If trees could speak | Elif Shafak

Transcriber: TED Translators Admin Reviewer: Mirjana Čutura

譯者: Amanda Zhu 審譯者: Zeddi Lee

Humans do not see trees.

人類對樹木視若不見。

They walk by us every day.

他們每天從我們身邊走過。

They sit and sleep, smoke and picnic

他們在我們的樹蔭下 坐、臥、抽煙、野餐、

and secretly kiss in our shade.

偷偷地接吻。

They pluck our leaves and gorge on our fruits.

他們摘取我們的葉子， 大啖我們的果實。

They break our branches

他們攀折我們的樹枝，

or carve their lover's name on our trunks with their blades

或用小刀在我們的樹幹上 刻情人的名字，

and vow eternal love.

發下永恆的誓言。

They weave necklaces out of our needles

他們用我們的松針編織項鍊，

and paint our flowers into art.

在畫作中描繪我們的花朵。

They split us into logs to heat their homes,

他們把我們劈成柴薪，在家中取暖。

and sometimes they chop us down

有時他們僅僅因為我們擋住了視線

just because they think we obstruct their view.

就把我們砍倒。

They make cradles, wine corks, chewing gum, rustic furniture

他們用我們製作搖籃、酒瓶軟木塞、 口香糖、質樸風傢俱，

and produce the most beautiful music out of us.

並做出最美的音樂。

And they turn us into books

他們把我們變成書本，

in which they bury themselves on cold winter nights.

在寒冷的冬夜埋首其中。

They use our wood to manufacture coffins in which they end their lives.

他們用我們的木頭製造棺材， 用來裝生命的終點。

And they even compose the most romantic poems for us,

他們甚至為我們創作了最浪漫的詩歌，

claiming we're the link between earth and sky.

說我們將地球和天空相連。

And yet, they do not see us.

然而，他們對我們視若不見。

So one of the many beauties of the art of storytelling

講故事的藝術有眾多的美麗之處，

is to imagine yourself inside someone else's voice.

有一種美是想像自己 用別人的聲音說話。

But as writers, as much as we love stories and words,

身為作家，雖然我熱愛故事和文字，

I believe we must also be interested in silences:

但我認為我們也必須對沉默感興趣：

the things we cannot talk about easily in our societies,

在我們的社會中無法輕易談論的事情，

the marginalized, the disempowered.

那些被邊緣化、沒有權力的人的沉默。

In that sense, literature can, and hopefully does,

從這個意義上說，文學可能， 而且希望真的可以，

bring the periphery to the center,

把邊緣的帶到中心，

make the invisible a bit more visible,

使隱形的更顯眼，

make the unheard a bit more heard,

使不被聽見的被聽見，

and empathy and understanding speak louder than demagoguery and apathy.

同理心和互相了解 比煽動和冷漠更有影響力。

Stories bring us together.

故事把我們聚集在一起；

Untold stories and entrenched silences keep us apart.

被隱藏的故事和根深蒂固的沉默

使我們疏離。

But how to tell the stories of humanity and nature

但當我們的星球正在燃燒，

at a time when our planet is burning

不管是從政治、社會 還是生態層面來看，

and there is no precedent

我們即將集體經歷的

for what we're about to experience collectively

是歷史從未發生過的，

whether it's political, social or ecological?

此時我們該如何訴說 人類和自然的故事呢？

But tell we must

但這故事我們還是要說，

because if there's one thing

因為有一件事

that is destroying our world more than anything,

最能破壞我們的世界，

it is numbness.

那就是麻木。

When people become disconnected, desensitized, indifferent,

人們變得脫節、無情、無動於衷，

when they stop listening, when they stop learning

他們停止傾聽、停止學習、

and when they stop caring

停止關心發生在這裡、那裡 和任何地方的事情。

about what's happening here, there and everywhere.

We measure time differently, trees and humans.

樹木和人類以不同的方式測量時間。

Human time is linear --

人類的時間是線性的，

a neat continuum

一個整齊的連續體，

stretching from a past that is deemed to be over and done with

從過去一直延伸， 而過去被認為已經結束。

towards the future that is supposed to be pristine, untouched.

然後延伸到未來， 而未來應該是純真的、未受污染的。

Tree time is circular.

樹木的時間是圓形的。

Both the past and the future breathe within the present moment.

過去和未來都在當下呼吸。

And the present does not move in one direction.

然而「當下」不是朝單一的方向移動，

Instead it draws circles within circles,

而是畫圈圈，一圈一圈地畫，

like the rings you would find when you cut us down.

就是當你砍下我們時發現的年輪一樣。

Next time you walk by a tree, try to slow down and listen

下次你從一棵樹旁走過， 試著放慢腳步並且聆聽，

because each of us whispers in the wind.

因為我們每棵樹木都在風中低語。

Look at us.

看看我們，

We're older than you and your kind.

我們比你們人類老。

Listen to what we have to tell,

聆聽我們訴說的故事，

because hidden inside our story is the past and the future of humanity.

因為隱藏在我們故事中的 是人類的過去和未來。