TED演讲：单一故事的危险性(4)

 　　I must say that before I went to the U.S., I didn't consciously identify as African. 我不得不强调，在我前往美国之前，我从来没有有意识地把自己当作个非洲人。

　　But in the U.S., whenever Africa came up, people turned to me. 但在美国的时候，每当人们提到“非洲”时，大家都回转向我，

　　Never mind that I knew nothing about places like Namibia. 虽然说我对纳米比亚之类的地方一无所知。

　　But I did come to embrace¹ this new identity², and in many ways I think of myself now as African. 但我渐渐的开始接受这个新的身份。现在很多时候我都是把自己当作一个非洲人来看待。

　　Although I still get quite irritable³ when Africa is referred to as a country,  不过当人们把非洲当作一个国家来讨论的时候，我还是觉得挺反感的。

　　the most recent example being my otherwise wonderful flight from Lagos two days ago,  最近的一次例子就发生在两天前，我从拉各斯搭乘航班，旅程原本相当愉快，

　　in which there was an announcement on the Virgin⁴ flight about the charity work in "India, Africa and other countries." 直到广播里开始介绍在“印度、非洲以及其他国家”所进行的慈善事业。

　　So, after I had spent some years in the U.S. as an African, I began to understand my roommate's response to me. 当我以一名非洲人的身份在美国度过几年之后，我开始理解我那位室友当时对我的反应。

　　If I had not grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa were from popular images, 如果我不是在尼日利亚长大，如果我对非洲的一切认识都来自于大众流行的影像，

　　I too would think that Africa was a place of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, and incomprehensible people, 我相信我眼中的非洲也同样是充满了美丽的地貌、美丽的动物、以及一群难以理解的人们，

　　fighting senseless wars, dying⁵ of poverty and AIDS, unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved by a kind, white foreigner. 进行着毫无意义的战争、死于艾滋和贫穷、无法为自己辩护，并且等待着一位慈悲的、白种的外国人的救赎。

　　I would see Africans in the same way that I, as a child, had seen Fide's family. 我看待非洲的方式将会和我儿时看待Fide一家的方式是一样的。

　　This single story of Africa ultimately⁶ comes, I think, from Western literature. 我认为，关于非洲的这个单一故事从根本上来自于西方的文学。

　　Now, here is a quote from the writing of a London merchant called John Lok, 这是来自伦敦商人John Locke的一段话。

　　who sailed to west Africa in 1561 and kept a fascinating account of his voyage. 他在1561年的时候曾游历非洲西部，并且为他的航行做了番很有趣的记录。

　　After referring to the black Africans as "beasts who have no houses," he writes, 他先是把黑色的非洲人称为“没有房子的野兽”，随后又写到：

　　"They are also people without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts." “他们也是一群无头脑的人，他们的嘴和眼睛都长在了他们的胸口上。”

1 embrace   

vt.拥抱；包括；包围，环绕；n.拥抱，怀抱

参考例句：

• He held her to him in a warm embrace.他热列地拥抱她。
• The hills embrace the village.山丘环绕着村庄。

2 identity   

n.身份，本体，特征；同一(性)，一致

参考例句：

• He never revealed his identity.他从未暴露过自己的身份。
• He showed his identity card and went in.他把工作证亮了一下就进去了。

3 irritable   

adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的

参考例句：

• He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
• Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。

4 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

5 dying   

adj.垂死的，临终的

参考例句：

• He was put in charge of the group by the dying leader.他被临终的领导人任命为集团负责人。
• She was shown into a small room,where there was a dying man.她被领进了一间小屋子，那里有一个垂死的人。

6 ultimately   

adv.最后地，最终地，首要地，基本地

参考例句：

• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience.那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。
• Vitamin C deficiency can ultimately lead to scurvy.缺乏维生素C最终能道致坏血病。