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JarrethMerz_2011G-_影片纪录加纳民主进程_
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| I was born in Switzerland and raised in Ghana, West Africa. |
我出生在瑞士 在西非的加纳长大 |
| Ghana felt safe to me as a child. |
加纳对儿时的我是安全的家 |
| I was free, I was happy. |
我很自由快乐 |
| The early 70s marked a time of musical and artistic excellence in Ghana. |
70年代早期 是加纳的音乐和艺术的辉煌时期 |
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artistic:adj.艺术的;风雅的;有美感的; excellence:n.优秀;美德;长处;
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| But then by the end of the decade, the country had fallen back into political instability and mismanagement . |
但是70年代末 加纳陷入政治动荡 和政策混乱 |
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instability:n.不稳定(性);基础薄弱;不安定; mismanagement:n.管理不善;处置失当;
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| In 1979, |
1979年 |
| I witnessed my first military coup . |
我目睹了军事政变 |
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witnessed:v.当场看到,目击;见证;作证;(witness的过去式和过去分词) military:adj.军事的;军人的;适于战争的;n.军队;军人; coup:n.政变; v.使…颠倒;
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| We the children had gathered at a friend's house. |
我们一群孩子聚集在一个朋友家里 |
| It was a dimly lit shack . |
是个破烂昏暗的棚子 |
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dimly:adv.朦胧地;微暗; shack:n.棚屋;小室;vi.居住;
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| There was a beaten up black and white television flickering in the background, and a former head of state and general was being blindfolded and tied to the pole . |
有台破旧的黑白电视机 在背景处一直闪动着 放的是前总统和将军 被蒙住眼睛 绑在柱子上 |
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black and white:adj.印刷的;黑白混合的;用笔写的; flickering:adj.扑动的; v.闪现; (flicker的现在分词) head of state:n.国家元首; blindfolded:v.(用布等)蒙住…的眼睛(blindfold的过去分词和过去式) pole:n.磁极;电极;柱子;杆子;v.用篙撑船;摆船;
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| The firing squad aimed, fired -- the general was dead. |
行刑的队伍来了,枪决了他们 将军死了 |
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firing squad:abbr.(=firingparty);n.行刑队(对判死刑的犯人执行枪决);
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| Now this was being broadcast live. |
这个场景在电视上直播 |
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broadcast:v.广播; n.广播节目; adj.[无线]播音的;
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| And shortly after, we left the country, and we returned to Switzerland. |
不久后,我们离开了加纳 回到了瑞士 |
| Now Europe came as a shock to me, and I think I started feeling the need to shed my skin in order to fit in. |
然后欧洲对我来说是个冲击 我开始觉得有必要 掩盖自己的肤色以融入这个社会 |
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shed:v.摆脱;去除;蜕;落;n.工棚;简易房;剪羊毛棚;挤奶棚;
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| I wanted to blend in like a chameleon . |
我想如变色龙一样 |
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blend:v.混合;融合;加入;相称;n.混合;混合物;混合种;混合色; chameleon:变色龙,善变的人
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| I think it was a tactic of survival . |
我觉得这是生存的技巧 |
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tactic:n.策略,战略;adj.按顺序的,依次排列的; survival:n.幸存,残存;幸存者,残存物;
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| And it worked, or so I believed. |
这个方法成功了,至少我觉得是这样的 |
| So here I was in 2008 wondering where I was in my life. |
2008年的时候 我开始思考我的人生定位 |
| And I felt I was being typecast as an actor. |
我觉得我被定型为一个演员 |
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typecast:vt.浇铸;使(演员)一再演出同类的角色;
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| I was always playing the exotic African. |
总是演异国风情的非洲人 |
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exotic:adj.异国的;外来的;异国情调的;
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| I was playing the violent African, the African terrorist. |
或是暴力的非洲人 非洲恐怖分子 |
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violent:adj.暴力的;猛烈的;
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| And I was thinking, how many terrorists could I possibly play before turning into one myself? |
我琢磨 在做回我自己之前 我得演多少恐怖分子？ |
| And I had become ashamed of the other, the African in me. |
我开始以我的一部分 以我的非洲血统为耻 |
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ashamed:adj.惭愧;尴尬;因惭愧而不情愿;
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| And fortunately I decided in 2008 to return to Ghana, after 28 years of absence . |
