VOA慢速英語(yǔ):收集秘密的男人

Some people collect postage stamps -- the small pieces of paper you place on letters or postcards before mailing them. Other people collect works of art, antiques or musical instruments. But a man in the American state of Maryland collects...secrets.

一些人喜歡收集郵票，就是在寄信或者明信片的時(shí)候貼的那一小片紙。還有一些人喜歡收集藝術(shù)品，股東或者樂(lè)器。但是美國(guó)馬里蘭州的一名男子喜歡收集，秘密。

For the past 10 years, people from throughout the world have been sending Frank Warren postcards and other objects with secrets written on them. He now has a million secrets.

在過(guò)去的十年里，來(lái)自全世界的人都向Frank Warren郵寄明信片或者寫(xiě)有他們秘密的東西。現(xiàn)在他已經(jīng)收集了一百萬(wàn)個(gè)“秘密”。

"It's a drawing of an elevator. And the secret says: ‘I feel guilty when I take elevators for one floor, so I limp when I get out.'"

這張卡片上畫(huà)著一個(gè)電梯。這個(gè)秘密說(shuō)的是：我對(duì)自己乘一層電梯感到內(nèi)疚，于是我在出電梯的時(shí)候裝作瘸子。

Mr. Warren lives in Germantown, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. Ten years ago, he created an art project he calls "PostSecret."

Warren居住在華盛頓特區(qū)附近的馬里蘭州日耳曼敦。十年前他創(chuàng)建了一項(xiàng)藝術(shù)工程，他稱之為“PostSecret”。

"I invited strangers from all around the world to write down their deepest confession on a postcard, something they'd never told anyone else before, but something that was true. And I asked them to mail it to my home anonymously."

我邀請(qǐng)全世界范圍的陌生人在一張明信片上寫(xiě)下他們內(nèi)心深處最內(nèi)疚的懺悔，一些他們從沒(méi)有給別人說(shuō)起過(guò)的事情，但是是真實(shí)的故事。我要他們把這張明信片以匿名方式寄到我家。

People send him postcards, other objects and emails telling their secrets. Every Sunday, he chooses 10 secrets and puts them on the PostSecret website.

人們給他寄明信片，還有寄其他東西的，也有通過(guò)電子郵件跟他講述秘密的。每周日的時(shí)候他會(huì)選出10個(gè)秘密更新到PostSecret網(wǎng)站上。

"The way I choose to see it is someone is finally finding the strength and courage to make their heart vulnerable."

我選擇這種秘密公開(kāi)的方式是因?yàn)檫@些人終于有勇氣和力量能夠認(rèn)識(shí)到內(nèi)心的脆弱。

Mr. Warren says he created PostSecret so people would have a safe place in which to share their secrets.

Warren說(shuō)他創(chuàng)建了PostSecret網(wǎng)站所以人們可以找到一個(gè)安全的地方來(lái)分享他們的小秘密。

"I was struggling with secrets in my own life. And it was by creating this safe place where others could share their secrets with me without judgment -- anonymously -- I think that space was something I needed just as much as they did."

我也曾一度掙扎于生活中的秘密，隨著這個(gè)安全網(wǎng)站的建立，人們可以不帶評(píng)判的尺度來(lái)跟我一塊分享秘密，當(dāng)然也是匿名的。所以我認(rèn)為這個(gè)我一度需要的地方也正是他們所需要的地方。

He has published six books full of the secrets people have shared with him. One secret in each book is his.

他已經(jīng)出版了6本關(guān)于人們分享給他的秘密。其中每本中都會(huì)有一個(gè)屬于他自己的小秘密。

Eric Perry delivers mail for the U.S. Postal Service. He has brought thousands of secrets to Mr. Warren's home over the past three years.

Eric Perry給美國(guó)郵政工作。在過(guò)去三年里他給Warren的家中送來(lái)了數(shù)千封秘密信件。

"I have a couple of the books that Frank's given me and I've read 'em all and my family's looked at em all and it's, it's wild!"

Frank送我了幾本書(shū)，這幾本書(shū)我都讀過(guò)了，而且我的家人也都讀過(guò)了，書(shū)中的內(nèi)容非常刺激!

The project itself was once one of Mr. Warren's secrets. His wife Jan did not know exactly what he was doing until the first book was published.

這項(xiàng)項(xiàng)目本身曾是Warren的一個(gè)秘密。他的妻子Jan直到第一本書(shū)出版之前一直不是很清楚他先生到底在做什么。

"The publisher actually called me, and told me that the address was going to be on the book, and I said ‘No, it's not.' And she said, ‘Yes, it is -- it's in the contract.' And I said, ‘No, it's not!' I mean, I was really...I wasn't very happy about that."

出版商竟然打電話告訴我說(shuō)會(huì)把我的地址印在書(shū)上。我說(shuō)不，不要這樣。她說(shuō)，是的，這在合同中寫(xiě)著的。我說(shuō)，不，不要!我的意思是，我對(duì)這種做法不是很高興。

Some people tell Frank Warren of their secret desire to kill themselves. So he and the PostSecret community have raised more than $1 million to help prevent suicides.

一些人跟Frank Warren說(shuō)他們的秘密快把他們逼瘋了。所以他和PostSecret社區(qū)已經(jīng)籌集了100多萬(wàn)美元的資金用來(lái)防止人們自殺。

I'm Christopher Jones-Cruise.

VOA's Adrianna Zhang and Enming Liu reported this story from Germantown, Maryland. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

postcard – n. a card on which a message may be sent by mail without an envelope and that often has a picture on one side

antique – n. art, furniture, jewelry or other objects that were made at an earlier time and are often valuable

elevator – n. a machine used for carrying people and things to different levels in a building

limp – v. to walk in a slow and awkward way because of an injury to a leg or foot

confession – n. a written or spoken statement in which you say that you have done something wrong or committed a crime

anonymously – adv. being done by a person who is not named or identified

wild – informal/adj. very enjoyable, lively, interesting or exciting