TED演讲:创意隐藏在哪里(6)
Now, what’s encapsulated in both these drowning metaphors — actually, one of them is my mother’s interpretation,
暗藏在这两个溺水故事中的比喻是其中一个说法来自我母亲，
and it is a famous Chinese saying, because she said it to me: “save a man from drowning, you are responsible to him for life.”
中国人常说的“救一个溺水者，你便得为他的一生负责。”
And it was a warning — don’t get involved in other people’s business, or you’re going to get stuck. OK.
那是一种警告：别管别人的闲事，免得被缠上，
I think if somebody really was drowning, she’d save them.
但我想如果真的有人溺水的话，她还是会救他们的。
But, both of these sayings — saving a fish from drowning, or saving a man from drowning — to me they had to do with intentions.
但这两种说法，不管是救溺水的鱼，还是溺水的人，这取决与你的意图。
And all of us in life, when we see a situation, we have a response. And then we have intentions.
我们在人生中，都得对我们身边发生的事情做出反应。怀抱着各自的意图。
There’s an ambiguity of what that should be that we should do, and then we do something.
在我们应该做的和最后真正做了的两者之间，有一些模棱两可之处。
And the results of that may not match what our intentions had been. Maybe things go wrong.
而结果也不一定符合我们原本的意图。说不定事情搞砸了。
And so, after that, what are our responsibilities? What are we supposed to do?
若当如此，我们的责任又在哪？我们该怎么做？
Do we stay in for life, or do we do something else and justify and say, well, my intentions were good,
我们该留下来负责还是尝试合理化我们的行为，说，我的本意是好的，
and therefore I cannot be held responsible for all of it?
所以我不应当负全责？
That is the ambiguity in my life that really disturbed me, and led me to write a book called “Saving Fish From Drowning.”
这便是我人生中很难接受的模棱两可，甚至让我因此写了本书，就叫做《救一只溺水的鱼》。
小说家谭恩美寻找她发展创意的过程，探讨创意从何而来。