听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:鬼故事的真相是什么？，希望你会喜欢！

【主讲人】Coya Paz Brownrigg
Coya Paz Brownrigg是作家、导演、学者、艺术类管理者，致力于实现艺术中的种族和经济平等。

【演讲主题】The haunting truth of ghost stories
鬼故事不仅仅是关于困扰人们的鬼魂。戏剧教育家Coya Paz Brownrigg享受这种令人毛骨悚然的乐趣，她讲述了三种不同的鬼故事，深挖鬼故事的真相，探究其中包含着的渴望、意义和文化价值。

【中英文稿】
Fifteen years ago, I was doing my graduate research on the lynching of Mexicans and Latin Americans in gold rush California. And I was having a very hard time finding the evidence I needed to make my claim. I don't know how much you know about lynching, but they are, by definition, public executions that happen off the official record. These deaths aren't technically sanctioned by the state, and often, towns and communities would deny they even happened, which made it harder to prove that they did. Still, even when the official record refused an act of violence, local lore often served as an alternative archive, a different way of recording history. A ghost story about someone being killed and coming back to haunt the town was an important arrow, a sign to look more deeply into the history of a place. Very often, if local legend featured a story about a ghost who had been hung, murdered or lynched, and came back to haunt the town, digging through the archive, newspapers, letters, diaries, would reveal that the event, or something like it, had actually happened. So the ghost story was one way that communities were holding the violent history of a place, passing down the story from generation to generation.
十五年前，我在做我的毕业报告，主题是加州淘金潮时对墨西哥人和拉丁美洲人的私刑。那时我很难找到我需要的证据来支持我的主张。我不知道各位有多了解私刑，但根据定义，私刑就是未出现在官方记录上的公开行刑。技术上来说，这些死刑并非由州所批准，且通常小镇和小区会否认曾经发生过这种事。让我更难证明私刑的确发生过。不过，就算官方记录没有记载暴力行为，地方传说通常也能扮演记录的功能，成为另一种记载历史的方式。传说有人被杀害后在小镇上阴魂不散的鬼故事就是个重要的指标，暗示我们可以更深入挖掘这个地方的历史。大部分的时候，如果地方传说的主轴故事是有人被吊死、谋杀，或以私刑处死之后在镇上阴魂不散，去挖旧档案、报纸、信件、日记，就会发现这个事件，或类似的事件，确实发生过。所以，小区用鬼故事这种方式保存一个地方的暴力历史，将故事一代一代传下去。

Now, I don't know if an actual ghost was haunting any of these places, but their history certainly was. And this is pretty much my stance on it. It doesn't matter whether or not a ghost is real. The ghost story is, and the fact that we maybe, kind of, sort of believe a ghost might be real is significant, and we should pay attention to it.
我不知道这些地方是否真的闹鬼，但对它们的历史肯定是存在的。我对此的立场大致上是这样。鬼是不是真的并不重要，重要的是真有鬼故事。且，我们可能会相信鬼可能是真的，这个现象很明显，我们应该多注意它。

I'm not the only one who thinks this, by the way. There is a whole field of interdisciplinary research called “spectrality studies,” which is proof that academics will think of anything. Still, this idea was transformative for me, and not just in my research.
顺道一提，不只是我有这样的想法。有一个跨学科的研究领域称作「幽灵研究」，这就证明了学者什么都想得到。不过，这个想法对我仍然影响很大，不只影响到我的研究。

For most of my life, I was terrified of ghosts. I didn’t even want to hear a ghost story, because I didn't want to entertain the possibility that a ghost might exist. And why not? In popular culture, ghosts are portrayed as mean, vengeful, destructive forces. They’re terrifying at worst and unsettling at best. Unexpected presences who show up and demand your emotional attention, at any cost. We are taught to be afraid of dying and death, and the dead.
我大半生怕鬼。我甚至不想听鬼故事，因为我不想接受鬼魂也许真的存在。为什么不呢？在流行文化中，鬼魂被描绘为卑鄙、复仇心很重、具毁灭性的力量。鬼魂有可能非常恐怖，再怎么好也会让人很不安。未预期地出现，不计代价要求你情绪上的注意力，我们被教导要惧怕赴死、死亡以及亡者。

