经济学人405:肯尼亚诺贝尔和平奖得主马塔伊

 　　Wangari Maathai

　　旺加里·马塔伊

　　Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and political activist¹, died on September 25th, aged² 71.

　　旺加里·马塔伊，肯尼亚环保专家，活跃的政治家，于九月二十五日逝世，享年71岁。

　　In many ways it seems odd that Wangari Maathai’s life should have been so closely associated with struggle. Success appeared to come almost effortlessly to her, even though her origins were humble³. She was born to a Kikuyu family of peasant farmers in Ihithe, a small village in the central highlands of Kenya, which was then a British colony. Though it was far from common in the 1940s for girls like her to receive an education, Wangari was sent to primary school—at her brother’s suggestion—at the age of eight. From then on accomplishments⁴ seemed to drop into her lap. She got to secondary school, graduated top of her class and went on to earn a degree in biology in Kansas, an MSc in Pittsburgh and, after studying in Germany, a PhD on gonads in bovines in Nairobi. That made her the first woman in east Africa to hold a doctorate⁵. Jobs followed, in academic and civic⁶ positions which no black woman had filled before, and on their heels came award after award, none grander than the 2004 Nobel peace prize.

　　旺加里·马塔伊的人生怎会如此紧密地与斗争相联系，不可谓不怪。因为尽管出身微寒，成功于她唾手可得。她生于肯尼亚中部高原一个名叫伊希特（Ihithe）的小村庄，出身基库尤农民家庭，当时肯尼亚还是英国的殖民地。在二十世纪四十年代，像她这样的非洲女孩多半没机会受教育，马塔伊却很幸运，在哥哥的建议下，家里让她在八岁进了小学。从此各样成就纷纷收入囊中，她进了中学，并以全班第一的成绩毕业，后来留学美国在堪萨斯获得生物学学士学位，在匹兹堡获得理学硕士学位，又赴德国学习，然后回到肯尼亚，在首都内罗比获博士学位，研究方向为牛科动物生殖腺研究。这样，她成了东非第一个女博士，获得黑人女性未曾有过的学术与行政职位，接踵而来的是一项又一项荣誉与奖励，最为荣耀的是在2004年获得诺贝尔和平奖。

　　In truth, these successes were not effortlessly achieved. Dr Maathai laboured hard all her life, never taking shortcuts⁷, never adopting airs, never asking others to do tasks she would not do herself. And with this conscientiousness⁸ and lack of self-importance came another quality, a keen ability to empathise with others and fight their corner when she believed they were being wronged. Most of the struggles with which her life was associated were not her struggles; they were other people’s.

　　诚然，成功背后，她付出了很多。马塔伊博士一生辛勤工作，从不走捷径，已所不欲勿加于人。她做事尽职尽责，从不认为自己有多了不起，同时又有路见不平拨刀相助的侠气。她的一生是斗争的一生，然而其中大部分的斗争本来都和她没什么关系，她是为他人而战。

　　And, boy, were there lots of them. Colonial Kenya was hardly idyllic¹⁰ for Africans. Towns were de facto segregated¹¹ and blacks had few political rights, especially during the Mau Mau rebellion in the early 1950s, when both sides committed hideous¹² atrocities¹³. Moreover, although Dr Maathai’s father worked for a benign¹⁴ white landowner, he was obliged to sell to his employer almost all the crops he grew on his allotted¹⁵ patch at whatever price was offered.

　　可是若她有路见不平拨刀相助的侠气，这一路上却有太多的不平。作为殖民地的肯尼亚并不是非洲人的乐土，各个城镇实际上被隔离，黑人几乎没有政治权力，尤其在二十世纪五十年代茅茅党叛乱的时候，英方与叛乱方都种下滔天罪行。此外，尽管马塔伊的父亲耕种的土地属于一个比较善良的白人地主，定价权毕竟在地主手上，他种出的粮食，几乎所有的都要卖给地主。

　　Laurels¹⁶, but not for resting on

　　荣誉的月桂树，却并不供人休憩

　　When Dr Maathai came home after half a decade in America, she found huge changes. They were not all for the better. Kenya had gained its independence just two years before, and political power was now in the hands of Africans, but new forms of discrimination had appeared. Tribalism, reinforced by sexism, was her first antagonist¹⁷: the job promised to her in an official letter of appointment as a research assistant to the professor of zoology¹⁸ at the University College of Nairobi had been withdrawn¹⁹. It was given instead to a man, still in Canada, of the same tribe as the professor. She had to find another job.

