2024年5月19日发(作者：史飞雪)
这篇文章选自美国1994年出版的纳尔逊·曼德拉自传《自由路漫漫》（Long Walk to Freedom)
南非黑人领袖纳尔逊·曼德拉是二十世纪的风云人物，他为在南非取消种族隔离制，实现种族平等
而奋斗了一生，并最终取得胜利，使南非黑人有了自己的家园。在几十年的斗争中，他百折不挠。他曾
身陷囹圄27 年，但凭着对正义的坚定信念，监狱里非人的生活从未摧垮过他那钢铁般的意志。他不畏
强暴，不怕牺牲，与当时的南非种族歧视当局进行了殊死的斗争！他这种大无畏的气概一直为世人景仰。
1993年他获得了诺贝尔和平奖，1994当选为南非共和国总统。他主政期间，高风亮节，不谋私利，胸
怀宽广，坚持原则。对妻子温妮的错误行为，他做到了仁至义尽，最后不得不离婚时，他伤心至极。他
与温妮几十年悲欢离合，对于他们之间饱含辛酸、历经沧桑的爱情，在本文结尾处他无比伤感地悲叹：
有时候，你无法挽救必定要死亡的东西（Sometimes there is nothing one can do to save something
that must die.）。曼德拉在担任南非总统期间，日理万机， 勤勤恳恳为人民谋利益。正当他的事业
如日中天时，他急流勇退，让比自己更年轻有为的人去管理国家，他这种美德在世界政坛传为佳话，令
世人敬佩！
因领导黑人进行反对种族隔离的斗争，曼德拉于1963年被捕入狱，判刑后被囚禁于罗本岛 (Robben
Island)。14年后，也就是本文开头所提及的1977年， 他才被免于野外苦役（the end of manual labor）
——采石灰石，而可以在监狱大院内劳动 (...arranged some type of work for us to do in the
courtyard)。对他来说， 这是一种解放（liberating）。至此他才稍稍有点自由去读书、写信、和囚
友们讨论问题以及准备文件为自己打官司申诉。在罗本岛上的监狱里他养成了两个爱好：园艺和网球
（gardening and tennis）。
那么，曼德拉是怎么在监狱中养成这两个爱好，尤其是园艺爱好的呢？这是本文着重要讨论的。曼
德拉说，要想在监狱中求生存，你必须用自己的方式在每天残酷的生活中寻找一点慰藉（one must
develop ways to take satisfaction in one's daily life），所以，在洗衣服、清扫过道、收拾牢
房的过程中，他都用积极的态度对待每一天的生活。他认为，在监狱里做这些零碎小事（doing small
things）和在监狱外做那些重要大事（important tasks）一样令人有成就，关键在于你胸中是否有理
想，人生是否有坚定的信念。
几乎从曼德拉入狱起，他就开始要求当局允许他开垦一片菜园，自己种菜。可是若干年过去了，当
局一直拒绝他的请求。不过最终他们还是允许他在监狱大院最远的墙边开垦了一片狭长的菜园（cut out
a small garden on a narrow patch of earth against the far wall）。对于他来说，这是为自由而
斗争的一个胜利！监狱的大院是建在垃圾堆上的（The courtyard had been constructed over the garage
dump.），那片岩质地土质干燥（The soil in the courtyard was dry and rocky.），为了开垦这片
菜地，他把所有的业余时间都用来在地里刨石头、捡石头、清理土地，囚友们都笑话他，说他生来就是
矿工（a miner at heart）。
曼德拉最后终于有了自己的菜园，监狱当局给他提供蔬菜种子，他种了西红柿、辣椒、洋葱，因为
这些都是耐贫瘠土壤、无需精心栽培的蔬菜（hardy plants that did not require rich earth or constant
care.）。在监狱中种菜，对曼德拉来说是一种寄托，他的菜园是一种象征：自由的象征！对一小块菜
地的拥有使他尝到了点自由的甜头（The sense of being the owner of the small patch of earth offered
a small taste of freedom.），这对他的精神是巨大的安慰。
在种植菜园的过程中，曼德拉经历了许多困难，也学到了许多园艺技能。最关键的是，他从园艺中
感悟了人生的许多道理。 他认为种菜好比人生中的事业（I saw the garden as a metaphor for certain
aspects of my life.），作为领导人的他，要精心照顾自己事业的“菜园”：要播种、要看护、要耕
耘、要收获（plant seeds, and then watch, cultivate, and harvest results）。领导人对自己所
耕耘的（what they cultivate）要负责任，他们要认真履行自己的职责（mind their work），要力图
击退敌人（try to drive back enemies），挽救能够挽救的一切（save what can be saved），清除
不可能成功的一切（eliminate what can not succeed）。
在选文的最后两段中，曼德拉讲到了自己与妻子温妮的关系。这是令他最伤感的事。在给温妮的两
封信中，他给她详细讲了种西红柿的故事，内含他们之间关系的寓意。他精心种植了一株西红柿苗，使
它长出了鲜红的西红柿，可是，不知怎么搞的，由于某种错误或者疏忽（either through some mistake
or lack of care），那株苗开始枯萎，他尽了全力也无法把它救活（nothing I did would bring it back
to health）。 此处的语言表达出了曼德拉悲哀的心情 (Sometimes there is nothing one can do to
save something that must die.)。
现在让我们来讨论选段的语言。大家读完选段肯定觉得曼德拉的语言通俗易懂，简练而琅琅上口。
的确如此，但是他那浅白的语言却包含着深邃的人生哲理。第一段中的The end of manual labor was
