I mean, we've been doing it for two million years,

就是說，我們已經這樣跑了兩百萬年，

so it's kind of arrogant to assume

所以我這樣可能有點不知天高地厚

that I've got something to say

如果我說我知道一些東西

that hasn't been said and performed better a long time ago.

是很久以來都沒人能更好表述和演示過的。

But the cool thing about running, as I've discovered,

但是我所發現的關於跑步的最有意思的

is that something bizarre happens

就是有些奇怪的事情

in this activity all the time.

發生在這個運動的全過程。

Case in point: A couple months ago, if you saw the New York City Marathon,

舉個例子：幾個月前，如果你看了紐約城的馬拉松，

I guarantee you, you saw something

我敢肯定你看到了

that no one has ever seen before.

一些前所未見的東西。

An Ethiopian woman named Derartu Tulu

有一位埃塞俄比亞女子叫 Derartu Tulu

turns up at the starting line.

出現在起跑線上。

She's 37 years old,

她37歲，

she hasn't won a marathon of any kind in eight years,

在過去8年裡從未贏過任何一場馬拉松比賽，

and a few months previously

而就在幾個月前，

she almost died in childbirth.

她幾乎難產而死。

Derartu Tulu was ready to hang it up and retire from the sport,

Derartu Tulu 已經準備挂靴而去，退出體育運動，

but she decided she'd go for broke

但是她決定要全力以赴

and try for one last big payday

做一次最後的衝刺，

in the marquee event,

她選擇了一個盛會

the New York City Marathon.

紐約市馬拉松比賽。

Except -- bad news for Derartu Tulu -- some other people had the same idea,

但是——對Derartu Tulu來說有個壞消息——有人和她帶著同樣的想法，

including the Olympic gold medalist

包括奧運會金牌得主，

and Paula Radcliffe, who is a monster,

以及Paula Radcliffe，她簡直就是猛獸，

the fastest woman marathoner in history by far.

她是有史以來速度最快的馬拉松女選手。

Only 10 minutes off the men's world record,

與男子的世界紀錄就差10分鐘。

Paula Radcliffe is essentially unbeatable.

基本上Paula Radcliffe 是不可戰勝的。

That's her competition.

這就是她要面對的競賽。

The gun goes off, and she's not even an underdog.

槍響了，而她甚至不算是跟跑者；

She's under the underdogs.

她是跟跑者的跟跑者。

But the under-underdog hangs tough,

但是這個跟跑者的跟跑者頑強地堅持著。

and 22 miles into a 26-mile race,

在整個26英里賽程跑完22英里時，

there is Derartu Tulu

Derartu Tulu的位置

up there with the lead pack.

已在領跑隊伍中。

Now this is when something really bizarre happens.

就是現在，一件非常奇怪的事情發生了。

Paula Radcliffe, the one person who is sure to snatch the big paycheck

Paula Radcliffe，那個注定要從跟跑者的跟跑者

out of Derartu Tulu's under-underdog hands,

Derartu Tulu手裡奪取獎金支票的那個人，

suddenly grabs her leg and starts to fall back.

突然握住自己的腿開始落後。

So we all know what to do in this situation, right?

我們都知道這種情況該怎麼辦，是不是？

You give her a quick crack in the teeth with your elbow

你應該舉起你的胳膊肘衝著她的嘴來一下

and blaze for the finish line.

然後閃電一樣的奔向終點。

Derartu Tulu ruins the script.

Dearartu Tulu 卻出乎大家意料。

Instead of taking off,

她非但沒有拋開對手，

she falls back, and she grabs Paula Radcliffe,

反而落在後面，抓住Paula Radcliffe

says, "Come on. Come with us. You can do it."

說，“加油，跟上我們，你能行。”

So Paula Radcliffe, unfortunately, does it.

很不幸， Paula Radcliffe做到了。

She catches up with the lead pack

她追上了領跑者隊伍，

and is pushing toward the finish line.

一直衝向終點。

But then she falls back again.

但是接著她又一次落後了。

And the second time Derartu Tulu grabs her and tries to pull her.

而 Derartu Tulu 再次抓住她，試圖拉扯她前進。

And Paula Radcliffe at that point says,

這一次Paula Radcliffe 說，

"I'm done. Go."

“我不行了。你走吧。”

So that's a fantastic story, and we all know how it ends.

這是一個美妙的故事，我們都知道故事的結尾。

She loses the check,

她失去了獎金，

but she goes home with something bigger and more important.

但是她收穫了更偉大更重要的東西。

Except Derartu Tulu ruins the script again --

只不過Derartu Tulu 再次讓大家意外。

instead of losing, she blazes past the lead pack and wins,

她非但沒輸，反而超過了領跑組，贏得第一。

wins the New York City Marathon,

贏得紐約市馬拉松比賽，

goes home with a big fat check.

