TED演讲:影片纪录加纳民主进程(3)

 And they had traveled from near, they had traveled from far,because they wanted to make their voices heard.   有些住在附近，有些远道而来,但他们都想表达自己的声音

And I asked one of the voters, I said, Whom are you going to vote for?  我问一个选民：你打算投谁的票？

And he said, I'm sorry, I can't tell you.  他说：不好意思不能告诉你。

He said that his vote was in his heart.  他说他心中有打算。

And I understood, this was their election,  我非常理解，这是他们的选举，

and they weren't going to let anyone take it away from them.  他们不会让任何人夺走这个权利。

Now the first round of the voting didn't bring forth¹ a clear winner, 第一轮选举没有诞生一个明晰的获选人,

so nobody had achieved the absolute majority,  还没有人完全占上风,

so voting went into a second round three weeks later.  所以3周后进行第二轮选举。

The candidates were back on the road; they were campaigning.  候选人重新开始竞选活动。

The rhetoric² of the candidates, of course, changed.  他们收起了文绉绉的措辞。

The heat was on.  气氛变得激烈。

And then the cliche³ came to haunt us.  然后就出现了意料之中的状况。

There were claims of intimidation⁴ at the polling stations,  投票站收到举报，

of ballot⁵ boxes being stolen.  声称投票箱被窃取。

Inflated⁶ results started coming in and the mob was starting to get out of control. 随之而来一系列的麻烦人群开始失去控制。

We witnessed the eruption⁷ of violence in the streets.  我们目睹了大街上大量的暴力事件。

People were being beaten brutally⁸.  很多人惨遭毒打。

The army started firing their guns. People were scrambling⁹.  军队开始开火。人群混乱不堪。

It was complete chaos¹⁰.  完全一片混乱。

And my heart sank,  我的心渐渐往下沉，

because I thought, here we are again.  因为我想，再一次。

Here is another proof that the African is not capable of governing himself.  非洲再一次证明我们非洲人没有能力自治。

And not only that, I am documenting it documenting my own cultural shortcomings.  不仅如此，我正在记录，记录着我自己的文化的短处。

So when the echo of the gunshots had lingered, 然而当枪声逐渐散去，

it was soon drowned by the chanting of the mob,  人群开始呼喊，

and I didn't believe what I was hearing.  我无法相信我所听到的。

They were chanting, We want peace.  他们在呼喊我们渴望和平。

We want peace.  我们渴望和平。

1 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

2 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

3 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

4 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

5 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

6 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

8 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

9 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。