Animated corpses appear in stories all over the world throughout recorded history.
在有记载的历史中，动画尸体出现在世界各地的故事中。
But zombies have a distinct lineage— one that traces back to Equatorial and Central Africa.
但是僵尸有一个独特的血统—— 可以追溯到赤道和中非。
The first clue is in the word "zombie" itself.
第一条线索就在 “僵尸” 这个词上。
Its exact etymological origins are unknown, but there are several candidates.
它的确切词源是未知的，但有几个可能性。
The Mitsogho people of Gabon, for example, use the word "ndzumbi" for corpse.
例如，加蓬的米佐戈人使用 “ndzumbi” 这个词来表示尸体。
The Kikongo word "nzambi" refers variously to the supreme being, an ancestor with superhuman abilities, or another deity.
基孔戈语中的 “nzambi” 指的是至高无上的存在、具有超人能力的祖先或其他神灵。
And, in certain languages spoken in Angola and the Congo, "zumbi" refers to an object inhabited by a spirit, or someone returned from the dead.
而且，在某些语言中， 比如安哥拉和刚果，“zumbi” 指的是一个有灵魂居住的物体，或者是从死里复活的人。
There are also similarities in certain cultural beliefs.
某些文化信仰也有相似之处。
For example, in Kongo tradition, it's thought that once someone dies,
例如，在刚果传统中，人们认为一旦有人死了，
their spirit can be housed in a physical object which might bring protection and good luck.
他们的灵魂可以被安置在一个可以带来保护和好运的物体中。
Similar beliefs about what might happen to someone's soul after death are held in various parts of Africa.
非洲各地都持有类似的关于人死后灵魂可能发生的事情的信念。
Between 1517 and 1804, France and Spain enslaved hundreds of thousands of African people,
1517 年至 1804 年间，法国和西班牙奴役了数十万非洲人，
taking them to the Caribbean island that now contains Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
将他们带到现在包含海地和多米尼加共和国的加勒比岛屿。
There, the religious beliefs of enslaved African people mixed with the Catholic traditions of colonial authorities
在那里，被奴役的非洲人民宗教信仰与殖民当局的天主教传统混合在一起，
and a religion known as "vodou" developed.
发展出一种被称为 “伏都教” 的宗教。
According to some vodou beliefs, a person's soul can be captured and stored, becoming a body-less "zombi." Alternatively,
根据一些伏都教信仰， 一个人的灵魂可以被捕获和储存，成为一个没有身体的 “僵尸”。“或者，
if a body isn't properly attended to soon after death, a sorcerer called a "bokor"
或者，如果一具尸体在死后不久没有得到妥善照顾，一个名为 “bokor” 的巫师
can capture a corpse and turn it into a soulless zombi that will perform their bidding.
可以捕获一具尸体，并将其变成一个没有灵魂并执行他们的命令的僵尸。
Historically, these zombis were said to be put to work as laborers who needed neither food nor rest and would enrich their captor's fortune.
从历史上看，据说这些僵尸是作为劳动者工作的，他们不需要食物也不需要休息，并会丰富捕获者的财富。
In other words, zombification seemed to represent the horrors of enslavement that many Haitian people experienced.
换句话说，僵尸化似乎代表了许多海地人所经历的奴役的恐怖。
It was the worst possible fate: a form of enslavement that not even death could free you from.
这是最糟糕的命运：一种甚至死亡也无法让你摆脱的奴役形式。
The zombi was deprived of an afterlife and trapped in eternal subjugation.
僵尸被剥夺了来世， 陷入了永恒的征服。
Because of this, in Haitian culture, zombis are commonly seen as victims deserving of sympathy and care.
正因为如此，在海地文化中，僵尸通常被视为值得同情和关心的受害者。
The zombie underwent a transformation after the US occupation of Haiti began in 1915— this time, through the lens of Western pop culture.
1915 年美国开始占领海地后，僵尸经历了一次转变——这一次是通过西方流行文化的视角。
During the occupation, US citizens propagated many racist beliefs about Black Haitian people.
在占领期间，美国公民传播了许多关于黑海地人的种族主义信仰。
Among false accounts of devil worship and human sacrifice, zombie stories captured the American imagination.
在魔鬼崇拜和人类祭祀的虚假叙述中，僵尸故事吸引了美国人的想象力。
And in 1932, zombies debuted on the big screen in a film called "White Zombie."
1932年，僵尸在一部名为 《白色僵尸》的电影中，首次出现在大银幕上。
Set in Haiti, the film's protagonist must rescue his fiancee from an evil vodou master who runs a sugar mill using zombi labor.
故事设定在海地， 这部电影的主角必须从一个邪恶的巫毒大师手中救出他的未婚妻，他用僵尸劳动力经营着一家糖厂。
Notably, the film's main object of sympathy isn't the enslaved workforce, but the victimized white woman.
值得注意的是，这部电影的主要同情对象不是被奴役的劳动力，而是受害的白人女性。
Over the following decades, zombies appeared in many American films, usually with loose references to Haitian culture,
在接下来的几十年里，僵尸出现在许多美国电影中，通常对海地文化有松散的提及，
though some veered off to involve aliens and Nazis.
尽管有些电影转向涉及外星人和纳粹分子。
Then came the wildly influential 1968 film "Night of the Living Dead," in which a group of strangers tries to survive an onslaught of slow-moving, flesh-eating monsters.
接下来是1968年极具影响力的电影《活死人之夜》，其中一群陌生人试图 在行动缓慢的食肉怪物的猛攻中幸存下来。
The film's director remarked that he never envisioned his living dead as zombies.
这部电影的导演表示，他从未将活死人想象成僵尸。
Instead, it was the audience who recognized them as such.
相反，是观众认出了他们。
But from then on,
但从那时起，
zombies became linked to an insatiable craving for flesh— with a particular taste for brains added in 1985 's "The Return of the Living Dead."
僵尸开始与对肉体的渴望联系在一起—— 在 1985 年的“活死人归来”中加入了一种特殊的大脑口味。
In these and many subsequent films, no sorcerer controls the zombies; they're the monsters.
在这些以及随后的许多电影中，没有巫师控制僵尸；他们是怪物。
And in many iterations, later fueled by 2002 's "28 Days Later," zombification became a contagious phenomenon.
在许多迭代中，后来在2002年的“28 天后”的推动下，僵尸化成为一种具有传染性的现象。
For decades now,
几十年来，
artists around the world have used zombies to shine a light on the social ills and anxieties of their moment— from consumer culture to the global lack of disaster preparedness.
世界各地的艺术家都用僵尸来揭示他们当下的社会有着的弊病和焦虑——从消费文化到全球缺乏灾难准备。
But, in effect,
但是，实际上，
American pop culture also initially erased the zombies origins— cannibalizing its original significance and transforming the victim into the monster.
美国流行文化最初也抹去了僵尸的起源—— 蚕食了它原本的意义，把受害者变成了怪物。
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