[This talk contains mature content]
(本演讲含成人内容)
In 1969, I was standing behind a Sylvania black-and-white television set. Hearing about these things happening on the set in the front, I was the guy, you know, moving the rabbit ears for my dad, and my sister and my mom. "Move over here, turn over here, move this way, we can't see the screen." And what they were watching was: "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil [Armstrong] and Buzz Aldrin were walking on the Moon. And I was five years old in Lynchburg, Virginia, a skinny black kid in a kind of somewhat racist town. And I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. And my parents, you know, they were educators, they'd said that you can do anything. But after that moon landing, all the kids in the neighborhood were like, "You're going to be an astronaut?" I'm like, "No." I don't want a buzz cut, and I don't see someone who looks like me. Because representation does matter.
1969年,我站在一台 欧司朗的黑白电视机后面。 听着前面电视机里发生的事情, 我就是那个负责帮我家人 调弄电视机天线的人。 “往这边挪,转过来,朝这边儿, 我们看不到画面了。” 而那个时候他们在看的是: “我的一小步,是人类的一大步。” 尼尔(阿姆斯特朗)和 巴兹·奥尔德林正在月球上行走。 我那时五岁,是个瘦巴巴的黑人小孩, 住在弗吉尼亚州的林奇堡, 那里的人多少都有些种族歧视。 我那时还在思索 我长大了应该做什么。 而我身为教育家的父母 会说,你可以做任何事。 但自从那次登陆月球之后, 邻里的所有小孩 都会问:“你将来要当太空人吗?” 而我只会答:“不。” 我不想剪平头,也没有看见 和我同样肤色的人, 因为外表确实很重要。
And I knew that there was a guy five blocks down the street on Pierce Street who was training to play tennis. And it was Arthur Ashe. And my dad talked about his character, his discipline, his intelligence, his athleticism. I wanted to be Arthur Ashe, I didn't want to be one of those moon guys.
那个时候我也知道有一个人 住在离我家五个街区的皮尔斯街, 正接受网球训练。 他就是亚瑟·阿什, 我爸爸时常说起他的性格、他的自律、 他的智慧、他的运动精神。 我那时想要成为亚瑟·阿什, 而不是那些在月球上漫步的家伙。
And as I went on through this journey, my dad, who was a school teacher, he played in a band, he did all these things to make money for my sister and I to take piano lessons and do these different things with education. And he one day decides to drive up into the driveway with this bread truck. And I'm thinking, "OK, bread truck, me delivering bread while my dad's driving the truck." I'm like, "OK, I'm going to be a bread guy now." But he says, "This is our camper." I'm like, "Dude, come one, I can read: 'Merita Bread and Rolls' on the side of this truck. And he says, "No, we're going to build this into our camper." And over that summer, we rewired the entire electrical system. We plumbed a propane tank to a Coleman stove, we built bunk beds that flip down. We were turning this into our summer vacation launch pad, escape pod, this thing that could take us out of Lynchburg.
而在我的人生旅途中, 我爸爸,他是学校教师,还是个乐手, 他什么都做,只为了 赚钱让家里孩子可以 上钢琴课 和接受各个方面的教育。 有一天,他突然将一辆 送面包的车开上我们的车道。 我心想:“哦,面包车, 我送面包,我爸爸开车。” 我当下以为:“我要成为 一个送面包的小伙子了。” 但我爸爸说:“这是我们的露营车。” 我说:“爸,别闹了, 我可是识字的,车上明明写着 ‘玛丽塔面包和卷饼。’ ” 他又说:“不,我们要把它 改造成我们的露营车。” 于是那年夏天,我们把 整个电气系统都重新做了布线。 我们把一个丙烷罐 改装成了一个赫尔曼炉, 打造了可以翻下来的床铺。 我们把它改造成了暑假用的 发射台,逃生舱, 它能带我们离开林奇堡。
And before that, I was actually raped at five by some neighbors. And I didn't tell anyone, because I had friends that didn't have fathers. And I knew that my father would have killed the people that did that to his son. And I didn't want my father to be gone.
