TED Bear第一天！

这次选的TED是一个语言对人的影响的影片，算是我比较喜欢的一个了。演讲的人虽然不是很纯正的英文发音，有些词听起来会比较费劲一些，但是大部分都是很流畅的，而且也很有意思。 整个影片一共有十二分钟左右，我把它分成了三个part，每个part四分钟左右，方便大家阅读噢！

TED视频链接：https://www.ted.com/talks/christoph_niemann_you_are_fluent_in_this_language_and_don_t_even_know_it?from=singlemessage&isappinstalled=0

正文：

You are fluent in this language (and don’t even know it) - Christoph Niemann

Part 1

I’m an artist, being an artist is the greatest job there is. And I really pity each and every one of you who has to spend your days to discovering new galaxies or saving humanity from global warming. But being an artist is also a daunting job. I spent everyday from nine to six, doing this. I even started a side career that consists entirely of complaining about the difficulty of the creative process. But today, I don’t want to talk about what makes my life difficult, I want to talk about what makes it easy. And that is you. And the fact that you are fluent at a language that you are probably not even aware of. You are fluent in the language of reading images. Deciphering an image like that takes quite a bit of an intellectual effort. But nobody ever taught you how this works, you just know it. College, shopping, music. What makes a language powerful is that you can take a very complex idea and communicate it in a very sample, efficient form. These images represent exactly the same ideas. But when you look, for example, at the college hat, you know that this doesn’t represent the accessory you wear on you head, you are being handed your diploma, but rather the whole idea of college. And what drawings can do, is that they can not only communicate, they can even evoke emotions. Let’s say you go to a unfamiliar place, you see this, you feel happiness and relief. Or a slight sense of unease or maybe downright panic. Or blissful peace and quiet. But visuals, they are of course more than just graphic icons. You know, if I want to tell the story about modern-day’s struggle, I would start with the armrest between two airplane seat and two seats of elbows fighting. What I love there is universal law that, you know, you have thirty seconds to fight it out and once it’s yours, you get to keep it for the rest of the flight. Now, commercial flight is full of these images, if I want to illustrate the idea of discomfort, nothing better than these neck pillows. They are designed to make you more comfortable, except they don’t. So I never sleep on airplanes. What I do occasionally is I fall into a sort of painful coma, and when I wake up from that, I have the most terrible taste in my mouth. It’s a tastes that’s so bad, it cannot be described with words, but it can be drawn. The thing is you know, I love sleeping, and when I sleep, I really prefer to do it while spooning. I have been spooning on almost a pro level for close to twenty years. But in all this time, I have never figure out what to do with the bottom arm, and the only thing, the only thing that makes sleeping even more complicated than trying to do it on an airplane is when you have small children. They show up at your bed at around 4am with some bogus excuse of, “I had a bad dream.” And then, of course you feel sorry for them, they are your kids. So you let them into your bed, and I have to admit, at the beginning they are really cute and warm and snugly. The minute you fall back asleep, then inexplicably start rotating. We like to call this the helicopter mode. (4min14s)

重点词汇：

pity n.同情    v.对…表示怜悯

daunting adi.使人畏缩的，使人气馁的

deciphering n.解密    v.破译

intellectual adj.智力的    n.知识分子

accessory n.配件    adj.附属的

diploma n. 毕业证书，学位证书；公文，文书；奖状    vt. 发给…毕业文凭

evoke vt. 引起，唤起；博得

unfamiliar adj. 不熟悉的；不常见的；没有经验的

unease n. 不安；不舒服

downright adj. 明白的；直率的；显明的    adv. 完全，彻底；全然

blissful adj. 充满喜悦的

icon n. 图标；偶像；肖像，画像；圣像

struggle vi. 奋斗，努力；挣扎    n. 努力，奋斗；竞争    vt. 使劲移动；尽力使得

armrest n. 扶手；靠手

elbow n. 肘部；弯头；扶手    vt. 推挤；用手肘推开

commercial adj. 商业的；营利的；靠广告收入的    n. 商业广告

discomfort n. 不适，不安；不便之处    vt. 使……不舒服；使……不安

occasionally adv. 偶尔；间或

coma n. 昏迷

spooning v. 搂抱（spoon的现在分词）

bogus adj. 假的；伪造的    n. 伪币

snugly adv. 舒适地；隐蔽地；贴身地；紧密地

inexplicably adv. 说不清的；无法说明地；令人难以理解地

helicopter n. 直升飞机    vi. [航] 乘直升飞机    vt. 由直升机运送