什么是自由 What is freedom?

Welcome to 6 Minute English with me, Rob.
欢迎和我一起来到BBC6分钟英语，我是Rob。
And me, Finn. Hello.
还有我Finn，大家好。
In today’s programme, we’re talking about freedom. It’s a big subject and it’s something the BBC has been exploring in its Freedom 2014 season.
在今天的节目里我们来谈论关于自由的话题。这是一个很大的话题，也是BBC在2014自由季中一直在找寻的东西。
That’s right. There’s been a season of programmes about what freedom means to different people.
是的。有一段时间的节目讨论对于不同的人来讲自由意味着什么。
Well, we’re going to try and summarise what freedom really is and look at some related vocabulary.But first a definition – what does freedom mean?
我们接下来将试着概括什么是真正的自由，看一些相关的词汇。但首先自由的定义是什么？
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.
根据牛津英语词典的释义，自由是指一个人去做他想做的事，比如行动、说话、思考。
Yes, it’s something many people expect to have – we consider it our right - but certain people in some of the world do not get to experience the feeling of freedom.
是的，这是很多人梦寐以求的--我们认为这是我们的权利--但世界上有些人是没有自由的感觉的。
You mean some people are restricted and controlled in what they can and can’t do.
你是说有些人被限制或被控制他们可以做什么，不能做什么。
Some organisations try to rank countries – or give them a score – based on how free its people are. It’s calculated according to certain factors - and my question for you today Finn is, according to the World Freedom Index 2013 by the Canadian Fraser Institute, the people of which country came out as number one, in terms of having the most freedom? Was it: a) the USA b) Sweden c) New Zealand
一些阻止试着把国家分成不同的等级--或者给他们打分-基于他们国家的人民自由的程度。根据一些特定的因素将其计算出来，这我今天给你的问题就来了，Finn，根据加拿大 Fraser机构提供的2013世界自由指数，世界上那个国家的自由指数是排在第一位的，也就是说是最自由的？是：a）美国b）瑞典c）新西兰
I’m going to say c) New Zealand.
我选择C)新西兰
We’ll see if you’re right later on. So let’s talk more about freedom – a word that means many things to many peopleWe sometimes hear about political freedom – where people are able to vote in elections to choose who runs their country – and where people are able to challenge what their leaders do. We often refer to this system as a democracy
一会我们来看一下你回答的是否正确。现在让我们进一步来谈论下自由--这个词对很多人来说意味着很多东西。我们有时候会听到政治自由--人们有选举权来选择让谁来掌权这个国家--人们可以挑战他们的领导人做什么。我们经常把这样的系统认为是一个民主国家。
Many people would say that any system of democracy should automatically include the right to free speech – that’s the right to say what you want about anything you want. We also hear about freedom for women – when they have the same rights as men. This is one form of equality. We also hear about equality for people of different colour, religion or sexual orientation. People usually don’t feel free or equal if they are treated differently because of something like their race, colour, gender or disability. One example of this is the system of apartheid, which passed laws to restrict the freedom and rights of black people in South Africa.
很多人会说任何民主国家都会自动包括言论自由--那是你想说什么就说什么的权利。我们也经常听说女性自由--她们和男性拥有相同的权利。这是平等的一种形式。我们也听说不同肤色、不同地区、不同性别的人平等。如果因为种族、肤色、性别或残疾而被不同对待，人们会经常感到不自由或不平等。其中的一个例子就是黑人的种族隔离，在南非通过立法来限制黑人的自由和权利。
Many of those laws are no longer in existence – but freedom is still an issue around the world today. The BBC Freedom 2014 season looked at examples of modern-day slavery in the Thai fishing industry. There is forced labour, where people are made to work in terrible conditions for little or no money.