在那之前, 我其实在五岁时被一些邻居强暴了, 而我没告诉任何人, 因为我有些朋友没有爸爸, 而我知道我爸爸要是知道了 就一定会杀了 对他儿子做这种事的人。 我不希望我也没有了爸爸。
So as we got in this bread truck and escaped from Lynchburg, it was my time with my dad. And we went to the Smoky Mountains and looked at the purple mountains' majesty. And we walked along the beach in Myrtle Beach, and this thing was transformative. It showed me what it meant to be an explorer, at a very early age. And I suppressed all that negativity, all that trauma, because I was learning to be an explorer.
所以,当我们进入 这台面包车,逃离林奇堡, 那是属于我和我爸的时光。 我们去了大烟山, 观赏紫色山岳的雄伟。 我们在默特尔比奇的海滩散步, 而这些给我带来了转变。 它让我在很小的年纪 就见识到作为探险家的意义。 我压抑了所有的负面情绪, 所有的创伤, 只因为我正学习着 如何成为一个探险家。
And a little bit later, my mother gave me an age-inappropriate, non-OSHA-certified chemistry set,
不久后,我妈给了我 一个不符合我年龄,并且没经过 OSHA (美国职业安全与卫生管理局) 认证的化学实验工具箱。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
where I created the most incredible explosion in her living room.
也正因为如此,我在她的客厅 创造了最惊人的爆炸。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And so I knew I could be a chemist. So as I went on this journey through a high school, and I went to college, and I got a football scholarship to play football in college. And I knew that I could be a chemist, because I'd already blown stuff up.
所以,我知道我可以成为化学家。 当我继续读完了高中, 上了大学, 我拿到了大学的橄榄球奖学金, 并且相信自己能成为一个化学家, 因为我已经造成过爆炸了。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And when I graduated, I got drafted to the Detroit Lions. But I pulled a hamstring in training camp, and so what every former NFL player does, they go work for NASA, right? So I went to work for NASA.
我毕业后, 被底特律雄狮选召入队。 但我在训练营拉伤了大腿后腱, 通常前NFL(国家橄榄球联盟)球员退休后, 都会去NASA(美国太空总署)工作对吧? 所以我也去那里工作了。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And this friend of mine said, "Leland, you'd be great astronaut." I just laughed at him, I was like, "Yeah, me, an astronaut?" You know that Neil and Buzz thing from back in '69? And he handed me an application, and I looked at it, and I didn't fill it out. And that same year, another friend of mine filled out the application and he got in. And I said to myself, "If NASA's letting knuckleheads like that be astronauts,"
那时我一个朋友就说:“里兰,我觉得 你可以成为一个出色的太空人。” 我只是嘲笑他异想天开,说: “你确定?我?太空人?” 还记得69年尼尔和 巴兹(登月)的事吗? 他递给我一个申请表格,我看了一下, 可是却没去填写。 同一年,我的另一个朋友 填写了那份申请表格, 然后入选了。 于是我不禁心想: “如果美国太空总署都能让 那种蠢货做太空人的话,”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
"maybe I can be one, too."
“那也许我真的也能成为一个太空人。”
So the next selection, I filled out the application, and I got in. And I didn't know what it meant to be an astronaut: the training, the simulations, all these things to get you ready for this countdown: three, two, one, liftoff. And in 2007, I was in Space Shuttle "Atlantis," careening off the planet, traveling at 17,500 miles per hour. And eight and a half minutes later, the main engines cut off, and we're now floating in space. And I push off and float over to the window, and I can see the Caribbean. And I need new definitions of blue to describe the colors that I see. Azure, indigo, navy blue, medium navy blue, turquoise don't do any justice to what I see with my eyes.