liberating.,第四段中的The soil in the courtyard was dry and rocky., 第五段中的The authorities
supplied me with seeds., 第七段中的 I began to order books on gardening., 第十一段中的 I told
her this small story at great length., 这些句子都是简单结构，但却极其准确地表达了他的心情
和意思。由此可见他语言功底的深厚。
此外，他的平行结构用得非常恰当，给读者一种文笔工整的感觉。第一段中的I could now spend the
day reading, writing letters, discussing issues with my comrades, or preparing legal documents.
是四个动名词短语平行的结构；第二段中的One can feel fulfilled by washing one's clothes so that
they are particularly clean, by sweeping a hallway so that it is empty of dust, by organizing
one's cell to save as much space as possible.是三个介词短语平行的结构；第六段中的I had neither
the time nor the space to start a garden.是两个名词短语平行的结构；第八段中的To plant a seed,
watch it grow, to tend it and harvest it, offered a simple but enduring satisfaction.是四
个不定式短语做主语的平行结构；第九段中的they must mind their work, try to drive back enemies,
save what can be saved, and eliminate what can not succeed.是四个谓语动词短语并列使用的排
比结构。从这些平行结构中可见他运用语言的功力。
再者，曼德拉在文中很注意长句和短句、复合句和简单句的搭配使用，使读者不会觉得语言乏味或
手法单调。例如文章最后一段中的这句话：I don't know what she read into that letter, but when
I wrote it I had a mixture of feelings: I did not want our relationship to go the way of that
plant, and yet I felt that I had been unable to nourish many of the most important relationships
in my life.
他没有用什么大词、长词或所谓的雅词，但是他运用常用词和常用表达法的技能可谓炉火纯青，他
的语言流畅、清新，让人百读不厌。总之，这是一段非常精彩的英文选读，我很乐意推荐给大家。以上
的讨论如有不当之处，敬请大家批评指正。
Nelson Mandela
Mr Mandela was born into the royal family of the Tembu at Qunu,
near Umtata, on 18 July 1918. The capital of the former Transkei,
and now of the Eastern Cape Province. Umtata was named after the
Mtata River upon whose banks it was formed.
His father was the principal councillor, to the Acting Paramount
Chief of Thembuland. However, influenced by the cases that came
before the Chiefs court, he was determined to become a lawyer.
Hearing the elders stories of his ancestors valor during the wars of
resistance in defense of their fatherland, he dreamed also of making
his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.
After receiving a primary education at a local mission school,
Nelson Mandela was sent to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary
school of some repute where he matriculated. He then enrolled at the
University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree
where he was elected onto the Student's Representative Council.
He was suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott.
After his suspension, he went to Johannesburg where he completed
his BA by correspondence. He took articles of clerkship and
commenced study for his LLB. He entered politics in earnest while
studying in Johannesburg.
