VOA慢速英語: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候貼的那一小片紙。還有一些人喜歡收集藝術品，股東或者樂器。但是美國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.

在過去的十年里，來自全世界的人都向Frank Warren郵寄明信片或者寫有他們秘密的東西?，F(xiàn)在他已經(jīng)收集了一百萬個“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.'"

這張卡片上畫著一個電梯。這個秘密說的是：我對自己乘一層電梯感到內(nèi)疚，于是我在出電梯的時候裝作瘸子。

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)建了一項藝術工程，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."

我邀請全世界范圍的陌生人在一張明信片上寫下他們內(nèi)心深處最內(nèi)疚的懺悔，一些他們從沒有給別人說起過的事情，但是是真實的故事。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，也有通過電子郵件跟他講述秘密的。每周日的時候他會選出10個秘密更新到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的方式是因為這些人終于有勇氣和力量能夠認識到內(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說他創(chuàng)建了PostSecret網(wǎng)站所以人們可以找到一個安全的地方來分享他們的小秘密。

"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，隨著這個安全網(wǎng)站的建立，人們可以不帶評判的尺度來跟我一塊分享秘密，當然也是匿名的。所以我認為這個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本關于人們分享給他的秘密。其中每本中都會有一個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給美國郵政工作。在過去三年里他給Warren的家中送來了數(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，這幾本書我都讀過了，而且我的家人也都讀過了，書中的內(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.

這項項目本身曾是Warren的一個秘密。他的妻子Jan直到第一本書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會把我的地址印在書上。我說不，不要這樣。她說，是的，這在合同中寫著的。我說，不，不要!我的意思是，我對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多萬美元的資金用來防止人們自殺。

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.

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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