I was having lunch with him just a few minutes ago,

我剛聽到一個關於Bond Emeruwa 最好笑的笑話

and a Nigerian journalist comes -- and this will only make sense

幾分鐘前我們一塊共進午餐時

if you've ever watched a James Bond movie --

碰到一個奈及利亞記者

and a Nigerian journalist comes up to him and goes,

你得看過007電影，你才會覺得好笑

"Aha, we meet again, Mr. Bond!"

這名奈及利亞記者走向他,，然後說著

(Laughter)

"哈! 龐德先生，我們又見面了"

It was great.

(笑聲)

So, I've got a little sheet of paper here,

哈！很經典吧！

mostly because I'm Nigerian and if you leave me alone,

我這有張小抄

I'll talk for like two hours.

可能因為我是奈及利亞人，如果你們不阻止我

I just want to say good afternoon, good evening.

我可以說上..嗯....整整2小時

It's been an incredible few days.

不過，我現在只想說午安！晚安！

It's downhill from now on. I wanted to thank Emeka and Chris.

這些日子真令人難以置信

But also, most importantly, all the invisible people behind TED

這種經歷以後不可能再有了！在這我想先謝謝Emeka 還有Chris

that you just see flitting around the whole place

當然還有最重要的，所有這些不為人知的幕後功臣

that have made sort of this space for such a diverse and robust conversation.

這些你們看得到的點點滴滴

It's really amazing.

讓這地方充滿各種多彩多姿及精彩絕倫的對話

I've been in the audience.

這真是太棒了！

I'm a writer, and I've been watching people with the slide shows

我也曾坐在台下當個聽眾

and scientists and bankers, and I've been feeling a bit

我是個作家，看著這些科學家和銀行家們

like a gangsta rapper at a bar mitzvah.

一張張秀著自己帶來的幻燈片

(Laughter)

我的感覺像是在猶太男孩成年禮現場，看著饒舌歌手在說唱

Like, what have I got to say about all this?

(笑聲)

And I was watching Jane [Goodall] yesterday,

為什麼我要說這些呢？

and I thought it was really great, and I was watching

昨天聽到珍古德演講

those incredible slides of the chimpanzees, and I thought,

非常棒！

"Wow. What if a chimpanzee could talk, you know? What would it say?"

當我看著黑猩猩的幻燈片時，我想著

My first thought was, "Well, you know, there's George Bush."

哇！如果黑猩猩會說話，它會說什麼呢？

But then I thought, "Why be rude to chimpanzees?"

第一個想到是竟然是"喬治布希"

I guess there goes my green card.

但我後來又想"怎麼可以對黑猩猩這麼無禮呢？"

(Laughter)

糟糕，這下我的綠卡泡湯了!

There's been a lot of talk about narrative in Africa.

(笑聲)

And what's become increasingly clear to me is that

人們開始談論著很多非洲的故事

we're talking about news stories about Africa;

但在我看來

we're not really talking about African narratives.

說的都只是關於非洲的新聞

And it's important to make a distinction, because if the news is anything to go by,

並沒有真正接觸到代表非洲的作品

40 percent of Americans can't -- either can't afford health insurance

這差別很大，因為新聞如果真的可信

or have the most inadequate health insurance,

那麼有40%的美國人繳不起保費

and have a president who, despite the protest

或者是最低額的健康保險都負擔不起

of millions of his citizens -- even his own Congress --

而現任的總統(布希）

continues to prosecute a senseless war.

不顧人民反對，甚至是國會的抗議

So if news is anything to go by,

也堅持發動戰爭

the U.S. is right there with Zimbabwe, right?

所以如果只看新聞報導

Which it isn't really, is it?

那美國和辛巴威豈不一樣？

And talking about war, my girlfriend has this great t-shirt

那事實果真如此嗎？

that says, "Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity."

講到戰爭，不能不提到我女朋友那件很酷的Ｔ恤

It's amazing, isn't it?

上面印著：為獲取和平而發動戰爭如同為了保持貞操而做愛

The truth is, everything we know about America,

超酷的！對吧？

everything Americans come to know about being American,

事實上，關於我們所知道的美國

isn't from the news.

以及美國人眼中的美國

I live there.

並非源於這些新聞

We don't go home at the end of the day and think,

我們生活的社會也是如此

"Well, I really know who I am now

我們不會忙了一天回到家後，突然想到

because the Wall Street Journal says that the Stock Exchange

＂啊！我終於知道我是誰了

closed at this many points."

因為根據華爾街日報

What we know about how to be who we are comes from stories.

今天道瓊是收在多少多少點＂

It comes from the novels, the movies, the fashion magazines.