这些法律喜欢pong很多都不存在了--但自由在世界各地依然是一个问题。BBC2014自由季看了现代奴隶制在泰国捕鱼业的例子。那里有强迫的劳动，人们在钱很少或没有报酬恶劣的条件下不得不工作。
There’s also secrecy and surveillance – when you’re being watched by the government; these can also be seen as ways of controlling someone’s freedom. And some say that blocking the public’s access to certain information limits freedom.
同时也有保密和监视--你被政府监视着；这些也可以被看做是控制他人自由的方式。也有人说阻止公众对某些信息的的自由访问限制了自由。
Yes, the American computer expert Edward Snowden famously disclosed thousands of confidential – or secret – documents held by America’s National Security Agency so people could see what information was being kept about them.
是的，著名的美国计算机专家Edward Snowden事件， 披露了成千上万的美国国家安全机构的机密 — — 或秘密 — — 文档因此人们可以看到有什么信息是被阻止的。
But possibly the most personal example of having your freedom restricted is when you are held unfairly against your will – in prison or as a hostage, which is what happened to Norman Kember, a British man who was taken hostage in Iraq in 2005.
但也许个人言论自由最受到限制的例子是，当违背你的意愿被不公平对待时，在监狱或作为人质，这些发生在 Norman Kember的身上，一个英国人在2005年伊拉克做了人质。
He says the only thing that kept him free was his mind. He would picture something good in his head. So, although as a hostage his body wasn’t free, he could still feel free by thinking about his garden - the flowers and trees and the sound of birdsong. Simple pleasures.
他说让他觉得最自由的唯一的事情就是他的思想是自由的。他可以在脑海里描绘好的事情。尽管作为一个人质他的身体是不自由的，但他通过描绘他的花园--花花树树和小鸟的歌声，依然能感受到自由。简单的快乐。
Freedom really came for him when he was eventually rescued during a military operation on 23 March 2006, and the first thing he did when he returned to England was… walk in his gardenIt must have been a great feeling.
自由最终来到，在2006年3月23 日一军事行动中最终获救。他回到英格兰的做的第一件事就是...走进他的花园。那肯定是一件美妙的事情。
In different situations, people around the world have fought to win their freedom in many different ways. They have held protests and marches, and campaigned for a change in laws and attitudes – changing the way people think.
在不同的形势下，世界各地的人民以他们不同的方式来追求自由。他们举行抗议集会和游行，并竞选一个变化中的法律和态度 — — 改变了人们思考的方式。
And when people living under a regime want to make a change for the better they sometimes take to the streets to chant, shout and sing. Lots of songs have been written about freedom. But if you can’t sing, there’s another, newer way to make your voice heard: people use social media to spread their message and hopefully get support for their cause. It’s what happened in a number of uprisings in the Middle East, such as the Arab Spring.
当人们生活在一个他们想做出改变的制度下生活的更好时，他们有时到街头朗诵、呐喊和唱歌。很多的歌曲都跟自由有关。但如果你不能唱，这有另一种方法可以让你的声音被听到；人们使用社交媒体来传播他们的信息,希望为他们的事业得到支持。这一系列奇异发生在中东，比如阿拉伯之春起义。
Let’s get back to the question I asked you earlier about which country came first in the World Freedom Index 2013, according to the Canadian Fraser Institute?
让我们回到我刚才问你的问题那个国家的2013年世界自由指数最高，根据加拿大 Fraser机构报告？
I said c) New Zealand. Was I right?
我说的是c）新西兰。我说对了吗？
Yes, well done, the answer is New ZealandThe freedom index was based on a number of measures such as freedom of speech, religion, economic choice and women’s rights. You can find more detail about the BBC Freedom Season on the BBC website. We’ll be back with more 6 Minute English very soon. Please join us then.
是的，你很棒，答案就是新西兰。自由指数是基于一系列的参数比如言论自由、种族、经济选择和女权。你可以在BBC网站上观看更多关于BBC自由季的细节。我们下期BBC6分钟英语再见。到时请加入我们。
Bye.
拜~