同情心——泰迪熊赠予我们的礼物

演讲简介：1902年，总统西奥多·罗斯福传奇性地给了一只黑熊一条生路 - 这促使了人们对一个叫做“泰迪熊”玩具的狂热。作家乔恩·莫阿拉姆深入讲述了这个故事，并让我们思考我们如何讲述关于野外动物的故事对一个种类的生存机会，以及整个自然世界会有怎样真正的影响。 

演讲者：Jon Mooallem 乔恩·莫阿拉姆

 

演讲精彩片段赏析

 

So it was the fall of 1902, and President Theodore Roosevelt needed a little break from the White House, so he took a train to Mississippi to do a little black bear hunting outside of a town called Smedes.

1902年的秋天，西奥多·罗斯福总统需要一个暂别白宫的小假期，于是他坐火车去了密西西比。在一个镇外狩猎黑熊，这个镇叫斯密德思。

 

The first day of the hunt, they didn't see a single bear, so it was a big bummer for everyone, but the second day, the dogs cornered one after a really long chase, but by that point, the president had given up and gone back to camp for lunch, so his hunting guide cracked the animal on the top of the head with the butt of his rifle, and then tied it up to a tree and started tooting away on his bugle to call Roosevelt back so he could have the honor of shooting it.

在打猎的第一天他们没有看到熊，大家都觉得很无奈。然而第二天，猎犬在很长的追逐后把一只熊逼进角落。但在那个时候，总统已经放弃了追逐并回到营帐吃午餐。于是他的狩猎指导敲昏了动物用他步枪的尾部去敲击熊头顶，然后把它绑在一棵树上，随后吹着号角，嘟嘟地走了，他想让罗斯福回来时享受射击的乐趣。

 

The bear was a female. It was dazed, injured, severely underweight, a little mangy-looking, and when Roosevelt saw this animal tied up to the tree, he just couldn't bring himself to fire at it. He felt like that would go against his code as a sportsman.

这是一只母熊，它有些迷糊，也受了伤，体重严重不足，看起来脏脏的；当罗斯福看到这个动物被绑在树上时，他实在不忍心朝它开枪，他觉得这样做会违反他的行为准则和运动员精神。

 

A few days later, the scene was memorialized in a political cartoon back in Washington. It was called "Drawing a Line in Mississippi," and it showed Roosevelt with his gun down and his arm out, sparing the bear's life, and the bear was sitting on its hind legs with these two big, frightened, wide eyes and little ears pricked up at the top of its head.

几天后，这个情景被记录了下来出现在华盛顿的一个政治卡通中，它叫做《在密西西比划清底线》 画面展现了罗斯福放下了他的枪，同时伸出他的手臂，给熊留了一条生路。这只熊坐在它的后腿上，两只大眼睛睁得圆圆的充满了恐惧，它的耳朵竖在头顶上。

 

It looked really helpless, like you just wanted to sweep it up into your arms and reassure it. It wouldn't have looked familiar at the time, but if you go looking for the cartoon now, you recognize the animal right away: It's a teddy bear. And this is how the teddy bear was born. Essentially, toy makers took the bear from the cartoon, turned it into a plush toy, and then named it after President Roosevelt — Teddy's bear.

它看起来很无助，你恨不得想把它拥入怀中让它不要担心。在那时它看起来不太眼熟但如果你现在看这个卡通你能马上认出这个动物：它就是泰迪熊。这就是泰迪熊诞生的故事，简单说：玩具制造商将这个卡通中的熊做成了毛绒玩具，并用罗斯福总统的名字给它命了名：泰迪熊。

 

词汇点津：

toot [tuːt] 按响(喇叭)

例句：People set off fireworks and tooted their car horns.

       人们放起烟火并按响汽车喇叭。

 

dazed [dezd] adj. 头昏的；茫然的

例句：At the end of the interview I was dazed and exhausted.

      采访结束的时候，我感到头昏眼花、精疲力竭。

 

prick up vt. 竖起

例句：Oh,what secret is it? I've already pricked up my ears.

      啊，什么秘密?我已竖起耳朵听着哩。