At the height of the Second World War, a small group of young Africans banded together. These young people
set themselves the formidable task of transforming the ANC into a mass movement. Deriving its strength and
motivation from the unlettered millions of working people in the towns and countryside, the peasants in the
rural areas, and the professionals.
In April 1944 they came together to found the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). Their goal
of political organization and action was the achievement of true democracy,
In such a true democracy all the nationalities and minorities would
have their fundamental human rights guaranteed in a democratic
Constitution. In order to achieve this the Congress Youth League
and/or the National Movement struggles for:
removal of discriminatory laws and colour bars;
admission of the Africans into the full citizenship of the country
so that they have direct representation in parliament on a democratic
basis.
Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and
consistent effort. He was elected to the Secretary ship of the Youth
League in 1947. In 1948 the National Party came to power in Southern
Africa.
During the whole of the 1950's, Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression. He was banned,
arrested, and imprisoned. For much of the latter half of the decade, he was one of the accused in the mammoth
Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961. This was at great cost to his legal practice and to his political work.
The government responded with the largest military mobilization since the war. In 1952 Mandela himself was
elected to the NEC at national conference. Mandela and his co-accused had consistently advised their followers
to adopt a peaceful course of action and to avoid all violence. For his part in the Defiance Campaign, Mandela
was convicted of contravening the Suppression of the Communism Act, and given a suspended prison sentence.
Shortly after the campaign ended, he was also prohibited from attending gatherings and confined to
Johannesburg for six months.
During this period of restrictions, Mandela wrote the attorneys admission examination and was admitted to the
profession.
1961 With the ANC now illegal, the leadership picked up the threads from its underground headquarters.
Nelson Mandela emerged at this time as the leading figure in this new phase of struggle. Under the ANC's
inspiration, 1,400 delegates came together at an All-in African Conference in Pietermaritzburg during March
1961. Mandela was the keynote speaker. In an electrifying address he challenged the apartheid regime to
convene a national convention, representative of all South Africans to thrash out a new constitution based on
democratic principles. Failure to comply, he warned, would compel the majority (Blacks) to observe the
forthcoming inauguration of the Republic with a mass general strike. He immediately went underground to lead
the campaign. Although fewer answered the call than Mandela had hoped, it attracted considerable support
throughout the country. The government responded with the largest military mobilization since the war, and the
Republic was born in an atmosphere of fear and apprehension.
Moving from place to place, forced to live apart from his family, to evade detection by the governments
ubiquitous informers and police spies. Mandela had to adopt a number of disguises, sometimes dressed as a
common laborer, at other times as a chauffeur. His successful evasion of the police earned him the title of the
Black Pimpernel. It was during this time that he, together with other leaders of the ANC, constituted a new
specialized section of the liberation movement. Umkhonto we Sizwe, an armed nucleus with a view to
preparing for armed struggle. At the Rivonia trial, Mandela explained : "At the beginning of June 1961, after
long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I and some colleagues came to the conclusion that
as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue
preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force.
It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the
decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Umkhonto he
Government had left us no other choice."
In 1961 Umkhonto we Sizwe was formed, with Mandela as its commander-in-chief. In 1962 Mandela left the
country unlawfully and travelled abroad for several months. In Ethiopia he addressed the Conference of the Pan
African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa, and was warmly received by senior political leaders in
several countries. During this trip Mandela, anticipating an intensification of the armed struggle, began to
arrange guerrilla training for members of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Not long after his return to South Africa, Mandela was arrested and charged with
illegal exit from the country, and incitement to strike. Since he considered the
prosecution a trial of the aspirations of the African people, Mandela decided to
conduct his own defence.
He applied for the recusal of the magistrate, on the ground that in such a prosecution a
judiciary controlled entirely by whites, was an interested party and therefore could not
be impartial. And on the ground that he owed no duty to obey the laws of a white
parliament, in which he was not represented.
Mandela prefaced this challenge with the affirmation: I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing,
whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
Mandela was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment. While serving his sentence he was charged,
in the Rivonia Trial, with sabotage. Mandela’s statements in court during these trials are classics in the history
of the resistance to apartheid, and they have been an inspiration to all who have opposed it. His statement from
the dock in the Rivonia Trial ends with these words:
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal
of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal
for which I am prepared to die.
Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. He started his prison years in the notorious Robben
Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island 7Km off the coast near Cape Town
Mandela rejected an offer of release on condition that he renounce violence. Prisoners cannot
enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate, he said. In April 1984 he was transferred to
Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town. 1988 he was moved the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl.
Released on 11 February 1990, Mandela plunged wholeheartedly into his life's work. Striving to attain the goals
he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held
inside South Africa, Nelson Mandela was elected President of the ANC. His lifelong friend and colleague,
Oliver Tambo, became the organisation's National Chairperson.
Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in
South Africa and throughout the world. To all who are oppressed and deprived, and to all who are opposed to
oppression and deprivation.
In a life that symbolises the triumph of the human spirit over mans inhumanity to man, Nelson Mandela
accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. He accepted the award on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and
sacrificed so much, to bring peace to our land.
A Brief Biography
Mandela's words, "The struggle is my life," are not to be taken lightly.
Nelson Mandela personifies struggle. He is still leading the fight against apartheid with extraordinary vigour
and resilience after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and
his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero.
Mandela has held numerous positions in the ANC: ANCYL secretary (1948); ANCYL president (1950); ANC
Transvaal president (1952); deputy national president (1952) and ANC president (1991).
He was born at Qunu, near Umtata on 18 July 1918.
His father, Henry Mgadla Mandela, was chief councillor to Thembuland's acting paramount chief David
Dalindyebo. When his father died, Mandela became the chief's ward and was groomed for the chieftainship.
Mandela matriculated at Healdtown Methodist Boarding School and then started a BA degree at Fort Hare. As
an SRC member he participated in a student strike and was expelled, along with the late Oliver Tambo, in 1940.
He completed his degree by correspondence from Johannesburg, did articles of clerkship and enrolled for an
LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand.
In 1944 he helped found the ANC Youth League, whose Programme of Action was adopted by the ANC in
1949.
Mandela was elected national volunteer-in-chief of the 1952 Defiance Campaign. He travelled the country
organising resistance to discriminatory legislation.
He was given a suspended sentence for his part in the campaign. Shortly afterwards a banning order confined
him to Johannesburg for six months. During this period he formulated the "M Plan", in terms of which ANC
branches were broken down into underground cells.
By 1952 Mandela and Tambo had opened the first black legal firm in the country, and Mandela was both
Transvaal president of the ANC and deputy national president.
A petition by the Transvaal Law Society to strike Mandela off the roll of attorneys was refused by the Supreme
Court.
In the 'fifties, after being forced through constant bannings to resign officially from the ANC, Mandela
analysed the Bantustan policy as a political swindle. He predicted mass removals, political persecutions and
police terror.
For the second half of the 'fifties, he was one of the accused in the Treason Trial. With Duma Nokwe, he
conducted the defence.
When the ANC was banned after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, he was detained until 1961 when he went
underground to lead a campaign for a new national convention.
Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, was born the same year. Under his leadership it
launched a campaign of sabotage against government and economic installations.
In 1962 Mandela left the country for military training in Algeria and to arrange training for other MK members.
On his return he was arrested for leaving the country illegally and for incitement to strike. He conducted his
own defence. He was convicted and jailed for five years in November 1962. While serving his sentence, he was
charged, in the Rivonia trial, with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment.
A decade before being imprisoned, Mandela had spoken out against the introduction of Bantu Education,
recommending that community activists "make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of
learning".
Robben Island, where he was imprisoned, became a centre for learning, and Mandela was a central figure in the
organised political education classes.
In prison Mandela never compromised his political principles and was always a source of strength for the other
prisoners.
During the 'seventies he refused the offer of a remission of sentence if he recognised Transkei and settled there.
In the 'eighties he again rejected PW Botha's offer of freedom if he renounced violence.
It is significant that shortly after his release on Sunday 11 February 1990, Mandela and his delegation agreed to
the suspension of armed struggle.
Mandela has honorary degrees from more than 50 international universities and is chancellor of the University
of the North.
He was inaugurated as the first democratically elected State President of South Africa on 10 May 1994 - June
1999
Nelson Mandela retired from Public life in June 1999. He currently resides in his birth place - Qunu, Transkei.