獲得巨額獎金。

It's a heartwarming story,

這是一個暖人肺腑的故事，

but if you drill a little bit deeper,

但是如果你仔細想想，

you've got to sort of wonder about what exactly was going on there.

你會想知道到底發生了什麼。

When you have two outliers in one organism,

當你從一個有機體上錄得兩次異常值時，

it's not a coincidence.

這不是一個巧合。

When you have someone who is more competitive and more compassionate

當在比賽中有一個人比任何人都

than anybody else in the race, again, it's not a coincidence.

更有競爭力也更有同情心，這也不是一個巧合。

You show me a creature with webbed feet and gills;

當你讓我看到一個動物有著扁平的足和鱗片時，

somehow water's involved.

它多少應該和水有關係。

Someone with that kind of heart, there's some kind of connection there.

一個有著那樣的心（臟）的人，一定和什麼東西有關。

And the answer to it, I think,

我認為答案

can be found down in the Copper Canyons of Mexico,

就在墨西哥的銅峽谷（Copper Canyons ），

where there's a tribe, a reclusive tribe,

在那裡有一個部落，一個隱居的部落，

called the Tarahumara Indians.

叫做 Tarahumara 族印第安人。

Now the Tarahumara are remarkable for three things.

現在Tarahumara族人因三件事而出名。

Number one is,

第一，

they have been living essentially unchanged

他們的生活基本沒發生變化

for the past 400 years.

已經400年。

When the conquistadors arrived in North America you had two choices:

當西班牙征服者到達北美時，你有兩個選擇：

you either fight back and engage or you could take off.

要麼還擊被征服要麼離開。

The Mayans and Aztecs engaged,

瑪雅人和阿茲特克人被征服了，

which is why there are very few Mayans and Aztecs.

這就是為什麼現在瑪雅人和阿茲特克人都很稀少。

The Tarahumara had a different strategy.

Tarahumara人有著不同的策略。

They took off and hid

他們逃走藏進了

in this labyrinthine, networking,

迷宮一般蜿蜒曲折

spiderwebbing system of canyons

如蛛網一般複雜的峽谷群中，

called the Copper Canyons,

這就是銅峽谷，

and there they remained since the 1600s --

他們從17世紀開始就一直生活在那裡——

essentially the same way they've always been.

一直以來基本沒有變化。

The second thing remarkable about the Tarahumara

Tarahumara人出名的第二件事是

is, deep into old age -- 70 to 80 years old --

直至高齡階段——70到80歲——

these guys aren't running marathons;

這些人跑的不是馬拉松，

they're running mega-marathons.

而是超級馬拉松。

They're not doing 26 miles;

他們不跑26英里，

they're doing 100, 150 miles at a time,

他們一次跑100，150英里。

and apparently without injury, without problems.

而且顯然不受任何損傷，也沒有其他問題。

The last thing that's remarkable about the Tarahumara

Tarahumara人出名的最後的一個事，

is that all the things that we're going to be talking about today,

就是我們今天所探討的所有東西

all the things that we're trying to come up with

所有那些我們想要弄明白的，

using all of our technology and brain power to solve --

動用我們所有的技術和腦力去解決的問題——

things like heart disease and cholesterol and cancer

像心髒病，膽固醇，癌症，

and crime and warfare and violence and clinical depression --

犯罪，戰爭，暴力和臨床性的抑鬱症——

all this stuff, the Tarahumara don't know what you're talking about.

所有這些東西，對Tarahumara 人來說都是聞所未聞的。

They are free

他們不受

from all of these modern ailments.

所有這些疾病的影響。

So what's the connection?

那麼這裡的關聯是什麼？

Again, we're talking about outliers --

我們在回去討論異常值。

there's got to be some kind of cause and effect there.

這裡肯定有某種因果關係。

Well, there are teams of scientists

有一些科學家

at Harvard and the University of Utah

在哈佛和猶他大學，

that are bending their brains to try to figure out

在絞盡腦汁想搞清楚的東西

what the Tarahumara have known forever.

卻是Tarahumara一直以來都知道的。

They're trying to solve those same kinds of mysteries.

他們試圖解決一些同類的奧秘。

And once again, a mystery wrapped inside of a mystery --

而再一次，一個秘密裡藏著另一個秘密——

perhaps the key to Derartu Tulu and the Tarahumara

也許解開 Derartu Tulu和Tarahumara人的秘密的鑰匙

is wrapped in three other mysteries, which go like this:

就在這三個秘密中，它們是：

three things -- if you have the answer, come up and take the microphone,

這三件事——如果你知道答案，請上台來對著話筒說，

because nobody else knows the answer.

因為沒別人知道答案。

And if you know it, then you are smarter than anybody else on planet Earth.

