Who is Nelson Mandela?

“一生经过彷徨的挣扎，自信可改变未来，问谁又能做到”，不知道同学们有没有听过香港著名乐队beyond的这首金曲—《光辉岁月》。这首歌是乐队主唱黄家驹为南非黑人领袖曼德拉创作的。2018年是南非前总统曼德拉100周年诞辰。我们一起来了解一下这位被尊称为“南非国父”的传奇一生吧。

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 [ɪn'djuə] v. 忍受

2) dignity ['dɪgnɪtɪ] n. 尊严

3) treat [triːt] v. 对待

4) subject ['sʌbdʒɪkt] n. 经受者，对象

5) racism ['reɪsɪzəm] n. 种族主义

6) vote [vəʊt] n. 投票权

7) property ['prɒpətɪ] n. 财产

8) capture ['kæptʃə] v. 抓捕

9) imprison [ɪm'prɪzn] v. 监禁

10) disharmony ['dɪs'hɑːmənɪ] n.不和谐

11) release [rɪ'liːs] n. 释放

12) violence ['vaɪələns] n. 暴力

13) charity ['tʃærɪtɪ] n. 慈善

参考译文

纳尔逊·曼德拉出生于1918年7月。他是南非第一任黑人总统（1994－1999）。他是一位勇者，在监狱里27年，依然坚持理想，没有屈服。

纳尔逊的父母不懂读书写字，幸运的是，他7岁的时候成为家里第一个去学校读书的孩子。他的父亲在他9岁时就去世了，从那以后曼德拉就被送去跟腾布部族的酋长琼近塔巴一起生活，本身也是腾布人的曼德拉被酋长视为己出。

纳尔逊先后就读于福持哈尔大学和维特沃特斯兰德大学。他结交了很多来自不同国家不同种族的朋友，但却受到种族主义的不公平对待。自此纳尔逊在政治上越来越活跃，他于1944年加入了南非政团“非洲人国民大会”（简称“非国大”）并且积极参与组织了“非国大”青年联盟。当时的南非黑人有很多权利都被剥夺，其中包括投票和拥有自己财产的权利，而“非国大”想改变这点。这个不公平政策被称为种族隔离政策，“非国大”反对这个政策。

1962年，纳尔逊因为鼓动国民去抗争而遭到了抓捕并被判监禁5年。第二年，政府又以反动的罪名判处了纳尔逊终身监禁。……