2024年5月19日发(作者：史飞雪)
这篇文章选自美国1994年出版的纳尔逊·曼德拉自传《自由路漫漫》（Long Walk to Freedom)
南非黑人领袖纳尔逊·曼德拉是二十世纪的风云人物，他为在南非取消种族隔离制，实现种族平等
而奋斗了一生，并最终取得胜利，使南非黑人有了自己的家园。在几十年的斗争中，他百折不挠。他曾
身陷囹圄27 年，但凭着对正义的坚定信念，监狱里非人的生活从未摧垮过他那钢铁般的意志。他不畏
强暴，不怕牺牲，与当时的南非种族歧视当局进行了殊死的斗争！他这种大无畏的气概一直为世人景仰。
1993年他获得了诺贝尔和平奖，1994当选为南非共和国总统。他主政期间，高风亮节，不谋私利，胸
怀宽广，坚持原则。对妻子温妮的错误行为，他做到了仁至义尽，最后不得不离婚时，他伤心至极。他
与温妮几十年悲欢离合，对于他们之间饱含辛酸、历经沧桑的爱情，在本文结尾处他无比伤感地悲叹：
有时候，你无法挽救必定要死亡的东西（Sometimes there is nothing one can do to save something
that must die.）。曼德拉在担任南非总统期间，日理万机， 勤勤恳恳为人民谋利益。正当他的事业
如日中天时，他急流勇退，让比自己更年轻有为的人去管理国家，他这种美德在世界政坛传为佳话，令
世人敬佩！
因领导黑人进行反对种族隔离的斗争，曼德拉于1963年被捕入狱，判刑后被囚禁于罗本岛 (Robben
Island)。14年后，也就是本文开头所提及的1977年， 他才被免于野外苦役（the end of manual labor）
——采石灰石，而可以在监狱大院内劳动 (...arranged some type of work for us to do in the
courtyard)。对他来说， 这是一种解放（liberating）。至此他才稍稍有点自由去读书、写信、和囚
友们讨论问题以及准备文件为自己打官司申诉。在罗本岛上的监狱里他养成了两个爱好：园艺和网球
（gardening and tennis）。
那么，曼德拉是怎么在监狱中养成这两个爱好，尤其是园艺爱好的呢？这是本文着重要讨论的。曼
德拉说，要想在监狱中求生存，你必须用自己的方式在每天残酷的生活中寻找一点慰藉（one must
develop ways to take satisfaction in one's daily life），所以，在洗衣服、清扫过道、收拾牢
房的过程中，他都用积极的态度对待每一天的生活。他认为，在监狱里做这些零碎小事（doing small
things）和在监狱外做那些重要大事（important tasks）一样令人有成就，关键在于你胸中是否有理
想，人生是否有坚定的信念。
几乎从曼德拉入狱起，他就开始要求当局允许他开垦一片菜园，自己种菜。可是若干年过去了，当
局一直拒绝他的请求。不过最终他们还是允许他在监狱大院最远的墙边开垦了一片狭长的菜园（cut out
a small garden on a narrow patch of earth against the far wall）。对于他来说，这是为自由而
斗争的一个胜利！监狱的大院是建在垃圾堆上的（The courtyard had been constructed over the garage
dump.），那片岩质地土质干燥（The soil in the courtyard was dry and rocky.），为了开垦这片
菜地，他把所有的业余时间都用来在地里刨石头、捡石头、清理土地，囚友们都笑话他，说他生来就是
矿工（a miner at heart）。
曼德拉最后终于有了自己的菜园，监狱当局给他提供蔬菜种子，他种了西红柿、辣椒、洋葱，因为
这些都是耐贫瘠土壤、无需精心栽培的蔬菜（hardy plants that did not require rich earth or constant
care.）。在监狱中种菜，对曼德拉来说是一种寄托，他的菜园是一种象征：自由的象征！对一小块菜
地的拥有使他尝到了点自由的甜头（The sense of being the owner of the small patch of earth offered
a small taste of freedom.），这对他的精神是巨大的安慰。
在种植菜园的过程中，曼德拉经历了许多困难，也学到了许多园艺技能。最关键的是，他从园艺中
感悟了人生的许多道理。 他认为种菜好比人生中的事业（I saw the garden as a metaphor for certain
aspects of my life.），作为领导人的他，要精心照顾自己事业的“菜园”：要播种、要看护、要耕
耘、要收获（plant seeds, and then watch, cultivate, and harvest results）。领导人对自己所
耕耘的（what they cultivate）要负责任，他们要认真履行自己的职责（mind their work），要力图
击退敌人（try to drive back enemies），挽救能够挽救的一切（save what can be saved），清除
不可能成功的一切（eliminate what can not succeed）。
在选文的最后两段中，曼德拉讲到了自己与妻子温妮的关系。这是令他最伤感的事。在给温妮的两
封信中，他给她详细讲了种西红柿的故事，内含他们之间关系的寓意。他精心种植了一株西红柿苗，使
它长出了鲜红的西红柿，可是，不知怎么搞的，由于某种错误或者疏忽（either through some mistake
or lack of care），那株苗开始枯萎，他尽了全力也无法把它救活（nothing I did would bring it back
to health）。 此处的语言表达出了曼德拉悲哀的心情 (Sometimes there is nothing one can do to
save something that must die.)。
现在让我们来讨论选段的语言。大家读完选段肯定觉得曼德拉的语言通俗易懂，简练而琅琅上口。
的确如此，但是他那浅白的语言却包含着深邃的人生哲理。第一段中的The end of manual labor was
