TED演讲:创意隐藏在哪里(10)
A big thing that I also think about is accidents.
我也时常想到意外。
And as I said, my mother did not believe in randomness. What is the nature of accidents?
如我所说，我母亲从不相信偶然。那意外又是什么？
And how are we going to assign what the responsibility and the causes are, outside of a court of law?
对于那些法律以外的事件，我们又该如何处理面对它们的责任归属？
I was able to see that in a firsthand way, when I went to beautiful Dong village, in Guizhou, the poorest province of China.
我有一个切身的经验，我曾经到中国最贫穷的贵州省里的侗族。
And I saw this beautiful place. I knew I wanted to come back.
我看见这个美丽的地方。我知道我想再回来。
And I had a chance to do that, when National Geographic asked me if I wanted to write anything about China.
当《国家地理》杂志问我想不想写一些有关中国的文章，我知道我的机会来了。
And I said yes, about this village of singing people, singing minority.
我说好，我想写这个唱歌的少数民族。
And they agreed, and between the time I saw this place and the next time I went, there was a terrible accident.
它们同意了，就在我两次拜访中间，一个悲惨的意外发生了。
A man, an old man, fell asleep, and his quilt dropped in a pan of fire that kept him warm.
一个老人在睡眠中把被子掉在了暖炉上。
60 homes were destroyed, and 40 were damaged. Responsibility was assigned to the family.
六十户人家全毁，四十户遭到损坏。这个家庭得担负责任。
The man’s sons were banished to live three kilometers away, in a cowshed.
老人的儿子被放逐到三公里外的牛棚。
And, of course, as Westerners, we say, “Well, it was an accident. That’s not fair. It’s the son, not the father.”
西方人会说：“但那是个不过是个意外，这不公平。父债不该子还。”
When I go on a story, I have to let go of those kinds of beliefs.
但当我下笔写这个故事的时候，我得放弃那些原来的想法。
It takes a while, but I have to let go of them and just go there, and be there.
这得花上一些时间，但是我必须克服自己，纯粹得去那里亲身经历。
And so I was there on three occasions, different seasons.
所以我在不同的季节里去了三次。
And I began to sense something different about the history,
在这个贫穷的村庄里，我开始对历史，
and what had happened before, and the nature of life in a very poor village,
之前发生的事件和人生的本质有了不同的感受，
and what you find as your joys, and your rituals, your traditions, your links with other families.
什么是让你感到快乐的，你的仪式，你的传统，我们和其他家庭产生关系的方式。
And I saw how this had a kind of justice, in its responsibility.
我开始明白这样的责任归属中，有它自己的正义。
I was able to find out also about the ceremony that they were using, a ceremony they hadn’t used in about 29 years.
我也开始了解他们使用的仪式。一个二十九年没用过的仪式。
And it was to send some men — a Feng Shui master sent men down to the underworld on ghost horses.
让一个风水师送一些人乘着鬼马进阴间。
Now you, as Westerners, and I, as Westerners, would say well, that’s superstition.
你，身为一个西方人，如我，身为一个西方人，会说：那不过是迷信。
But after being there for a while, and seeing the amazing things that happened,
但在那里待了一段时间以后，亲眼见识到这些神奇的事，
you begin to wonder whose beliefs are those that are in operation in the world, determining how things happen.
你开始想，究竟是谁的信仰运作在这个世界上，决定事情该如何发生。
小说家谭恩美寻找她发展创意的过程，探讨创意从何而来。