My quest to defy gravity and fly | Elizabeth Streb

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

Come on:

講真的：

Hasn't everyone here dreamt of flying?

這裡沒有人夢想過飛翔嗎？

So why haven't humans flown yet?

那麼為什麼人類還沒有飛起來？

I've been obsessed with learning to fly my whole life.

我這一生都對於學飛非常著迷。

I grew up a feral, adopted child on the northern shore of Lake Ontario,

成長過程中，我是個很有野性的 養女，住在安大略湖的北岸，

following my bricklayer/fisherman father around.

跟著我的泥水匠兼漁夫爸爸到處跑。

I was always fascinated by things that moved,

會動的東西總是能深深吸引我，

catching small animals, holding them in my hands,

我喜歡去抓小動物， 將牠們放在我的手中，

feeling the magic of their movement;

感覺牠們的動作所產生的魔法；

playing with fire,

我喜歡玩火，

thrilled and terrified at its unrelenting force,

它那無情的力量 讓我感到既興奮又害怕，

accidentally burning my father's barn down --

我曾不小心燒掉了我爸爸的穀倉——

just once.

只有一次。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

That was my first brush with real danger,

那是我第一次接觸到真實的危險：

the fire and my father.

火以及我爸爸。

When I was about eight or nine years old, I caught a fly in a mason jar.

大約八、九歲時，我用 寬口玻璃罐抓到了一隻蒼蠅。

Studying that fly, I thought, "Wow,

我邊研究那隻蒼蠅，邊想：「哇，

it's changing directions in midair with acute angles,

牠在半空中改變方向，急轉彎，

and it's going so fast, it's a blur.

且牠的速度好快，根本看不清楚。

Why can't we do that? Can we?"

我們為什麼做不到？我們能嗎？」

Everywhere I looked, there were things moving.

不論我看向何處， 總會看到有物體在動。

And these things moved with their very own causal rhythms,

這些物體都依著 它們自己的因果節奏在動，

their very own mechanistic anatomies.

它們自己的機械解剖學。

It was clear to me -- and to Newton --

對我及牛頓而言，很清楚，

that things move based on their component parts:

物體會怎麼動，要看它們的構造：

worms squirmed, birds flew, kangaroos hopped.

蟲子會蠕動， 鳥會飛，袋鼠會跳躍。

And a human's first bout with flying was falling accidentally, tripping,

而人類的第一次飛翔，

是不小心摔跤、絆倒，

or slipping on that fabled banana peel.

或是故事中常見的， 踩到香蕉皮滑倒。

Once your ground is dragged out from under you,

一旦把地面從你身體底下拉出，

a world of wonder comes rushing in.

一個充滿驚奇的世界會立刻出現。

I had found my territory.

我已經找到了我的領地。

I was seized with a compulsion,

我受到一種強迫感的強烈影響，

a primordial urge to learn how to fly,

一種原始的衝動， 想要學習如何飛翔，

like a human.

以人類之姿飛翔。

For the next 10 years, I did my experiments alone,

接下來的十年，我自己實驗，

on my own body.

拿我自己做實驗。

I drove my Honda 350 across the United States

我開著我的本田 350 （汽車）穿越美國，

in an "Easy Rider" kind of way.

用電影《逍遙騎士》的方式。

I got my degree in modern dance. I mimicked that fly in the box.

我取得現代舞的學位， 在箱子裡模仿那種飛翔。

I dove horizontally through glass;

我以水平的方式衝過玻璃；

on the way, I punched a hole in it.

過程中，我把玻璃給撞了個洞。

I was trying to figure out something about flight.

我當時是在試圖 理解關於飛翔的某件事。

When I was 27 years old,

在我二十七歲時，

I found myself in a rat-infested New York City loft,

我在紐約市一間有鼠患的閣樓裡，

getting ready to hurl myself off a ladder.

準備好把我自己扔下樓梯。

I climbed higher, higher, higher,

我越爬越高，越爬越高， 然後我跳了。

and I jumped.

Wham-o! I landed.

砰的一聲！我落地了。

That hurt.

那好痛。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And it occurred to me that people didn't really enjoy getting hurt,

我想到，人並不會 很享受受傷的感覺，

and that maybe the reason that we weren't flying yet

也許我們還沒有在飛的理由，

is that we were still attached to that false idea

就是因為我們還放不下虛假的想法：

that we would fly the way birds do,

我們會用鳥兒的方式飛翔，

or butterflies.