所以在下一次选拔时, 我填了申请表,然后入选了。 我当时不知道当太空人意味着什么: 无穷无尽的训练、模拟, 一切只为了让你在 倒数升空时做好充分的准备: 三,二,一,发射。 2007年,我在亚特兰蒂斯号 航天飞机上,以极高的速度离开地球, 时速两万八千多公里。 而八分钟半之后, 主引擎熄火,我们开始在外太空漂浮。 我把自己推向窗户, 从那里看见了加勒比海。 我需要重新定义蓝色, 方能形容我眼前的颜色。 天蓝色、靛蓝色、深蓝色、 中深蓝色、蓝绿色 都无法形容我双眼所看到的景象。
And my job on this mission was to install this two-billion dollar Columbus laboratory. It was a research laboratory for materials research, for human research. And I reached into the payload bay of the space shuttle, grabbed out this big module, and I used the robotic arm and I attached it to the space station. And the European team have been waiting 10 years for this thing to get installed, so I'm sure everyone in Europe was like, "Leland! Leland! Leland!"
我在这次任务中的工作,是安装 价值二十亿美金的哥伦布号实验舱。 它是一间研究实验室, 供材料研究和人类研究所用。 我把手伸进太空船的酬载舱内 取出大型模组, 然后我使用机械手臂 将它安装到太空站上。 为了这一刻,欧洲的团队等待了十年, 所以我深信欧洲的每个人 都在欢呼:“里兰!里兰!里兰!”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And so this moment happened, this was our primary mission objective, it was done. And I had this big sigh of relief. But then, Peggy Whitson, the first female commander, she invited us over to the Russian segment. And the space station's about the size of a football field, with solar panel and trusses and all of these modules. And she says, "Leland, you go get the rehydrated vegetables, we have the meat." So we float over with the bag of vegetables, all rehydrated, and we get there.
于是这一时刻发生了, 这就是我们的主要任务目的, 大功告成。 我大大松了一口气。 但是接着呢,第一位 女性指挥官,佩吉·惠特森, 她邀请我们到俄国区。 太空站的大小大约有 一个足球场那么大, 那里有太阳能板、 桁架和各种各样的模组。 她说:“里兰,你去拿一下再水化蔬菜, 我们这里有肉。” 于是,我们带着一袋 再水化蔬菜,一路飘着 到了那里。
And there's this moment where I get [transported] back to my mother's kitchen. You can smell the beef and barley heating up, you can smell the food, the colors, and there are people there from all around the world. It's like a Benetton commercial, you know, you have African American, Asian American, French, German, Russian, the first female commander, breaking bread at 17,500 miles per hour, going around the planet every 90 minutes, seeing a sunrise and a sunset every 45. And Peggy would say, "Hey, Leland, try some of this," and she'd float it over to my mouth, and I'd catch it and we'd go back and forth. And we're doing all of this while listening to Sade's "Smooth Operator."
就在这个时刻, 我仿佛被传送回到我妈妈的厨房。 你能闻到烹饪牛肉和大麦的味道, 能闻到那食物,想像出那颜色, 你还看到了来自世界各地的人们。 就像一个班尼顿广告, 有非裔美国人、亚裔美国人、 法国人、德国人、俄国人, 国际太空站第一位女指挥官, 在时速两万八千多公里的 舱里和我们共餐, 每九十分钟我们环绕地球一圈, 每45分钟就能分别 看到一次日出和日落。 佩吉这时就会说: “嘿,里兰,试试这个。” 她就在零重力的环境下 给我抛来了食物, 我会用嘴将漂来的食物 接住,然后彼此“礼尚往来”。 就这样来来往往, 背景放着莎黛的《调情圣手》。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I mean, this is like blowing my mind, you know.
这感觉真的很让人难以置信。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And I float over to the window, and I look down at the planet, and I see all of humanity. And my perspective changes at that moment, because, I'm flying over Lynchburg, Virginia, my home town, and my family's probably breaking bread. And five minutes later, we're flying over Paris, where Leo Eyharts is looking down at his parents, probably having some wine and cheese, and Yuri's looking off to Moscow, and they're probably eating borscht or something else. But we're all having this moment where we see our respective families working together as one civilization, at 17,500 miles per hour.
