名人励志英语演讲 第160期:奏出生命中最美的乐曲(7)

 　　Africa makes a mockery of what we say, at least what I say, about equality and questions our pieties¹ and our commitments² because there's no way to look at what's happening over there and its effect on all of us and conclude that we actually consider Africans as our equals before God. There is no chance.

　　非洲的状况是对我们所言的嘲弄，至少是对我所言的平等的嘲弄，是对虔诚和承诺的质疑。因为那儿正在发生着的一切及其对我们所有人的影响无法推出我们所认为的“在上帝面前，非常人和我们是平等的”这样的结论。绝不可能推出这样的结论。

　　An amazing event happened here in Philadelphia in 1985--Live Aid--that whole "We Are the World" phenomenon the concert that happened here. Well after that concert I went to Ethiopia with my wife, Ali. We were there for a month and an extraordinary thing happened to me. We used to wake up in the morning and the lift--the mist³ would be lifting. We'd see thousands and thousands of people who'd been walking all night to our food station where we were working.

　　1985年，在费城举行了一件盛事，一场名为“四海一家，现场援助”的现场义演在那里举行。义演之后，我和妻子阿里去了埃塞俄比亚。我们在那里呆了一个月，这期间发生了一件令人又难以置信的事情。那时我们通常在晨雾散开的清晨醒来，看到成千上万的人们连夜步行来到我们工作的食品救助站。

　　And one man--I was standing⁴ outside talking to the--the translator--his beautiful boy and he was saying to me in Amharic, I guess it was--I was saying I can't understand what he's saying--and this nurse who spoke⁵ English and Amharic said to me, he's saying, "Will you take his son?" He's saying please take his son, he--he... would be a great son for you. And I was looking puzzled and he said, "You must take my son because if you don't take my son, my son will surely die. If you take him he will go--go back to where he is [Ireland] and get an education."--Probably like the ones we're talking about today. And of course I said--I had to say no, that was the rules there and I walked away from that man, I've never really walked away from it. But I think about that--that boy and that man and that's when I started this journey that's brought me here into this stadium.

　　有一天，我站在外面，和翻译聊天时，有一个男人带着一个漂亮的男孩过来跟我说话，我猜他说的是阿姆哈拉语，我说我听不懂他说的是什么。于是这个既会讲英语又会讲阿姆哈拉语的护士告诉我，他在问我能否带走他的孩子。他说请带走这个孩子吧，他将会是一个懂事的好孩子。我很困惑，但他又接着说：“你一定要带走我的孩子，否则他一定会死的。如果你把他带到爱尔兰，他将能受到良好的教育。”——也许就像我们今天所讨论的教育。按照那里的规定，我不得不拒绝了他，然后走开。但是，我从未真正走开，我一直在想着那个人和那个孩子，这也是我开始这段旅程来这里演说的原因。

1 pieties   

虔诚，虔敬( piety的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Once again, the scientists have caught us mouthing pieties while acting just the contrary. 你会说以貌取人不是美国人的做法，这不公平，令人难以置信然而，科学家们又一次证明我们言行不一。

2 commitments   

n.委托( commitment的名词复数 )；任务；承担的义务

参考例句：

• I am very tired because I have taken on so many commitments. 我很累，因为我承担了很多的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 mist   

n.雾，迷蒙，朦胧不清；vt.使...模糊，蒙上雾；vi.使...模糊，下雾

参考例句：

• She saw his face through a mist of tears.她泪眼朦胧地望着他的脸。
• There is a film of mist over the land.大地上笼罩着一层薄雾。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。