幸运的是2008年的时候 在阔别了28年之后 我决定回到加纳 |
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fortunately:adv.幸运地; absence:n.没有;缺乏;缺席;不注意;
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| I wanted to document on film the 2008 presidential elections. |
我打算拍一部 2008年总统大选的纪录片 |
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presidential:adj.总统的;首长的;统辖的;
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| And there, I started by searching for the footprints in my childhood . |
在那儿,我以搜寻 我儿时的印迹作为开始 |
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footprints:n.脚印;足迹;空间量,面积;(通信卫星)覆盖区;(footprint的复数) childhood:n.童年;幼年;孩童时期
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| And before I even knew it, |
但是我都没有意识到 |
| I was suddenly on a stage surrounded by thousands of cheering people during a political rally . |
我突然身处 政治示威的队伍里 周围围绕着成千上万高声呼喊人 |
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rally:v.团结;重整;恢复;(网球等)连续对打;n.集会;回复;公路赛车会;
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| And I realized that, when I'd left the country, free and fair elections in a democratic environment were a dream. |
我意识到,当年离开这个国家的时候 在民主环境下的自由公平选举 只不过是个梦想 |
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democratic:adj.民主的;民主政治的;大众的;
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| And now that I'd returned, that dream had become reality, though a fragile reality. |
如今我回来的时候,梦想已经实现了 尽管它很脆弱 |
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fragile:adj.脆的;易碎的;
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| And I was thinking, was Ghana searching for its identity like I was looking for my identity? |
我想, 是不是像我在寻找自身定位一样 加纳也在探索它的定位？ |
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identity:n.身份;同一性,一致;特性;恒等式;
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| Was what was happening in Ghana a metaphor for what was happening in me? |
发生在加纳的一切就像 发生在我身上一切的隐喻？ |
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metaphor:n.暗喻,隐喻;比喻说法;
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| And it was as if through the standards of my Western life, |
就好像在西方式的标准下 |
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standards:n.标准,水平,规格(standard的复数)
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| I hadn't lived up to my full potential . |
我并没有完全挖掘我的潜能 |
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potential:n.潜能;可能性;[电]电势;adj.潜在的;可能的;势的;
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| I mean, nor had Ghana, even though we had been trying very hard. |
加纳也是 虽然我们都很努力的尝试过 |
| Now in 1957, |
1957年 |
| Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to gain its independence . |
加纳是撒哈拉以南非洲国家中 第一个取得独立的国家 |
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sub-Saharan:撒哈拉以南地区; independence:n.独立;独立性;自恃心;独立不羁的精神;
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| In the late 50s, |
50年代末期 |
| Ghana and Singapore had the same GDP. |
加纳和新加坡的GDP一样 |
| I mean, today, Singapore is a First World country and Ghana is not. |
现在新加坡是个发达国家 而加纳不是 |
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First World:n.第一世界(指富有的工业国);
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| But maybe it was time to prove to myself, yes, it's important to understand the past, it is important to look at it in a different light, but maybe we should look at the strengths in our own culture and build on those foundations in the present. |
但这也许正是证明我们自己的时候 是的,认识历史非常重要 要从另一个角度去解读它非常重要 但是也许我们应该重视自身文化中的力量 并以现在的文化作为基石 |
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foundations:n.基础;地基;基金会;粉底;(foundations是foundation的复数)
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| So here I was, December 7th, 2008. |
2008年12月7日,我在现场 |
| The polling stations opened to the voters at 7:00 AM, but voters, eager to take their own political fate into their hands, were starting to line up at 4:00 AM in the morning. |
早晨7点投票站向选民开放 但选民想要掌握他们政治命运的愿望是如此急切 他们凌晨4点就开始排队 |
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polling:n.投票;民意测验;v.获得(票数);对…进行民意调查;(poll的现在分词)
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| 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, and they weren't going to let anyone take it away from them. |
我非常理解,这是他们的选举 他们不会让任何人 夺走这个权利 |