然后我漂向窗户,俯瞰地球, 看着全世界的人类。 在那一刻,我的观点改变了, 我正飞过我的家乡, 弗吉尼亚州的林奇堡, 我的家人说不定也正在吃饭。 五分钟后,我们飞过巴黎, 轮到里欧·艾哈特斯 往下看着自己的父母, 他们也许在喝葡萄酒配奶酪, 然后轮到尤里看着莫斯科, 那里的人也许就在吃 “罗宋汤”或者其他东西。 可是我们各自都拥有这样一个 从远处观看各自家人的时刻, 大家秉承着同一个文明, 以两万八千公里的时速团结协作。
My perspective shifted cognitively, it changed me. And when I think about being that little skinny boy, from sometimes racist Lynchburg, Virginia, I would never have had that perspective to think about myself of being an astronaut, if my father hadn't taken us on a journey in this radical craft that we built with our own two hands.
我的认知改变了, 这也改变了我。 当我回想起当年那个瘦小的男孩时, 来自时不时会有种族歧视的 弗吉尼亚州的林奇堡小镇, 我绝对不会改变我那时抱持的观点, 觉得自己能当上太空人。 要不是当年我爸 带我们踏上探险的旅程, 搭着当年靠自己的双手 彻底翻新的露营车。
When I came home, I realized that perspective is something that we all get and we all have. It's just how far do we open up our blinders to see that shift and that change. And going back to the space station, I think of, you know, Germans and Russians fighting Americans. We have these people living and working together. White folks, black folks, Russian folks, French folks, you know. All these different people coexisting in harmony as one race. And I think about the colors that I saw, the design of the modules, the way that things fit together, the way that it made us a community, our home.
回来后, 我了解到,观点这种东西 是我们每个人都拥有的。 差别只在于我们是否愿意把眼罩掀开, 以发现各式各样的转换和改变。 而回到那个太空船, 我想到,德国和俄国正与美国对抗, 可是我们这里有他们的人民 一起生活和工作着。 白人、黑人、俄国人、法国人等等。 这些不同国家的人能够 情同手足地和谐共处。 我想到我所见的颜色, 以及不同模组的设计, 一切都那么协调, 也让我们成为了一个社区, 一个属于我们的家园。
And so when I look up to space now, and I have this newfound perspective on the space station going overhead and looking there, and then looking back at my community and seeing the people that I'm living and working with, and coexisting with, I think it's something that we all can do now, especially in these times, to make sure that we have the right perspective.
现在,当我抬头望向天空, 我会对头上飞过的太空站 抱持着全新的观点。 而我看着那里, 再看向我所在的社区, 看到和我一起生活和工作, 和平共处的人们, 我想这是我们所有人现在所能 做到的,尤其在这个时代, 以确保我们拥有 正确的态度来看待彼此。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Chee Pearlman: If you don't mind, could I just chat with you for a minute, because they're going to set up some things here. And I get to have you all to myself, OK.
切·佩尔曼:如果你不介意, 我能不能和你聊一下, 因为他们还得在台上做些布置, 而我也有这个机会和你交流,好吗?
Leland Melvin: Alright.
里兰·马尔文:好的。
CP: You guys don't get to hear this. So I have to tell you that in my family, we watch a lot of space movies about astronauts and stuff like that. I can't tell you why, but we do.
切:你们可没法听到这些。 我得告诉你, 在我家,我们会看很多太空电影, 有关太空人这类的。 我也不知道为什么,但就是如此。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
The thing that I wanted to ask you, though, is that we were seeing this movie the other day, and it was about one of the astronauts, one of your colleagues, and before he went up into space, they actually wrote an obituary, NASA wrote an obituary for him. And I was like, is that normal? And is that part of the job? Do you think about that peril that you're putting yourself in as you go into space?
不过,我想问你的是, 有一次,我们在看其中一部电影, 讲的是一位太空人,你的一位同事, 就在他出发上太空之前, 美国太空总署给他写了一片讣文。 我心想,这是正常的吗? 是不是工作的一部分? 你们会去思考身处外太空时, 是处在什么样的危险之中吗?
