Ron McCallum: How technology allowed me to read

翻译人员: E Fan 校对人员: xuan wang

When I was about three or four years old,

在我三四岁时

I remember my mum reading a story to me

我记得我妈妈给我和两个哥哥

and my two big brothers,

读过一个故事

and I remember putting up my hands

我记得我伸出手

to feel the page of the book,

去感触书页

to feel the picture they were discussing.

去感触他们正在谈论的图画

And my mum said, "Darling,

然后我妈妈说：“亲爱的，

remember that you can't see

你要记得，你看不见

and you can't feel the picture

你看不见这图画

and you can't feel the print on the page."

你也不能感觉到书页上的字。”

And I thought to myself,

而我在心里想

"But that's what I want to do.

“但这正是我想做的。

I love stories. I want to read."

我喜欢故事。我想读书。”

Little did I know

我那时候并不知道

that I would be part of a technological revolution

我将会成为技术革命的一个部分

that would make that dream come true.

这个革命将实现我的梦想。

I was born premature by about 10 weeks,

我是一个早产儿，大约提前10周出生，

which resulted in my blindness, some 64 years ago.

这导致了我的失明，在64年以前。

The condition is known as retrolental fibroplasia,

这种疾病叫做晶状体后纤维增生症，

and it's now very rare in the developed world.

现在在发达国家中很少见，

Little did I know, lying curled up

我那时几乎不知道，

in my prim baby humidicrib in 1948

1948年，当我躺在恒温培养箱里的时候

that I'd been born at the right place

我生在了正确的地点

and the right time,

正确的时间

that I was in a country where I could participate

我生在了这样一个国家

in the technological revolution.

让我能参与到技术革命中。

There are 37 million totally blind people on our planet,

现在在我们这个星球上，共有3700万完全失明的人

but those of us who've shared in the technological changes

但是我们中间共享了技术进步的好处的

mainly come from North America, Europe,

主要来自北美，欧洲，

Japan and other developed parts of the world.

日本和其它发达国家。

Computers have changed the lives of us all in this room

计算机改变了在场所有人

and around the world,

以及全世界人的生活，

but I think they've changed the lives

但是我认为和其他人相比

of we blind people more than any other group.

计算机给我们盲人生活带来的改变更大。

And so I want to tell you about the interaction

所以我想和你们聊聊我的经历

between computer-based adaptive technology

关于以计算机为基础的适应技术

and the many volunteers who helped me over the years

和许多多年帮助过我的志愿者们

to become the person I am today.

成就了现在的我

It's an interaction between volunteers,

这是关于一个志愿者，

passionate inventors and technology,

激情的发明家和科技的合作

and it's a story that many other blind people could tell.

还有一个每个盲人都会讲的故事

But let me tell you a bit about it today.

今天让我讲一点这样的故事

When I was five, I went to school and I learned braille.

当我五岁的时候，我在学校学习了盲文

It's an ingenious system of six dots

它是一套精妙的系统

that are punched into paper,

六个打在纸上的点

and I can feel them with my fingers.

我可以用手指感受到它们

In fact, I think they're putting up my grade six report.

事实上，我想他们在展示我的成绩单

I don't know where Julian Morrow got that from.

我不知道Julian Morrow从哪里得到它

(Laughter)

（笑）

I was pretty good in reading,

我很擅长阅读

but religion and musical appreciation needed more work.

但是宗教和音乐欣赏需要更努力

(Laughter)

（笑）

When you leave the opera house,

当你离开歌剧院

you'll find there's braille signage in the lifts.

你会发现电梯里的盲文标示

Look for it. Have you noticed it?

找一找。你留意过它么？

I do. I look for it all the time.

