

TED


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翻译人员: Nan Yang 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang
00:12
Here's a question we should all be asking:
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有一个大家都应该考虑的问题:
00:15
What went wrong?
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“什么地方出错了?”
00:17
Not just with the pandemic
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不仅仅是这次的疫情,
00:19
but with our civic life.
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还有我们的公民生活。
00:21
What brought us to this polarized, rancorous political moment?
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是什么使我们陷入了两极分化, 满怀恶意的政治时代?
00:27
In recent decades,
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近几十年来,
00:28
the divide between winners and losers has been deepening,
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胜者和败者之间的鸿沟加深了,
00:32
poisoning our politics,
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荼毒着我们的政治,
00:34
setting us apart.
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分化着我们。
00:37
This divide is partly about inequality.
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这种鸿沟一部分是关于不平等的,
00:41
But it's also about the attitudes toward winning and losing
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但是也与随之而来的
对输赢的态度有关。
00:46
that have come with it.
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00:47
Those who landed on top
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身处顶层的人们
00:49
came to believe that their success was their own doing,
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开始相信他们的成功 来自于自己的努力,
00:54
a measure of their merit,
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也是对他们价值的衡量,
00:56
and that those who lost out had no one to blame but themselves.
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而那些失败的人, 则只能责怪他们自己。
01:02
This way of thinking about success
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这种对成功的思考方式
01:04
arises from a seemingly attractive principle.
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来自于一种看似很有吸引力的原则。
01:08
If everyone has an equal chance,
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如果每个人都有平等的机会,
01:11
the winners deserve their winnings.
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那胜利者就应该得到奖赏。
01:14
This is the heart of the meritocratic ideal.
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这就是精英理想的核心。
01:19
In practice, of course, we fall far short.
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当然,在实践中, 情况远远不是这样。
01:24
Not everybody has an equal chance to rise.
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并不是所有人 都有平等的发展机会。
01:29
Children born to poor families tend to stay poor when they grow up.
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贫困家庭出生的孩子长大后 往往还会继续贫穷。
01:34
Affluent parents are able to pass their advantages onto their kids.
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富裕的家长能够把自己的优势 转移给他们的孩子。
01:40
At Ivy League universities, for example,
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例如,在常青藤联校里,
01:43
there are more students from the top one percent
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来自最顶尖 1% 家庭的学生数量
01:47
than from the entire bottom half of the country combined.
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比所有来自后 50% 家庭的 学生总数还要多。
01:53
But the problem isn't only that we fail to live up
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但是问题不仅仅是我们辜负了
01:57
to the meritocratic principles we proclaim.
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我们宣称的精英原则,
02:01
The ideal itself is flawed.
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而是这种理想主义的思维 本身就有缺陷。
02:04
It has a dark side.
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它有它黑暗的一面。
02:06
Meritocracy is corrosive of the common good.
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精英政治侵蚀着共同利益。
02:11
It leads to hubris among the winners
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它导致了胜利者的傲慢,
02:15
and humiliation among those who lose out.
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和失败者的屈辱。
02:20
It encourages the successful to inhale too deeply of their success,
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它也鼓励了成功者深深沉迷于 自己的成功,
02:25
to forget the luck and good fortune that helped them on their way.
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以至于忘掉了一路上 帮助到他们的好运气。
02:31
And it leads them to look down on those less fortunate,
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同时也导致了他们看不起 那些比自己不幸,
02:35
less credentialed than themselves.
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比自己更缺乏资格的人。
02:39
This matters for politics.
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这对政治领域来说非常重要。
02:42
One of the most potent sources of the populous backlash
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造成民众强烈反对的最有力原因之一,
02:47
is the sense among many working people that elites look down on them.
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是许多工薪阶层感到 精英们瞧不起他们。
02:53
It's a legitimate complaint.
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这是一种合理的投诉。
02:56
Even as globalization brought deepening inequality
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即使全球化带来了不平等加剧
03:01
and stagnant wages,
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和工资增长的停滞,
03:04
its proponents offered workers some bracing advice.