我們知道自己是誰是因為故事的關係

It comes from popular culture.

它可以是小說，是電影，是時尚雜誌

In other words, it's the agents of our imagination

它是源於流行文化

who really shape who we are. And this is important to remember,

換句話說，這些是能激發我們想像力的原動力

because in Africa

成就了對自我的認同，這點很重要一定要記住

the complicated questions we want to ask about

因為，即便在非洲

what all of this means has been asked

關於＂我是誰＂這種複雜的人生問題

from the rock paintings of the San people,

也透過不同方式

through the Sundiata epics of Mali, to modern contemporary literature.

舉凡古老桑族人的岩畫

If you want to know about Africa, read our literature --

馬里人的史詩，直到當代文學都曾被探討過

and not just "Things Fall Apart," because that would be like saying,

如果你想了解非洲，請讀我們的文學作品

"I've read 'Gone with the Wind' and so I know everything about America."

"Things Fall Apart"所描述的並非非洲全貌

That's very important.

你總不會以為看過＂亂世佳人＂，就懂美國，這是一樣的道理

There's a poem by Jack Gilbert called "The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart."

這很重要

He says, "When the Sumerian tablets were first translated,

Jack Gilbert有首詩叫做”遺忘的心靈片語”

they were thought to be business records.

裡頭寫到”當蘇美爾石板第一次被翻譯出來時

But what if they were poems and psalms?

人們以為那是商業紀錄

My love is like twelve Ethiopian goats

但你又怎麼知道那不會是詩歌或詩篇呢?

standing still in the morning light.

我的愛如同12隻埃塞俄比亞的山羊

Shiploads of thuja are what my body wants to say to your body.

佇立在早晨的暮光中

Giraffes are this desire in the dark."

藉由滿山遍野的崖柏表達我的心意

This is important.

以及內心最深處的渴望＂

It's important because misreading is really the chance

這很重要

for complication and opportunity.

因為誤解往往造成

The first Igbo Bible was translated from English

更多的誤解

in about the 1800s by Bishop Crowther,

18世紀時，聖經第一次傳入奈及利亞

who was a Yoruba.

是主教Crowther 將英文版翻譯成伊格博語的

And it's important to know Igbo is a tonal language,

他是約魯巴人

and so they'll say the word "igwe" and "igwe":

重點是伊格博語是帶聲調的語言

same spelling, one means "sky" or "heaven,"

當你說"igwe"及"igwe"時

and one means "bicycle" or "iron."

雖然拼音相同，但一個指"天空"或"天堂"

So "God is in heaven surrounded by His angels"

另一個則是"自行車"或"鐵"

was translated as --

所以當"上帝在天堂，天使們圍繞在旁"

[Igbo].

被翻譯成

And for some reason, in Cameroon, when they tried

(伊格博語)

to translate the Bible into Cameroonian patois,

不知為何，喀麥隆有個民族

they chose the Igbo version.

在翻譯聖經時

And I'm not going to give you the patois translation;

使用的是伊格博語版本

I'm going to make it standard English.

我就跳過喀麥隆語言的翻譯

Basically, it ends up as "God is on a bicycle with his angels."

直接用英文來表達

This is good, because language complicates things.

總之，這句話變成"上帝坐在自行車上，天使們圍繞在旁"

You know, we often think that language mirrors

這個例子說明了語言往往使事情更加複雜

the world in which we live, and I find that's not true.

我們總以為語言是一面鏡子

The language actually makes the world in which we live.

能反映我們所存在的世界，我發現這是錯的

Language is not -- I mean, things don't have

事實上，語言造就了我們的世界

any mutable value by themselves; we ascribe them a value.

萬事萬物本身並沒有價值

And language can't be understood in its abstraction.

價值是我們賦予它的

It can only be understood in the context of story,

所以單單要了解語言的抽象是不可能的

and everything, all of this is story.

只有在故事中

And it's important to remember that,

語言才有意義

because if we don't, then we become ahistorical.

這很重要

We've had a lot of -- a parade of amazing ideas here.

否則，我們就變成罔顧史實的人了

But these are not new to Africa.

在這裡，我們看到很多令人激賞的創意

Nigeria got its independence in 1960.

但對非洲來說卻不是什麼新鮮事

The first time the possibility for independence was discussed

奈及利亞於1960年取得獨立

was in 1922, following the Aba women's market riots.

而早在1922年，發生婦女市場暴動事件

In 1967, in the middle of the Biafran-Nigerian Civil War,

獨立思想隨即萌芽

Dr. Njoku-Obi invented the Cholera vaccine.

