TED英语演讲稿：内向性格的力量 When I was nine, I attended summer camp for the first time. My mother packed my suitcase with books, a practice that seemed normal to me. In my family, reading was a primary group activity. Perhaps this may sound anti-social to you, but for us, it was merely a different form of socializing. You have the warmth of your family sitting beside you, yet you're free to roam in the adventureland of your own mind. I had this idea that camp would be just like this, only better. (Laughter) I envisioned ten girls sitting cosily in a cabin, reading books in their matching nightgowns. 9岁时，我第一次参加夏令营。我妈妈把我的行李箱装满了书，这在我的家庭中是常态。对我们来说，阅读是一种主要的集体活动。这可能听起来有些反社会，但对我们来说，这只是社交的不同方式。你有家人温暖的陪伴坐在一起，但同时你也可以自由地在脑海中的冒险乐园里遨游。我以为野营会像这样，但更棒。 (笑声) 我幻想十个女孩坐在舱内舒适地读书，穿着相配的睡衣。 (Laughter) (笑声) Camp turned out to be more like a wild party without alcohol. On the first day, our counselor gathered us and taught us a cheer that she said we'd be doing every day to cultivate camp spirit. It went like this: "R-O-W-D-I-E, that's the way we spell rowdy. Rowdy, rowdy, let's get rowdy." Yeah. So, I couldn't figure out why we were supposed to be so rowdy, or why we had to spell the word incorrectly. (Laughter) But I recited the cheer. I recited it with everyone else. I did my best. And I simply waited for the time when I could go off and read my books. 然而，野营实际上更像是一个没有酒精的狂野派对。在第一天，我们的顾问把我们召集在一起，教给我们一个口号，说我们每天都会这样做，以培养野营精神。它就像这样进行： “R-O-W-D-I-E，这是我们拼写吵闹的方式。吵闹，吵闹，让我们变得吵闹。” 对，就是这样。我完全不明白我们为什么应该这么吵闹，或者为什么我们要错误地拼写这个词。 (笑声) 但我重复了口号。我和每个人都一起重复。我尽了最大努力。我只是等待我可以离开去读我的书的那一刻。 But the first time I took out my book from my suitcase, the coolest girl in the bunk came up to me and asked, "Why are you so mellow?" — mellow, of course, being the exact opposite of R-O-W-D-I-E. And then the second time I tried it, the counselor came up to me with a concerned look on her face and repeated the point about camp spirit, saying we should all work hard to be outgoing. 但是当我第一次从行李箱中拿出书时，宿舍里最酷的女孩走到我面前问：“你为什么这么冷静？” 当然，冷静与R-O-W-D-I-E完全相反。而我尝试第二次拿书时，顾问带着担忧的表情走过来，重申了关于野营精神的重要性，并说我们都应该努力变得外向。 And so I put my books away, back into their suitcase, under my bed, where they stayed for the rest of the summer. I felt somewhat guilty about this. It was as if the books needed me in some way, calling out to me, and I was forsaking them. But I did forsake them, and I didn't open that suitcase again until I was back home with my family at the end of the summer. 因此，我把书收好，放回行李箱里，放在床下，它们在那里度过了暑假剩余的日子。我对这样做感到有些内疚。仿佛这些书以某种方式需要我，在呼唤我，而我却抛弃了它们。但我确实抛弃了它们，直到那个夏天末尾，我回到家，与家人团聚，我再也没有打开那个箱子。 Now, I share this story about summer camp. I could have told you fifty others just like it ——all the times I got the message that my quiet and introverted way of being was not necessarily the right way, that I should try to pass as a more extroverted person. And I always sensed deep down that this was wrong and that introverts were pretty excellent just as they were. But for years, I denied this intuition, and so I became a Wall Street lawyer, of all things, instead of the writer I had always longed to be —— partly because I needed to prove to myself that I could be bold and assertive too. And I was always going off to crowded bars when I really would have preferred to just have a nice dinner with friends. And I made these self-negating choices so reflexively that I wasn't even aware that I was making them. 现在，我讲述了这个关于夏令营的故事。我还可以告诉你们五十个类似的故事——所有那些我得到的信息，我的安静和内向的个性 somehow wasn't the right way, that I should try to appear more extroverted. Deep down, I always knew this was wrong, that introverts are actually very excellent just as they are. But for many years, I denied this intuition, and so I became a Wall Street lawyer, of all things, instead of the writer that I had always dreamed of being —— partly because I needed to prove to myself that I could be bold and assertive too. And I was always going off to crowded
