如果改变不了环境，先要改变自己?那万一我们是对的呢?你，是传统教育的宠儿，还是被边缘化的叛逆者?如果你无法能达到所谓的标准，你就应该被定义成所谓的“差生”，被剥夺受优质教育的权利吗?你，是否自我否定过自我怀疑过?下面是小编为大家收集关于TED英语演讲：你最重要，欢迎借鉴参考。

　　中英对照翻译

　　So it's 1969, New York City, third grade music class, and our teacher brings us into a room with nothing but a piano and chairs. And one by one, he calls us up, and he plays middle C, and he asks us to sing it.

　　1969年，纽约市，三年级的音乐课上，老师带我们走进一个只有一架钢琴和几把椅子的房间。他一个个地点名，弹奏了中央C音，要求我们跟着唱。

　　(Singing) And you're either instructed to go to the right of the room or the left side of the room.

　　(唱歌)接着你根据指示要么走到房间右边，要么走到左边。

　　And when all 35 kids are done, the left side of the room, which I was a part of, was told to stand up and go back to home room.

　　当35个孩子都结束跟唱时，房间左边的孩子们，我也是其中之一，被要求起立，回到年级教室。

　　And none of us ever received another music class again in elementary school. An in club and an out club was established, and I didn't even know what the gating test was in the moment.

　　从那以后一直到小学毕业，我们再也没有上过音乐课。入选阵营和淘汰阵营就这样建立了，而当时我甚至不知道什么是入门测试。

　　A few years later, English class ...

　　几年之后，英语课……

　　first paper of a new semester, and I get the paper back, and it's C+, with the comment, "Good as can be expected."

　　新学期的第一篇作文批改后下发了，我拿回来一看，成绩是C+，还有一条评语，“意料之中的良好”。

　　Now, honestly, I didn't mind a C+. I was just happy it wasn't a C- or a D. But the "good as can be expected" comment ... even at that young age, it didn't seem right. It seemed somehow limiting.

　　其实坦白说，我并不介意得了C+。反而我还庆幸不是C-或D。但是“意料之中的良好”这个评语……即便是在童年时期，也让我觉得不太舒服。似乎像是一种限定性评语。

　　Now, how many people here have had an experience similar to that, either at school or the workplace? We're not alone.

　　那么，在座的有多少人在学校或者工作场所有过相似的经历?看来并不是只有我们。

　　So I guess it might be ironic that my life path would lead me to a career of making music and writing for Blue Man Group and starting a school.

　　我觉得这可能有点讽刺，我的人生道路引导我成为了蓝人乐队的音乐制作人和编剧，并且创办了一所学校。

　　But school was torture for me. As someone who didn't have a natural proclivity for academics, and my teachers never seemed to understand me, I didn't know how to navigate schools and schools didn't know what to do with me.

　　但学校对我来说是一种折磨。作为一名对学术天生就没有太多兴趣的学生，我的老师们似乎从来都不理解我，我不知道怎么过好校园生活，学校也不知道该拿我怎么办。

　　So I started to ask the question, even back then, if these environments didn't know what to do with people who didn't fit a standard mold, why weren't we reshaping the environments to take advantage of people's strengths? What I've come to believe is that we need to cultivate safe and conducive conditions for new and innovative ideas to evolve and thrive.

　　所以我开始问这个问题，甚至年少时就有了这个想法，如果这些环境不知道如何包容那些不适应标准模式的人，为什么我们不重新塑造这些环境来充分利用人们各自的优势?我逐渐开始相信，为了使创新的思想发展和繁荣，我们需要创造安全有利的环境。

　　We know that humans are innately innovative, because if we weren't, we'd all be using the same arrowheads that we were using 10,000 years ago. So one of the things that I started to question is, are there ways to make innovation easier and happen more frequently? Is there a way to take those aha moments, those breakthroughs that seem to happen randomly and occasionally, and have them happen intentionally and frequently?

　　我们知道人类天生具有创造力，因为如果没有的话，我们可能都还在使用一万年以前的箭头石器。所以，在这之中我想问的是，有没有什么方法可以使创新变得更容易，更频繁?有没有一种方法可以使那些看似随机、偶然发生的顿悟时刻和突破，刻意地、频繁地发生?

　　When we started Blue Man Group in 1988, we had never done an off-Broadway show before. We'd actually done almost not heater. But we knew what we were passionate about, and it was a whole series of things that we had never seen onstage before, things like art and pop culture and technology and sociology and anthropology and percussion and comedy and following your bliss.

　　当1988年创立蓝人乐队之前，我们从未做过外百老汇戏剧表演。实际上，我们几乎没有做过戏剧表演。但是我们知道我们对什么充满激情，这些是我们之前在舞台上从未见到过的，像是艺术、流行文化、技术、社会学、人类学、打击乐器、喜剧以及随性而为。

　　We established a rule that nothing made it onstage if we had seen it before, and we wanted to inspire creativity and connectedness in ourselves and our audiences; we wanted to do a little bit of social good, and we wanted to have fun doing it. And in the office, we wanted to create an environment where people treated each other just a little bit better, just a little bit more respect and consideration than in the outside world. And we continued to iterate and collaborate and find solutions to create things that hadn't been seen.