我留意过。我一直在寻找它。

(Laughter)

（笑）

When I was at school,

在我上学的时候

the books were transcribed by transcribers,

图书是有抄写者抄写

voluntary people who punched one dot at a time

志愿者一字一句的打点

so I'd have volumes to read,

才使我有书籍可以阅读

and that had been going on, mainly by women,

这个过程主要由女性完成

since the late 19th century in this country,

在这个国家一直持续到19世纪后期

but it was the only way I could read.

但是这是我唯一能够阅读的途径

When I was in high school,

当我上高中时

I got my first Philips reel-to-reel tape recorder,

我得到了我第一个Philips磁带录音机

and tape recorders became my sort of pre-computer

录音机成为了我某种意义上前计算机时代的

medium of learning.

学习途径

I could have family and friends read me material,

我可以让我的亲人和朋友帮我读资料

and I could then read it back

然后我可以随后多次阅读

as many times as I needed.

只要我愿意

And it brought me into contact

它还让我

with volunteers and helpers.

与志愿者和协助者保持联系

For example, when I studied at graduate school

例如，当我在加拿大的Queen's University

at Queen's University in Canada,

学习研究生课程时

the prisoners at the Collins Bay jail agreed to help me.

Collins Bay监狱的服刑者同意帮助我

I gave them a tape recorder, and they read into it.

我给他们录音机，然后他们录下内容

As one of them said to me,

就像他们其中的一人说的

"Ron, we ain't going anywhere at the moment."

“Ron，反正我们现在哪里都去不了”

(Laughter)

（笑）

But think of it. These men,

但是想一想，这些人

who hadn't had the educational opportunities I'd had,

他们从没拥有过我拥有的教育机会

helped me gain post-graduate qualifications in law

帮助了我取得了法律研究生学位

by their dedicated help.

通过他们一心一意的帮助

Well, I went back and became an academic

当我回来

at Melbourne's Monash University,

成为一名Melbourne's Monash University的学者

and for those 25 years,

在那25年的时间里

tape recorders were everything to me.

录音机是我的全部

In fact, in my office in 1990,

事实上，1990年，在我的办公室

I had 18 miles of tape.

我有18公里长的磁带

Students, family and friends all read me material.

学生，亲人，和朋友都帮助我录制资料

Mrs. Lois Doery,

路·杜瑞女士是

whom I later came to call my surrogate mum,

我后来称她为我的代理母亲

read me many thousands of hours onto tape.

她为我录制了几千小时的磁带

One of the reasons I agreed to give this talk today

我同意这次演讲的一个原因就是

was that I was hoping that Lois would be here

我希望她可以在这里

so I could introduce you to her and publicly thank her.

这样我就可以让大家认识她，并公开感谢她

But sadly, her health hasn't permitted her to come today.

然而，遗憾的是，她的健康状况不允许她今天出席

But I thank you here, Lois, from this platform.

但是我依旧要通过这个平台，表达对你的感谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

I saw my first Apple computer in 1984,

我在1984年见到我的第一台苹果电脑

and I thought to myself,

我对自己说

"This thing's got a glass screen, not much use to me."

“这个东西是玻璃屏幕，对我没有用处”

How very wrong I was.

我当时有多么的错误

In 1987, in the month our eldest son Gerard was born,

在1987年，在我最大的儿子杰拉德出生的月份

I got my first blind computer,

我得到了我的第一台盲人电脑

and it's actually here.

它实际就在这里

See it up there?

看到它了么？

And you see it has no, what do you call it, no screen.

你看到了它没有，你们所说的，“屏幕”

(Laughter)

（笑）

It's a blind computer.

它是一台盲人电脑

(Laughter)

（笑）

It's a Keynote Gold 84k,

它的型号是Keynote Gold 84K，

and the 84k stands for it had 84 kilobytes of memory.

84k表示它拥有8.4万字节的内存

(Laughter)

（笑）

Don't laugh, it cost me 4,000 dollars at the time. (Laughter)

不要笑， 它当时花费了我近4,000美元（笑）

I think there's more memory in my watch.

