1.In his inaugural address, Barack Obama appealed to each of us to give our best as we try to extricate ourselves from this current financial crisis.
在他的就职演讲当中， 奥巴马呼吁我们每个人都极尽所能 以摆脱当前的金融危机。
2.But what did he appeal to?
但他呼吁什么？
3.He did not, happily, follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, and tell us to just go shopping.
很庆幸，他没有像前总统布什， 就仅仅叫我们去购物而已，
4.Nor did he tell us, “Trust us. Trust your country.
也没有告诉我们“相信我们，相信美国，
5.Invest, invest, invest.”
投资，投资，再投资”
6.Instead, what he told us was to put aside childish things.
相反的，他告诉我们把幼稚的事情放在一边,
7.And he appealed to virtue.
呼吁美德.
8.Virtue is an old-fashioned word.
美德是一个过时的词。
9.It seems a little out of place in a cutting-edge environment like this one.
这样的词在像这样的前沿环境里似乎并不合适，
10.And besides, some of you might be wondering, what the hell does it mean?
而且，有些人可能会想： 到底什么是美德？”
11.Let me begin with an example.
让我从一个例子开始。
12.This is the job description of a hospital janitor that is scrolling up on the screen.
这是一所医院里的一个清洁工的工作说明， 在屏幕上滚动着。
13.And all of the items on it are unremarkable.
这上面所写的东西都很平常。
14.They’re the things you would expect: mop the floors, sweep them, empty the trash, restock the cabinets.
这都是一些你能预料得到的事情： 扫地，清理垃圾，倒垃圾筒，进货机柜，等。
15.It may be a little surprising how many things there are, but it’s not surprising what they are.
这些事的数量可能有点令人惊讶， 但是这些事的内容却很平常。
16.But the one thing I want you to notice about them is this: Even though this is a very long list, there isn’t a single thing on it that involves other human beings.
但是在这里面，有个现象，我想让你们注意： 尽管这个清单很长， 但是里面没有一条是涉及到其他人的。
17.Not one.
一个都没有。
18.The janitor’s job could just as well be done in a mortuary as in a hospital.
该清洁工的工作也同样可以在一个医院的停尸间里进行。
19.And yet, when some psychologists interviewed hospital janitors to get a sense of what they thought their jobs were like, they encountered Mike,
然而，当一些心理学家去采访一些这样的清洁工， 以了解这些人是怎么看待他们自己的工作的， 他们遇见了迈克
20.who told them about how he stopped mopping the floor because Mr. Jones was out of his bed getting a little exercise, trying to build up his strength, walking slowly up and down the hall.
迈克告诉他们他之所以没有继续拖地 因为琼斯先生起床做简单的运动， 试着恢复他的元气，慢慢的在楼里上下走动。
21.And Charlene told them about how she ignored her supervisor’s admonition and didn’t vacuum the visitor’s lounge because there were some family members who were there all day, every day
而查丽告诉他们说，她之所以没有听从上司的警告， 没有用真空吸尘器打扫访客的休息室， 因为有一些家庭成员天天在那里。
22.who, at this moment, happened to be taking a nap.
现在，有人正在里面休息呢。
23.And then there was Luke, who washed the floor in a comatose young man’s room twice because the man’s father, who had been keeping a vigil for six months,
接下来他们采访了鲁克， 鲁克对一个昏迷病人的房间的地板洗刷了两次， 因为这个病人的父亲，他在这里守夜六个月，
24.didn’t see Luke do it the first time, and his father was angry.
鲁克第一次打扫的时候，他并没有看见， 所以这个病人的父亲生气了。
25.And behavior like this from janitors, from technicians, from nurses and, if we’re lucky now and then, from doctors, doesn’t just make people feel a little better,
像这样的行为，不管是来自清洁工，技术人员，护士， 有的时候我们幸运一点，还会是医生， 不仅仅让人们感觉好点，
26.it actually improves the quality of patient care and enables hospitals to run well.
这些行为实际上改善了病人护理的质量 并且让医院良好的运作。
27.Now, not all janitors are like this, of course.
当然，现在的社会，不是每一个清洁工都这样。
28.But the ones who are think that these sorts of human interactions involving kindness, care and empathy are an essential part of the job.
但是，这样做的人都认为这些人与人的交流， 涉及到善良，关怀和体谅， 正好是这项工作最核心的部分。
29.And yet their job description contains not one word about other human beings.
然而，在工作说明里面没有包含一个与其他人相关的词汇。
30.These janitors have the moral will to do right by other people.
这些清洁工有道德的意愿去正确的对待他人。
31.And beyond this, they have the moral skill to figure out what “doing right” means.
除此之外，他们还具有道德的技能去判断到底什么是正确的做法。
32.”Practical wisdom,” Aristotle told us, “is the combination of moral will and moral skill.”
