【正文】 x船上遇難者的悲慘結(jié)局 或許是可以通過人為的努力避免的， 如果他們當(dāng)機(jī)立斷地離開沉船， 直奔塔西提群島。
　　but,amp。quot。 as melville put it, amp。quot。they dreaded cannibals.amp。quot。 so the question is, why did these men dread cannibals so much more than the extreme likelihood of starvation?
　　”。但是”。，梅爾維爾說道：”。他們害怕食人族”。 問題是，為什么這些人對(duì)于食人族的恐懼 超過了更有可能的饑餓威脅呢?
　　why were they swayed by one story so much more than the other? looked at from this angle, theirs bees a story about reading. the novelist vladimir nabokov said that the best reader has a bination of two very different temperaments, the artistic and the scientific.
　　為什么他們會(huì)被一個(gè)故事 影響如此之大呢? 從另一個(gè)角度來看， 這是一個(gè)關(guān)于解讀的故事。 小說家弗拉基米爾。納博科夫(vladimir nabokov)說 最好的讀者能把兩種截然不同的性格結(jié)合起來， 一個(gè)是藝術(shù)氣質(zhì)，一個(gè)是科學(xué)精神。
　　a good reader has an artistamp。39。s passion, a willingness to get caught up in the story, but just as importantly, the readers also needs the coolness of judgment of a scientist, which acts to temper and plicate the readeramp。39。s intuitive reactions to the story. as weamp。39。ve seen, the men of the essex had no trouble with the artistic part.
　　好的讀者有藝術(shù)家的熱情， 愿意融入故事當(dāng)中， 但是同樣重要的是，這些讀者還要 有科學(xué)家的冷靜判斷， 這能幫助他們穩(wěn)定情緒并分析 其對(duì)故事的直覺反應(yīng)。 我們可以看出來，essex上的人在藝術(shù)部分一點(diǎn)問題都沒有。
　　they dreamed up a variety of horrifying scenarios. the problem was that they listened to the wrong story. of all the narratives their fears wrote, they responded only to the most lurid, the most vivid, the one that was easiest for their imaginations to picture: cannibals.
　　他們夢想到一系列恐怖的場景。 問題在于他們聽從了一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤的故事。 所有他們恐懼中 他們只對(duì)其中最聳人聽聞，最生動(dòng)的故事， 也是他們想象中最早出現(xiàn)的場景： 食人族。
　　but perhaps if theyamp。39。d been able to read their fears more like a scientist, with more coolness of judgment, they would have listened instead to the less violent but the more likely tale, the story of starvation, and headed for tahiti, just as melvilleamp。39。s sad mentary suggests.
　　也許，如果他們能像科學(xué)家那樣 稍微冷靜一點(diǎn)解讀這個(gè)故事， 如果他們能聽從不太驚悚但是更可能發(fā)生的 半路餓死的故事，他們可能就會(huì)直奔塔西提群島， 如梅爾維爾充滿惋惜的評(píng)論所建議的那樣。
　　and maybe if we all tried to read our fears, we too would be less often swayed by the most salacious among them.
　　也許如果我們都試著解讀自己的恐懼， 我們就能少被 其中的一些幻象所迷惑。
　　maybe then weamp。39。d spend less time worrying about serial killers and plane crashes, and more time concerned with the subtler and slower disasters we face: the silent buildup of plaque in our arteries, the gradual changes in our climate.
　　我們也就能少花一點(diǎn)時(shí)間在 為系列殺手或者飛機(jī)失事方面的擔(dān)憂， 而是更多的關(guān)心那些悄然而至 的災(zāi)難： 動(dòng)脈血小板的逐漸堆積， 氣候的逐漸變遷。
　　just as the most nuanced stories in literature are often the richest, so too might our subtlest fears be the truest. read in the right way, our fears are an amazing gift of the imagination, a kind of everyday clairvoyance, a way of glimpsing what might be the future when thereamp。39。s still time to influence how that future will play out.
　　如同文學(xué)中最精妙的故事通常是最豐富的故事， 我們最細(xì)微的恐懼才是最真實(shí)的恐懼。 用正確的方法的解讀，我們的恐懼就是我們想象力 賜給我們的禮物，借此一雙慧眼， 讓我們能管窺未來 甚至影響未來。
　　properly read, our fears can offer us something as precious as our favorite works of literature: a little wisdom, a bit of insight and a version of that most elusive thing the truth. thank you.
　　如果能得到正確的解讀，我們的恐懼能 和我們最喜歡的文學(xué)作品一樣給我們珍貴的東西： 一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)智慧，一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)洞悉 以及對(duì)最玄妙東西。 真相的詮釋。 謝謝。
　　(applause)
　　(掌聲)