TED演讲:有关激情的故事(5)

 The best four minutes of my entire life were those in the Olympic stadium. 我一生中最伟大的四分钟就在这奥林匹克体育馆中。

My husband is offended when I say this 我的爱人听我这么描述，觉得没有受到尊重，

although I have explained to him that what we do in private usually takes less than four minutes -- so he shouldn't take it personally. 即使我私下跟他解释到我们的事往往还不到四分钟，所以他不应该觉得我是在针对他。

I have all the press clippings of those four magnificent minutes, because I don't want to forget them when old age destroys my brain cells. 我留下了那四分钟的所有剪报，因为我想永远不忘记，即使我老了，记忆力退化。

I want to carry in my heart forever the key word of the Olympics -- passion. So here's a tale of passion. 我也要将奥林匹克的精神铭记于心，那就是“激情”。接下来的故事仍然与激情相关。

The year is 1998, the place is a prison camp for Tutsi refugees in Congo. 来到1988年，地点是在一座囚营附近，里面都是刚果境内的图西族难民。

By the way, 80 percent of all refugees and displaced people in the world are women and girls. 顺便说一下，世界上80%的难民和流民都是妇女和女童。

We can call this place in Congo a death camp, because those who are not killed will die of disease or starvation. 这些地方简直就是刚果的死刑场，即使没有被杀死，最终也被病死或饿死。

The protagonists¹ of this story are a young woman, Rose Mapendo, and her children. She's pregnant and a widow. 故事的主角是年轻女性罗斯·马培德和她的孩子们。她是一位怀孕的寡妇。

Soldiers have forced her to watch as her husband was tortured and killed. 士兵们逼迫她亲眼目睹自己的丈夫被折磨致死。

Somehow she manages to keep her seven children alive, and a few months later, she gives birth to premature² twins. Two tiny little boys. 但是她努力维持自己七个孩子的生计，几个月之后，她生了一对双胞胎。两位小男孩。

She cuts the umbilical cord with a stick, and ties it with her own hair. 她用木棍处理掉了脐带，并用自己的头发把它系了起来。

She names the twins after the camp's commanders to gain their favor, and feeds them with black tea because her milk cannot sustain them. 她将双胞胎命名为难民营两位长官的名字，以获取他们的照顾，从而用红茶来喂养他们，因为她的奶水并不充足。

When the soldiers burst in her cell to rape³ her oldest daughter, 当士兵冲进她的小屋并试图强奸她的大女儿时，

she grabs hold of her and refuses to let go, even when they hold a gun to her head. 她紧紧地抓住了她并严厉拒绝，即使被枪抵住脑袋也仍然如此。

Somehow, the family survives for 16 months, and then, by extraordinary luck, 不管怎么样，这个家庭撑过了16个月，之后在运气的帮助下，

and the passionate⁴ heart of a young American man, Sasha Chanoff, who manages to put her in a U.S. rescue plane, 得到了一位年轻美国人萨沙·查诺夫的同情心，将她带到了美国的营救飞机上，

Rose Mapendo and her nine children end up in Phoenix⁵, Arizona, where they're now living and thriving. 罗斯·马培德和她的九个小孩来到了亚利桑那州的菲历克斯，一直生活至今。

1 protagonists   

n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者

参考例句：

• Mrs Pankhurst was one of the chief protagonists of women's rights. 潘克赫斯特太太是女权的主要倡导者之一。 来自辞典例句
• This reflects that Feng Menglong heartily sympathized with these protagonists. 这反映出冯梦龙由衷地同情书中的这些主要人物。 来自互联网

2 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

3 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

4 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

5 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。