作者简介：

Ronald Clive McCallum

荣誉教授，著名学者，专注于劳动法，曾担任悉尼大学法学院院长，也是盲人成为法学院院长的第一人。2008年被联合国残疾人委员会提名，担任大会发言人并被选举为委员长，一直连任至今。

When I was about three or four years old, I remember my mum reading a story to me and my two big brothers, and I remember putting up my hands to feel the page of the book, to feel the picture they were discussing.

在我三四岁时我记得我妈妈给我和两个哥哥读过一个故事，我记得我伸出手去感触书页，去感触他们正在谈论的图画。

And my mum said, "Darling, remember that you can't see and you can't feel the picture and you can't feel the print on the page."

然后我妈妈说：“亲爱的， 你要记得，你看不见，你看不见这图画，你也不能感觉到书页上的字。”

And I thought to myself, "But that's what I want to do.I love stories. I want to read." Little did I know that I would be part of a technological revolution that would make that dream come true.

而我在心里想 “但这正是我想做的。 我喜欢故事。我想读书。” 我那时候并不知道， 我将会成为技术革命的一个部分， 这个革命将实现我的梦想。

I was born premature by about 10 weeks,which resulted in my blindness, some 64 years ago. The condition is known as retrolental fibroplasia, and it's now very rare in the developed world. Little did I know, lying curled up in my prim baby humidicrib in 1948 that I'd been born at the right place and the right time, that I was in a country where I could participate in the technological revolution.

我是一个早产儿，大约提前10周出生， 这导致了我的失明，在64年以前。 这种疾病叫做晶状体后纤维增生症， 现在在发达国家中很少见。 我那时几乎不知道， 1948年，当我躺在恒温培养箱里的时候， 我生在了正确的地点、 正确的时间、我生在了这样一个国家， 让我能参与到技术革命中。

There are 37 million totally blind people on our planet, but those of us who've shared in the technological changes mainly come from North America, Europe,Japanand other developed parts ofthe world. Computers have changed the lives of us all in this room and around the world, but I think they've changed the lives of we blind people more than any other group. And so I want to tell you about the interaction betwee ncomputer-based adaptive technology and the many volunteers who helped me over the years to become the person I am today. It's an interaction between volunteers, passionate inventors and technology, and it's a story that many other blind people could tell. But let me tell you a bit about it today.

现在在我们这个星球上，共有3700万完全失明的人。但是我们中的这些人共享了技术进步的好处的主要来自北美，欧洲， 日本和其它发达国家。 计算机改变了在场所有人以及全世界人的生活， 但是我认为和其他人相比，计算机给我们盲人生活带来的改变更大。 所以我想和你们聊聊我的经历， 关于以计算机为基础的适应技术和许多多年帮助过我的志愿者们，成就了现在的我。这是关于一个志愿者，激情的发明家和科技的合作故事，还是一个每个盲人都会讲的故事，今天让我讲一点这样的故事。

When I was five, I went to school and I learned Braille-.It's an ingenious system of six dots that are punched into paper, and I can feel them with my fingers. In fact, I think they're putting up my grade six report. I don't know where Julian Morrow got that from. I was pretty good in reading, but religion and musical appreciation needed more work.

当我五岁的时候，我在学校学习了盲文，它是一套精妙的系统。六个打在纸上的点， 我可以用手指感受到它们。事实上，我想他们在展示我的成绩单。我不知道Julian Morrow从哪里得到它 。我很擅长阅读，但是宗教和音乐欣赏需要更努力。

When you leave the opera house, you'll find there's braille signage in the lifts. Look for it. Have you noticed it? I do. I look for it all the time.

