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， 在距离智利海岸3000英里的地方， 有一个太平洋上的最偏远的水域， 20名美国船员目睹了他们的船只进水的场面。
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.
他们和一头抹香鲸相撞，给船体撞了 一个毁灭性的大洞。 当船在巨浪中开始沉没时， 人们在三条救生小艇中抱作一团。
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.
这些人在离家10000万英里的地方， 离最近的陆地也超过1000英里。 在他们的小艇中，他们只带了 落后的导航设备 和有限的食物和饮水。
These were the men of the whaleship Essex, whose story would later inspire parts of "Moby Dick."
他们就是捕鲸船ESSEX上的人们， 后来的他们的故事成为《白鲸记》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.
即使在当今的世界，碰上这种情况也够杯具的，更不用说在当时的情况有多糟糕。
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.
岸上的人根本就还没意识到出了什么问题。 没有任何人来搜寻他们。 我们当中大部分人没有经历过 这些船员所处的可怕情景， 但我们都知道害怕是什么感觉。
We know how fear feels, but I'm not sure we spend enough time thinking about what our fears mean.
我们知道恐惧的感觉， 但是我不能肯定我们会花很多时间想过 我们的恐惧到底意味着什么。
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.
我们长大以后，我们总是会被鼓励把恐惧 视为软弱，需要像乳牙或轮滑鞋一样 扔掉的幼稚的东西。
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.
我想意外事故并非我们所想的那样。 神经系统科学家已经知道人类 生来就是乐观主义者。
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.
这也许就是为什么我们认为有时候恐惧， 本身就是一种危险或带来危险。 “不要愁。”我们总是对别人说。“不要慌”。 英语中，恐惧是我们需要征服的东西。 是我们必须对抗的东西，是我们必须克服的东西。
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?
但是我们如果换个视角看恐惧会如何呢? 如果我们把恐惧当做是想象力的一个惊人成果， 是和我们讲故事一样 精妙而有见地的东西，又会如何呢?
It's easiest to see this link between fear and the imagination in young children, whose fears are often extraordinarily vivid.
在小孩子当中，我们最容易看到恐惧与想象之间的联系， 他们的恐惧经常是超级生动的。
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.
我小时候住在加利福尼亚， 你们都知道，是非常适合居住的位置， 但是对一个小孩来说，加利福尼亚也会有点吓人。
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.
我记得每次小地震的时候 当我看到我们餐桌上的吊灯 晃来晃去的时候是多么的吓人， 我经常会彻夜难眠，担心大地震 会在我们睡觉的时候突然袭来。
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.
我们说小孩子感受到这种恐惧 是因为他们有生动的想象力。 但是在某个时候，我们大多数学会了 抛弃这种想法而变得成熟。
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.
我们都知道床下没有魔鬼， 也不是每个地震都会震垮房子。但是我们当中最有想象力的人们 并没有因为成年而抛弃这种恐惧，这也许并不是巧合。