我想我的手表有更大的内存

It was invented by Russell Smith, a passionate inventor

它由新西兰的罗斯·史密斯发明，他是一位很有激情的发明家

in New Zealand who was trying to help blind people.

一直尝试着帮助盲人

Sadly, he died in a light plane crash in 2005,

遗憾的是，2005年他在一场空难中去世

but his memory lives on in my heart.

但是关于他的记忆一直在我心中

It meant, for the first time,

它意味着，头一次，

I could read back what I had typed into it.

我能够重读我写过的内容

It had a speech synthesizer.

它有语音合成器

I'd written my first coauthored labor law book

1979年，我曾经在一台打字机上

on a typewriter in 1979 purely from memory.

完全凭借记忆，写了我第一本劳动法的合著

This now allowed me to read back what I'd written

现在它允许我重读我写过的内容

and to enter the computer world,

并让我进入了计算机的世界

even with its 84k of memory.

尽管它只有84k的内存

In 1974, the great Ray Kurzweil, the American inventor,

1974年，伟大的Ray Kurzweil，一位美国发明家

worked on building a machine that would scan books

致力于开发一台机器可以扫描书籍

and read them out in synthetic speech.

并把文字以合成语音阅读出来

Optical character recognition units then

当时视觉文字识别系统

only operated usually on one font,

只能识别一种字体

but by using charge-coupled device flatbed scanners

但是通过运用感光扫描仪

and speech synthesizers,

和人工语音合成系统

he developed a machine that could read any font.

他开发了一个可以阅读任何字体的机器

And his machine, which was as big as a washing machine,

他的机器与洗衣机一样大

was launched on the 13th of January, 1976.

在1976年1月13号正式发布

I saw my first commercially available Kurzweil

在1989年3月份，我第一次见到了可商用的Kurzweil机器

in March 1989, and it blew me away,

它给我留下了深刻的印象

and in September 1989,

1989年9月份

the month that my associate professorship

我获得了莫纳什大学助理教授

at Monash University was announced,

的教职

the law school got one, and I could use it.

法学院购得了一台，并且我可以使用它

For the first time, I could read what I wanted to read

人生中头一次，我可以读我想读的书籍

by putting a book on the scanner.

只要把那本书放在扫描仪上

I didn't have to be nice to people!

不需要我款待他人

(Laughter)

（笑）

I no longer would be censored.

我不再需要很审慎

For example, I was too shy then,

比如，我过去太羞涩

and I'm actually too shy now, to ask anybody

当然现在也很羞涩，请求别人

to read me out loud sexually explicit material.

帮我阅读直白的情爱资料

(Laughter)

（笑）

But, you know, I could pop a book on in the middle of the night, and --

但是，你懂的，我可以在深夜将一本书放在扫描仪上

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑）（鼓掌）

Now, the Kurzweil reader is simply

现在，库兹维尔阅读器只是

a program on my laptop.

我笔记本上的一个程序

That's what it's shrunk to.

它缩小到现在这样

And now I can scan the latest novel

现在我可以扫描最新的小说

and not wait to get it into talking book libraries.

迫不及待的把它加入语音图书馆中

I can keep up with my friends.

我可以与朋友分享

There are many people who have helped me in my life,

有很多人在我人生中帮助过我

and many that I haven't met.

其中很多我从没见过

One is another American inventor Ted Henter.

一位是美国发明家泰德·韩特

Ted was a motorcycle racer,

泰德曾是摩托车赛车手

but in 1978 he had a car accident and lost his sight,

但是在1978年他经历了一次车祸，从而失去了视力

which is devastating if you're trying to ride motorbikes.

这将是灾难性的如果你尝试去骑摩托车

He then turned to being a waterskier

他后来成为了划水运动员

and was a champion disabled waterskier.

一度是残疾人划水运动冠军

But in 1989, he teamed up with Bill Joyce

然而在1989年，他与比尔·乔伊斯合作

to develop a program that would read out

开发了一个程序，可以阅读

what was on the computer screen

任何在电脑屏幕上的内容

from the Net or from what was on the computer.