liberating.,第四段中的The soil in the courtyard was dry and rocky., 第五段中的The authorities
supplied me with seeds., 第七段中的 I began to order books on gardening., 第十一段中的 I told
her this small story at great length., 这些句子都是简单结构，但却极其准确地表达了他的心情
和意思。由此可见他语言功底的深厚。
此外，他的平行结构用得非常恰当，给读者一种文笔工整的感觉。第一段中的I could now spend the
day reading, writing letters, discussing issues with my comrades, or preparing legal documents.
是四个动名词短语平行的结构；第二段中的One can feel fulfilled by washing one's clothes so that
they are particularly clean, by sweeping a hallway so that it is empty of dust, by organizing
one's cell to save as much space as possible.是三个介词短语平行的结构；第六段中的I had neither
the time nor the space to start a garden.是两个名词短语平行的结构；第八段中的To plant a seed,
watch it grow, to tend it and harvest it, offered a simple but enduring satisfaction.是四
个不定式短语做主语的平行结构；第九段中的they must mind their work, try to drive back enemies,
save what can be saved, and eliminate what can not succeed.是四个谓语动词短语并列使用的排
比结构。从这些平行结构中可见他运用语言的功力。
再者，曼德拉在文中很注意长句和短句、复合句和简单句的搭配使用，使读者不会觉得语言乏味或
手法单调。例如文章最后一段中的这句话：I don't know what she read into that letter, but when
I wrote it I had a mixture of feelings: I did not want our relationship to go the way of that
plant, and yet I felt that I had been unable to nourish many of the most important relationships
in my life.
他没有用什么大词、长词或所谓的雅词，但是他运用常用词和常用表达法的技能可谓炉火纯青，他
的语言流畅、清新，让人百读不厌。总之，这是一段非常精彩的英文选读，我很乐意推荐给大家。以上
的讨论如有不当之处，敬请大家批评指正。
Nelson Mandela
Mr Mandela was born into the royal family of the Tembu at Qunu,
near Umtata, on 18 July 1918. The capital of the former Transkei,
and now of the Eastern Cape Province. Umtata was named after the
Mtata River upon whose banks it was formed.
His father was the principal councillor, to the Acting Paramount
Chief of Thembuland. However, influenced by the cases that came
before the Chiefs court, he was determined to become a lawyer.
Hearing the elders stories of his ancestors valor during the wars of
resistance in defense of their fatherland, he dreamed also of making
his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.
After receiving a primary education at a local mission school,
Nelson Mandela was sent to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary
school of some repute where he matriculated. He then enrolled at the
University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree
where he was elected onto the Student's Representative Council.
He was suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott.
After his suspension, he went to Johannesburg where he completed
his BA by correspondence. He took articles of clerkship and
commenced study for his LLB. He entered politics in earnest while
studying in Johannesburg.