亚里士多德告诉我们，“实践的智慧” “就是道德的意愿和道德的技能的结合”。
33.A wise person knows when and how to make the exception to every rule, as the janitors knew when to ignore the job duties in the service of other objectives.
一个明智的人知道什么时候以及如何去对每一条规定做特殊的处理， 就像这些清洁工知道在为他人服务的时候什么时候可以不用在意工作本身的职能要求。
34.A wise person knows how to improvise, as Luke did when he re-washed the floor.
一个明智的人知道如何随机应变， 像鲁克就知道再去洗刷一次地板。
35.Real-world problems are often ambiguous and ill-defined and the context is always changing.
现实世界的问题常常很暧昧和模糊， 而且问题的内容还常常变换。
36.A wise person is like a jazz musician — using the notes on the page, but dancing around them, inventing combinations that are appropriate for the situation and the people at hand.
一个明智的人就像爵士乐手一样， 看着歌谱演奏的时候并不会完全遵从， 会即兴创作来与当时的情形和周围的人相适宜。
37.A wise person knows how to use these moral skills in the service of the right aims.
一个明智的人知道如何使用道德技能 为一个正确的目的而工作。
38.To serve other people, not to manipulate other people.
为他人服务，而不是应付他人。
39.And finally, perhaps most important, a wise person is made, not born.
最后，也许也是最重要的， 一个明智的人不是天生的，而是后天形成的。
40.Wisdom depends on experience, and not just any experience.
智慧依赖于经验， 但不是依赖于所有的经验。
41.You need the time to get to know the people that you’re serving.
你需要时间去了解你正在服务的人。
42.You need permission to be allowed to improvise, try new things, occasionally to fail and to learn from your failures.
你需要得到许可去做一些临时的决定， 尝试新的事物，常常会失败，那就从失败中学习。
43.And you need to be mentored by wise teachers.
你也需要一个明智的导师来指导你。
44.When you ask the janitors who behaved like the ones I described how hard it is to learn to do their job, they tell you that it takes lots of experience.
当你问那些刚才我所提到的清洁工， 学会做他们那样的工作有多难， 他们会告诉你需要很多经验才行。
45.And they don’t mean it takes lots of experience to learn how to mop floors and empty trash cans.
他们的意思不是说学习擦地板倒垃圾需要花很多时间累积经验，
46.It takes lots of experience to learn how to care for people.
而是说要学会关心护理人需要很多经验。
47.At TED, brilliance is rampant.
在TED，才华无限制的蔓延着。
48.It’s scary.
有点可怕。
49.The good news is you don’t need to be brilliant to be wise.
好消息是，要想成为明智的人你不必聪明绝顶。
50.The bad news is that without wisdom, brilliance isn’t enough.
坏消息是如果没有智慧， 仅仅有才华是不够的。
51.It’s as likely to get you and other people into trouble as anything else.
这就好像其他很多让你和他人烦心的事一样。
52.(Applause) Now, I hope that we all know this.
掌声 现在呢，我希望我们都清楚这一点。
53.There’s a sense in which it’s obvious, and yet, let me tell you a little story.
这是很显然的， 不然，我再给你们讲一个小故事。
54.It’s a story about lemonade.
这是一个关于柠檬水的故事。
55.A dad and his seven-year-old son were watching a Detroit Tigers game at the ballpark.
一个父亲和他七岁的儿子在棒球场看底特律虎队的比赛。
56.His son asked him for some lemonade and dad went to the concession stand to buy it.
儿子给他说想喝点柠檬水 这个父亲就去商店买。
57.All they had was Mike’s Hard Lemonade, which was five percent alcohol.
但是店里只有Mike‘s Hard柠檬水， 里面有5%的酒精含量。
58.Dad, being an academic, had no idea that Mike’s Hard Lemonade contained alcohol.
这个父亲完全不知道里面（理论上来说）含了酒精。
59.So he brought it back.
所以他就买了回来。
60.And the kid was drinking it, and a security guard spotted it, and called the police, who called an ambulance that rushed to the ballpark, whisked the kid to the hospital.
这孩子就开始喝了，警卫发现了这一点， 就叫了警察，警察又叫了救护车 冲到棒球场，迅速的把孩子带到了医院。
61.The emergency room ascertained that the kid had no alcohol in his blood.
急诊室后来确定这孩子的血液里没有含酒精。
62.And they were ready to let the kid go.
然后才可以让这孩子离开。
63.But not so fast.
但是不会很快哦。
64.The Wayne County Child Welfare Protection Agency said no.
韦恩县儿童福利保障局不允许孩子马上被带走。
65.And the child was sent to a foster home for three days.
这孩子被送到了一个抚养孤儿的家庭，待了三天。
66.At that point, can the child go home?
都这样了，这孩子能回家了吗？
67.Well, a judge said yes, but only if the dad leaves the house and checks into a motel.