无论来自网络或者电脑上的资料

It's called JAWS, Job Access With Speech,

名叫JAWS，就是语音辅助系统的意思（Job Access With Speech）

and it sounds like this.

它读起来是这样的

(JAWS speaking)

（JAWS 在阅读）

Ron McCallum: Isn't that slow?

它是不是很慢？

(Laughter)

（笑）

You see, if I read like that, I'd fall asleep.

如果我这样阅读，我可能睡着

I slowed it down for you.

我已经为你调慢了速度

I'm going to ask that we play it at the speed I read it.

我会要求以我平时阅读的速度重播一边

Can we play that one?

可以重播一边么？

(JAWS speaking)

（JAWS 在阅读）

(Laughter)

（笑）

RM: You know, when you're marking student essays,

你懂的，如果你在给学生的论文评分

you want to get through them fairly quickly.

你希望快点读完他们

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑）（鼓掌）

This technology that fascinated me in 1987

这项在1987年吸引我的技术

is now on my iPhone and on yours as well.

现在就在我的iPhone上，也在你们的iPhone上

But, you know, I find reading with machines

但是，我发现和机器一起阅读

a very lonely process.

是一个非常孤独的过程

I grew up with family, friends, reading to me,

在我的成长中，亲人，朋友陪伴我阅读

and I loved the warmth and the breath

我热爱人们阅读中的

and the closeness of people reading.

温暖，气息，和亲密

Do you love being read to?

你希望倾听么？

And one of my most enduring memories

一段我最珍爱的记忆是

is in 1999, Mary reading to me and the children

1999年，Mary为我和孩子们阅读

down near Manly Beach

在Manly海滩边

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

“哈利波特和魔法石”

Isn't that a great book?

那不是一本很棒的书么？

I still love being close to someone reading to me.

我依旧热爱与为我阅读的人保持亲密

But I wouldn't give up the technology,

但是我不会放弃科技

because it's allowed me to lead a great life.

因为它允许我过上了美好的生活

Of course, talking books for the blind

当然，盲人的有声读物

predated all this technology.

先于这些科技

After all, the long-playing record was developed

毕竟，可以长时间播放的录音

in the early 1930s,

在19世纪30年代初期已经发明了

and now we put talking books on CDs

现在我们将图书刻录在CD上

using the digital access system known as DAISY.

通过DAISY数码系统

But when I'm reading with synthetic voices,

但是当我通过人工语音阅读时

I love to come home and read a racy novel

我期望回到家里

with a real voice.

听到真实的声音阅读一本轻快的小说

Now there are still barriers

现在依旧有很多障碍

in front of we people with disabilities.

阻挡在我们残疾人面前

Many websites we can't read using JAWS

很多网站我们不能通过JAWS系统阅读

and the other technologies.

或者其他的技术

Websites are often very visual,

网站通常很视觉化

and there are all these sorts of graphs

有很多各种各样的图片

that aren't labeled and buttons that aren't labeled,

它们没有被标示，按钮也没有被标示

and that's why the World Wide Web Consortium 3,

这就是为什么World Wide Web Consortium 3，

known as W3C, has developed worldwide standards

W3C，开发了一套世界通用的

for the Internet.

互联网准则

And we want all Internet users or Internet site owners

因而，我们希望所有互联网用户和互联网拥有者

to make their sites compatible so that

让他们的网站兼容

we persons without vision can have a level playing field.

这样，我们这些没有视觉的人们，可以有一席之地

There are other barriers brought about by our laws.

还有其他由法律产生的障碍

For example, Australia,

例如，澳大利亚，

like about one third of the world's countries,

就像世界上三分之一的国家一样，

has copyright exceptions which allow books to be brailled

有版权特例，允许书籍被翻译成盲字

or read for we blind persons.

