TED：What makes you different ?

Thank you so much. I am a journalist. My job is to talk to people from all walks of life, all over the world.      

非常感谢，我是一个记者，我的工作是和来自全世界不同地方的人交流。

Today , I want to tell you , why I decaed to do this with my life and what I`ve learned.  My story begins in Caracas, Venezuela, in South America, where I grew up; a place that to me was, and always will be filled with magice and wonder.

今天，我想告诉你们，我决定做这一行的原因以及我从中学到的东西，我的故事要从南美洲委内瑞拉的加拉加斯开始讲起，那是我长大的地方，一个对我来说永远是充满魔力和奇迹的地方。

From a very young age, my parents wanted me to have a wider view of the world.  I remember one time when I was around seven years old, my dad came up to me and said, “Mariana, I`m going to send you and your little sister,,,,,” who was six at the time, “to a place where noboday speaks Spanish. I want you to experience different cultures.”

从我很小的时候开始，我的父母就希望我能对世界有更广阔的认识。沃基的又一次大概在我七岁的时候，我爸爸走到我身边对我说：“玛丽娜，我打算送你和你妹妹····”我妹妹那时候六岁，去一个没有人会说西班牙语的地方，我想让你们去体验不同的文化。

He went on and on about the benefits of spending an entire summer in this summer camp in the Untied States, stressing a little phrase that I didn`t pay too much attention to at the time;  “You never know what the future holds.”

他不停的说着这个美国的夏令营，度过整个夏天的好处，并且强调了一些，我那时并没有太过关注的句子，你永远不会知道未来会发生什么。

Meanwhile, in my seven-year-old mind, I was thinking, we were going to get to summer camp in Miami, Maybe it was going to be even better, and we were going to go a little furture north , to Orlando, where Mickey Mouse lived. I got really excited.

那时，在我七岁的脑海里，我想的是我们要去参加迈阿密的夏令营啦，可能还更好，我们也许会到有点远的北方，到奥兰多去，米老鼠居住的地方。我特别的激动。

My dad, however, had a slightly different plan. Form Caracas, he sent us to Brainerd, Minnesota. Mickry Mouse was up there, and with no cell phone , no Snapchat, or Instagram, I couldn`t look up any information. 

然而我父亲有一个略微不同的计划，他把我们从拉加斯送到明尼苏达州的布雷纳德，哪里没有米老鼠，没有电话，没有Snapchat或者Instagram ,我没有半点发刷任何消息。

We got there, and one of the first things I noticed was that the other kid`s hair was several shades of blonde, and msot of them had blue eyes. meanwhile, this is what we looked like. The first night, the camp director gathered eveyone around the campfire and said, “kids ,we have a very international camp this year; the Atencios are here from Venezuela.”

我们到了那里，最先关注的事情之一是其他小孩的头发是金黄色的，并且他们中的大多数有着蓝眼睛，与此同时，这是我们看起来的样子。第一天晚上，营地负责人把所有人聚集在篝火旁，然后说：孩子们，今年我们有一个非常国际化的夏令营，这对姐妹来自委内瑞拉。

The other kids looked at us as if we were from another planet. They would ask us things like, “Do you know what a hamburger is ?” or , “Do you go to school on a donkey or a canoe?”

其他小孩子打量着我们，仿佛我们来自其他星球似的，他们问我们一些事情，像“你们知道汉堡是什么吗？”或者“你们是骑驴还是划着独木舟去上学的？”

I would try to answer in my broken English, and they would just laugh. I know they were not trying to be mean; they were just trying to understand who we were, and make a correlation with the world they knew. We could either be like them, or like characters out of  a book filled with adcentures, like Aladdin or the Jungle Book.

我试着用我结巴的英语回答，然后他们就哈哈大笑，我知道他们不是要可以的对待我们，他们只是想试着了解我们是什么样的人，然后和他们所知的世界进行联系。我们要么像他们一样，要么像一本充满冒险的书里的任务一样。就像阿拉丁或者奇幻森林。

We certainly didn`t look like them, we didn`t speak their language, we were different. When you`re seven years old, that hurts. But I had my little sister to take care of, and she cried every day at summer camp. So I decided to put on a brave face, and embrace everything I could about the American way of life.