| Now the first round of the voting didn't bring forth a clear winner -- so nobody had achieved the absolute majority -- so voting went into a second round three weeks later. |
第一轮选举没有诞生一个明晰的获选人－ 还没有人完全占上风－ 所以3周后进行第二轮选举 |
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bring forth:v.产生;发表; absolute majority:n.绝对多数(指超过半数的选票或竞选席位);
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| The candidates were back on the road; they were campaigning. |
候选人重新开始竞选活动 |
| The rhetoric of the candidates, of course, changed. |
他们收起了文绉绉的措辞 |
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rhetoric:n.修辞,修辞学;华丽的词藻;adj.花言巧语的;
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| The heat was on. |
气氛变得激烈 |
| And then the cliche came to haunt us. |
然后就出现了意料之中的状况 |
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cliche:n.陈词滥调;[印刷]铅版;陈腐思想;adj.陈腐的; haunt:v.出没;作祟;n.栖息地;常去的地方;
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| There were claims of intimidation at the polling stations, of ballot boxes being stolen. |
投票站收到 举报 声称投票箱被窃取 |
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claims:v.宣称; n.声明; (claim的第三人称单数和复数) intimidation:n.恐吓,威胁; ballot:n.投票;投票用纸;投票总数;vi.投票;抽签决定;vt.使投票表决;拉选票;
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| Inflated 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 |
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Inflated:adj.通货膨胀的; v.膨胀(inflate的过去式和过去分词); mob:n.人群;(尤指)暴民;一群;一帮;v.(鸟群或兽群)围攻;围拢;
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| We witnessed the eruption of violence in the streets. |
我们目睹了大街上大量的暴力事件 |
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eruption:n.爆发,喷发;火山灰;出疹; violence:n.暴力;侵犯;激烈;歪曲;
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| People were being beaten brutally . |
很多人惨遭毒打 |
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brutally:adv.残忍地;野蛮地;兽性地;
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| The army started firing their guns. People were scrambling . |
军队开始开火 人群混乱不堪 |
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scrambling:v.爬,攀登;争抢;抢占;争夺;艰难地(或仓促地)完成(scramble的现在分词)
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| It was complete chaos . |
完全一片混乱 |
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chaos:n.混沌,混乱;
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| And my heart sank, because I thought, here we are again. |
我的心渐渐往下沉 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 |
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proof:n.证据;证实;adj.能抵御;可防护; capable:adj.能干的,能胜任的;有才华的;
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| And not only that , I am documenting it -- documenting my own cultural shortcomings. |
不仅如此,我正在记录着－ 记录着我自己的文化的短处 |
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only that:只是;要不是; cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的;
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| So when the echo of the gunshots had lingered , it was soon drowned by the chanting of the mob, and I didn't believe what I was hearing. |
然而当枪声 逐渐散去 人群开始呼喊 我无法相信我所听到的 |
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echo:vt.反射;重复;vi.随声附和;发出回声;n.回音;效仿; gunshots:n.射击;射程;炮击;adj.射击的;枪炮射击所致的; lingered:v.继续存留;缓慢消失;流连;逗留;徘徊;(linger的过去分词和过去式) drowned:v.(使)淹死,溺死;浸透;淹没;浸泡;(drown的过去分词和过去式) chanting:念咒;
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| 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” |
| And I realized it had to come from the people. |
我意识到和平必然来自人民 |
| After all, they decide, and they did. |
毕竟是他们的抉择 而他们这样做了 |
| So the sounds that were before distorted and loud, were suddenly a melody . |
于是之前嘈杂混乱的声音 变成和谐的乐章 |
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distorted:adj.歪曲的;受到曲解的;v.扭曲(distort的过去式和过去分词); melody:n.旋律;歌曲;美妙的音乐;
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| The sounds of the voices were harmonious . |
人民和谐地表达想法 |
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harmonious:adj.和谐的,和睦的;协调的;悦耳的;
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| So it could happen. |
这是可能的 |
| A democracy could be upheld peacefully . |
民主可以以和平手段来实现 |
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democracy:n.民主,民主主义;民主政治; upheld:v.支持(uphold的过去式); peacefully:adv.平静地;和平地;