1967年內戰暴發時

So, you know, the thing is to remember that

霍亂疫苗就已經被奈及利亞人發明出來了

because otherwise, 10 years from now,

請大家一定要記住

we'll be back here trying to tell this story again.

不然未來的10年

So, what it says to me then is that it's not really --

我會一直重覆敘述它的

the problem isn't really the stories that are being told

但我真正想說的是

or which stories are being told,

重要的並非說了什麼故事

the problem really is the terms of humanity

而是什麼故事被說出來

that we're willing to bring to complicate every story,

問題是

and that's really what it's all about.

人總愛把事情複雜化

Let me tell you a Nigerian joke.

好像這是唯一重要的事

Well, it's just a joke, anyway.

我來說一個奈及利亞的笑話

So there's Tom, Dick and Harry and they're working construction.

只是個笑話，別太當真喔！

And Tom opens up his lunch box and there's rice in it,

Tom, Dick和Harry三個人在工地工作

and he goes on this rant about, "Twenty years,

午餐時間，Tom打開便當盒發現又是吃飯

my wife has been packing rice for lunch.

忍不住大聲地抱怨＂唉！20年了

If she does it again tomorrow, I'm going to throw myself

我老婆只會給我準備米飯

off this building and kill myself."

如果明天還是這樣

And Dick and Harry repeat this.

我乾脆跳樓自殺算了!＂

The next day, Tom opens his lunchbox, there's rice,

Dick 和Harry也深有同感地附和著

so he throws himself off and kills himself,

第二天，Tom打開便當，果然又是米飯

and Tom, Dick and Harry follow.

二話不說，跳樓死了

And now the inquest -- you know, Tom's wife

Dick 和Harry也照做

and Dick's wife are distraught.

事後，可想而知

They wished they'd not packed rice.

Tom 和Dick的老婆有多傷心

But Harry's wife is confused, because she said, "You know,

也很後悔，不該只給老公準備米飯

Harry had been packing his own lunch for 20 years."

只有Harry 的老婆感到不解，因為

(Laughter)

20年來Harry 的便當都是自己準備的

This seemingly innocent joke, when I heard it as a child in Nigeria,

(笑聲)

was told about Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa,

小時候我聽到這笑話時

with the Hausa being Harry.

故事主角被換成伊格博人，約魯巴人和哈薩人

So what seems like an eccentric if tragic joke about Harry

而哈薩人就是故事中的Harry

becomes a way to spread ethnic hatred.

就這樣一個茶餘飯後的笑話

My father was educated in Cork, in the University of Cork, in the '50s.

竟成了傳播種族歧視的媒介

In fact, every time I read in Ireland,

我父親於1950年代在愛爾蘭的Cork 大學受教育

people get me all mistaken and they say,

每當我在愛爾蘭時

"Oh, this is Chris O'Barney from Cork."

總有人把我誤認為是我父親

But he was also in Oxford in the '50s,

＂哦！這不是Cork 大學的Chris嗎？＂

and yet growing up as a child in Nigeria,

但事實上，他也曾在50年代在牛津大學唸過書

my father used to say to me, "You must never eat or drink

從小在奈及利亞長大的他

in a Yoruba person's house because they will poison you."

我父親以前常警告我

It makes sense now when I think about it,

千萬別在約魯巴人家裡吃任何東西，你會被毒死的

because if you'd known my father,

現在想想其實很有道理

you would've wanted to poison him too.

如果你認識我父親

(Laughter)

你也會想毒死他

So I was born in 1966, at the beginning

（笑聲）

of the Biafran-Nigerian Civil War, and the war ended after three years.

1966年我出生時

And I was growing up in school and the federal government

正值奈及利亞內戰爆發，三年後戰爭結束

didn't want us taught about the history of the war,

在我唸書時期

because they thought it probably would make us

政府有意隱藏這段歷史

generate a new generation of rebels.

他們害怕會教出

So I had a very inventive teacher, a Pakistani Muslim,

新一代的反叛份子

who wanted to teach us about this.

但當時我的老師思想非常前衛，他是巴基斯坦回教徒

So what he did was to teach us Jewish Holocaust history,

他希望我們正視這段歷史

and so huddled around books with photographs of people in Auschwitz,

不但如此，他還告訴我們納粹是如何屠殺猶太人

I learned the melancholic history of my people

一張張令人毛骨悚然的照片

through the melancholic history of another people.

我透過納粹震驚世界的罪行

I mean, picture this -- really picture this.

開始了解發生在自己國家的慘痛歷史

A Pakistani Muslim teaching Jewish Holocaust history

想想看

to young Igbo children.

一個巴基斯坦回教徒講述猶太人歷史

Story is powerful.