我们看起来确实不像他们，我们不会说他们的语言，我们是不同的，在你七岁时候，你会觉得很受伤，但是我的照顾我的没灭，她在夏令营的每一天都会哭。因此我决定装出一副勇敢的样子，并且欣然接受任何我可以适应的美国人的生活方式。

We later did what we called “the summer camp experment,” for eight years in different cities that many Americans haven`t even heard of. What I remember most about these mnments was when I finally clicked with someone.

我们之后完成了被我们叫做“夏令营体验”的事，在许多甚至美国人都没听说过的城市带了八年，我对这些瞬间记忆最深的便是我最后和别人打成一片的时候。

Making a friend was a special reward.  Everybody wants to feel valued and accepted, and we think it should happen spontaneously, but it doesn`t. When you`re different, you have to work at belonging. You have to be either really helpful, smart, funny , anything to be cool for the crowd you want to hang out with.

交到一个朋友就是一个特别的奖励，每个人都希望自己是有价值并且被接纳的，并且我们认为这应该是自然而然的发生的，但是它并不是，当你是异类的时候，你不得不为了归属感而努力。你也必须是有用的，聪明的，有趣的，任何对你想要融入群体来说都是出色的东西。

Later on , when I was in high school, my dad expanded on his summer plan, and from Caracas he sent me to Wallingford, Connecticut, for the senior years of high school. This time , I remember daydreaming on the plane about “the American high school experience”-with a locker. It was going to be perfect, just like in my favourite TV show; “Saved by the Bell.”

之后，当我读高中的时候，我父亲拓展了他的计划，他把我从加拉斯送到了康乃狄克州的瓦林福德来上高中。这次，我还记得在飞机上做梦，关于“在美国上高中的经历”它将会很完美，就像我最喜欢的电视综艺：“紧急救援。”

I get there , and they tell me that my assigned roommate is eagerly waiting. I opened the door, and there she was, sitting on the bed, with a headscarf. Her name was Fatima, and she was Muslim from Bahrain, and she was not what I expected.

我到了这里，然后他们告诉我，分配好的室友已经急切的在等着我，我推开门，她就在哪儿，坐在床上，戴着头巾，她叫法蒂玛，是来自巴瑞的穆斯林教徒，并且她不像我所期望的那样。

She probably sensed my disappointment when I looked at her because I didn`t do too much to hide it . See , as a teenager, I wanted to fit in even more, I wanted to be popular, maybe have a boyfriend for prom, and I felt that Fatima just got in the way with her shyness and her strict dress code.

在我看着她时，她可能感觉到了我的失望，因为我没有太过掩饰，看，作为一个青少年，我想要更高大上的东西，我渴望被欢迎，可能还有一个陪我参加舞会的男友，而我局的法蒂玛的害羞和严格的穿衣准则，就是一个障碍。

I didn`t realize that I was making her feel like the kids at summer camp made me feel . This was the high school equivalent of asking her, “Do you know what a hamburger is ?” I was consumed by my own selfshness and unable to put myself in her shoes.

我没有意识到我使她感觉到了夏令营孩子让我感觉的那样，这可是高中啊，就相当于在问她：“你知道汉堡是什么吗？”我的内心被自私充斥了，并且无法换位思考。

I have to be honest with you , we only lasted a couple of months together, because she was later sent to live with a counselor instead of other students.

我必须对你们说实话，我们只一起度过了几个月，因为她后来被分去和一个辅导员一起住，而不是和其他学生。

I remember thinking, “Ah, she`ll be okey. She`s just different.” You see , when we label someone as different, it dehumanzies them in a way. They become “the other.” They`re not worthy of our time, not our problem, and in fact, they, “the other,” are probaly the cause of our problems.

我记得我曾经想过“她将会很好，她只是与众不同，”你们看，当我们把一些人贴上与众不同的标签时，在某种程度上就是将他们排除在外。他们变成了其他人，他们不懂的我们花费时间，不是我们的问题。事实上，他们“其他人，”才可能是造成我们的麻烦的原因。

So , how do we recognize our blind spots? It begins by understanding what makes you different, by embracing those traits. Only then can you begin to appreciate what makes others special. I remember when this hit me . It was a couple months after that. I had found that boyfriend for prom, made a group of friends, and practically frogotten about Fatima, until everybody signed on to participate in this talent show for charity.

