2010-08-31

Sheryl WuDunn: Our century's greatest injustice


Translated by Adrienne

notes 4 Sheryl WuDunn: Our century's greatest injustice

個人喜愛度:★★★★★

Half the Sky 《她們,和她們的希望故事》
rice paddies 稻田
exogenous investment 外源的
vicious cycle 惡性循環
virtuous cycle 良性循環
tenet 原則;信條
hyperbole 誇張
Ethiopia 衣索比亞
transformative effect 轉變作用
maternal mortality 因難產死亡的婦女 
obstetric fistula 生殖廔管
obstructed labor 阻礙性分娩(嬰兒頭太大,以致不能通過產道分娩)
incontinent 大小便失禁
hyena 鬣狗(分佈於非洲和亞洲,以動物屍體為食)
Addis Ababa 阿地斯阿貝巴(衣索匹亞首都)
Lahore, Pakistan 拉合爾(巴基斯坦城市)
microlending 小額貸款
embroidery 刺繡
Bill Easterly's book "Dead Aid" 比爾伊斯特《致命援助》
irrigation 灌溉

chicken coop (關雞等的)籠子
to throw the baby out with the bath water 不要把好東西連同壞東西一起拋棄
Darfur 非洲國家蘇丹西部的達佛地區
steadfast 堅定的;不動搖的




When you educate a girl, she tends to get married later on in life, she tends to have kids later on in life, she tends to have fewer kids, and those kids that she does have, she educates them in a more enlightened fashion.

2010-08-30

Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks

朱利安‧亞桑傑(Julian Assange):維基解密存在的必要性


Translated by Adrienne

notes 4 Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks

個人喜愛度:★★★★★

dead albatross around one's neck 
The word albatross is sometimes used to mean an encumbrance, or a wearisome burden. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner(1798).

insurgents 叛亂
dissidents 持不同政見、反對
bottleneck 瓶頸

Capable, generous men do not create victims; they nurture victims.




Elif Shafak: The politics of fiction


Translated by Adrienne

2007 English Interview:
Elif Shafak: Writing Under a Watchful Eye

notes 4 Elif Shafak: The politics of fiction

個人喜愛度:★★★★★ 

secular 世俗
blemish 污點
humanness might wither 枯萎
cultural cocoons/cultural ghettos 文化圈
demolish frontiers 破壞邊境
cosmopolitan 世界性的, 國際性的; 無狹隘偏見的
She has a very cosmopolitan outlook on life. 她有四海一家的人生觀。
egalitarian 平等主義的
marginal 邊緣的(人)
transvestite 異性裝扮癖者
mathematical and cerebral 精確的;理智的
perpetual frustration 永久的
poignant 強烈的
avant-garde (藝術界)先鋒, 前衛派;前衛的
in nuances 細微差別
itinerant 遊歷的;巡迴者
meddah 說書人-邁達赫(註)
"The Tales of Nasreddin Hodja" 《土耳其智者荷加的故事》
fetishize 盲目崇拜
concubine 妾
elusiveness 難以捉摸
dervish (回教的)托缽僧


"Knowledge that takes you, not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance." (註2)

The problem with today's cultural ghettos is not lack of knowledge. We know a lot about each other, or so we think. But knowledge that takes us not beyond ourselves, it makes us elitist, distant and disconnected.

"Come, let us be friends for once; let us make life easy on us; let us be lovers and loved ones; the earth shall be left to no one."

Living like a drawing compass - as you know, one leg of the compass is static, rooted in a place. Meanwhile, the other leg draws a wide circle, constantly moving. 

註:
邁達赫(公共場所說書人)藝術 The Arts of the Meddah,Public Storytellers
邁達里克是一種土耳其傳統史詩的演唱形式,由一位演員獨自表演。邁達里克的藝術是在整個土耳其倖存的一種口頭的文學的傳統,稱為meddah(邁達赫)。說書人被稱為邁達赫。

這一說唱形式是居住在中亞地區的土耳其人於六世紀前後,西遷之前創立的。歷史上,這種敘事類型也已經在阿拉伯人,波斯和庫爾德語人中間存在。隨著時間的推移不斷發展,又由於亞洲、高加索和中東各族人民之間在這塊廣大地域裡的互相影響,產生了多種類似的形式。邁達里克這種十分珍貴的口傳文學不僅在奧托曼王朝統治下的土耳其語地區倖存下來,而且仍在土耳其以及上述地區流行。

邁達赫這一稱謂,源自阿拉伯語"瑪達赫",意為"表彰某人",可譯為"說書人"。這門藝術與傳統獨角戲有親緣關係,唱詞和滑稽故事則取材於廣泛流行的民歌、傳說和民間史詩。說書人會根據場地和觀眾的不同選擇不同的內容。這種表演的效果在很大程度上取決於說書人與觀眾之間的融洽程度,還取決於他把模仿、笑話和即興發揮等融為一體的能力。有才華的邁達赫能不時地將現代生活中的事件,用夾雜著各種土耳其方言的詼諧語言表達出來。在註重掌握修辭的土耳其文化中,邁達赫得到高度的尊重。實際上,由於伊斯蘭教禁止某些舞台劇,所以各種形式的說唱藝術在近東文化中也就有了優先地位。

邁達赫的作用不僅是娛樂,而且給人以啟迪和教育。在商隊驛站、集市、酒館、清真寺和教堂裡,都能聽到這些才華橫溢的藝人的演唱,他們把一些觀念和價值觀宣講給多為文盲的民眾,評論社會和政治,不斷喚起他們對現實問題的激烈討論。一個熟練的邁達赫說書藝人經常將各種各樣土耳其方言和機智的評論用於說書藝術中。邁達赫的功能傳統上是教育人們。

在當代土耳其,邁達赫說書藝術在齋月期間內和在其他宗教場合上進行。以前,它的教育和娛樂功能是很有特色,並在文化中心很受歡迎的。但在現代大眾宣傳媒介尤其是電影的衝擊下,邁達赫已經丟失他們的很大一部分功能。當今社會,只是很少人能掌握這門古代敘事藝術。
source

註2:
People looking for knowledge online seem to seek out what they already believe, and shun and sometimes even attack what goes against their beliefs. Knowledge that does not actually expand your knowledge of the world does nothing to teach you of the world around you, and may actually reinforce bad information you already have. This is because it can make you feel like you know much, and help to insulate you from true knowledge, and can be a form of ignorance in itself.

That form of ignorance is worse that actual ignorance due to the fact that it is self-reinforced through mis-education and pride in someone feeling "knowledgeable."

souce