学术文章分享：Human Differences（人类的不同）原文&翻译

We come in different colors: red, black, white, yellow and brown, have a variety of political systems, social systems, religious views or none at all; we are different intellectually, have different educational systems, different socio-economic classes; psychologically we are normal, abnormal, neurotic, psychotic, we speak different languages, and have different customs and costumes.

我们生来有着不同的肤色：红色，黑色，白色，黄色和棕色，有各种各样的政治制度，社会制度，宗教观点或根本没有；我们有不同的智力，不同的教育体系，不同的社会经济阶层；从心理上来说，我们是正常的、不正常的、神经质的、精神病的，我们说不同的语言，有不同的习俗和服装。

Studying human beings biologically and physiologically leads us to very different conclusions about how alike or different we are from each other. Very different indeed, every human being on the planet, all 5.3 billion of us, has the same number of bones, of the same type, serving the same purposes; each of us has 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent, and these chromosomes, genes and the DNA and RNA of which they are integral parts, are in every single human being; every cell, every membrane, every tissue, and every organ is the same everywhere. We all have a heart, a circulatory system, 2 lungs, a liver, 2 kidneys, a brain and nervous system, a reproductive system, digestive and excretory systems, musculature, in short, we are the same biologically and our bodies perform the same functions everywhere on the planet. And as we learned in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, if you prick us, any of us, "do we not bleed"? Of course we do, and we bleed red blood no matter what the color of our skin, or the language we speak, the clothing we wear, the gods we worship, or our geographical home. Man is of a piece biologically; all equally effective organisms whether Amazon Indian, Australian aborigine, Parisian artist, Greek sailor, Chinese student, American astronaut, Russian soldier, or Palestinian citizen.

从生物学和生理学的角度研究人类，我们会得出截然不同的结论：我们彼此之间有多相似或有多不同。确实很不一样，地球上的每一个人，我们53亿人，都有同种类型、同样数量、同样的用途的骨头；我们每个人都有46条染色体，来自父母各23条。这些染色体、基因、DNA和RNA都是不可或缺的组成部分，存在于每一个人的体内。每个细胞，每个膜，每个组织，每个器官在任何地方都是一样的。我们都有一个心脏，一个循环系统，两个肺，一个肝脏，两个肾脏，一个大脑和神经系统，一个生殖系统，消化和排泄系统，肌肉系统，总之，我们在生物学上是一样的，我们的身体在地球上的任何地方都执行着相同的功能。正如我们在莎士比亚的《威尼斯商人》中学到的，如果你刺痛我们，刺痛我们中的任何一个人，“我们不会流血吗?” 我们当然会，无论我们的皮肤是什么颜色，我们说的是什么语言，我们穿的是什么衣服，我们崇拜的神是什么，我们居住的地方是什么，我们都在流着红色的血。从生物学上讲，人是一体的；无论是亚马逊印第安人，澳大利亚土著居民，巴黎艺术家，希腊水手，中国学生，美国宇航员，俄罗斯士兵，或巴勒斯坦公民，所有生物都是同样有效的。

Well then, you ask, how is that so many groups of people disparage other groups, persecute them, and claim superiority over them? Why is it that some groups of people still hunt animals, wear little or no clothing, have little or no technology, while others are very sophisticated in their technology, industry, transportation, communication, food gathering and storage? It is, of course, a matter of culture and the civilization that emerges and evolves from it. Though man is man everywhere, where he lives, when he lives there, with whom he lives there, all affect how he lives: that is, what he believes, what he wears, his customs, his gods, his rituals, his myths and literature, his language and his institutions. These are man-made artifacts that each group develops over time, living together, facing the same problems, needing and desiring the same things. They are his culture, his identity.