而如果你知道，你就比地球人的所有人都聰明。

Mystery number one is this:

第一個謎團：

Two million years ago the human brain exploded in size.

2百萬年前，人類的大腦突然增大。

Australopithecus had a tiny little pea brain.

南方古猿只有豌豆般大的大腦。

Suddenly humans show up -- Homo erectus --

突然，人類出現了——直立人——

big, old melon-head.

西瓜一般大的大腦。

To have a brain of that size,

要有這麼大的大腦，

you need to have a source of condensed caloric energy.

你需要具備濃縮的熱量能量源。

In other words, early humans are eating dead animals --

換言之，早期人類吃死去的動物——

no argument, that's a fact.

毫無疑問，這是事實。

The only problem is,

唯一的問題是，

the first edged weapons only appeared about 200,000 years ago.

最早的帶刃的武器只出現在20萬年前。

So, somehow, for nearly two million years,

因此不知怎樣在大約200萬年裡，

we are killing animals without any weapons.

我們在赤手空拳地獵取動物。

Now we're not using our strength

現在我們不怎麼使用自己的力量，

because we are the biggest sissies in the jungle.

因為我們是叢林裡最最膽小的傢伙。

Every other animal is stronger than we are --

所有別的動物都比我們更強壯。

they have fangs, they have claws, they have nimbleness, they have speed.

它們有尖牙，利爪，機敏和速度。

We think Usain Bolt is fast. Usain Bolt can get his ass kicked by a squirrel.

我們都知道Usain Bolt （世界百米冠軍）跑得很快，但他在松鼠面前簡直不值一提。

We're not fast.

我們跑的並不快。

That would be an Olympic event: turn a squirrel loose --

奧運會應該有這麼個比賽：放出一隻松鼠，

whoever catches the squirrel, you get a gold medal.

誰抓到松鼠誰得金牌。

So no weapons, no speed, no strength, no fangs, no claws --

那麼，沒有武器，沒有速度，沒有力量，沒有尖牙利爪。

how were we killing these animals? Mystery number one.

我們是如何獵殺這些動物的？這是第一個謎團。

Mystery number two:

第二個謎團:

Women have been in the Olympics for quite some time now,

婦女參加奧運會至今已經有相當長一段歷史了，

but one thing that's remarkable about all women sprinters --

但是有件事是在所有女短跑選手身上都很明顯的——

they all suck; they're terrible.

她們都跑太慢，慢的可怕。

There's not a fast woman on the planet

地球上就沒有跑的快的女人

and there never has been.

永遠也不會有。

The fastest woman to ever run a mile did it in 4:15.

一英里跑的最快的女選手用時4分15秒。

I could throw a rock and hit a high school boy

我扔個石頭隨便砸到一個高中男生

who can run faster than 4:15.

他也能跑的比4分15秒還快。

For some reason you guys are just really slow.

出於某些原因，你們跑的確實太慢了。

(Laughter)

（觀眾笑聲）

But you get to the marathon we were just talking about --

但是回到我們剛剛提到的馬拉松——

you guys have only been allowed to run the marathon for 20 years.

你們女人被允許跑馬拉松只是近20年的事。

Because, prior to the 1980s,

因為在80年代前，

medical science said that if a woman tried to run 26 miles --

醫學界認為如果一個女人試圖跑26英里——

does anyone know what would happen if you tried to run 26 miles,

有誰知道如果跑26英里會發生什麼嗎？

why you were banned from the marathon before the 1980s?

為什麼在80年代以前禁止你們跑馬拉松？

(Audience Member: Her uterus would be torn.) Her uterus would be torn.

（某觀眾：會撕裂子宮）她的子宮會撕裂。

Yes. You would have torn reproductive organs.

是的。會撕裂生殖器官。

The uterus would fall out, literally fall out of the body.

子宮會脫垂，真的脫到體外。

Now I've been to a lot of marathons,

我去過很多馬拉松比賽，

and I've yet to see any ...

我從來沒見過這種事發生。

(Laughter)

（觀眾笑聲）

So it's only been 20 years that women have been allowed to run the marathon.

所以自女子可以參加馬拉松以來只有20年。

In that very short learning curve,

在這麼短的學習曲線上，

you guys have gone from broken organs

你們從器官損傷一下跳躍到

up to the fact that you're only 10 minutes off

僅有10分鐘的差距就可以追上

the male world record.

男子的世界紀錄。

Then you go beyond 26 miles,

然後你們超越了26英里，

into the distance that medical science also told us would be fatal to humans --

達到的長度是醫學認為對全人類來說都是致命的——

remember Pheidippides died when he ran 26 miles --

還記得Pheidippides（公元前5世紀希臘長跑運動員）跑到26英里時死了——

you get to 50 and 100 miles,

你們跑了50到100英里，

and suddenly it's a different game.