給伊格博小孩聽

Story is fluid and it belongs to nobody.

故事的力量如此地無遠弗屆

And it should come as no surprise

並且深植人心

that my first novel at 16 was about Neo-Nazis

這，不難想像

taking over Nigeria to institute the Fourth Reich.

16歲時我出了生平第一本小說

It makes perfect sense.

故事內容是關於新納粹佔領奈及利亞，並成立第四帝國

And they were to blow up strategic targets

聽起來並非無稽之談

and take over the country, and they were foiled

在小說裡，新納粹計劃轟炸重要戰略據點

by a Nigerian James Bond called Coyote Williams,

企圖控制全國，但最後被

and a Jewish Nazi hunter.

奈及利亞版的"007" Coyote Williams

And it happened over four continents.

以及一名專門獵殺納粹的猶太殺手所遏止

And when the book came out, I was heralded as Africa's answer

小說一上市

to Frederick Forsyth, which is a dubious honor at best.

有人拿我媲美間諜小說家Francis Forsythe

But also, the book was launched in time for me to be accused

當然這些讚譽對我僅是虛名

of constructing the blueprint for a foiled coup attempt.

同一時間，因為這本書的關係

So at 18, I was bonded off to prison in Nigeria.

我被指控"企圖煽動政變"

I grew up very privileged, and it's important

18歲時，更因此鋃鐺入獄

to talk about privilege, because we don't talk about it here.

我成長在有特權的環境，談論特權是很重要的

A lot of us are very privileged.

因為我們在這裡不談論這個議題

I grew up -- servants, cars, televisions, all that stuff.

有很多人都享有特權

My story of Nigeria growing up was very different from the story

小時候我家裡有佣人服侍，有轎車可開，有電視可看

I encountered in prison, and I had no language for it.

這和我在奈及利亞的日子簡直是天壤之別

I was completely terrified, completely broken,

回想被關在監獄裡那段時光，真不知該怎麼形容

and kept trying to find a new language,

我簡直嚇壞了，完全不知所措

a new way to make sense of all of this.

只是不斷想著

Six months after that, with no explanation,

這一切是怎麼回事？

they let me go.

六個月後，亳無預警的

Now for those of you who have seen me at the buffet tables know

我被釋放了

that it was because it was costing them too much to feed me.

不過如果你們剛看到我吃飯的樣子

(Laughter)

應該不難理解他們一定是怕被我吃垮，只好放我走！

But I mean, I grew up with this incredible privilege,

（笑聲）

and not just me -- millions of Nigerians

說真的，我在這樣的享有特權環境下長大

grew up with books and libraries.

但不只是我，很多在奈及利亞的孩子

In fact, we were talking last night about how all

都在書本伴隨下成長

of the steamy novels of Harold Robbins

事實上，我們昨晚還談到

had done more for sex education of horny teenage boys in Africa

Harold Robbins 的小說

than any sex education programs ever had.

對非洲青少年的性啟蒙造成的影響

All of those are gone.

是其他任何性教育課程都無法比擬的

We are squandering the most valuable resource

但現在這樣的東西都消失了

we have on this continent: the valuable resource

我們正在糟塌

of the imagination.

在這塊土地上最重要的資源

In the film, "Sometimes in April" by Raoul Peck,

那就是我們的想像力

Idris Elba is poised in a scene with his machete raised,

Raoul Peck 導演的電影" Sometimes in April"

and he's being forced by a crowd to chop up his best friend --

其中有一幕Idris Elba 舉起彎刀

fellow Rwandan Army officer, albeit a Tutsi --

在眾人脅迫下，要砍死他最好的朋友

played by Fraser James.

一名盧安達軍官，是個圖西人

And Fraser's on his knees, arms tied behind his back,

這角色由Fraser James扮演

and he's crying.

Fraser 跪在地上，雙手被反綁在背後

He's sniveling.

眼中泛著淚光

It's a pitiful sight.

身體也不停顫抖著

And as we watch it, we are ashamed.

著實令人心酸

And we want to say to Idris, "Chop him up.

看著這畫面，我們也不自覺地感到羞愧

Shut him up."

心裡真想對Idris說"動手吧！

And as Idris moves, Fraser screams, "Stop!

殺了他！"

Please stop!"

只見Idris 舉起彎刀，Fraser 大喊著，"不要，

Idris pauses, then he moves again,

請停下來！

and Fraser says, "Please!

Idris 猶豫了一下，仍再度舉起手上的刀

Please stop!"

Fraser 不停的喊著，"拜託！

And it's not the look of horror and terror on Fraser's face that stops Idris or us;