　　马塔伊在美国求学六年之后，回到肯尼亚，此时祖国已经发生了巨大的变化。境况并未变好，尽管肯尼亚已在两年前独立了，政治权力现在在非洲人手上，可是新的歧视却已产生。她遇到的第一个对手就是部落歧视加性别歧视：官方曾委任她做内罗比大学一名动物学教授的研究助理，可是又被取消了，因这一职位给了还在加拿大的一名肯尼亚男性，他与该教授是同一个部落的。马塔伊只得另谋它职。

　　Another change soon started to concern her. All her life she had had a kinship with the land, helping²¹ to make the mud plaster for the walls of the family house, tilling the fields with her mother and delighting in wet soil which, “when you rubbed it between your fingers you could almost feel the life it held”. She was drawn²⁰ to water, too, especially, as a child, to the clear, clean water that gushed²² from an underground stream called Kanungu, close to a sacred fig⁹ tree.

　　接着，肯尼亚大地上发生了许多让她为之忧虑的变化。马塔伊一生亲近土地，家里做房子，她帮忙和泥浆砌墙，家里的地板是她和母亲一起铺好的，她喜欢玩湿软的泥土，“手指与泥土相摩擦，几乎能感知到泥土的生命。”又好水，孩提时，总被卡努恩姑涌过的清澈水流吸引，那是一条地下河，边上有株圣洁的无花果树。

　　But even before she went abroad, pressure on the land was increasing. On her return, many of her favourite places had been dug up, the wild trees cleared in favour of tea or coffee plantations²³, and local plants and animals had disappeared. Land, and therefore food, were scarce, logging was causing erosion and villagers had to walk ever farther to find firewood: this, not the shortage of petrol, was for many Kenyans the real energy crisis.

　　环境的压力在她出国之前已经在步步增加。回国之时，昔日她最爱的地方多被开垦，原始森林被清理了，用来种植茶叶和咖啡，乡土植物和动物消失了。土地稀缺，粮食紧张，大量伐木导致水土流失加剧。村民要砍柴得走很远很远的路，这是肯尼亚人民的能源危机，是肯尼亚人民的“石油短缺”。

　　No wonder Dr Maathai found herself on a collision course with Kenya’s new masters, especially the members of the crony-ridden and corrupt²⁴ court of President Daniel arap Moi. Setting aside her academic career, she found herself drawn into civic causes, feminist²⁵ campaigns and politics, both at her husband’s side (he became a member of parliament) and in her own right (she too eventually won a seat and in 2003 was made a junior minister).

　　难怪马塔伊博士与肯尼亚新政府、尤其与丹尼尔·阿拉普莫伊总统唯亲是任、腐败滋生的朝廷格格不入。她放下学术，一心为公民的利益，为妇女权利运动，为政治运动斗争。其丈夫是国会议员，自己也在2003年最终获得国会一席职位，成了新近大臣。

　　As ever, she had her triumphs. Against the odds²⁶, she prevented a 60-storey skyscraper²⁷ from being built in a park in central Nairobi. It had been designed to house, among other things, the headquarters of President Moi’s party. And she succeeded, at least for a while, in stopping the government from handing out parcels of public land to reward its supporters. That followed her attempt to plant a tree on forested land earmarked for a golf course.