At the height of the Second World War, a small group of young Africans banded together. These young people
set themselves the formidable task of transforming the ANC into a mass movement. Deriving its strength and
motivation from the unlettered millions of working people in the towns and countryside, the peasants in the
rural areas, and the professionals.
In April 1944 they came together to found the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). Their goal
of political organization and action was the achievement of true democracy,
In such a true democracy all the nationalities and minorities would
have their fundamental human rights guaranteed in a democratic
Constitution. In order to achieve this the Congress Youth League
and/or the National Movement struggles for:
removal of discriminatory laws and colour bars;
admission of the Africans into the full citizenship of the country
so that they have direct representation in parliament on a democratic
basis.
Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and
consistent effort. He was elected to the Secretary ship of the Youth
League in 1947. In 1948 the National Party came to power in Southern
Africa.
During the whole of the 1950's, Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression. He was banned,
arrested, and imprisoned. For much of the latter half of the decade, he was one of the accused in the mammoth
Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961. This was at great cost to his legal practice and to his political work.
The government responded with the largest military mobilization since the war. In 1952 Mandela himself was
elected to the NEC at national conference. Mandela and his co-accused had consistently advised their followers
to adopt a peaceful course of action and to avoid all violence. For his part in the Defiance Campaign, Mandela
was convicted of contravening the Suppression of the Communism Act, and given a suspended prison sentence.
Shortly after the campaign ended, he was also prohibited from attending gatherings and confined to
Johannesburg for six months.
During this period of restrictions, Mandela wrote the attorneys admission examination and was admitted to the
profession.
1961 With the ANC now illegal, the leadership picked up the threads from its underground headquarters.
Nelson Mandela emerged at this time as the leading figure in this new phase of struggle. Under the ANC's
inspiration, 1,400 delegates came together at an All-in African Conference in Pietermaritzburg during March
1961. Mandela was the keynote speaker. In an electrifying address he challenged the apartheid regime to
convene a national convention, representative of all South Africans to thrash out a new constitution based on
democratic principles. Failure to comply, he warned, would compel the majority (Blacks) to observe the
forthcoming inauguration of the Republic with a mass general strike. He immediately went underground to lead
the campaign. Although fewer answered the call than Mandela had hoped, it attracted considerable support
throughout the country. The government responded with the largest military mobilization since the war, and the
Republic was born in an atmosphere of fear and apprehension.
Moving from place to place, forced to live apart from his family, to evade detection by the governments
ubiquitous informers and police spies. Mandela had to adopt a number of disguises, sometimes dressed as a
common laborer, at other times as a chauffeur. His successful evasion of the police earned him the title of the
Black Pimpernel. It was during this time that he, together with other leaders of the ANC, constituted a new
specialized section of the liberation movement. Umkhonto we Sizwe, an armed nucleus with a view to
preparing for armed struggle. At the Rivonia trial, Mandela explained : "At the beginning of June 1961, after
long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I and some colleagues came to the conclusion that
as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue
preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force.
It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the
decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Umkhonto he
Government had left us no other choice."
In 1961 Umkhonto we Sizwe was formed, with Mandela as its commander-in-chief. In 1962 Mandela left the
country unlawfully and travelled abroad for several months. In Ethiopia he addressed the Conference of the Pan
African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa, and was warmly received by senior political leaders in
several countries. During this trip Mandela, anticipating an intensification of the armed struggle, began to
arrange guerrilla training for members of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Not long after his return to South Africa, Mandela was arrested and charged with
illegal exit from the country, and incitement to strike. Since he considered the
prosecution a trial of the aspirations of the African people, Mandela decided to
conduct his own defence.
He applied for the recusal of the magistrate, on the ground that in such a prosecution a
judiciary controlled entirely by whites, was an interested party and therefore could not
be impartial. And on the ground that he owed no duty to obey the laws of a white
parliament, in which he was not represented.
Mandela prefaced this challenge with the affirmation: I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing,
whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
Mandela was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment. While serving his sentence he was charged,
in the Rivonia Trial, with sabotage. Mandela’s statements in court during these trials are classics in the history
of the resistance to apartheid, and they have been an inspiration to all who have opposed it. His statement from
the dock in the Rivonia Trial ends with these words:
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal
of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal
for which I am prepared to die.
Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. He started his prison years in the notorious Robben
Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island 7Km off the coast near Cape Town
Mandela rejected an offer of release on condition that he renounce violence. Prisoners cannot
enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate, he said. In April 1984 he was transferred to
Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town. 1988 he was moved the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl.
Released on 11 February 1990, Mandela plunged wholeheartedly into his life's work. Striving to attain the goals
he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held
inside South Africa, Nelson Mandela was elected President of the ANC. His lifelong friend and colleague,
Oliver Tambo, became the organisation's National Chairperson.
Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in
South Africa and throughout the world. To all who are oppressed and deprived, and to all who are opposed to
oppression and deprivation.
In a life that symbolises the triumph of the human spirit over mans inhumanity to man, Nelson Mandela
accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. He accepted the award on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and
sacrificed so much, to bring peace to our land.
A Brief Biography
Mandela's words, "The struggle is my life," are not to be taken lightly.
Nelson Mandela personifies struggle. He is still leading the fight against apartheid with extraordinary vigour
and resilience after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and
his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero.
Mandela has held numerous positions in the ANC: ANCYL secretary (1948); ANCYL president (1950); ANC
Transvaal president (1952); deputy national president (1952) and ANC president (1991).
He was born at Qunu, near Umtata on 18 July 1918.
His father, Henry Mgadla Mandela, was chief councillor to Thembuland's acting paramount chief David
Dalindyebo. When his father died, Mandela became the chief's ward and was groomed for the chieftainship.
Mandela matriculated at Healdtown Methodist Boarding School and then started a BA degree at Fort Hare. As
an SRC member he participated in a student strike and was expelled, along with the late Oliver Tambo, in 1940.
He completed his degree by correspondence from Johannesburg, did articles of clerkship and enrolled for an
LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand.
In 1944 he helped found the ANC Youth League, whose Programme of Action was adopted by the ANC in
1949.
Mandela was elected national volunteer-in-chief of the 1952 Defiance Campaign. He travelled the country
organising resistance to discriminatory legislation.
He was given a suspended sentence for his part in the campaign. Shortly afterwards a banning order confined
him to Johannesburg for six months. During this period he formulated the "M Plan", in terms of which ANC
branches were broken down into underground cells.
By 1952 Mandela and Tambo had opened the first black legal firm in the country, and Mandela was both
Transvaal president of the ANC and deputy national president.
A petition by the Transvaal Law Society to strike Mandela off the roll of attorneys was refused by the Supreme
Court.
In the 'fifties, after being forced through constant bannings to resign officially from the ANC, Mandela
analysed the Bantustan policy as a political swindle. He predicted mass removals, political persecutions and
police terror.
For the second half of the 'fifties, he was one of the accused in the Treason Trial. With Duma Nokwe, he
conducted the defence.
When the ANC was banned after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, he was detained until 1961 when he went
underground to lead a campaign for a new national convention.
Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, was born the same year. Under his leadership it
launched a campaign of sabotage against government and economic installations.
In 1962 Mandela left the country for military training in Algeria and to arrange training for other MK members.
On his return he was arrested for leaving the country illegally and for incitement to strike. He conducted his
own defence. He was convicted and jailed for five years in November 1962. While serving his sentence, he was
charged, in the Rivonia trial, with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment.
A decade before being imprisoned, Mandela had spoken out against the introduction of Bantu Education,
recommending that community activists "make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of
learning".
Robben Island, where he was imprisoned, became a centre for learning, and Mandela was a central figure in the
organised political education classes.
In prison Mandela never compromised his political principles and was always a source of strength for the other
prisoners.
During the 'seventies he refused the offer of a remission of sentence if he recognised Transkei and settled there.
In the 'eighties he again rejected PW Botha's offer of freedom if he renounced violence.
It is significant that shortly after his release on Sunday 11 February 1990, Mandela and his delegation agreed to
the suspension of armed struggle.
Mandela has honorary degrees from more than 50 international universities and is chancellor of the University
of the North.
He was inaugurated as the first democratically elected State President of South Africa on 10 May 1994 - June
1999
Nelson Mandela retired from Public life in June 1999. He currently resides in his birth place - Qunu, Transkei.