(African National Congress) youth /ju:θ/ n. 青年;青年时期
league /li:ɡ/ n. 同盟;联盟;联合会
Youth League青年团
stage /steidʒ/ n. 舞台;阶段;时期
vote /vəut/ vt. & vi. 投票;选举 n. 投票;选票;表决
attack /ə'tæk/ vt. 进攻;攻击;抨击
violence /'vaiələns/ n. 暴力;暴行
as a matter of fact 事实上
blow up 使充气;爆炸
equal /'i:kwəl/ adj. 相等的;平等的
in trouble 在危险;受罚;痛苦;忧虑等的处境中
willing /'wiliŋ/ adj. 乐意的;自愿的
unfair /ʌn'fεə/ adj. 不公正的;不公平的
turn to 求助于;致力于
quote /kwəut/ n. 引用语;语录
release /ri'li:s/ vt. 释放;发行
lose heart 丧失勇气或信心
Robben Island /'rɔbən 'ailənd/ 罗本岛
escape /i'skeip/ vi. 逃脱;逃走;泄露
blanket /'blæŋkit/ n. 毛毯;毯子
educate /'edʒukeit/ vt. 教育;训练
educated /'edʒukeitid/ adj. 受过教育的;有教养的
come to power 当权;上台
beg /beɡ/ vi. 请求;乞求
relative /'relətiv/ n. 亲戚;亲属
terror /'terə/ n. 恐怖;可怕的人;恐怖时期;恐怖活动
cruelty /'kru:əlti/ n. 残忍;残酷
reward /ri'wɔ:d/ n. 报酬;奖金 vt. 酬劳;奖赏
Transkei /træns 'kai/ n. 特兰斯凯 (南非东南部一地区)
set up 设立;建立
sentence /'sentəns/ vt. 判决;宣判
be sentenced to 被判处……(徒刑)
anti- /前缀/ 反;抗;阻
anti-black adj. 反黑人的
Cape Town 开普敦(南非立法首都)
president /'prezidənt/ n. 总统;会长;校长;行长
Nobel Peace Prize /nəu'bel 'pi:s 'praiz/诺贝尔和平奖
opinion /ə'pinjən/ n. 意见;看法;主张
ELIAS'STORY
My name is Elias. I am a poor black worker in South Africa. The time when I first met Nelson Mandela was a very difficult period of my life. I was twelve years old. It was in 1952 and Mandela was the black lawyer to whom I went for advice. He offered guidance to poor black people on their legal problems. He was generous with his time, for which I was grateful.
I needed his help because I had very little education. I began school at six. The school where I studied for only two years was three kilometers away. I had to leave because my family could not continue to pay the school feesand the bus fare. I could not read or write well. After trying hard, I got a job in a gold mine. However, this was a time when one had got to have a passbook to live in Johannesburg. Sadly I did not have it because I was not born there, and I worried about whether I would become out of work.
The day when Nelson Mandela helped me was one of my happiest. He told me how to get the correct papers so I could stay in Johannesburg. I became more hopeful about my future. I never forgot how kind Mandela was. When he organized the ANC Youth League, I joined it as soon as I could. He said:“The last thirty years have seen the greatest number of laws stopping out rights and progress, until today we have reached a stage where we have almost no rights at all.”
It was the truth. Black people could not vote or choose their leaders. They could not get the jobs they wanted. The parts of town in which they had to live were decided by white people. The places outside the towns where they were sent to live were the poorest parts of South Africa. No one could grow food there. In fact as Nelson Mandela said:
“…we were put into a position in which we had either to accept we were less important or fight the government. We chose to attack the laws. We first broke the law in a way which was peaceful; when this was not allowed…only then did we decide to answer violence with violence.”
As a matter of fact, I do not like violence… but in 1963 I helped himblow up some government buildings. It was very dangerous because if I was caught I could be put in prison. But I was happy to help because I knew it would help us achieve our dream of making black and white people equal.