当你离开歌剧院，你会发现电梯里的盲文标示。找一找。你留意过它么？ 我留意过。我一直在寻找它。

When I was at school, the books were transcribed by transcribers, voluntary people who punched one dot at a time so I'd have volumes to read, and that had been going on, mainly by women, since the late 19th century in this country, but it was the only way I could read. When I was in high school, I got my first Philips reel-to-reel tape recorder, and tape recorders became my sort of pre-computer medium of learning. I could have family and friends read me material, and I could then read it back as manytimes as I needed. And it brought me into contact with volunteers and helpers. For example, when I studied at graduate school at Queen's University inCanada, the prisoners at the Collins Bay jail agreed to help me. I gave them a tape recorder, and they read into it. As one of them said to me, "Ron, we ain't going anywhere at the moment."

在我上学的时候 图书是有抄写者抄写，志愿者一字一句的打点才使我有书籍可以阅读。这个过程主要由女性完成， 在这个国家一直持续到19世纪后期， 但是这是我唯一能够阅读的途径。 当我上高中时 我得到了我第一个Philips磁带录音机，录音机成为了我某种意义上前计算机时代的学习途径。 我可以让我的亲人和朋友帮我读资料， 然后我可以随后多次阅读，只要我愿意它还让我与志愿者和协助者保持联系。例如，当我在加拿大的Queen's University 学习研究生课程时 Collins Bay监狱的服刑者同意帮助我。我给他们录音机，然后他们录下内容，就像他们其中的一人说的 “Ron，反正我们现在哪里都去不了”。

But think of it. These men, who hadn't had the educational opportunities I'd had, helped me gain post-graduatequalifications in law by their dedicated help.

但是想一想，这些人他们从没拥有过我拥有的教育机会却帮助我取得了法律研究生学位，通过他们一心一意的帮助。

Well, I went back and became an academic at Melbourne's Monash University,and for those 25 years, tape recorders were everything to me. In fact, in my office in 1990, I had 18 miles of tape. Students, family and friends all read me material. Mrs. Lois Doery, whom I later came to call my surrogate mum, read me many thousands of hours onto tape. One of the reasons I agreed to give this talk today was that I was hoping that Lois would be here so I could introduce you to her and publicly thank her. But sadly, her health hasn't permitted her to come today. But I thank you here, Lois, from this platform.

当我回来成为一名Melbourne'sMonash University的学者，在那25年的时间里，录音机是我的全部。事实上，1990年在我的办公室我有18公里长的磁带。 学生，亲人和朋友都帮助我录制资料。洛伊斯·杜瑞女士，后来称她为我的代理母亲，她为我录制了几千小时的磁带。我同意这次演讲的一个原因就是我希望她可以在这里，这样我就可以让大家认识她，并公开感谢她。然而，遗憾的是，她的健康状况不允许她今天出席，但是我依旧要通过这个平台，表达对你的感谢，洛伊斯。

I saw my first Apple computer in 1984, and I thought to myself, "This thing's got a glass screen, not much use to me." How very wrong I was. In 1987, in the month our eldest son Gerard was born, I got my first blind computer, and it's actually here. See it up there? And you see it has no, what do you call it, no screen. It's a blind computer. It's a Keynote Gold 84k, and the 84k stands for it had 84 kilobytes of memory.Don't laugh, it cost me 4,000 dollars at the time.I think there's more memory in my watch.

我在1984年见到我的第一台苹果电脑，我对自己说 “这个东西是玻璃屏幕，对我没有用处” 我当时是多么的错误。 在1987年，在我最大的儿子杰拉德出生的月份，我得到了我的第一台盲人电脑。它实际就在这里， 看到它了么？ 你看到了它没有，你们所说的，“屏幕”它是一台盲人电脑。它的型号是Keynote Gold 84K， 84k表示它拥有8.4万字节的内存。不要笑，它当时花费了我近4,000美元，我想我的手表有更大的内存。

It was invented by Russell Smith, a passionate inventor inNew Zealandwho was trying to help blind people.Sadly, he died in a light plane crash in 2005, but his memory lives on in my heart. It meant, for the first time, I could read back what I had typed into it. It had a speech synthesizer.I'd written my first coauthored labor law book on a typewriter in 1979 purely from memory. This now allowed me to read back what I'd written and to enter the computer world, even with its 84k of memory.