But when I stopped worrying about ghosts and started worrying about ghost stories, I found myself in a new relationship with the world around me. In addition to being a historian, I'm also a performance maker, and about five years ago, I had the great honor of working with Free Street Theater in Chicago to create a performance called "100 Hauntings." To make this performance, we asked hundreds and hundreds of Chicagoans if they'd ever encountered a ghost. We were interested in what I call ordinary ghost stories, so, not the kinds of ghosts who show up in urban legends or on a city's ghost tour, but the kind of ghost people say they've just found in the bathroom, right after signing the lease on a new apartment. Following my research, we were interested in what these ghosts might tell us about Chicago's hidden history, but we were also interested in the ghost story as a form. Like no other kind of storytelling, ghost stories ask us to gather around, lean in and thrill at the possibility that some very scary, very chilling thing actually happened, while at the same time being sure, so sure, that it didn't, right? Right?
但，当我不再担心鬼魂而开始担心鬼故事，我发现我和自己周遭的世界建立了新的关系。除了是历史学家，我也是表演创作者，大约五年前，我很荣幸能和芝加哥的自由街道剧院合作，创作一场表演，名为《百件闹鬼事》。为了创作这场表演，我们询问了许许多多芝加哥人，他们是否有撞鬼的经历。我们感兴趣的是我所谓的平凡鬼故事，不是出现在都市传说或鬼店里的那种鬼。而是一般人说他们刚签下新公寓的租约就在浴室里撞见的鬼魂。随着研究，我们不止好奇这些鬼故事会诉说什么被埋没的芝加哥历史，也对鬼故事的形式很感兴趣。和其他的说故事方式都不一样，鬼故事让我们要围成一圈，凑得很近，很紧张地相信，很有可能有些非常可怕、非常惊悚的事情确曾发生过，同时又确信并未真的发生，对吧？对吧？

I have found that almost everyone has a ghost story. Even people who say they don't believe in ghosts usually have a "Well ..." story about something they're sure has a rational explanation, even if they're not quite sure what it is. And this not knowing has left them unsettled, with a feeling they can't quite explain.
我发现，几乎每个人都有个鬼故事。就连嘴巴上说不相信鬼的人，通常也有个「嗯……」的故事，他们相信一定有个合理的解释，即使他们自己也不确定该怎么解释。而这种未知，让他们心神不宁，有种他们不太能解释的感受。

And this is what I love about ghost stories -- how so often, they get right to feeling. Underneath the fun and chill of it are complex relationships with life, with death, and with each other.
这就是为什么我热爱鬼故事——它们通常会直接进入感受。在乐趣和冷颤的背后是和人生、和死亡、和彼此的复杂关系。

And whenever anyone tells me a ghost story, I ask them two questions. First: "What do you think this ghost wanted?" And second, because most people are ambivalent about whether or not the ghost actually exists, I ask, "What is it that you want from the ghost?"
每当有人跟我说鬼故事，我会问他们两个问题。第一：「你认为这鬼魂想要什么？」第二，因为大部分人对于到底有没有鬼其实感到很矛盾，我会问：「你想要从这鬼魂身上得到什么？」