因此我们怎样才能认识到我们的盲区呢？首先要通过接纳这些特质，明白是什么使你与众不同，只有这样你才能开始欣赏别人特别的地方，我记得当我土人提示到这个时，已经国外去几个月了。我已经找到了参加舞会的男友，交到了一群朋友，并且已经基本忘掉了法蒂玛。直到大家为了慈善报名参加才艺展示。

You needed to offter a talent for aution. It seemed like everybody had somehing spething special to offer. Some kids were going to play the violin, other were going to recite a theater monologue, and I remember thinking, “we don`t practice talents like these back home.”

你需要提供一项才艺来竞拍。似乎每个人都有特殊的东西来展示，一些人打算拉小提琴，其他人打算背诵一段戏剧独白，而我记得我在想“我们在家里没有练习过这类才艺啊”

But I was determined to find something of value. The day of the telent show comes, and I get up on stage with my little boom box, and put it on the side and press “Play,” and a song by my favorite emerging artist, Shakira, comes up. And I go , “Whenever, wherever, we`re meant to be together, ” and I said , “My name is Mariana, and I`m going to auction a dance class. ” it seemed like the whole school raised their hand to bid.

但是我决定找一些哟价值的事情。才艺展示的时候到了，我带着我的小密封盒登台，然后把它放在了边上按下“播放，”一首出自我喜欢的当代艺术家，夏奇拉的歌播放出来，然后我开始了“无论何时，无论何地，我们都将会在一起，”然后我说：“我叫玛丽娜，我要为舞蹈班竞拍”。似乎整个学校都举起了他们的手来竞标。

My dance class really stood out from, like, the 10th violin calss offered that day. Going back to my drom room, I didn`t feel different. I felt really special.

我的舞蹈班真的从那天的十个小提琴班中脱颖而出。回到宿舍，我没有感觉到不同。我感觉非常奇妙。

That`s when I stared thinking about Fatima, a person that had failed to see as special, when I first met her, she was from the Middle East, just like Shakira`s family was from the Middle East. She could have probably taught me a thing or two about belly dancing, had I been open to it . now , I want you to take that ticker that was given to you at the beginning of our session today, where you wrote down what makes you special, and I want you to look at it.

那是当我开始思考法蒂玛的时候，当我第一次与她相遇的时候，我可能没有注意到她的特殊之处，她来自中东，和夏克拉的家族一样来自中东。她大概能教我一两样关于肚皮舞的东西，但是我并不在意。现在，我想要你们拿出那张纸，那是在今天演讲开始的时候给你们的，在上边写下你的特殊之处，我想让你们看一看。

If you`re wacthing at home, take a piece of paper, and write down what makes you different. You may feel guarded when you look at it, maybe even a little ashamed , maybe even proud.

当你在家观看时，请你拿出一张纸，写下什么使你不同，当你看到时，你可能有所保留，你可能感到害羞或者自豪。 

But you need to begin to embrace it . Remember, it is the first step in appreciating what makes others special. When I went back home to Venezula, I began to understand how those experiences were changing me. Being able to speak different languages, to natigate all these different people and places, it give me a unique sensibility.

 但是你需要开始去接受他，记住，它是欣赏他人与众不同的第一步。当我回到委内瑞拉的时候，我开始明白那些经历是怎么改变我的，说不同的语言，找到正确方法处理不同 人和事。它给了我一个独特的意识。

I was finally beginning to understand the importance of putting myself in other people`s shoes. That is a big part of the reason why I decided to become a journalist.  Especially being from a part of the world that is often labeled “the backyard, ” “the illegal alines, ”“third-world.” “the other,” I wanted to do something to change that.

最后我开始领悟换位思考的重要性，那是我决定成为一个新闻工作者的主要原因。尤其当我贴上“后院”，“违法外星人”，“第三世界”，“其他人”，我想做些事情去改变它。 

It was right around the time, however, when the Venezuelan government shut down the biggest television station in our country. Censorship was growing, and my dad came up to me once again and said, “how are you going to be a journalist here?  you have to leave.”