　　她一如既往地收获胜利。成功地阻止了内罗比中心一个公园里建六十层摩天大楼的计划，本来计划阿拉普莫伊总统所在政党的办公总部就要设在该摩天大楼内。她在一块指定用来建设高尔夫球场的荒木林地上植下树木。而且，至少暂时地阻止了政府将大片公共土地分发给政府支持者。

　　In this episode, as in others, she and fellow-protesters were beaten by the police. She was also arrested with some regularity²⁸, particularly when her Green Belt Movement tried to hold protests. Yet that movement, by concentrating most of its efforts on planting trees (30m or 40m in Africa so far), had enormous popular support. And from this Dr Maathai, no matter how much she was frustrated²⁹ by the courts, the bureaucracy and the political establishment, drew her strength.

　　马塔伊博士，和她身边的抗议者常遭警察毒打，也经常被捕入狱，尤其在城市绿化带运动各次抗议中总是被捕。城市绿化带运动致力于植树造林工作，目前在非洲种下三到四千万株树木，赢得了广泛的支持。因此，无论法院、官方和政府如何为难马塔伊，她总有力量。

　　Many Kenyan men, including her husband, who divorced her, found her too strong a character. She certainly had courage galore, as well as the gift of impressing foreigners, who often rallied to her in times of need. But she remained close to her Kenyan base, especially the women among them, and surely did more good for Kenya than all the men together who found her principled politics so unsettling.

　　许多肯尼亚男人，包括与她离了婚的丈夫，都认为她太强势了。当然，她有着非凡的勇气，总能给外国人留下很深的印象，在她需要的时候外国人总是支持她。可是她与肯尼亚大地、尤其是和肯尼亚妇女，紧密地联系在一起，那些男人们为她富有原则的政治感到不安，可是她对肯尼亚的功劳，比他们所有人加起来还要多。

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

4 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

6 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

7 shortcuts   

n.捷径( shortcut的名词复数 )；近路；快捷办法；被切短的东西（尤指烟草）

参考例句：

• In other words, experts want shortcuts to everything. 换句话说，专家需要所有的快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Offer shortcuts from the Help menu. 在帮助菜单中提供快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 conscientiousness   

责任心

参考例句：

• Conscientiousness is expected of a student. 学生要诚实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Only has the conscientiousness, diligently works, can make a more splendid result! 只有脚踏实地，努力工作，才能做出更出色的成绩！ 来自互联网

9 fig   

n.无花果(树)

参考例句：

• The doctor finished the fig he had been eating and selected another.这位医生吃完了嘴里的无花果，又挑了一个。
• You can't find a person who doesn't know fig in the United States.你找不到任何一个在美国的人不知道无花果的。

10 idyllic   

adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的

参考例句：

• These scenes had an idyllic air.这种情景多少有点田园气氛。
• Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

11 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

12 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

13 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

15 allotted   

分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I completed the test within the time allotted . 我在限定的时间内完成了试验。
• Each passenger slept on the berth allotted to him. 每个旅客都睡在分配给他的铺位上。

16 laurels   

n.桂冠，荣誉

参考例句：

• The path was lined with laurels.小路两旁都种有月桂树。
• He reaped the laurels in the finals.他在决赛中荣膺冠军。

17 antagonist   

n.敌人，对抗者，对手

参考例句：

• His antagonist in the debate was quicker than he.在辩论中他的对手比他反应快。
• The thing is to know the nature of your antagonist.要紧的是要了解你的对手的特性。

18 zoology   

n.动物学，生态

参考例句：

• I would like to brush up my zoology.我想重新温习一下动物学。
• The library didn't stock zoology textbooks.这家图书馆没有动物学教科书。

19 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

20 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

21 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

22 gushed   

v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话

参考例句：

• Oil gushed from the well. 石油从井口喷了出来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Clear water gushed into the irrigational channel. 清澈的水涌进了灌溉渠道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

23 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

24 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

25 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

26 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

27 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

28 regularity   

n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐

参考例句：

• The idea is to maintain the regularity of the heartbeat.问题就是要维持心跳的规律性。
• He exercised with a regularity that amazed us.他锻炼的规律程度令我们非常惊讶。

29 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》