The first question is pretty easy to answer. I have found that most ghosts fall into one of three categories, and what they all want is pretty much the same -- to be acknowledged. The first type of ghost is the kind I started studying. These are the furious returned -- ghosts who have met a terrible end, and they want us, the living, to remember it. These are your victims of a great injustice. Murders, most often, but also things like factory fires and mysterious deaths in jail. I'll give you an example. Once, in a story circle for our show "100 Hauntings," a man told us a story about going as a teenager to break into an abandoned mental hospital on the northwest side of the city. Now, we’d never heard of this mental hospital, and honestly it sounded like any "teenagers breaking into a mental hospital" story you've ever heard -- a wheelchair mysteriously following them, doors slamming shut, creepy laughter. But remember, these kinds of stories can be important arrows, so we followed up. And sure enough, multiple city records show that there was a poor farm and almshouse on the northwest side of the city, which later became one of the largest carceral mental hospitals in the United States. It was the kind of place where people, mostly poor people and immigrants, were locked up for decades, often against their will. It was also the kind of place where, when they died, they were usually buried in the back, in an unmarked grave. The Chicago Tribune reports that as many as 38,000 unmarked graves are in the back. Now, this is a really significant piece of Chicago history, but I'd argue it's not well-known. Most people who live here don't know anything about it. But the ghost story asks us to remember.
第一个问题很容易回答。我发现，大部分的鬼魂可被归为三种类别之一，他们想要的都大同小异——被认可。第一类的鬼魂是我一开始研究的鬼魂，是带着愤怒回来的鬼魂，惨死的鬼魂，他们希望我们活人记住这事。他们是极度不公正的受害者。最常见的是谋杀，但也有工厂大火和监狱中的神秘死亡。让我举个例子。有一次，在我们的节目《百件闹鬼事》的故事圈中，有名男子跟我们说了他青少年时期的一个故事，他闯入城市西北边一间废弃的精神病院。我们从来没有听过这间精神病院，且老实说，这听起来和所有你听过的「青少年闯入精神病院」的故事没两样，轮椅很诡秘地跟踪他们，门突然砰一声关上，有令人毛骨悚然的笑声。但别忘了，这种故事很可能是重要的指标，所以我们去追踪了。没错，多个城市记录指出曾经有个救济农场和贫民所，就位在城市的西北边，后来成为美国最大的监狱精神病院之一。那样的地方会把人，大部分是穷人和移民，强制关上数十年。他们如果死在那样的地方，通常就会被埋在后面没有标记的坟墓里。芝加哥论坛报报导那后面有多达三万八千个没有标记的坟墓。这是芝加哥历史中很重要的一段，但我认为没多少人知道。大部分住在这里的人对此事一无所知。但鬼故事要我们记住它。

The second kind of ghost story is probably the most common. We'll call them the leave-me-alone ghost. This is the kind of ghost who just wants us the living to get out. Usually, people experience this as bad energy or a creepy, unwelcome feeling in some parts of the house, and people usually imagine that this is a former resident who's not happy that new people have moved in. What's interesting to me about this kind of ghost story is that you find it most often in appropriated spaces -- think gentrifying neighborhoods or the old "built on a sacred burial ground" trope. And here's where I want to remind you that it doesn't matter whether or not the ghost is real. The ghost story is. So maybe there really is a ghost who’s trying to push us out, or maybe there’s some part of our unconscious that's grappling with whether or not we have a right to be here, whether or not we really belong. Sure, we live here now, but should we? What happened to the people who came before?
第二类的鬼故事可能最为常见，我们把他们称为「别来烦我」鬼魂。这种鬼魂只希望我们活人滚出去。通常，人对这种鬼魂的感受会是不好的能量，或者在房子的某些地方有毛毛的、不欢迎的感觉。通常大家把这种感觉想象成前任住户不爽有新住户搬进来。我认为这种鬼故事有趣的地方在于这种故事通常都发生在占用的空间里——比如仕绅化（中产阶级化）的邻里或「建在神圣墓地上」的古老比喻。在此，我想再次提醒大家，重点不是鬼魂是不是真的，重点在于鬼故事。也许确实有鬼魂在那里，想把我们赶出去，或者也许我们的无意识当中有一部分还在挣扎我们到底有没有权利待在这里，我们是否属于这里。的确，我们现在住在这里，但应该吗？先前这里的人发生了什么事？