并且这是很合适的时间，无论如何，当委内瑞拉政府关闭的时候面我们国家最大的电视台，审查越来越严，我父亲再一次找到我并问我，“你是怎么想到去那里当新闻工作者的？ 你必须离开。” 

That`s when it hit me. That`s what he had been perparing me for. That`s is what the future held for me. So in 2008, I packed my bags, and I came to the United States, without a return ticket this time.

当时就点醒了我，那是他一直以来为我准备的，给我的未来。因此，在2008年，我打包我的行李，来到美国，这次没有回程票。 

I was painfully aware that , at 24 yeas old, I was becoming a refugee of sorts , an immigrant, the othetr, once again , and now for good. I was able to come on a scholarship to study jouralism. I remember when they gave me my first addignment to cover the historic election

of President Barack Obama. I felt so luckly , so hopeful.

我在24岁的时候伤心的意识到，我将又一次或者永远要成为一个难民或者移民。我获得了奖学金去学习新闻，我记得他们分配给我的第一个任务是去采访创造了历史性选举的奥巴马总统。我感到如此兴奋，充满希望。

I was , like ,”yes ,this is it, I`ve come to post-racial America, where the notion of us and them is being eroded, and will probaly be eradicated in my lifetime. ” boy , was I wrong , right? Why didn`t Barack Obama`s presidendcy alleviate racial tensions in our country? 

我好想感觉到“使得，就是这次，”我来到了后种族主义的美国，我们与他们的区别正在削减，并且有可能在我有生之年被彻底消除。好吧，我想错了，是吧？ 为什么巴拉克奥巴马的任期内没有减轻我们国家种族间 的紧张关系？ 

Why do some people still feel threatened by immigrants, LGBTQ, and minortity grops who are just trying to find a space in this United States that should be for all of us?

为什么一些人还会觉得被移民，同志组织，和少数党组织威胁，他们只想在美国寻找一些自己的空间。美国属于我们所有人。 

I didn`t have the answers back then, but on November 8th, 2016,

 When Dnald Trump became our president, it became clear that a large part of the electorate sees them as “the others.” some see people coming to take their jobs, or potential terrorists who speak a different language.

 我那时并没有答案，但是在2016年11月8日，当唐纳德特朗普成为我们的总统，它变得清楚了，一大部分候选人把他们视为“其他人”，一些人看见别人来接替他们的工作。或者将不同语言的人当作潜在的恐怖分子。

Meanwhile, minority groups oftentimes just see thtred, intolerance, and narrow-mindedness on the other side. It`s like we`re stuck in the these bubbles that nobody wants to burst. The only way to do it , the only way to get out of it. Is to realize that being different also means thinking differently .

与此同时，少数党组织经常只看到 另一方的仇恨 不包容，和狭窄的思维，这就像我们被困在这些没有人希望爆炸的气球里，唯一能做的，唯一能从中逃离的方法，就是认识到我们的不同，也意味着换一个思考方式。

It takes courage to show respect. In the words of Voltaire: “I may not agree with what you have to say,  but I will fight to the death to difend your right to say it.”  Failing to see anything good on the other side makes a dialogue impossile. Without a dialogue, we will keep repeating the same mistakes, because we will not learn anything new.

 它需要勇气来表达尊重，如伏尔泰所说，我可能不会认可你说的话，但是我将会抵抗来捍卫你说话的权利，不能从另一个角度看到任何好的事物，使得交流变得不可能，缺少了沟通，我们将会重复犯同样的错误，因为我们没有学到任何新的东西。

I covered the 2016 election for NBC News. It was my first big assignment in this mainstream network, where I had crossed over from Spanish television. And I wanted to do something different. I watched election results with undocumented families. Few thought of sharing that moment with people who weren`t citizens, but actually stood the msot to lose that night. When it become apparent that Donald Trump was winning, this eight-years-old girl named Angelina rushed up to me in tears. She sobbed, and she asked me if her mom was going to be deported now. I hugged her back and I said, “it`s going to be okey, ” but I really didn`t hnow.

