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JosephLekuton_2007G-_一个肯尼亚的寓言_
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My name is Joseph , a Member of Parliament in Kenya. |
我叫约瑟夫,是肯尼亚的一名议员。 |
Joseph:n.连帽大氅; Member of Parliament:n.下院议员;
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And picture a Masai village. |
想像一下,有一天晚上, |
And one evening, government soldiers come, surround the village, and ask each elder to bring one boy to school. |
在一个马塞村庄里,来了一队政府军,他们围起村子, 要每个家长都送一个男孩去上学。 |
That's how I went to school -- pretty much a government guy pointing a gun, and told my father, "You have to make a choice." |
我是这样开始上学的—— 一个兵用枪指着我爸 说:“你必须得做个决定。” |
So I walked very comfortably to this missionary school, that was run by an American missionary, and the first thing the American missionary gave me was a candy. |
那是个教会学校,一个美国传教士开的, 当我相当惬意地走进学校时, 这位传教士递给我的第一件东西居然是一块糖 |
missionary:adj.传教的;传教士的;n.传教士;
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I had never in my life ever tasted candy. |
我以前从来都没有尝过糖是什么滋味儿 |
So I said to myself, with all these hundred other boys, this is where I belong. Stayed -- |
在几百名男孩面前,我心想到, 这儿才是我属于的地方。 |
(Laughter) |
(笑声) |
- when everybody else was dropping out. |
别人退学了,我一直留下来。 |
My family moved. We're nomads . |
我的家庭迁来迁去。我们是游牧人。 |
nomads:n.游牧民,牧游者(nomad的复数形式);流浪者;
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Every time school closed -- it was a boarding school , and I was seven -- you had to travel until you find them. |
每次学期结束学校放假——那是个寄宿学校,我那时七岁—— 我就得一路穿行直到找到他们为止。 |
boarding school:n.寄宿学校;
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50 miles, 40 miles, it doesn't matter. |
50英里,40英里,都不重要。 |
You slept in the bush , but you kept going. |
睡在灌木丛里,可是你还是得继续走。 |
bush:n.灌木; v.以灌木装饰; adj.如灌木般长得低矮的;
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And I stayed. I don't know why I stayed, but I stayed. |
而我坚持到底。不知道为什么我会坚持,但是我就是待了下去。 |
And all of a sudden , I passed the national examination, found myself in a very beautiful high school in Kenya. |
然后突然间,我通过了全国中考, 发现自己进入了一个肯尼亚的美丽的高中。 |
all of a sudden:突然地,出乎意料地;
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And I finished high school. And just walking, and found a man who gave me a full scholarship to the United States. |
我读完了高中。然后我就这么走着,发现有一个人 给了我一笔去美国的全额奖学金。 |
scholarship:n.奖学金;学问;学识;学术成就; United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
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My mother still lives in a cow-dung hut , none of my brothers are going to school and this man told me, "Here, go." |
我妈妈仍旧住在遍地牛粪的棚屋里, 我的兄弟们没有一个在上学, 而这个人却对我说,“给你,去吧。” |
hut:n.小屋;木屋;[军事]临时营房;[美俚]牢房;v.(使)住临时营房[小屋];
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So I got a scholarship to St. Lawrence University, upstate New York. |
于是我拿着奖学金去了纽约州北部的圣劳伦斯大学。 |
upstate:adj.北部的;偏僻的;n.州的北部;adv.在州的北部;在州内远离大城市地区;
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Finished that, and then after that I went to Harvard Graduate School . |
念完本科后,我又去了哈佛读研。 |
Harvard:n.哈佛大学;哈佛大学学生; Graduate School:研究所,研究院;
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Finished that, and then I worked in DC a little bit. |
读完研后,我在华盛顿工作了一阵子。 |
I wrote a book for National Geographic , and taught history, US history. |
我给国家地理写了一本书,也教授美国历史的课程。 |
Geographic:adj.地理的;地理学的;
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And every time I kept going back home, listening to the problems of these people, sick people, people with no water, all the stuff . |
我每次回到我的家乡, 不断的听到人们的问题, 人们患病,人们没有水,所有这种事。 |
stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
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And every time I go back to America, I kept thinking about them. |
而且我每次回到美国,都不断的思考这些问题。 |
Then one day, an elder gave me a story, and this story went like this. |
后来有一天,一位长辈给我讲了一个故事,是这样说的—— |
Long time ago, there was a big war between tribes. |
很久以前,部落之间发生了一场大战。 |
And there was this specific tribe that was really afraid of this other Luhya tribe. |
其中有一个部落,特别地害怕另一个卢赫雅部落。 |
specific:adj.特殊的,特定的;明确的;详细的;[药]具有特效的;n.特性;细节;特效药; tribe:n.部落;族;宗族;一伙;
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And every time, they sent scouts out there to make sure no one attacked them. |
他们每次都会派人去侦察,以确保没有人来袭击自己。 |
scouts:n.童子军,童军(scout的复数);侦察兵;v.侦察;搜索(scout的三单形式);
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So one day, the scouts came running, and told the villagers, "The enemies are coming, only half an hour away -- they'll be here." |
有一天,侦查员跑回来告诉村民们, 说:“敌人们要来了,还只有半个小时,他们就会到这儿。” |
So people scrambled , took their things and ready to go, move out. |
于是人们乱作一团,拿好自己的东西准备撤, |
scrambled:v.爬,攀登;争抢;抢占;争夺;(scramble的过去式和过去分词)
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But there were two men, one man was blind, one man had no legs -- he was born like that. |
但是其中却有这样两个男人, 一个是眼盲了,一个天生没有双腿。 |
The leader of the chiefs said, "No, sorry, we can't take you, you'll slow us down. |
酋长说到:“不,对不起,我们不能带你们走,你们会拖大家的后腿。 |
We have to flee our women and children, we have to run." |
我们得让我们的妇女和儿童们逃走,我们必须得跑。” |
flee:v.逃走;迅速离开;逃避,逃跑
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And they were left behind, waiting to die. |
于是他俩被留下等死。 |
But these two people worked something out. |
但是这两个人却想了一个办法。 |
The blind man said, "Look, I'm a very strong man, but I can't see." |
眼盲的男人说:“喏,我是个很强壮的人,但是我看不见东西。” |
The man with no legs says, "I can see as far as the end of the world, but I can't save myself from a cat, or whatever, animals." |
没有双腿的人说道:“我能看见远至世界的尽处, 但是我却敌不过任何动物,乃至一只猫。” |
as far as:至于…;
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So the blind man went down on his knees, down like this, and told the man with no legs to go over his back, and stood up. |
于是盲人蹲了下来,就像这样, 他告诉无腿的人骑到自己背上,然后站了起来。 |
to go over:复习;
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The man on top can see, the blind man can walk. |
骑在上面的人能看,而盲人能走。 |
And these guys took off, followed the footsteps of the villagers, until they found and passed them. |
这俩人便沿着村民们留下的脚印一路出发了, 直到他们赶上了其他人,并且还超越了他们。 |
footsteps:n.脚步(footstep的复数形式);步距;
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So this was told to me in a set-up of elders. |
我听着故事的时候,周围还有其他长辈们。 |
set-up:n.计划;组织;机构;装配;
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And it's a really poor area, I represent Northern Kenya -- most nomadic , remote areas you can even find. |
那是个相当贫困的地方,我指的是肯尼亚北部—— 你能找得到的,最偏远最流浪的地方。 |
represent:v.代表;表现;描绘;回忆;再赠送; nomadic:adj.游牧的;流浪的;游动的; remote:adj.偏远的;偏僻的;遥远的;久远的;
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And that man told me, "So, here you are, you've got a good education from America, you have a good life in America, what are you going to do for us? |
讲故事的人对我说:“你在美国受过良好的教育, 也在那儿过着优越的生活, 现在你来我们这儿,你能为我们做些什么呢? |
We want you to be our eyes, we'll give you the legs. |
我们希望你当我们的眼睛,我们就做你的腿。 |
We'll walk you, you lead us." |
你领着我们大家,我们举着你走。” |
So the opportunity came, and I was always thinking about that, what can I do to help my people? |
于是机遇就这么来了,我总是在思索, 为了帮助我的人民,我能做些什么? |