当然，法官说可以，但是条件是他的父亲离开住处到旅馆住。
68.After two weeks, I’m happy to report, the family was reunited.
两周以后，我很高兴向大家报告， 这个家庭终于团聚了。
69.But the welfare workers and the ambulance people and the judge all said the same thing: “We hate to do it but we have to follow procedure.”
但是福利机构，救护人员， 还有法官都说了同样的话： “我们也讨厌这么做，但是我们得按规章办事”
70.How do things like this happen?
这样的事怎么可能发生呢？
71.Scott Simon, who told this story on NPR, said, “Rules and procedures may be dumb, but they spare you from thinking.”
司高特 赛门，在NPR里讲了这个故事。 他说：“规章制度可能悄无声息， 但是他们会让你不去思考。“
72.And, to be fair, rules are often imposed because previous officials have been lax and they let a child go back to an abusive household.
公平点说，规则常常都是强制性的 因为以前的官员比较松懈 他们让一个孩子回到了一个充满漫骂和伤害的家庭。
73.Fair enough.
理由够充分了。
74.When things go wrong, as of course they do, we reach for two tools to try to fix them.
当事情确实做错了， 我们会用两类工具去弥补。
75.One tool we reach for is rules.
一类工具就是规则条例。
76.Better ones, more of them.
更多，更好的规则。
77.The second tool we reach for is incentives.
我们会寻求的第二类工具就是激励制度。
78.Better ones, more of them.
更多，更好的激励制度。
79.What else, after all, is there?
究竟还有什么其他的东西呢？
80.We can certainly see this in response to the current financial crisis.
我可以轻易的在对现在的经济危机的响应中发现。
81.Regulate, regulate, regulate.
管制，管制再管制。
82.Fix the incentives, fix the incentives, fix the incentives …
改善激励制度，改善激励制度，还是改善激励制度…
83.The truth is that neither rules nor incentives are enough to do the job.
真相是：不管是规章条例还是激励制度 都不足以完成这样的工作。
84.How could you even write a rule that go the janitors to do what they did?
你要如何去写一条规定让刚才提到的那些清洁工去做他们之前做的那些事呢？
85.And would you pay them a bonus for being empathic?
你会因为他们的同情心而给他们发奖金吗？
86.It’s preposterous on its face.
这看起来太荒谬了。
87.And what happens is that as we turn increasingly to rules, rules and incentives may make things better in the short run, but they create a downward spiral
当我们更多的求助于条例制度的时候会发生什么事， 规章条例和激励制度会在短期内让事情变好， 但是这些制度和条例建立了向下的漩涡，
88.that makes them worse in the long run.
会让事情在长期内变得更糟。
89.Moral skill is chipped away by an over-reliance on rules that deprives us of the opportunity to improvise and learn from our improvisations.
道德的技能已经被对规则的国度信赖粉碎了， 这剥夺了我们的机会 去随机应变以及从临场反应中学习。
90.And moral will is undermined by an incessant appeal to incentives that destroy our desire to do the right thing.
道德意愿也被埋没了 因为不断的寻求激励制度 破坏了我们本身对于做正确的事情的欲望。
91.And without intending it, by appealing to rules and incentives, we are engaging in a war on wisdom.
不用去预想， 寻求规则和激励制度， 我们将会经历一场智慧的战争。
92.Let me just give you a few examples, first of rules and the war on moral skill.
让我来举几个例子， 先是规则和道德技能的冲突。
93.The lemonade story is one.
柠檬水的故事就是一个。
94.Second, no doubt more familiar to you, is the nature of modern American education: scripted, lock-step curricula.
第二个，你们会更熟悉， 美国现在教育的现状： 照本宣科，因循守旧的课程。
95.Here’s an example from Chicago kindergarten.
这是一个芝加哥幼儿园的例子。
96.Reading and enjoying literature and words that begin with ‘B.’ The bath: Assemble students on a rug and give students a warning about the dangers of hot water.
阅读并欣赏文章 和以B开头的单词。 浴室：把学生们聚集在一个小垫子上， 警告学生们热水的危险性。
97.Say 75 items in this script to teach a 25-page picture book.
在教案里说出75件物品来教一本25页的图画书。
98.All over Chicago in every kindergarten class in the city, every teacher is saying the same words in the same way on the same day.
整个芝加哥的幼儿园， 每个老师在同一天以同样的方式说着同样的话。
99.We know why these scripts are there.
我们清楚为什么会有这样的教案。
100.We don’t trust the judgment of teachers enough to let them loose on their own.
我们无法充分的信任老师们的判断力 让他们去自由发挥。
101.Scripts like these are insurance policies against disaster.
像这样的教案就像是应对灾难的保险单一样。
102.And they prevent disaster.
他们能预防灾难。
暂无讨论，说说你的看法吧