 我为NBC新闻采访了2016年的选举，它是我在这个主流的广播电视台的第一个大任务，我已经越过西班牙地电视台，并且我想要做一些不同的事情，

我和无证家庭在一起观看了选举，只有少数人想和那些没有市民身份的人分享那一时刻。而那些没有合法身份的人在那天晚上也注定要失望。当特朗普明显赢了的时候，一个叫安格丽娜的八岁女孩哭着冲向我，她抽噎着问我，

她妈妈现在是否将要被驱逐出境，我拍拍她的背说，一切都会好的，但是我真的不知道。

This was the photo we took that night, forever ingrained in my heart. Here was this little girl who was around the same age I was when I went to camp in Brainerd. She already knows she is “the other. ” she walks home from school in fear, every day, that her mom can be takes away.

 这就是我们那晚照的照片，我永远把它留在心底，那就是这个小女孩，和我当时去露营时的年纪差不多。她已经只到它是其他人。她每天从学校走路回家时，都会害怕她的妈妈被带走。

So , how do we put ourselves in Angelina`s shoes? How do we make her understand she is special, and not simply unworthy of having her family together? By giving camera time to her and families like hers, I tired to make people see them as human beings, and not simply “illegal aliens. ” yes , they broke a law, and they should pay a penalty for it, but they`ve also given everything for this country, like many other immigrants before them have.

I`ve already told you how my path to personal growth started. To end , I want to tell you how I hit the wrose bump in the road yet, one that shook me to my very core. The day , April 10th  , 2014, I was driving to the studio, and I got a call from my parents. “are you  on the air?” they asked. I immediately knew something was wrong. “What happened?” I said. “it`s your sister, she`s been in a car accident. ”

It was as if my heart stopped. My hands gripped the steering wheel, and I remember hearing the words; “it is unlikely she will ever walk again.”  they say your life can change in a split second. Mine did at that moment. My sister went from being my successful other half, only a year apart in age, to not being able to move her legs, sit up , or get dressed by herself.

This wasn`t like summer camp, where I could magically make it better. This was terrifying. Throughout the course of two years, my sister underwent 15 surgeries, and she spent the most of that time in a wheelchair. But that wasn`t even the worst of it . the worst was something so painful, it`s hard to put into wards, even now. It was the way people looked at her, looked at us , changed. People were unable to see a successful lawyer or a millennial with a sharp wit and a kind heart.

Everywhere we went , I realizeed that people just saw a poor girl in a wheelchair. They were unable to see anything beyond that. After fight lie a warrior, I can thankfully tell you that today my sister is walking. And has recovered beyond anyone`s expectations. Thank you .

But during that traumatic ordeal, I learned there are different that simply suck, and it`s hard to find positive in them. My sister`s not brtter off because of what happened. But she taught me : you can`t let those differences define you . being able to reimagine yourself beyond what other people see, that is the toughest task of all, but it`s also the most beautiful.

You see , we all come to this world in a body . peple with physical or neurological difficulties, environmentally impacted communities, immigrants, boys, girl, boys who want to dress as girls, girls with veils, women who have been sexually assaulted, athletes who bend their hnee as a sign of protest, black, white Asian, Native American, my sister, you , or me . we all want what everyone wants : to dream and to achieve. But sometimes, society tells us , and we tell ourselves, we don`t fit the mold.

Well , if you look at my story, from being born somewhere different, to belly dancing in high school, to telling stories you wouldn`t normally see on TV, what makes me different is what has made me stand out and be successful. I have traveled the world, and talked to people from all walks of life. You know what I`ve learned?

The sigle thing every one of us has in common is being human. So take a stand to defend your race, the human race. Let`s appeal to it, Let`s be humanists, before and after everthing else.

To end , I want you to take that sticker, that piece of paper where you wrote down what makes you different, and I want you to celebrate it today and every day, shout it from the rooftops. I also encourage you to be curious and ask, “What is on other people`s pieces of paper?” “What makes them different?”

Let`s cerebrate those imperfections that make us special. I hope that it teaches you that nobody has a claim on the word “normal. ” We are all different. We are all quirky, and unique, and that is what makes us wonderfully human.

Thank you so much!