The third kind of ghost is my favorite. I'll call them "are still with us." These are your beloved grandparents, the child still playing with a ball up and down a hallway, the elevator operator still showing up to work. Sometimes, these ghosts are strangers to us. They're not people we used to know, but they're not bothering us or meaning us any harm -- they're just kind of there. I'll give you an example. Many people believe that the building where my theater is located is haunted. I've not experienced this myself, but I can't tell you how many people have described seeing exactly half a man sitting in our lobby. He doesn't interact with us or disturb us in any way. He's just there. Sometimes, though, these ghosts are more active. I've heard many stories from people who thought that their child had an imaginary friend until suddenly, their child knew how to play chess, or was singing songs in a totally different language. And here's where these stories get really emotional. Often, people are convinced that this is some family member returned, sent to watch over them. One woman told me a story about her husband coming to visit on a day when she was so sad, she didn't know what else to do but cry. Another woman told me she was sure that a faucet turning on and off in her bathroom was her sister, because it was so like the pranks her sister used to play when she was alive. I love these kinds of stories, because they show us how much we want to connect, not just with the living, but with the dead.
第三类鬼魂是我的最爱，我称他们为「还与我们同在」。这些鬼魂是你亲爱的祖父母，孩子还在走廊上跑来跑去玩球，还会去上工的电梯操作员。有时，这些鬼魂对我们来说是陌生人，不是我们以前认识的人，但他们没骚扰我们，也无意伤害我们——他们就只是在那里。让我举个例子。许多人相信我的剧院所在的那栋大楼闹鬼。我自己没遇过，但我无法告诉各位有多少人说他们看到有半个人坐在我们的大厅。他不会以任何方式和我们互动或打扰我们，他就只是在那里。不过有些时候，这些鬼魂会比较主动。我听过很多人说这样的故事：他们以为他们的孩子有个想象出来的朋友，直到突然间他们的孩子会下棋了，或者，会唱完全不同语言的歌曲。故事说到这里时就会非常情绪化。通常，大家会深信这是某位家人回来了，被派来照顾他们。有位女子跟我说过一个故事，她的先生来访，那天她很伤心，除了哭泣之外没办法做什么。另一名女子告诉我，她很肯定她家浴室的水龙头开开关关，是她姐姐弄的，因为那很像是她姐姐生前的恶作剧方式。我很喜欢这类故事，因为它们显示出我们有多想要连结，不只连结活人，还有亡者。

Asking people for their ghost stories can be bone-chilling fun, but it also gets at really intimate questions. How do we feel about death? What are we afraid of? Who did we love so much that we want them, desperately, to return? How do we want to be remembered? What do we wish we could change? What and who is haunting us?
请别人说他们的鬼故事是种很恐怖的乐趣，但这也会带到很亲密的问题。我们怎么看待死亡？我们在害怕什么？我们爱谁爱到甚至希望他们会回来？我们希望别人记得怎样的我们？我们希望我们本来能改变什么？是什么／谁在我们心头挥之不去？

Despite what horror movies and campfire tales would have us believe, most ghost stories reveal a deep longing: a longing for adventure, for meaning, for connection, for a beyond. A longing not to be forgotten, and a longing not to forget.
不论恐怖片和围着营火说故事让我们相信了什么，大部分的鬼故事显露出一种深刻的渴望：渴望冒险、渴望意义、渴望连结、渴望来世；渴望不要被忘记以及渴望不要忘记。

We're living in a time that feels exceptionally hard. We're divided from one another by politics, and the reality of a global pandemic means that many of us have been away from the people and places we love the most. So many of us are mourning untimely deaths, and grief is all around us. Unfortunately, I don't think we're always very good at grappling with loss or talking about death, or talking about the way that our history is still living in the present. Ghost stories can be scary, but so is being vulnerable, so is any unknown.
我们现在所处的时代感觉特别辛苦。政治让我们彼此分裂，而全球疫情的现实意味着我们许多人有段时间无法接触我们最爱的人和地方。好多人在哀悼过早的死亡，悲恸笼罩在我们周围。不幸的是，我认为我们未必总是擅长于处理失去或者谈论死亡，或谈论我们的历史仍然存于现在。鬼故事可能很吓人，但脆弱也很吓人，任何未知都很吓人。

So the next time you're trying to figure out a way to connect and you’re not sure what to do, let me offer this. Try asking someone for a ghost story. It's sure to start a conversation. Yeah, maybe they'll laugh at you, maybe they'll turn it back on you. Maybe they'll tell you a story that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Maybe they'll tell you a story that makes you cry. And maybe, if you're really lucky, they'll tell you a story that makes you wonder what else you don't know, about a place, about a history, about a people, about each other and about yourself.
所以下次当你在想办法建立连结，而你不确定如何是好，容我提供一个建议。试着请对方说个鬼故事。它肯定能开启对谈。是啊，也许他们会笑你；也许他们会反过来问你；也许他们会告诉你一个让你毛骨悚然的故事；也许他们会告诉你一个让你落泪的故事。也许，如果你很幸运的话，他们会告诉你一个故事，让你好奇你还有什么不知道的，对一个地方、一段历史、一个人，还有什么不知道的。对彼此、对你自己还有什么不知道的。

Don't forget to ask, "What did the ghost want? And more important, "What do you want from the ghost?"
别忘了问：「这鬼魂想要什么？」更重要的是要问：「你想从这鬼魂身上得到什么？」