名校励志英语演讲 80:追随自己的心声,你们一定会成功

 　　One of my life heroes is Nelson Mandela, and I had the great honor of spending some time with Nelson Mandela, 10 days and 29 meals at his house, and I was worried about what I was going to talk about or what say at the dinner table. And Stedman said to me, "Why don't you try listening?" Thank you, Stedman. That worked.

　　纳尔逊·曼德拉是我生命中的英雄之一，我很荣幸自己有机会同他一起生活了一段时间。在他的住所度过了十天，吃了29顿饭，每天吃完饭的时候，我都担心我该和他说些什么，或者我们之间会谈点什么。斯特德曼对我说：“为什么不试着倾听呢？”谢谢斯特德曼，这一招果然有效。

　　So I had the benefit of sitting at his table and listened a lot, listened to the storied of how hw spent 27 years in a South African prison, and talked to him about how he was able to come out of that with a sense of forgiveness, to bind¹ the wounds of South Africa and saving it from a mean and violent civil war. So I asked him to come on our show, and I was —although I'd sat at his table and was very comfortable in the presence, I was really nervous having him come on the show, and I rarely, rarely get nervous. And for me, his warmth just filled our studio with a glow, and one of the things I will always remember him saying is how terrible it was to spend the beat years of his life in that prison, but he said if he'd not been in prison, he would have not been able to achieve the most difficult task in his life, and that was to begin the change of himself.

　　就这样，我从餐桌前的29顿晚饭中受益匪浅，我倾听了很多，听他讲述在南非监狱度过的27年艰难岁月，跟他讨论他是怎么能怀有一颗宽恕之心走出那段阴霾，抚平那场残酷猛烈的内战给南非造成的创伤。所以，我邀请他来参加我们的节目，虽然我同他共进晚餐的时候处之泰然，但是邀请他来节目现场的时候，我还是很紧张。我很少，很少，很少这么紧张过。对我来说，他的热情使得我们的演播室洋溢着温暖，我一直记得他说的那句话，他说在南非的监狱度过生命中最美好的时光真是太糟糕了，但是如果没有经历那段监狱生活的话，他也不可能完成他生命中最艰难的，开始改变他一生命运的任务。

　　But this is so— this tells the story of who he really is. He arrives at the studio and everybody's so excited and nervous and it's Nelson Mandela, and Nelson Mandela walks into the green room and says to the producer, "And what is the show about?"

　　确实是这样的——这告诉我们他到底是个怎么样的人物。他来到演播室，演播室里的每一个人都很激动紧张，因为那是纳尔逊·曼德拉。纳尔逊·曼德拉则走进演员休息室，问制片人：“这期节目是关于什么的？”

　　Nelson Mandela

　　纳尔逊·曼德拉，1918年7月18日出生于南非特兰斯凯一个大酋长家庭，先后获南非大学文学士和威特沃特斯兰德大学律师资格，当过律师。曾任非国大青年联盟全国书记、主席。非国大执委、德兰士瓦省主席、全国副主席。他成功地组织并领导了“蔑视不公正法令运动”，赢得了全体黑人的尊敬。

　　他于1994至1999年间任南非总统。纳尔逊·曼德拉曾在牢中服刑了27年，在其40年的整治生涯中获得了超过一百项奖，其中最显著的便是1993年的诺贝尔和平奖。他是南非首位黑人总统，被尊称为“南非之父”。

1 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。