那么，你会问，为什么会有这么多群体贬低其他群体，迫害他们，声称比他们优越?为什么有些人仍然狩猎动物，穿很少或不穿衣服，有着数量有限的技术甚至没有技术，而另一些人在技术、工业、交通、通讯、食物采集和储存方面非常先进?毫无疑问，这是一个文化问题，以及由此产生和发展的文明问题。虽然人在任何地方都是人，他住在哪里，什么时候住在那里，和谁一起住，所有这些都会影响他的生活方式：他的信仰，他的穿着，他的风俗，他的神，他的仪式，他的神话和文学，他的语言和制度。这些都是人工制品，每个群体都随着时间的推移而发展，一起生活，面对同样的问题，需要和渴望同样的东西。他们是他的文化，他的身份。

The interactions of two powerful forces in all human life: nature (biology) and nurture (culture and civilization), shape us. Each culture has its own distinctive ways of seeing, feeling, thinking, speaking, believing, and just as no two humans are identical in all respects, so no two cultures are identical in all respects. But, wherever humans have lived and live today, there is culture with all of its elements embedded in a civilization that expresses that core of thought and feeling in its language, its institutions and other social organizations. All civilizations and the cultures that nourish them have hierarchies, social institutions, language, art of all kinds, religion or a system of spiritual beliefs of some kind, laws, customs, rituals (other than religious) and ceremonies.

人类生活中两股强大力量的相互作用:自然(生物学)和养育(文化和文明)塑造了我们。每一种文化都有其独特的观察、感受、思考、说话、信仰的方式。正如没有两个人在所有方面都是完全相同的，也没有两种文化在所有方面都是完全相同的。但是，无论人类曾经在哪里生活过，现在又在哪里生活，都有一种文化，它的所有元素都嵌入在一种文明中，这种文明用它的语言、它的制度和其他社会组织来表达思想和情感的核心。所有文明和滋养它们的文化都有等级制度、社会制度、语言、各种艺术、宗教或某种精神信仰体系、法律、习俗、仪式(宗教以外的)和庆典 。

A study of anthropology and make it very clear that humans have created divisions and exacerbated superficial external difference for their own ulterior purposes whether political, social, economic or religious. The truth is that we are much more alike in very basic ways than we are different. If you wear one type of garment and I wear another, we both wear some kind of garment. Our culture demands it. If you speak one language and I another, we both speak so that others will understand us; we must communicate with each other. Nothing is gained by overemphasizing differences, but much is lost. If we understood our differences as cultural variations of our basic, universal humanity it could restore sanity and peace to this often turbulent world. Muslims and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Serbs and Croats, blacks and whites, we are all human and need the same things to survive and to thrive.

一项人类学的研究，它清楚地表明，人类为了其不可告人的目的而制造了分裂，加剧了表面的外部差异，无论是政治的，社会的，经济的还是宗教的。事实上，在最基本的方面，我们的相似之处要比我们的不同之处多得多。如果你穿一种衣服，我穿另一种，我们都穿某种衣服。我们的文化需要它。如果你说一种语言，我说另一种语言，我们都是为了让别人理解我们；我们必须互相沟通。过分强调差异不会得到任何好处，反而会失去很多。如果我们把我们的差异理解为我们基本的、普遍的人性的文化差异，它就能让这个经常动荡不安的世界恢复理智与和平。穆斯林和犹太人，天主教徒和新教徒，塞尔维亚人和克罗地亚人，黑人和白人，我们都是人类，都需要同样的东西来生存和繁荣。

Different does not mean inferior or superior; it does not mean better or worse; right or wrong. It means only that artificial distinctions have been made by society, and these have denied our universal humanity that is cell deep and incontrovertible. Differences produce variety of thought, feeling, and action and that can be very stimulating to peaceful and creative solutions to human problems.

不同并不意味着低劣或优越，这并不意味着更好或更坏；对还是错。这仅仅意味着社会人为地加以区分，而这些否认了我们的细胞深处和不容置疑的普遍人性。差异产生不同的思想、感情和行动，这可以非常刺激和平和创造性地解决人类问题。

Can we accept our biological brotherhood and put aside our man-made, artificial, cultural enmities? What men have made, their culture and civilizations, men can unmake, can improve. What would be gained if we did that? What would be lost?

我们能接受我们的生物兄弟情谊，抛开我们人为的、人为的、文化上的敌意吗?什么人类所创造的?他们的文化和文明就是自己创造的，人类也可以废除，也可以改进。如果我们那样做会得到什么?会失去什么?