它由新西兰的罗斯·史密斯发明，他是一位很有激情的发明家， 一直尝试着帮助盲人。 遗憾的是，2005年他在一场空难中去世。 但是关于他的记忆一直在我心中。 它意味着，头一次， 我能够重读我写过的内容， 它有语音合成器。 1979年，我曾经在一台打字机上完全凭借记忆写了我第一本劳动法的合著。现在它允许我重读我写过的内容，并让我进入了计算机的世界，尽管它只有84k的内存。

In 1974, the great Ray Kurzweil, the American inventor, worked on building a machine that would scan books and read them out in synthetic speech. Optical character recognition units then onlyoperated usually on one font, but by using charge-coupled device flatbed scanners and speech synthesizers, he developed a machine that could read anyfont. And his machine, which was as big as a washing machine, was launched on the 13th of January, 1976. I saw my first commercially available Kurzweil in March 1989, and it blew me away, and in September 1989, the month that my associate professorship at Monash University was announced,the law school got one, and I could use it. For the first time, I could read what I wanted to read by putting a book on the scanner. I didn't have to benice to people!

1974年，伟大的Ray Kurzweil，一位美国发明家， 致力于开发一台机器可以扫描书籍， 并把文字以合成语音阅读出来。 当时视觉文字识别系统只能识别一种字体，但是通过运用感光扫描仪和人工语音合成系统，他开发了一个可以阅读任何字体的机器。在1976年1月13号正式发布，他的机器与洗衣机一样大。 在1989年3月份我第一次见到了可商用的Kurzweil机器，它给我留下了深刻的印象。 1989年9月份， 我获得了莫纳什大学助理教授的教职，法学院购得了一台，并且我可以使用它。 人生中头一次，我可以读我想读的书籍， 只要把那本书放在扫描仪上，不需要我款待他人。

I no longer would be censored. For example, I was too shy then, and I'm actually too shy now, to ask anybody to read me out loud sexually explicit material.But, you know, I could pop a book on in the middle of the night.

我不再需要很审慎。比如，我过去太羞涩。 当然现在也很羞涩，请求别人帮我阅读直白的情爱资料。但是，你懂的，我可以在深夜将一本书放在扫描仪上。

Now, the Kurzweil reader is simply a program on my laptop. That's what it's shrunk to. And now I can scan the latest novel and not wait to get it into talking book libraries. I can keep up with my friends.

现在，库兹维尔阅读器只是我笔记本上的一个程序。 它缩小到现在这样， 现在我可以扫描最新的小说， 迫不及待的把它加入语音图书馆中 我可以与朋友分享。

There are many people who have helped me in my life, and many that I haven't met. One is another American inventor Ted Henter. Ted was a motorcycle racer, but in 1978 he had a car accident and lost his sight, which is devastating if you're trying to ride motorbikes. He then turned to being a waterskier and was a champion disabled waterskier. But in 1989, he teamed up with Bill Joyce to develop a program that would read out what was on the computer screen from the Net or from what was on the computer.It's called JAWS, Job Access With Speech, and it sounds like this.

有很多人在我人生中帮助过我。 其中很多我从没见过 一位是美国发明家泰德·韩特。 泰德曾是摩托车赛车手， 但是在1978年他经历了一次车祸，从而失去了视力， 这将是灾难性的。如果你尝试去骑摩托车，他后来成为了划水运动员。 一度是残疾人划水运动冠军。然而在1989年，他与比尔·乔伊斯合作 开发了一个程序，可以阅读任何在电脑屏幕上的内容。 无论来自网络或者电脑上的资料，名叫JAWS，就是语音辅助系统的意思（Job Access With Speech） 它读起来是这样的。

(JAWS speaking)

（JAWS 在阅读）

Ron McCallum: Isn't that slow?

它是不是很慢？

You see, if I read like that, I'd fall asleep. I slowed it down for you. I'm going to ask that we play it at the speed I read it. Can we play that one?

如果我这样阅读，我可能睡着了。我已经为你们调慢了速度， 我可以要求以我平时阅读的速度重播一遍，可以重播一遍么？

(JAWS speaking)

（JAWS 在阅读）

RM: You know, when you're marking student essays, you want to get through them fairly quickly.