LM: Yeah. So, I don't remember anyone writing my obituary, maybe that was an Apollo-day thing. But I do know that in the 135 shuttle flights that we've had, the shuttle that I flew on, we had two accidents that killed everyone on that mission. And we all know the perils and the risks that go along with this, but we're doing something that's much bigger than ourselves, and helping advance civilization, so the risk is worth the reward. And we all feel that way when we get into that vehicle ans strap into those million pounds of rocket fuel and go up to space.
里兰:好。 我不记得是否有人给我写讣文, 也许是阿波罗时期的事。 但我确实知道,在我们 进行过的135趟太空飞行中, 我搭乘过的航天飞机 曾发生过两次意外,导致 执行该任务的所有人的不幸殉职。 我们都很清楚这份工作的危险和风险, 但是我们做的事情, 其意义远远超过我们本身, 它会协助人类文明的进步, 所以冒这样的险是值得的。 而当我们进入航天飞机, 系上安全带,与几百万吨的火箭燃料 一同飞上外太空,自始至终 我们都抱持着这样的想法。
CP: Yeah, I've only seen the Hollywood version -- it looks pretty terrifying, I have to tell you.
切:是啊,我只看过好莱坞的版本—— 我得说,看起来是挺吓人的。
LM: You should go.
里兰:你应该去试试。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
CP: Yeah, my husband's told me that a few times.
切:是啊,我老公也这么说过几次。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
LM: One-way trip or two-way?
里兰:单程吗?还是来回?
(Laughter)
(笑声)
CP: That’s a bit of a debate in our house.
切:我们家内部倒是争论过几次。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I wanted to, if I may ... You did touch on something that was very powerful and difficult, which is, you spoke about this incident that had happened to you when you were five years old, and that you were raped. And I just think that for you to be able to say those things, you know, on the TED stage, to be able to talk about that at all, is pretty fearless. And I wanted to get a sense from you, is that something that you think is important for you to share that now, to speak about it?
如果可以的话,我想—— 你刚刚提到了一个非常强大 而且难以启齿的话题, 那就是,你谈到了你五岁时 遭遇过的不幸, 你说你被强暴了。 我只是在想,你能够 把这些事情说出来, 而且是在TED的讲台上, 能够开诚布公地谈论这件事 是相当勇敢的。 而我想要听听你的感受, 你是否觉得你现在分享这件事, 谈论这件事很重要?
LM: It's so important, especially for men, to talk about things that have happened, because we've been trained and told by our society that we have to be so tough and so hard and we can't tell of things that are happening to us. But I've had so many men contact me and tell me that, "You came through that, you got over that, I'm going to get over my alcoholism," and these things that are going on in them, because of what happened to them. And so we must share these stories, this is part of storytelling, to heal us and to make us whole as a community.
里兰:非常重要,特别是对于男性, 要勇于谈论以前发生过的事, 只因为我们以前都被社会 塑造成一个必须要坚韧的强悍形象, 以至于我们无法说出 发生在自己身上的事情。 可是有很多男性联系了我,并告诉我: “你经历过了这些事,挺过去了, 而我现在也要克服我的酗酒问题。” 这些因为他们的遭遇 而产生的内在挣扎。 所以我们必须把这些事情 分享出来,这是说故事的一部分, 来帮助我们治愈,帮助我们大家 制造一个完整的社会。
CP: That's wonderful.
切:说得太棒了。
(Applause)
(掌声)
And you know, quite honestly, you spoke about perspective shift, and that is a shift that I think we've been very slow to accept and to be able to speak about that, so we thank you for that. We thank you for being the amazing astronaut that you are, and thank you for coming to the TED stage, Leland.
还有,老实说, 你谈到了观点上的改变, 而我认为,我们花了 很多时间才能慢慢地接受它, 能够去谈论这类事, 所以我们想对你表达感谢。 谢谢你,作为一个那么出色的太空人, 也感谢你来到TED的讲台上,里兰。
LM: Thank you so much, Chee.
里兰:非常感谢,切。
(Applause)
(掌声)