Every time you go to an area where for 43 years of independence , we still don't have basic health facilities . |
每当你来到这个43年前就已经独立的国家, (却发现)我们仍然还是没有基本卫生设施。 |
independence:n.独立;独立性;自恃心;独立不羁的精神; facilities:n.设施;设备;特别装置;特色;场所;(facility的复数)
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A man has to be transported in a wheelbarrow to 20, 30 kilometers for hospital. No clean drinking water . |
一个病人得用手推车送去 20、30公里外的医院就诊。(也)没有干净的饮用水。 |
transported:v.(用交通工具)运输,运送,输送;(transport的过去分词和过去式) wheelbarrow:n.独轮手推车;vt.用于推车运送; drinking water:n.饮用水;
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So I said, "I'm going to dedicate myself, |
于是我说,“我要献一份力, |
dedicate:vt.致力;献身;题献;
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I'm leaving America. I'm going to run for office." |
我要离开美国。我要回去参加竞选。” |
So last July -- I moved from America in June, ran in July election and won. |
因此去年,我六月里离开的美国,在七月参加竞选并当选。 |
And I came for them, and that's my goal. |
我是为他们才来,这是我的目标。 |
And right now, I have in place for the last nine months a plan that in five years, every nomad will have clean drinking water. |
到如今,我在这位子上已有九个月了, (我)计划五年内,让每个游牧人都能用喝上干净的饮用水。 |
We're building dispensaries across that constituency . |
我们会在选区里建立诊所。 |
dispensaries:n.药房;(学校,兵营或工厂的)诊疗所;防治站; constituency:n.(选区的)选民;支持者;(一批)顾客;
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I'm asking my friends from America to help with bringing nurses or doctors to help us out. |
我向我的美国朋友们寻求帮忙 带来护士和医生们帮助大家摆脱困难。 |
I'm trying to improve infrastructure . |
我尝试改善基础设施。 |
improve:v.改进;改善; infrastructure:n.基础设施;公共建设;下部构造;
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I'm using the knowledge I received from the United States and from my community to move them forward. |
我应用从美国以及从我自己社区中学到的知识 来促进实施。 |
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
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I'm trying to develop homegrown solutions to our issues . |
对于大家面临的问题,我试图制定出自己的解决方案。 |
homegrown:adj.国产的;自家种植的; issues:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;(issue的第三人称单数和复数)
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Because we know, we realize that people outside can come and help us, but if we don't help ourselves, there's nothing we can do. |
因为我们意识到外面的人能过来帮助我们, 但是如果我们连自己都不帮自己的话,那我们真就没什么指望了。 |
So my plan right now, as I continue with introducing students to different fields -- some become doctors, some lawyers -- we want to produce a comprehensive group of people, students, who can come back and help us see a community grow that is in the middle of a huge economic recession . |
所以我现在的计划就是,随着我继续引进各个领域的学生们—— 其中有一些会成为医生,一些会是律师—— 我们想建立一个全面综合的群体, 这些学生们会回来帮助大家 见证经济大衰退中一个社会的成长。 |
comprehensive:adj.综合的;广泛的;有理解力的;n.综合学校;专业综合测验; economic:adj.经济的,经济上的;经济学的; recession:n.经济衰退;经济萎缩;退后;撤回;
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So as I continue to be a Member of Parliament, and as I continue listening to all of you talking about botany , talking about health, talking about democracy , talking about new inventions, |
因此,当我还是议会议员, 当我不断的听你们谈论着植物学, 谈论健康,谈论民主,谈论新发明, |
botany:n.植物学;地区植物总称; democracy:n.民主,民主主义;民主政治;
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I'm hoping that one day, in my own little community -- which is 26,000 square kilometers, maybe five times the size of Rhode Island, with no roads -- we'll be able to become a model to help others develop. |
我就希望能有一天,在我自己的社区里—— 它占地两万六千平方公里, 大约相当于五个罗德岛的面积,还没有公路—— 我们能成为帮助别人发展的模范。 |
Rhode:n.罗德岛;
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Thank you very much. |
非常感谢! |