你懂的，如果你在给学生的论文评分，你希望快点读完他们。

This technology that fascinated me in 1987 is now on my iPhone and on yours as well. But, you know, I find reading with machines a very lonely process. I grew up with family, friends, reading to me,and I loved the warmth and the breath and the closeness of people reading. Do you love being read to? And one of my most enduring memories is in 1999, Mary reading to me and the children down near Manly Beach "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." Isn't that a great book? I still love being close to someone reading to me. But I wouldn't give up the technology, because it's allowed me to lead a great life.

这项在1987年吸引我的技术 现在就在我的iPhone上，也在你们的iPhone上。但是，我发现和机器一起阅读是一个非常孤独的过程。 在我的成长中，亲人，朋友陪伴我阅读。 我热爱人们阅读中的温暖，气息和亲密。 你希望倾听么？ 一段我最珍爱的记忆是 1999年，Mary为我和孩子们在Manly海滩边阅读 “哈利波特和魔法石” 那不是一本很棒的书么？ 我依旧热爱与为我阅读的人保持亲密，但是我不会放弃科技，因为它允许我过上了美好的生活。

Of course, talking books for the blind predated all this technology. After all, the long-playing record was developed in the early 1930s, and now we put talking books on CDs using the digital access system known as DAISY. But when I'm reading with synthetic voices, I love to come home and read a racy novel with a real voice.

当然，盲人的有声读物 先于这些科技。 毕竟可以长时间播放的录音在19世纪30年代初期已经发明了，现在我们将图书刻录在CD上 通过DAISY数码系统。 但是当我通过人工语音阅读时我期望回到家里听到真实的声音阅读一本轻快的小说。

Now there are still barriers in front of we people with disabilities. Many websites we can't read using JAWS and the other technologies. Websites are often very visual, and there are all these sorts of graphs that aren't labeled and buttons that aren't labeled, and that's why the World Wide Web Consortium 3, known as W3C,has developed worldwide standards for the Internet. And we want all Internetusers or Internet site owners to make their sites compatible so that we persons without vision can have a level playing field. There are other barriers brought about by our laws. For example,Australia,like about one third of the world's countries, has copyright exceptions which allow books to be brailled or read for we blind persons. But those books can'ttravel across borders. For example, inSpain, there are a 100,000 accessible books in Spanish. InArgentina,there are 50,000. In no other Latin American country are there more than a couple of thousand. But it's not legal to transport the books fromSpainto Latin America.There are hundreds of thousands of accessible books in theUnited States,Britain,Canada,Australia,etc., but they can't be transported to the 60 countries in our world where English is the first and the second language. And remember I was telling you about Harry Potter. Well, because we can't transport books across borders,there had to be separate versions read in all the different English-speaking countries:Britain,United States,Canada,Australia, andNew Zealandall had to have separate readings of Harry Potter.

现在依旧有很多障碍阻挡在我们残疾人面前，很多网站我们不能通过JAWS系统或者其他的技术阅读。 网站通常很视觉化，有很多各种各样的图片。 它们没有被标示，按钮也没有被标示， 这就是为什么World Wide Web Consortium 3(W3C)，开发了一套世界通用的互联网准则。 因而，我们希望所有互联网用户和互联网拥有者让他们的网站兼容。 这样，我们这些没有视觉的人们，可以有一席之地。 还有其他由法律产生的障碍， 例如澳大利亚， 就像世界上三分之一的国家一样，有版权特例，允许书籍被翻译成盲字或者为我们盲人阅读。 但是这些书籍不能跨越国界。 例如在西班牙有100,000本可使用西班牙语的图书， 在阿根廷有五万本。 在其他拉丁美洲国家有上千本。但是将图书从西班牙带到拉丁美洲是违法的。 在美国，英国，加拿大，澳大利亚有十万多本可使用的图书等等。 但是他们不能被带到其他60多个 英语是母语或者第二语言的国家， 记得我曾告诉你们关于哈利·波特的故事， 因为我们不能将图书穿越国境， 因此必须有很多独立的阅读版本。 在不同的英语国家： 英国，美国，加拿大，澳大利亚， 和新西兰，都必须拥有不同语音版本的Harry Potter。

And that's why, next month inMorocco, a meeting is taking place between all the countries. It's something that a group of countries and the World Blind Union are advocating, a cross-border treaty so that if books are available under a copyright exception and the other country has a copyright exception, we can transport those books across borders and give life to people, particularly in developing countries, blind people who don't have the books to read. I want that to happen.

