One day in 1819, 3,000 miles off the coast of Chile, in one of the most remote regions of the Pacific Ocean, 20 American sailors watched their ship flood with seawater.
1819年的某一天， 在距離智利海岸3000英里的地方， 有一個太平洋上的最偏遠的水域， 20名美國船員目睹了他們的船隻進水的場面。
They'd been struck by a sperm whale, which had ripped a catastrophic hole in the ship's hull. As their ship began to sink beneath the swells, the men huddled together in three small whaleboats.
他們和一頭抹香鯨相撞，給船體撞了 一個毀滅性的大洞。 當船在巨浪中開始沉沒時， 人們在三條救生小艇中抱作一團。
These men were 10,000 miles from home, more than 1,000 miles from the nearest scrap of land. In their small boats, they carried only rudimentary navigational equipment and limited supplies of food and water.
這些人在離家10000萬英里的地方， 離最近的陸地也超過1000英里。 在他們的小艇中，他們只帶了 落後的導航設備 和有限的食物和飲水。
These were the men of the whaleship Essex, whose story would later inspire parts of "Moby Dick."
他們就是捕鯨船ESSEX上的人們， 後來的他們的故事成爲《白鯨記》的一部分。
Even in today's world, their situation would be really dire, but think about how much worse it would have been then.
即使在當今的世界，碰上這種情況也夠杯具的，更不用說在當時的情況有多糟糕。
No one on land had any idea that anything had gone wrong. No search party was coming to look for these men. So most of us have never experienced a situation as frightening as the one in which these sailors found themselves, but we all know what it's like to be afraid.
岸上的人根本就還沒意識到出了什麼問題。 沒有任何人來搜尋他們。 我們當中大部分人沒有經歷過 這些船員所處的可怕情景， 但我們都知道害怕是什麼感覺。
We know how fear feels, but I'm not sure we spend enough time thinking about what our fears mean.
我們知道恐懼的感覺， 但是我不能肯定我們會花很多時間想過 我們的恐懼到底意味着什麼。
As we grow up, we're often encouraged to think of fear as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard like baby teeth or roller skates.
我們長大以後，我們總是會被鼓勵把恐懼 視爲軟弱，需要像乳牙或輪滑鞋一樣 扔掉的幼稚的東西。
And I think it's no accident that we think this way. Neuroscientists have actually shown that human beings are hard-wired to be optimists.
我想意外事故並非我們所想的那樣。 神經系統科學家已經知道人類 生來就是樂觀主義者。
So maybe that's why we think of fear, sometimes, as a danger in and of itself. "Don't worry," we like to say to one another. "Don't panic." In English, fear is something we conquer. It's something we fight.
這也許就是爲什麼我們認爲有時候恐懼， 本身就是一種危險或帶來危險。 “不要愁。”我們總是對別人說。“不要慌”。 英語中，恐懼是我們需要征服的東西。 是我們必須對抗的東西，是我們必須克服的東西。
It's something we overcome. But what if we looked at fear in a fresh way? What if we thought of fear as an amazing act of the imagination, something that can be as profound and insightful as storytelling itself?
但是我們如果換個視角看恐懼會如何呢? 如果我們把恐懼當做是想象力的一個驚人成果， 是和我們講故事一樣 精妙而有見地的東西，又會如何呢?
It's easiest to see this link between fear and the imagination in young children, whose fears are often extraordinarily vivid.
在小孩子當中，我們最容易看到恐懼與想象之間的聯繫， 他們的恐懼經常是超級生動的。
When I was a child, I lived in California, which is, you know, mostly a very nice place to live, but for me as a child, California could also be a little scary.
我小時候住在加利福尼亞， 你們都知道，是非常適合居住的位置， 但是對一個小孩來說，加利福尼亞也會有點嚇人。
I remember how frightening it was to see the chandelier that hung above our dining table swing back and forth during every minor earthquake, and I sometimes couldn't sleep at night, terrified that the Big One might strike while we were sleeping.
我記得每次小地震的時候 當我看到我們餐桌上的吊燈 晃來晃去的時候是多麼的嚇人， 我經常會徹夜難眠，擔心大地震 會在我們睡覺的時候突然襲來。
And what we say about kids who have fears like that is that they have a vivid imagination. But at a certain point, most of us learn to leave these kinds of visions behind and grow up.
我們說小孩子感受到這種恐懼 是因爲他們有生動的想象力。 但是在某個時候，我們大多數學會了 拋棄這種想法而變得成熟。
We learn that there are no monsters hiding under the bed, and not every earthquake brings buildings down. But maybe it's no coincidence that some of our most creative minds fail to leave these kinds of fears behind as adults.
我們都知道牀下沒有魔鬼， 也不是每個地震都會震垮房子。但是我們當中最有想象力的人們 並沒有因爲成年而拋棄這種恐懼，這也許並不是巧合。