But what is important about his writing is that it represents the beginning of a tradition of telling African stories in the West: 但关于他这段作品极其重要的一点是，它昭示着西方社会讲述非洲故事的一个传统。

　　A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a place of negatives, of difference, of darkness, 在这个传统中，撒哈拉以南的非洲充满了消极、差异以及黑暗，

　　of people who, in the words of the wonderful poet Rudyard Kipling, are "half devil, half child." 是伟大的诗人Rudyard Kipling笔下所形容的“半恶魔、半孩童”的奇异人种。

　　And so, I began to realize that my American roommate 正因此，我开始意识到我的那位美国室友

　　must have throughout her life seen and heard different versions of this single story, 一定在她成长的过程中看过并且听过关于这个单一故事的不同版本，

　　as had a professor, who once told me that my novel was not "authentically African." 就如同之前一位曾经批判我的小说缺乏“真实的非洲感”的教授一样。

　　Now, I was quite willing to contend that there were a number of things wrong with the novel, that it had failed in a number of places,  话说我倒是甘愿承认我的小说有几处写的不好的地方，有几处败笔，

　　but I had not quite imagined that it had failed at achieving something called African authenticity. 但我很难相像我的小说竟然会缺乏“真实的非洲感”。

　　In fact, I did not know what African authenticity was. 事实上，我甚至不知道“真实的非洲感”到底是个什么东西。

　　The professor told me that my characters were too much like him, an educated and middle-class man. 那位教授跟我说我书中的人物 都和他太接近了，都是受过教育的中产人物。

　　My characters drove cars. They were not starving. Therefore they were not authentically African. 我的人物会开车。他们没有受到饥饿的困扰。正因此，他们缺少了真实的非洲感。

　　But I must quickly add that I too am just as guilty in the question of the single story. 我在这里不得不指出，我本人也常常被单一的故事蒙蔽双眼。

　　A few years ago, I visited Mexico from the U.S. 几年前，我从美国探访墨西哥。

　　The political climate in the U.S. at the time was tense, and there were debates going on about immigration. 当时美国的政治气候比较紧张，关于移民的辩论一直在进行着。

　　And, as often happens in America, immigration became synonymous with Mexicans. 而在美国，“移民”和“墨西哥人”常常被当作同义词来使用。

　　There were endless stories of Mexicans as people who were fleecing the healthcare system,  关于墨西哥人的故事是源源不绝，讲的都是欺诈医疗系统、

　　sneaking across the border, being arrested at the border, that sort of thing. 偷渡边境、在边境被捕之类的事情。