这就是为什么，下个月在Morocco， 一个国际会议将举行，它关于一些国家 和世界盲人组织所倡导的 一个跨界协议，期望如果一些图书在一个版权特例下可使用。 其他国家也有版权特例，我们就可以让这些图书穿越国界 给予人们生活，尤其在发展中国家，那些没有书籍可以阅读的盲人们。 我希望这可以成为现实。

My life has been extraordinarily blessed with marriage and children and certainly interesting work to do, whether it beat the University of Sydney Law School, where I served a term as dean, or now as I sit on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in Geneva.I've indeed been a very fortunate human being.

我的人生很幸运。 拥有美好的婚姻和孩子， 还有非常有趣的工作。 不论是在悉尼大学法学院， 在那里我曾任职院长。还是我在日内瓦联合国委员会， 代表残疾人的利益，我一直以来都是非常幸运的人。

I wonder what the future will hold. The technology will advance even further, but I can still remember my mum saying,60 years ago, "Remember,darling, you'll never be able to read the print with your fingers." I'm so glad that the interaction between braille transcribers, volunteer readers and passionate inventors, has allowed this dream of reading to come true for me and for blind people throughout the world.

我猜想未来会是如何。 科技会更加进步， 但是我始终记得母亲在60年前说的话， “记住，亲爱的， 用你的手指，你永远不能阅读到纸上的文字 我很庆幸，盲文翻译员 志愿者，和激情发明家的相互影响 让我可以阅读的梦想变成现实 也让世界上所有盲人的梦想成真。

I'd like to thank my researcher Hannah Martin, who is my slide clicker, who clicks the slides, and my wife, Professor Mary Crock, who's the light of my life, is coming on to collect me. I want to thank her too.

我要感谢我的研究员汉娜·马丁， 她是我的投影助手，帮我播放投影 和我的妻子，玛丽·库鲁克教授，她是我生活的光芒 她正准备接走我 我也要感谢她。

I think I have to say goodbye now. Bless you. Thank you very much.

我想我要说再见了 祝福你们。感谢您们。

原文出自：Ted Talk

原文链接：http://open.163.com/movie/2014/3/N/9/M9KC5BAUK_M9KGRPEN9.html

文中生词：

prim:整齐的，拘谨的，呆板的stiffly formal and respectable; feeling or showing disapproval of anything regarded as improper

Braille: 点字法盲文a form of written language for blind people, in which characters are represented by patterns of raised dots that are felt with the fingertips

ingenious: 灵敏的, 聪明的, 精巧的(of a person) clever, original, and inventive

surrogate: 代理,代理人a substitute, esp. a person deputizing for another in a specific role or office

synthesizer:合成器an electronic musical instrument, typicallyoperated by a keyboard, producing a wide variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies

censored:检查; 审查examine (a book, movie, etc.) officially and suppress unacceptable parts of it

【智梦简介】

智梦是一家专注美国本科留学的教育咨询机构。

我们的使命：

“智梦教育团队深知留学申请关系到学生及其家长的前途和未来，我们将竭尽所能帮助每一位智梦学员发掘其潜在的特质，以开放透明的申请方式，让他们能不留遗憾的争取到自己的理想学校。与此同时，培养他们成为诚实守信、独立思考、德才兼备的国际化人才。”

我们的愿景：

“智梦教育将成为一所发掘学术兴趣，培养学术能力，塑造具有公民意识的新时代留学生的学校。”