PART 01 译文

本文作者：

是一位在海外出生，在澳洲长大并接受教育的华人女孩。虽然日常在家里用普通话，但中文写作还是有一些难度。因此，女孩的妈妈帮她把英文原文翻译为中文。

本文分两部分：

第一部分，中文翻译；第二部分，女孩的英文原文。

01 餐桌上的愧疚

我从小就知道，自己想成为一名素食主义者。

我成长在一个十分尊重生命的家庭，这源于我父亲的佛教信仰。

我们相信，所有生命，无论外表或地位多么不同，都由同一种灵魂构成，这意味着所有生命都值得被尊重。

我很容易相信这一点 —— 如果猫猫和狗狗都能如此充满爱意地看着我们、看着彼此，如果我们也能如此，为什么其他动物就不能呢？

因此，我的童年时光经常是这样度过的：小心翼翼地走在人行道上，避免踩到蚂蚁；小学二年级时候，因为同学伤害甲虫而对他们发火；炎热的夏天，确保鸟盆里有足够的水；为餐馆里展示的那些活鱼而感到难过……

尽管如此，直到去年生日为止，我却一直都是个荤食者。因为父母担心如果我的饮食中缺乏肉类，会导致营养不良；从长远来看，对身体健康有害。

这让我感到非常矛盾：小时候，我被教导要尊重所有生命，却又不得不食用那些我被教导永远不能伤害的生灵的肉。绝大多数时候，我发现自己吃肉时都会感到一丝愧疚。

02 17岁生日宣言

最近，社交媒体和互联网上的内容让我更多地去思考选择素食。现在很容易就能找到各类烹饪账号和绿色健康食谱，这些食谱富含蛋白质和铁，却不含肉类。

此外我还了解到，超过80%的农业用地被用于畜牧业。这些农作物是用来喂养那些动物，之后这些动物会被宰杀供人类食用。更糟糕的是，这些种植的农作物不适于人类食用。

对我来说尤其不公平的是，新鲜农产品日益减少仅仅是因为我们选择减少种植，而不是因为种植能力有限。

我们把资源聚焦在喂养那些最终被我们食用的动物上，并非因为荤食对我们的健康至关重要，而是因为对某些人来说更享受口腹之欲。

去年生日那天，我告诉父母我想成为一名素食主义者。他们觉得我“到了可以自己做决定的年纪”，同意了我的决定。

目前为止，我已经吃素三个月了，身体上没有感觉到有什么不同。我没有出现别人说的“可能会虚弱或疲惫”，只是觉得我的内疚感减轻了。

PART 02 原文

Dream Comes True On My 17th Birthday

I knew I wanted to be a vegetarian ever since I was little.

I grew up in a family with a deep respect for life, attributed to my father’s practice of Buddhism.

We hold the belief that all living creatures, no matter how different in physicality or status, are made up of the same kind of souls, meaning all living creatures are deserved some semblance of respect.

It was easy for me to believe that – if dogs and cats could look at us and at each other with so much love, and if we could do the same, why couldn’t all other animals?

So, a lot of my childhood was made up of carefully navigating the footpaths to avoid stepping on ants, getting into fights with my fellow Year 2 classmates for messing with beetles, making sure the birdbath had enough water on hot days, or feeling sorry for the live fish on display in restaurants.

All that being said, I was a meat eater until my birthday last year. My parents were worried that the lack of animal meat in my diet would manifest as a lack of nutrients, and that it would harm me in the long term.

It was conflicting to me as a child in being told to respect all life, only to consume the flesh of the very beings I was taught to never harm. Most of the time, I found I couldn’t get through meals without feeling a little guilty.

Recently, social media and the internet has exposed me to plenty more reasons to go vegetarian. It’s become so simple to find cooking accounts and recipes for healthy green recipes that include enough protein or iron without meat.

Additionally, I found out that over 80% of agricultural land is being used for livestock farming. To grow crops which feed animals that will later be slaughtered for consumption; what’s worse is that those crops are inedible to humans.

It felt doubly unfair to me that fresh produce is becoming less and less abundant when it is simply because we are choosing to grow less, not because it’s impossible to grow more.

We are concentrating our resources into feeding creatures that we will eat, not because the consumption of such creatures is crucial to our health, but because it is more enjoyable to do so, for some.

On my birthday I told my parents I wanted to finally commit to vegetarianism, and being deemed as ‘old enough’, they agreed.

Currently I’ve been a vegetarian for three months, and physically, I don’t feel any different. I don’t feel weaker or any more tired, like I was told I might. I only feel less guilt.

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