Who is Nelson Mandela?

“一生經(jīng)過彷徨的掙扎，自信可改變未來，問誰又能做到”，不知道同學們有沒有聽過香港著名樂隊beyond的這首金曲—《光輝歲月》。這首歌是樂隊主唱黃家駒為南非黑人領(lǐng)袖曼德拉創(chuàng)作的。2018年是南非前總統(tǒng)曼德拉100周年誕辰。我們一起來了解一下這位被尊稱為“南非國父”的傳奇一生吧。

Nelson Mandela was born in July 1918. He is South Africa’s first black President (1994～1999) and a brave man who1)endured27 years in prison with2)dignity.

Nelson’s parents couldn’t read or write, and he was the first in his family to attend school at age seven. His father died when he was about nine, and he was sent to live with Jongintaba, the king of the Thembu, his people, and3)treatedas their son.

Nelson went to University at Fort Hare and later the University of Witwatersrand. He made many friends of all colours and nationalities, but was the4)subjectof5)racism. Nelson became increasingly politically active,joining the African National Congress (the ANC) in 1944 and helping to form the ANC Youth League. At the time in South Africa there were many things that the blacks were not allowed to do, including6)voteand own7)property, and the ANC wanted to change that. This policy was called “apartheid” and the African National Congress was anti-apartheid.

In 1962 Nelson was8)capturedand9)imprisonedfor five years for encouraging the country to strike; the following year he was charged with trying to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Nelson spent his many hard years in prison studying when he could and keeping in touch with the ever-increasing10)disharmonyin South Africa, which threatened to break out into civil war. All over the world people began to campaign for his11)release. In 1990 South Africa’s President de Klerk met Nelson and arranged for him to be released.

After his release, Nelson and de Klerk worked together to end12)violencein the country and restore order, and Nelson was elected President in 1994,serving for one term.

After his presidency, Nelson Mandela focused on13)charity, setting up the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and Nelson Mandela Foundation to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS. He won the Nobel Peace Prize (in 1993)and the USPresidential Medal of Freedom.

1) endure [?n'dju?] v. 忍受

2) dignity ['d?gn?t?] n. 尊嚴

3) treat [tri?t] v. 對待

4) subject ['s?bd??kt] n. 經(jīng)受者，對象

5) racism ['re?s?z?m] n. 種族主義

6) vote [v??t] n. 投票權(quán)

7) property ['pr?p?t?] n. 財產(chǎn)

8) capture ['k?pt??] v. 抓捕

9) imprison [?m'pr?zn] v. 監(jiān)禁

10) disharmony ['d?s'hɑ?m?n?] n.不和諧

11) release [r?'li?s] n. 釋放

12) violence ['va??l?ns] n. 暴力

13) charity ['t??r?t?] n. 慈善

參考譯文

納爾遜·曼德拉出生于1918年7月。他是南非第一任黑人總統(tǒng)（1994－1999）。他是一位勇者，在監(jiān)獄里27年，依然堅持理想，沒有屈服。

納爾遜的父母不懂讀書寫字，幸運的是，他7歲的時候成為家里第一個去學校讀書的孩子。他的父親在他9歲時就去世了，從那以后曼德拉就被送去跟騰布部族的酋長瓊近塔巴一起生活，本身也是騰布人的曼德拉被酋長視為己出。

納爾遜先后就讀于福持哈爾大學和維特沃特斯蘭德大學。他結(jié)交了很多來自不同國家不同種族的朋友，但卻受到種族主義的不公平對待。自此納爾遜在政治上越來越活躍，他于1944年加入了南非政團“非洲人國民大會”（簡稱“非國大”）并且積極參與組織了“非國大”青年聯(lián)盟。當時的南非黑人有很多權(quán)利都被剝奪，其中包括投票和擁有自己財產(chǎn)的權(quán)利，而“非國大”想改變這點。這個不公平政策被稱為種族隔離政策，“非國大”反對這個政策。

1962年，納爾遜因為鼓動國民去抗爭而遭到了抓捕并被判監(jiān)禁5年。第二年，政府又以反動的罪名判處了納爾遜終身監(jiān)禁。

納爾遜在漫長的牢獄生涯中，仍然不斷努力吸取信息及學習，保持與外界的聯(lián)系。那時的南非，種族沖突不斷激化，隨時可能發(fā)生內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。世界各地有很多人都開始游行示威要求釋放納爾遜。終于，在1990年，當時的南非白人總統(tǒng)德克拉克會見了納爾遜并安排釋放他。

出獄以后，納爾遜開始與德克拉克合作去清除國內(nèi)的暴力并重建秩序，1994年，納爾遜被選為南非總統(tǒng)，任期一屆。

卸任總統(tǒng)職位以后，納爾遜開始將工作重點放在慈善方面，成立了納爾遜曼德拉兒童基金會和納爾遜曼德拉基金會，去解決貧窮問題和艾滋病蔓延的問題。曼德拉被授予諾貝爾和平獎（1993年）和美國總統(tǒng)自由勛章。

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apartheid，種族隔離，指在日常生活中，按照不同種族將人群分割開來，使得各種族不名能師同考時點使用小公結(jié)共空間或者服務(wù)。種族隔離可能是法律規(guī)定的，也可能是無法律規(guī)定但事實存在的。不論種族隔離是平等隔離，還是不平等隔離，實質(zhì)上均是一種種族歧視行為。在種族隔離制度下，人民所能擁有的權(quán)利是依照其種族背景來劃分。擁有歐洲白人血統(tǒng)者能享有至高的權(quán)力地位，而非裔、亞裔與種族混合血統(tǒng)者其參與政治及提升經(jīng)濟能力的機會則受法律限制。

Presidential Medal of Freedom，總統(tǒng)自由勛章是美國最高榮譽的文職勛章，由美國總統(tǒng)一年一度頒發(fā)，與國會金質(zhì)獎?wù)虏⒘袨槊绹罡叩钠矫駱s譽。受獎?wù)卟灰欢ㄊ敲绹?。向在科學、文化、體育和社會活動等領(lǐng)域做出杰出貢獻的平民頒發(fā)。最早于1945年由哈里·S.杜魯門總統(tǒng)創(chuàng)立，以表彰在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)中有杰出貢獻的平民。1963年約翰·肯尼迪總統(tǒng)重新恢復該勛章，并擴充得獎對象，修改為授予在和平時期有杰出貢獻的平民。