或蝴蝶的方式。

Maybe we needed to assumption-bust,

也許我們需要打破假設，

to ask a different kind of question --

問不一樣的問題，

about duration, for instance.

像是飛翔持續多久。

Humans in the air? A few seconds.

人類在空中多久？幾秒鐘。

Birds and butterflies? Minutes, maybe hours.

鳥和蝴蝶呢？幾分鐘，也許幾小時。

And what about fear?

那麼恐懼呢？

I think fear is complex and personal.

我認為恐懼很複雜，且因人而異。

I really think it has to do with curiosity

我真認為它和好奇心有關，

and not taking yourself so seriously.

和不要太把自己當回事有關。

We might need to get a little hurt,

我們可能需要受點傷，

just not too hurt.

只要不要太受傷就好。

And pain: redefine it.

還有痛苦：重新定義它。

Rather than "pain," say, "another rather interesting, foreign sensation."

不要說「痛苦」，改說 「另一種蠻有趣的外來感覺」。

Something like that.

類似這樣。

I realized then that to learn to fly, we were going to have to learn to land.

我了解到，若要學習飛翔， 就要學習降落。

My hero, Evel Knievel -- one of them -- said,

我的英雄之一 埃芙爾克尼芙爾說過：

"Anyone can jump a motorcycle.

「任何人都能夠讓摩托車跳起來。

The trouble begins when you try to land it."

問題是你要讓它落地。」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Landing hurts.

降落很痛。

I was curious, though.

不過，我很好奇。我心想：

I thought, "Well, why don't we invent an impact technique?

「那我們為什麼 不發明一種衝擊技巧？

Why don't we just expand our base of support?"

我們為什麼不把 身體基底的面積擴大？」

I had seen pieces of plywood fall,

我曾經看過夾板落下，

and they didn't flinch on the way down.

在落下的過程它們並不會畏懼。

So I made my body into a perfect line

所以我把我的身體 擺成一條完美的直線，

and tilted back.

然後向後傾。

Whaft!

嘩！

It was a totally different sound than "wham-o."

那和我跳下樓梯時 發出的「砰」聲完全不同。

And I rushed out onto the streets of New York City

我衝到紐約市的街頭，

and went up to complete strangers,

上前去找完全陌生的人，

and I said -- well, I thought --

我說——嗯，我想我是這樣說——

"I did a backfall today. Did you?"

「我今天向後跌了一次。你有嗎？」

In 1985, we started to tour all over the world a little bit,

1985 年，我們開始了 全世界的巡迴，

and I started my company,

我開了我自己的公司，

called STREB EXTREME ACTION.

叫做「史特雷布極端動作」。

In 2003, we were invited to go to Kitty Hawk

2003 年，我們應邀去 Kitty Hawk 公司

to celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight with the Wright Brothers.

慶祝萊氏兄弟飛行一百週年。

We had gotten very good at landing;

我們已經變得非常擅長降落；

now we needed to get up into the air.

現在我們得要設法到天上去。

And like them, we wanted to stay there longer.

和他們一樣，我們也想要 在天上待久一點。

I came across this quote by Wilbur:

我偶爾看到引述自 威布爾的這句話：

"If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence

「若你想要的是完全的安全，

你只要坐在柵欄上看著鳥兒即可；

and watch the birds;

but if you really wish to learn, you must mount a machine

但如果你真的想要學習， 你就必須要爬上一台機器，

and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial."

透過真正實際試驗 來掌握操作它的訣竅。」

Ah, machines.

啊，機器。

It incited the hardware junkie inside of me.

它刺激到了我體內的 那個硬體狂熱者。

And if we did want to go or travel to unhabitual places in space --

如果我們真的想要到空間中 我們不習慣的地方——

to that banana peel spot that confuses us;

那個讓我們困惑的香蕉皮所在之處；

to that place outside our vertical comfort zone,

到我們垂直舒適區之外的地方，

where we encounter unexpected turbulence

我們會在那裡遇到未預期的亂流，

and get accelerated oddly,

以很奇特的方式加速，

where the ground changes and moves out from under us --

在那裡，地面會改變， 不再位於我們下方——

like the composer who is trying to hit a note

就像作曲家，試圖想要達到一個

higher than the human voice can sing,

比人類聲音能唱出的音 還要更高的音，

he invents a piccolo or a flute,

所以他發明了短笛或長笛，

I set about the invention of my prototypic machines.