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它的支持者也为工人们 提供了一些有益的建议。
03:10
"If you want to compete and win in the global economy,
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“如果你想在全球经济中 竞争并取胜,
03:13
go to college."
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那就去上大学。”
03:15
"What you earn depends on what you learn."
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“一份耕耘,一份收获。”
03:19
"You can make it if you try."
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“有志者,事竟成。”
03:22
These elites miss the insult implicit in this advice.
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但这些精英忽略了 此建议中隐含的侮辱。
03:29
If you don't go to college,
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如果你不上大学,
03:31
if you don't flourish in the new economy,
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如果你不适应新经济,
03:34
your failure is your fault.
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那么你的失败就是你自己的错。
03:37
That's the implication.
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这就是我说的暗示。
03:39
It's no wonder many working people turned against meritocratic elites.
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所以难怪许多工人反对精英制度。
03:46
So what should we do?
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那么我们应该怎么办?
03:48
We need to rethink three aspects of our civic life.
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我们应该重新考虑 公民生活中的三个方面。
03:53
The role of college,
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大学所扮演的角色、
03:54
the dignity of work
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工作的尊严,
03:56
and the meaning of success.
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和成功的意义。
03:59
We should begin by rethinking the role of universities
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我们应该重新考虑
04:03
as arbiters of opportunity.
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大学作为机会仲裁者的作用。
04:07
For those of us who spend our days in the company of the credentialed,
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对于每天和受过高等教育的人 打交道的我们,
04:12
it's easy to forget a simple fact:
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很容易忘掉一个简单的事实:
04:16
Most people don't have a four-year college degree.
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大多数人没有四年的大学学历。
04:21
In fact, nearly two-thirds of Americans don't.
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实际上,是接近 三分之二的美国人都没有。
04:25
So it is folly to create an economy
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所以,创造一个使大学文凭成为
04:30
that makes a university diploma a necessary condition
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获得体面工作和生活的 必要条件的经济体系
04:35
of dignified work and a decent life.
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是十分荒唐的。
04:39
Encouraging people to go to college is a good thing.
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鼓励人们去上大学是一件好事。
04:42
Broadening access for those who can't afford it
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扩大对负担不起 大学学费的人们的录取
04:45
is even better.
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则更值得鼓励。
04:47
But this is not a solution to inequality.
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然而,这并不是 解决不平等问题的方法。
04:50
We should focus less on arming people for meritocratic combat,
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我们不应该专注于 武装人们对抗精英体制,
04:56
and focus more on making life better
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而是应该把更多的注意力放在
05:00
for people who lack a diploma
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如何帮助没有文凭, 但为社会做出重要贡献的人们
05:02
but who make essential contributions to our society.
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改善生活。
05:07
We should renew the dignity of work
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我们应该更新 “工作的尊严”的概念,
05:10
and place it at the center of our politics.
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并把它放在政治工作的中心。
05:13
We should remember that work is not only about making a living,
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我们应该记住, 工作不只是为了谋生,
05:18
it's also about contributing to the common good
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也是对共同利益的贡献
05:21
and winning recognition for doing so.
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并赢得相应的认可。
05:25
Robert F. Kennedy put it well half a century ago.
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半个世纪前,罗伯特·肯尼迪 对此进行了一个很好的概括:
05:29
Fellowship, community, shared patriotism.
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共同利益、共同团体、 共享爱国主义。
05:33
These essential values do not come
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这些核心价值不仅仅来自
05:36
from just buying and consuming goods together.
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大家一起购买和消费物品,
05:40
They come from dignified employment,
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也来自有尊严的工作和
05:43
at decent pay.
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可观的收入。
05:45
The kind of employment that enables us to say,
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这样的工作让我们 可以充满自豪的说:
05:48
"I helped to build this country.
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“我为建设这个国家出了力,
05:51
I am a participant in its great public ventures."
