TED为何普通民众需要懂得权力.doc

Im a teacher and a practitioner of civics in America. Now, I will kindly ask those of you who have just fallen asleep to please wake up. (Laughter) Why is it that the very word civics has such a soporific, even a narcoleptic effect on us? 我在美国进行公民教育， 也是公民教育的践行者。 现在，请那些刚才睡着的人打起精神。（笑声） 为什么人们一听到“公民教育”这个词 就昏昏欲睡，甚至如患了发作性睡病一般？ I think its because the very word signifies something?exceedingly?virtuous,?exceedingly?important, and exceedingly?boring. Well, I think its the responsibility of people like us, people who show up for gatherings like this in person or online, in any way we can, to make civics sexy again, as sexy as it was during the American Revolution, as sexy as it was during the Civil Rights Movement. 我想是因为这个词 蕴含崇高的道德， 具有重要的意义， 却那么的无聊。 我认为，我们，聚在这里的， 以及在网上观看的人，有责任以力所能及的任何方式， 让公民教育再度焕发生机， 正如美国革命 或美国民权运动时期那样生机勃勃。 And I believe the way we make civics sexy again is to make explicitly about the teaching of power. The way we do that, I believe, is at the level of the city. 而且，我相信让公民教育再度焕发生机的途径是 阐清权力的教育。 要实现它，我认为， 关键是从城市这一层面入手。 This is what I want to talk about today, and I want to start by defining some terms and then I want to describe the scale of the problem I think we face and then suggest the ways that I believe cities can be the seat of the solution. So let me start with some definitions. 这就是今天我想跟大家谈论的主题。 我想从解释一些概念开始， 然后我会阐述我们目前 面临的问题， 进而给出解决办法，即城市是 解决问题的根本。 By civics, I simply mean the art of being a pro-social, problem-solving contributor in a self-governing community. Civics is the art of?citizenship, what Bill Gates Sr. calls simply showing up for life, and it encompasses three things: a foundation of values, an understanding of the systems that make the world go round, and a set of skills that allow you to pursue goals and to have others join in that pursuit. 那么，由一些定义开始吧。 所谓公民教育，是一种艺术， 是在一个自主管辖的社区，身为一名关爱社会、 为解决问题做贡献的公民的艺术。 公民教育是身为一个公民的艺术， 这正是比尔?盖茨之父所谓的 “展现生命”， 它包含三个方面内容： 价值观的基础、 对于让世界正常运转的体系的理解、 以及一套 让你追寻目标并让他人跟随你的愿景的技能。 And that brings me to my definition o