　　我们定了一条原则，舞台上不会出现我们之前见过的东西，我们想激发自己和观众的创造力和连通性;我们想为社会公益尽点绵薄之力，也想充分地享受这个过程。在办公室，我们想创造一种环境，相比外界而言，在这种环境下人与人之间更加善待彼此，更加尊重和关心彼此。我们不断重复、协作、寻找方法来创造之前从未见过的事物。

　　Over time, I've come to identify the optimal conditions for these types of creative and innovative environments are clear intent, purpose and passion: this is working on something bigger than ourselves.

　　久而久之，我逐渐识别出打造具有创造力和创新性环境的最佳条件就是明确的意图、目的以及激情：这在比我们自身还要强大的事物上面起作用。

　　Personal integrity: it's doing what we say we're going to do. It's being our authentic self in all interactions.

　　正直的人品：它会使我们说到做到。它是我们互相交流中的真实自我。

　　Direct communication and clear expectations, even when the subject matter is difficult.

　　直接的交流和明确的期望，即便是在主题难以商榷的时候。

　　Grit and perseverance: iteration, iteration, iteration.

　　勇气和毅力：重复、重复、重复。

　　Establish collaborative teams. Instill deep trust and mutual respect. Everyone on your team is in. There is no out club. We rise as a team, we fall as a team, and decisions are decisions until they're not.

　　组建协作团队。逐渐灌输高度信任和互相尊重。你团队里的每一个人都参与其中。没有人应该置身事外。成也团队，败也团队，决定就是，决定要坚持到底。

　　Embrace multiple perspectives. This means all voices matter, all emotions matter.

　　包容多种观点。这意味着所有的声音都很重要，所有的情感都很重要。

　　Address disagreements head-on. People should feel seen and heard.

　　各种意见互相碰撞。人们应该感受到自己被关注、被倾听。

　　Take risks and celebrate mistakes. A commitment to being a learning organization, always trying to spiral up wards the innovation and learning curves.

　　敢于承担风险，乐观面对错误。承诺成为一个学习型组织，一直努力推动创新和学习曲线呈螺旋式上升。

　　And speak in one voice. This is perhaps the glue that holds all these conditions together. The concept is that we speak in the exact same manner about someone who's not in the room as if they are in the room.

　　发出同一种声音。这有可能是粘连所有这些条件的粘合剂。这意味着我们用完全相同的方式，当面和私下谈论别人。

　　Now this seems basic, but it's an aspirational practice that helps deal with difficult situations in a more respectful way. Sewing this practice in can have a profound effect on raising the bar, on mutual respect, trust, reducing gossip and politics in the office and the classroom, and thus reducing the noise that gets in the way of the innovative process.

　　这看似简单，但其实是一个考验意志力的实践，有助于以更委婉的方式处理困难的情况。运用这一方法，对于实现进步，互相尊重、信任，减少办公室、教室的流言蜚语和争斗具有深远影响，从而减少妨碍创新进程的闲言碎语。

　　At Blue Man Group, iteration was essential for our creative process. We were writing a piece where we were trying to illustrate the consumption / waste loop in a funny and creative and surprising way for our audiences. Now, if you have yourselves thought about trying to do the same endeavor, I can save you a lot of time right here and now.

　　在蓝人乐队，重复循环对于我们的创意过程十分重要。我们在写一个作品的时候会试图以一种有趣的、创意的以及惊奇的方式向我们的观众说明消耗-浪费循环。如果你们也想这么做，此时此刻我就可以帮你们节约很多时间。

　　I can definitively tell you that oatmeal, Jell-O, Cream of Wheat, Gak, pudding, clay, tapioca, Silly Putty and tomato paste do not slide through a tube that's coiled up under your costumes that's meant to come out an orifice in your chest and spray towards the audience. It won't happen.

　　我可以肯定地告诉你燕麦片、果冻、麦片粥、泥浆、布丁、黏土、木薯粉、弹性橡皮泥和番茄酱，以上这些都不是通过盘旋在你们衣服里的管子喷射，而是通过你们胸前的喷孔朝观众喷射。别担心，这不会发生的。

　　After months of iteration, we finally happened upon bananas.

　　在经历了几个月的重复测试之后，我们最后偶然发现了香蕉。

　　Who knew that bananas would have the exact right properties to stay solid even when pushed through a tube with forced air, yet slippery enough to have the dramatic oozing effect that we were looking for.

　　谁会知道香蕉正好有这个属性，当它被加压气流通过一根管子推出去时，能够保持固体状态，而且它足够光滑，能够产生引人注目的渗透效果。

　　This piece became a signature of the BlueMan show.

　　这个作品成为蓝人秀的一个代表作。

　　But we didn't throw out all the rules of theater altogether. We had set designs. We had lighting designs. We had a stage manager calling the shows. But I'm fairly sure we were one of the very first shows that was connecting with our audience in a respectful way, by hanging them upside down, dipping them in paint, slamming them against a canvas, putting their heads in 70 pounds of Jell-O, and then making them one of the heroes of the show.