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我参与了伟大的社会公共事业。”
05:56
This civic sentiment
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这种公民情感
05:59
is largely missing from our public life today.
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在如今的公共生活中严重缺失。
06:04
We often assume that the money people make
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我们经常假设人们的收入
06:08
is the measure of their contribution to the common good.
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是他们对共同利益所做贡献的衡量。
06:12
But this is a mistake.
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但这是一种不折不扣的误解。
06:15
Martin Luther King Jr. explained why.
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马丁·路德·金曾经解释过为什么。
06:19
Reflecting on a strike by sanitation workers
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回顾在他被刺杀之前,
06:23
in Memphis, Tennessee,
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在田纳西州孟菲斯发生的
06:25
shortly before he was assassinated,
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卫生工作者罢工事件,
06:28
King said,
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他说:
06:29
"The person who picks up our garbage is, in the final analysis,
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“说到底, 那些为我们清理垃圾的人,
06:34
as significant as the physician,
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和医生一样重要,
06:38
for if he doesn't do his job,
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因为如果没有他们,
06:41
diseases are rampant.
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疾病会更猖獗。
06:44
All labor has dignity."
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所有的劳动者都有尊严。”
06:47
Today's pandemic makes this clear.
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今天的疫情更说明了这一点。
06:50
It reveals how deeply we rely
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它揭示了我们多么依赖
06:53
on workers we often overlook.
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那些我们经常忽略的劳动者:
06:57
Delivery workers,
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配送工人、
06:59
maintenance workers,
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维修工人、
07:01
grocery store clerks,
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杂货店店员、
07:03
warehouse workers,
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仓库工人、
07:04
truckers,
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卡车司机、
07:06
nurse assistants,
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护士助理、
07:07
childcare workers,
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育儿工作者,
07:09
home health care providers.
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和家庭护理员,等等。
07:11
These are not the best-paid or most honored workers.
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这些并不是收入最好 或者最受敬仰的工人。
07:17
But now, we see them as essential workers.
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但是现在,我们将他们 视为必不可少的工人。
07:22
This is a moment for a public debate
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这是一个重要时刻,
可以公开探讨 如何让他们的工资和认可度
07:26
about how to bring their pay and recognition
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07:29
into better alignment with the importance of their work.
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与他们工作的重要性相匹配。
07:34
It is also time for a moral, even spiritual, turning,
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现在,是时候进行道德, 甚至精神上的转变,
07:40
questioning our meritocratic hubris.
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并质疑我们的精英主义傲慢了。
07:45
Do I morally deserve the talents that enable me to flourish?
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“我在道德上是否配得上 那些使我迅速成长的才能?”
07:50
Is it my doing
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“我生活在一个
07:52
that I live in a society that prizes the talents
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珍惜我所拥有的才华的
07:56
I happen to have?
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社会中吗?”
07:58
Or is that my good luck?
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“还是说,我只是运气太好?“
08:01
Insisting that my success is my due
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“坚持我的成功是我应得的这一想法,
08:04
makes it hard to see myself in other people's shoes.
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使我很难从别人的角度看自己。”
08:10
Appreciating the role of luck in life
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意识到运气在生活中的作用
08:13
can prompt a certain humility.
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会催生一定的谦卑。
08:15
There but for the accident of birth, or the grace of God,
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“是良好的出身、上帝的怜悯
和命运的眷顾,
08:20
or the mystery of fate,
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才让我拥有了现在的一切。”
08:22
go I.
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08:24
This spirit of humility
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这种谦卑的精神
08:26
is the civic virtue we need now.
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就是我们现在需要的公民美德。
08:30
It's the beginning of a way back
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这是我们从苛刻的,
08:32
from the harsh ethic of success that drives us apart.
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将我们分裂的成功道德理论 走回正轨的开始。
08:37
It points us beyond the tyranny of merit
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它为我们超越价值的暴政,
走向一个少些怨恨,多谢包容的 公共生活指出了方向。
08:41
to a less rancorous, more generous public life.
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