《开讲啦》:威廉王子登上中国综艺节目演讲时下,网上流行一句话说三遍,用来表达这件事很重要,不想英国的威廉王子也深谙此道,日前,他受邀参与录制央视《开讲啦》“英国行”特别节目,再次发表演讲呼吁人们关注非洲盗猎走私大象,而这已是威廉王子年内第三次公开发表有关象牙走私内容的演讲了。
今年早些时候,上海外滩最大的广告牌上,威廉王子就署名刊登“没有买卖,就没有杀害”的广告。
在此次演讲里,他提到,如果大象和犀牛的数量按照这个速度减少,今年出生的孩子,比如我的女儿夏洛特,会在他们迎来25岁生日之前,就见到最后的野生大象和犀牛死去。
“At this rate, children born this year, like my daughter Charlotte, will see the l astwild elephants and rhinos die before their 25th birthdays.”下面就让我们一起领略王子殿下用他魅力十足的浑厚男中音,为我们讲讲野生动物保护的重要性。
演讲全文:Ladies and Gentlemen,Never before have we had so many different ways to talk to one another. In the distant past,written documents would be carried by hand across thousands of miles from China t o WesternEurope. Today, we access knowledge from all over the world, through our mob ile phones and ata tap of the key. Wherever you are watching this program, whether in t his hall, at work, withyour friends, or at home with your families: 谢谢,很高兴和你们见面。
Thank you forwelcoming me into your homes.Many of the most important conversations we have in our lives take place in the family h ome.The home is where we learn from our parents and grandparents, teach our own chil dren, andshare our stories and hopes for the future. It is where many of our ideas and v alues are firstkindled. In that spirit, there is one subject I believe we have to discuss, aro und our family tablesand across the generations. It concerns the future, and I know the Chinese are a far-sightedpeople. It concerns particularly the environment, and I know th at protecting China’s rich andbeautiful natural heritage is important to all Chinese familie s. It is the mass destruction andtrafficking of iconic endangered species. And it is time to talk about the growing human demandfor illegal wildlife products that drive the trade an d makes it profitable.Today, we face an unprecedented surge in the brutal slaughter of iconic animals by poac hers. InSouth Africa, for example, one rhino was killed every month until 2005. But last y ear, threerhinos were killed every single day. In the 33 years since I was born, we have l ost around 70%of Africa’s elephant population. Of those that are left,20,000 are being killed every year. That is54 elephants killed every single day. At this rate, children born this year, like my daughterCharlotte, will see the last wild elephants and rhinos die before their 25th birthdays.Those who suffer the most from this loss are some of the poorest people on our planet. Theyare the families who feel powerless as wildlife around them disappear, who face bei ng trapped inpoverty forever, without the income that should be brought in by tourism, a cornerstone of theeconomy in many developing nations. They are the children whose pa rents risk their lives in thefight against poachers. In the last few days, three rangers and one member of the armedforces were killed by poachers in one incident in Central Africa, leaving behind 14 children betweenthem. It is these children’s future that is blighted so t ragically by the illegal wildlife trade, and it istheir birthright that is stolen.There is no hiding from these facts today. On our phones, laptops and our TV screens, w e cansee the images and read the reports that lay bare the truth of this crisis. That know ledge bringsresponsibility: the responsibility to do everything in our power to reverse the march towardseradication of these fine animals.The good news is that we are far from powerless in this struggle. We can turn the tide of extinction. We know where the animals we are trying to protect live. We know many of t heroads, the airports and ports criminals use to transfer their cargo, from killing fields to marketplace.And over the last few years, we have seen a groundswell of action by governments to im provetheir laws and to work across borders to fight the traffickers. Only last month, Presi dent Xiannounced that China would take steps to halt the domestic trade in ivory, adding to the ban onivory carving imports he announced in February.But we know the illegal wildlife trade cannot be solved by governments alone. The spotli ght fallsback on all of us, and on the choices we have to make to play our parts in addres sing thisproblem. We have to accept the truth: that consumers are driving the demand fo r animal bodyparts — for arts, for trinkets, or for medicine. Only we as consumers can pu t the wildlifetraffickers out of business by ending our demand for their products. I know we can do this.The desire to possess animal trophies or ornaments made from ivory has been felt on ev erycontinent for centuries. I know this topic is sensitive for many families. For example, u ntil ahundred years ago, my ancestors were those who had little concern about acquiring ivorywithout the knowledge of the threats of extinction, corruption and violence that the ivory tradewould lead to. My rejection of ivory today is not a judgment of past generatio ns. It is anacceptance of the world as I find it today, and the world that I want my childr en, George andCharlotte, to inherit.Likewise, those doctors and medical practitioners in China who are speaking out againste ndangered species in medicine. They are not judging previous generations who did not h avethe facts that you do today. They are just accepting the truth: that all credible eviden ce andscientific research shows, for example, that rhino horn cannot cure cancer. We ha ve aresponsibility to act on the facts that we have today. By doing so, we are honoring t hegenerations that have come before us and we are protecting those that are yet to com e.I do not think that anyone would stand and watch an elephant or rhino being killed. Or a rangerbeing gunned down because we wanted a bracelet or an ornament to impress so meone else asa gift. But that is what the demand for wildlife products means in practice. The decisions wemake as consumers affect the lives of ordinary people thousands and th ousands of miles away,in countries we may never visit. If we buy illegal wildlife products, we are contributing to theextinction of whole species.But there is good news, and if you remember one thing, I want you to remember this: W e canwin the battle. Each generation decides what it values. Each generation can determi ne what weconsider to be beautiful on the one hand, or unacceptable, or immoral on the other. We can actin solidarity with those fighting poaching and trafficking in their comm unities.I am absolutely convinced that China can become a global leader in the protection of wil dlife.Your influence in the world means you can change the face of conservation in this c entury. Thiswill be a contribution that would go down in history, one that your great gran dchildren wouldspeak of with great pride.The greatest inheritance we can pass on to the next generation is a safe and sustainable environment, the priceless endowment of nature. Let us not tell our children the sad taleof howwe watched as the last elephants, rhinos and tigers died out, but the inspiring stor y of how weturned the tide and preserved them for all humanity. And in so doing, let us show the world thatby working together we can stand up to the great challenges our pla net and our families will facein the generations to come.谢谢!。