然後突然之間變成了不同的比賽。

You can take a runner like Ann Trason, or Nikki Kimball, or Jenn Shelton,

長跑運動員如Ann Trason, Nikki Kimball, Jenn Shelton,

you put them in a race of 50 or 100 miles against anybody in the world

你讓他們和世界上隨便一些人比賽跑50到100英里，

and it's a coin toss who's going to win.

誰會贏就只能靠扔硬幣預測了。

I'll give you an example.

給你們一個例子。

A couple years ago, Emily Baer signed up for a race

幾年前，Emily Baer 報名參加名為

called the Hardrock 100,

硬石100（Hardrock 100）的比賽，

which tells you all you need to know about the race.

從名字你就能知道比賽的內容。

They give you 48 hours to finish this race.

你有48小時完成比賽。

Well Emily Baer -- 500 runners --

而Emily Baer 在500個選手中

she finishes in eighth place, in the top 10,

以第八的成績完成比賽，居於前十名。

even though she stopped at all the aid stations

她甚至在每個補給站都停下來

to breastfeed her baby during the race --

好在比賽中還能給自己的孩子餵母乳——

and yet, beat 492 other people.

但還是打敗了其他492個人。

So why is it that women get stronger

最後一個謎團：就是為什麼當距離越長

as distances get longer?

女人就越有力？

The third mystery is this:

最後一個謎團是這樣的：

At the University of Utah, they started tracking finishing times

在猶他大學，他們開始追踪那些跑馬拉松的人

for people running the marathon.

跑完全程的次數。

And what they found

他們發現

is that, if you start running the marathon at age 19,

如果你從19歲就開始跑馬拉松，

you will get progressively faster, year by year,

隨著年歲的增長你會越跑越快，

until you reach your peak at age 27.

直到27歲的時候到達頂峰。

And then after that, you succumb

然後，你屈服於

to the rigors of time.

時間的嚴酷。

And you'll get slower and slower,

你會跑的越來越慢，

until eventually you're back to running the same speed you were at age 19.

直到你逐漸回复到你19歲時的速度。

So about seven years, eight years to reach your peak,

因此大概在7到8年的時間裡你攀上頂峰，

and then gradually you fall off your peak,

然後逐漸從高峰滑落，

until you go back to the starting point.

直到你回到起點。

You would think it might take eight years to go back to the same speed,

你可能會以為要再花8年時間回到19歲的速度

maybe 10 years -- no, it's 45 years.

也可能是10年——不，是45年。

64-year-old men and women

60歲的男子和女子

are running as fast as they were at age 19.

和19歲時跑的一樣快。

Now I defy you to come up with any other physical activity --

我挑戰你們能舉出其他任何一種體育運動——

and please don't say golf -- something that actually is hard --

不過拜託別說高爾夫球——要真正有難度的運動——

where geriatrics are performing

在這個運動裡老年人的表現

as well as they did as teenagers.

與十幾歲時一樣。

So you have these three mysteries.

就這樣你面對這三個謎團。

Is there one piece in the puzzle

在這迷霧中是否有一小塊拼圖能

which might wrap all these things up?

把所有這些謎都收攏起來？

You've got to be really careful any time

任何時候你都要非常小心

someone looks back in prehistory and tries to give you some sort of global answer,

某個人會回顧史前時代然後就試圖丟給你一個整體上的答案，

because, it being prehistory,

因為那是史前時代，

you can say whatever the hell you want and get away with it.

你可以想說什麼就說什麼然後一走了之。

But I'll submit this to you:

但我要呈現給大家的是：

If you put one piece in the middle of this jigsaw puzzle,

如果你把一小塊碎片放在這個大拼圖的中央，

suddenly it all starts to form a coherent picture.

突然之間，它開始組成一幅條理清晰的圖畫。

If you wonder, why it is the Tarahumara don't fight

如果你想知道為什麼Tarahumara人不反抗，

and don't die of heart disease,

也沒有死於心髒病，

why a poor Ethiopian woman named Derartu Tulu

為什麼一個貧窮的埃塞俄比亞女子Derartu Tulu

can be the most compassionate and yet the most competitive,

會是最有同情心同時又是最有競爭力的選手，

and why we somehow were able

以及為什麼我們不知怎樣卻可以

to find food without weapons,

沒有武器而獲得食物，

perhaps it's because humans,

也許這只是因為人類，

as much as we like to think of ourselves as masters of the universe,

儘管我們喜歡把自己想像為宇宙的主人，

actually evolved as nothing more

但事實上我們只是進化為

than a pack of hunting dogs.

一群獵犬。

Maybe we evolved

也許我們進化為

as a hunting pack animal.

一種群體狩獵的動物。

Because the one advantage we have in the wilderness --