我開始著手發明自己的機器原型。

And if we wanted to go higher, faster, sooner, harder,

如果我們想要到達到 更高、更快、更早、更猛力，

it was necessary that we create our very own spaceships.

我們就得要創造出 我們自己的太空船。

And we did.

我們確實這麼做了。

And we did travel to unknown, invisible, dangerous territories,

我們也確實旅行到 未知、看不見、危險的區域，

and it changed us.

且它改變了我們。

If any of you want to try this, let me know.

如果在座有人想嘗試，請讓我知道。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

In 2012, we brought all of our best machines to London

2012 年，我們把我們所有 最好的機器都帶到倫敦，

and put them in their most iconic places.

把它們放在當地 最具代表性的地方。

We got on the London Eye.

我們上到了倫敦眼。

It was 443 feet above the earth.

它離地的高度是 443 英尺。

And as we reached the zenith, we unlocked our brake and fell --

當我們到達最高點時， 我們放掉了我們的煞車並落下——

200 feet on the radius,

半徑 200 英尺，

on the spoke that we were attached to.

那是與我們連結 在一起的輪輻半徑。

We reached as far up as heaven that day,

那一天，我們上到了天堂那麼高，

I'm pretty sure of it.

這一點我十分確信。

And then I and two of my dancers

接著，我和我的兩位舞者

walked down the outside of London's City Hall.

從倫敦市政廳的「外面」走下來。

As I stood up there, 300 feet above the ground,

當我站在那裡，離地 300 英尺，

and looked down,

並向下看，

I saw 2,000 eyes staring up at me,

我看到兩千隻眼睛向上盯著我，

and they saw what they usually do -- the sky, a bird, a plane -- and then us.

他們看見了他們通常會看見的東西 ——天空、鳥、飛機——

接著看到了我們。

And we were just a tiny speck up there.

我們看起來只是 在上頭的一個小點。

And I realized that action is for everybody.

我了解到，動作是給每個人的。

Now we have our very own mason jar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

現在，我們在布魯克林的威廉斯堡 有自己的寬口玻璃罐。

It's called SLAM: STREB Lab for Action Mechanics.

它叫做 SLAM，史特雷布 動作機制實驗的縮寫。

It was a former mustard seed factory.

那裡先前是一個芥菜種子工廠。

And I designed it after the use of a petri dish,

我根據使用培養皿的方式來設計它，

and in that petri dish,

在那培養皿中，

I put Kid Action, STREB EXTREME ACTION

我放入孩子的動作， 史特雷布極端動作，

and circus arts,

以及馬戲團藝術，

and we all learned to fly, fall and land and invent extreme action together.

我們全都一起學習飛翔、落下、 降落，一起發明極端動作。

And you know what we found?

猜猜我們發現什麼？

In comes everyone --

大家都來了——

every size, shape, age, capacity,

各種體型、身材、年齡、職業，

every nationality, every race, every class, all genders,

各種國籍、種族、階級、性別，

the timid and the bold, the outcast and the cool,

膽小的人和大膽的人、 被拋棄的人和很酷的人、

the risk avoiders and the risk obsessives.

閃避風險的人和迷戀風險的人。

And these buildings exist all over the world,

全世界都有這些建築，

and every one of them can be a flying training center.

每一棟都可以成為飛翔的訓練中心。

And you know, as it turns out,

你們知道嗎？結果，

people don't want to just dream about flying,

人們不只夢想能夠飛翔，

nor do they want to watch us fly.

他們也不只想看我們飛翔。

They want to do it, too, and they can.

他們想要且能夠飛翔。

And with a little training,

經過一點訓練，

they learn to relish the hit and the impact,

他們學會品嘗碰撞和衝擊，

and, I guess even more, getting up afterwards.

我猜站起來後還更想。

I've found that the effect of flying causes smiles to get more common,

我發現，

飛翔的效應包括 讓微笑變得更常見，

self-esteem to blossom,

讓自尊能綻放，

and people get just a little bit braver.

大家也變得更勇敢一點。

And people do learn to fly,

人們確實在學習飛翔，

as only humans can.

以只有人類能做到的方式。

So can you.

你們也可以。

Come fly with us.

來和我們一起飛翔吧。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

(Music)

（音樂）

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

謝謝。謝謝。謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）