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| It could be, by the will of the masses who were now urgently pressing with all their heart and all their will for peace. |
它可以通过人民的意愿实现 他们正为之急切地努力着 并全心全意地努力着 来实现和平的 |
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masses:n.民众;大量(mass的复数);包块;v.集中;聚集(mass的三单形式); urgently:adv.迫切地;紧急地;急切地;
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| Now here's an interesting comparison . |
现在有个有趣的对比 |
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comparison:n.比较;对比;相比;
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| We in the West, we preach the values, the golden light of democracy, that we are the shining example of how it's done. |
在西方 我们宣扬 民主的力量 我们是其完美模范 |
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preach:v.宣扬;说教;布道;n.说教;训诫;
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| But when it comes down to it, |
但实际上 |
| Ghana found itself in the same place in which the U.S. election stalled in the 2000 presidential elections -- |
当加纳处在 和2000年美国大选的 相同处境时－ |
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stalled:失速的;
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| Bush versus Gore. |
布什对戈尔那样的处境时 |
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Bush:n.灌木; v.以灌木装饰; adj.如灌木般长得低矮的; versus:prep.对;与...相对;对抗;
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| But instead of the unwillingness of the candidates to allow the system to proceed and the people to decide, |
候选人没有表现出任何不情愿 去让体制和人民做抉择 |
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unwillingness:n.不愿意;不情愿; proceed:n.收入;卖得金额;收益;v.继续;接着做;行进;前往;
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| Ghana honored democracy and its people. |
加纳尊重了民主 和它的人民 |
| It didn't leave it up to the Supreme Court to decide; the people did. |
它没有把选举带到最高法庭上 而是让人民决定 |
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Supreme Court:最高法院;
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| Now the second round of voting did not bring forth a clear winner either. |
然而第二轮选举 也没有诞生获选者 |
| I mean, it was so incredibly close. |
我说,票数非常接近 |
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incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地;
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| The electoral commissioner declared, with the consent of the parties, to run an unprecedented second re-run . |
选举委员会 在各党派的同意下决定 进行前所未有的 第二轮复选 |
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electoral:adj.选举的;选举人的; commissioner:n.理事;委员;行政长官;总裁; consent:vi.同意;赞成;答应;n.同意;(意见等的)一致;赞成; unprecedented:adj.空前的;无前例的; re-run:n.重演;重新运行;vt.重新举行;
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| So the people went back to the polls to determine their own president, not the legal system. |
人们回到选举站 去决定谁做他们的总统 而不是让司法系统来做 |
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polls:n.民意调查; v.对…进行民意测验,使投票(poll的单三形式); determine:v.决定;确定;测定;查明;形成;影响;裁决;安排; legal:adj.法律的;合法的;法定的;
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| And guess what, it worked. |
结果如何？成功了 |
| The defeated candidate gave up power and made way for Ghana to move into a new democratic cycle. |
失败的候选人 放弃职权 加纳踏入新的民主进程 |
| I mean, at the absolute time for the absolute need of democracy, they did not abuse their power. |
在民主需要的 时候 他们没有滥用职权 |
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abuse:n.滥用;虐待;辱骂;弊端;恶习,陋习;v.滥用;虐待;辱骂;
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| The belief in true democracy and in the people runs deep, proving that the African is capable of governing himself. |
人们深深坚信真正的民主 这证明了非洲人民有能力自治 |
| Now the uphill battle for Ghana and for Africa is not over, but I have proof that the other side of democracy exists, and that we must not take it for granted . |
现在加纳和非洲艰难的(民主)斗争 还没有结束 但我有证据,民主的另一面是存在的 我们不应该视而不见 |
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uphill:adj.上坡的,向上的;adv.向上地;往上坡;n.上升;登高; take it for granted:认为理所当然;想当然;
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| Now I have learned that my place is not just in the West or in Africa, and I'm still searching for my identity, but I saw Ghana create democracy better. |
现在我意识到 我的定位不仅是在西方或是非洲 我仍在寻找 我的定位 但我目睹加纳 开创了更好的民主 |
| Ghana taught me to look at people differently and to look at myself differently. |
加纳告诉了我 用不一样的视角看人 看自己 |
| And yes, we Africans can. |
是的 我们非洲人能行 |
| Thank you. |
谢谢 |
| (Applause) |
（掌声） |