　　但是我们并没有抛弃全部的戏剧规则。我们有布景设计。我们有灯光设计。还有一名舞台监督主管。但我相当确定，我们的表演是最早以一种尊重的方式与观众建立联系的表演之一，通过将他们倒吊起来，把他们浸入颜料里，再拍到帆布上，把他们的头部放到70磅重的果冻中，然后使他们成为表演的主角。

　　Besides that, we didn't reinvent what didn't need to be reinvented.

　　此外，我们并没有重复不需要被重复的东西。

　　Years later, we took all this learning and we created a school -- a school for our children that we wish we had gone to, a school where it was just as important what happened in the hallways between classes as what happened in the classes; a place where you got music class even when you couldn't sing middle C. At Blue School, teachers and parents and students are equal collaborators at the table, intentionally creating a safe space where they can develop a lifelong, joyful passion for learning.

　　多年之后，我们基于全部经验创办了一所学校——一所为我们的孩子创办的，连我们自己都希望儿时能够进入的学校，一所无论走廊里发生的一切还是教室里发生的一切，都同样重要的学校;一个即使你无法唱出中央C音，依然可以在这里上音乐课的地方。在蓝学校里，老师、家长和学生是显而易见的平等的合作者，他们有意地创造出一个安全的空间，身处其中，他们可以产生对学习的一种终身的、愉悦的激情。

　　Again, we didn't try to reinvent the wheel when it didn't need to be reinvented. We don't shy away from the more traditional methods like direct instruction, when it's the best way into a lesson. But we balance it with an integrated learning across all subjects approach, and balance is the key. In fact, Blue School was founded on a balance between academic mastery, creative thinking, and self and social intelligence. I realize that this might sound like common sense, but in some circles, this is radical.

　　再次说明，我们不会在非必要时做毫无意义的重复。我们不会羞于使用传统的方法，比如直接教学法，如果这是授课的最好方式。但是我们用一种跨学科的综合学习方法与之达到相互平衡，平衡即是关键。实际上，蓝学校就是建立在学术能力、创造性思维、自我和社交智能三者相互平衡的基础之上。我知道这听起来似乎是常识，但在一些圈子里，会被认为是激进的。

　　And these qualities have brought a lot of attention to Blue School as a truly innovative school.

　　作为一所真正的创新型学校，这些品质使蓝学校备受关注。

　　Nearly 10 years in, we announced the expansion of the middle school. Our faculty asked our sixth graders to participate in the development of middle school values. Their process began with a question: What do you need from our community to be happy and productive at school? Students moved through a six-week process of individual work, collaborative work, refinement, and consensus, and the list they came up with is really extraordinary.

　　花了将近十年的时间，我们宣布扩展中学。全体教员要求我们的六年级学生一起参与发展中学价值观。他们的活动以一个问题开始：你需要从我们的团体中得到什么，可以使你在学校获得快乐和收获?学生们通过为时六个星期的独立思考，合作讨论，提炼并达成一致，他们所列出的内容非常出色。

　　Be engaged and present with each other.

　　互相参与彼此的工作。

　　Respect and support what others need in order to learn.

　　尊重与支持其他人为了学习而需要的东西。

　　Be inclusive of our diversity -- the way we look, think and act.

　　包容我们的多样性——即包容我们的外貌、思想以及行为。

　　Cultivate the practice of self-awareness and awareness of others.

　　培养自我意识行为以及他人意识的行为。

　　Honor and make time for fun and joy.

　　腾出时间做些有趣的事情。

　　And challenge ourselves, practice being OK, making mistakes, and support each other through them.

　　挑战自我，行为端正，犯错误，并通过这些互相支持。

　　Remember, these kids were 11 years old when they came up with this. They articulated what took us 20 years to identify.

　　要知道，提出以上观点的孩子们才11岁。他们明确有力地表达出了我们花了20多年才得出的观点。

　　One of the great by-products of creating these vibrant communities is that we become attractors for people who want to prioritize these values. They want to prioritize it above things like money and prestige and tradition. We can all be on this road together, you at your own values in your own companies, in your own communities and families.

　　创建这个充满活力的团体顺带产生了一个了不起的效果。那就是我们吸引了那些更看重这些价值观的人们。他们想把这些价值观排在金钱、名誉以及传统之前。在你们所在的公司里，你们自己的团体里、家里，你们有自己的价值观，我们所有人都可以携手共进。

　　For us, for me, it was about prioritizing children's voices to give them the tools to help build a harmonious and sustainable world. I invite you to be on this exciting, passionate, joyful journey together. And together, good as can be expected is limitless when the expectation is that by reshaping our environments, we can change the world.

　　对于我们，对于我，这种价值观是把孩子们的诉求排在前面，给他们提供方法，帮助他们建立一个和谐、可持续的世界。我在此邀请各位一同参与这个令人激动的、充满激情的、愉悦的旅程。一起努力，当我们的期望是通过重塑我们所处的环境，我们就可以改变世界的时候，意料之中的美好就永无止境。

　　Thank you.(Applause)

　　谢谢。(掌声)