或者为我们盲人阅读

But those books can't travel across borders.

但是这些书籍不能跨越国界

For example, in Spain, there are a 100,000

例如，在西班牙，有100,000本

accessible books in Spanish.

可使用的西班牙语图书

In Argentina, there are 50,000.

在阿根廷，有五万本

In no other Latin American country

在其他拉丁美洲国家

are there more than a couple of thousand.

有上千本

But it's not legal to transport the books

但是将图书从西班牙带到拉丁美洲

from Spain to Latin America.

是违法的

There are hundreds of thousands of accessible books

有十万多本可使用的图书

in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, etc.,

在美国，英国，加拿大，澳大利亚，等等

but they can't be transported to the 60 countries

但是他们不能被带到其他60多个

in our world where English is the first and the second language.

英语是母语或者第二语言的国家

And remember I was telling you about Harry Potter.

记得我曾告诉你们关于哈利·波特的故事

Well, because we can't transport books across borders,

因为我们不能将图书穿越国境

there had to be separate versions read

因此必须有很多独立的阅读版本

in all the different English-speaking countries:

在不同的英语国家：

Britain, United States, Canada, Australia,

英国，美国，加拿大，澳大利亚，

and New Zealand all had to have

和新西兰，都必须拥有

separate readings of Harry Potter.

不同语音版本的Harry Potter

And that's why, next month in Morocco,

这就是为什么，下个月在Morocco，

a meeting is taking place between all the countries.

一个国际会议将举行

It's something that a group of countries

它关于一些国家

and the World Blind Union are advocating,

和世界盲人组织所倡导的

a cross-border treaty

一个跨界协议

so that if books are available under a copyright exception

期望如果一些图书在一个版权特例下可使用

and the other country has a copyright exception,

其他国家也有版权特例

we can transport those books across borders

我们就可以让这些图书穿越国界

and give life to people, particularly in developing countries,

给予人们生活，尤其在发展中国家，

blind people who don't have the books to read.

那些没有书籍可以阅读的盲人们

I want that to happen.

我希望这可以成为现实

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

My life has been extraordinarily blessed

我的人生很幸运

with marriage and children

拥有美好的婚姻和孩子

and certainly interesting work to do,

还有非常有趣的工作

whether it be at the University of Sydney Law School,

不论是在悉尼大学法学院

where I served a term as dean,

在那里我曾任职院长

or now as I sit on the United Nations Committee

或者我在日内瓦联合国委员会

on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in Geneva.

代表残疾人的利益

I've indeed been a very fortunate human being.

我一直以来都是非常幸运的人

I wonder what the future will hold.

我猜想未来会是如何

The technology will advance even further,

科技会更加进步

but I can still remember my mum saying, 60 years ago,

但是我始终记得，母亲在60年前说的话，

"Remember, darling,

“记住，亲爱的，

you'll never be able to read the print with your fingers."

用你的手指，你永远不能阅读到纸上的文字

I'm so glad that the interaction between braille transcribers,

我很庆幸，盲文翻译员

volunteer readers and passionate inventors,

志愿者，和激情发明家的相互影响

has allowed this dream of reading to come true for me

让我可以阅读的梦想变成现实

and for blind people throughout the world.

也让世界上所有盲人的梦想成真

I'd like to thank my researcher Hannah Martin,

我要感谢我的研究员汉娜·马丁，

who is my slide clicker, who clicks the slides,

她是我的投影助手，帮我播放投影

and my wife, Professor Mary Crock, who's the light of my life,

和我的妻子，玛丽·库鲁克教授，她是我生活的光芒

is coming on to collect me.

她正准备接走我

I want to thank her too.

我也要感谢她

I think I have to say goodbye now.

我想我要说再见了

Bless you. Thank you very much.

祝福你们。感谢您们。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Yay! (Applause)

Yay！（鼓掌）

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. (Applause)

好。好。好。好。好。（鼓掌）