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SiyandaMohutsiwa_2016-_在推特上倾听年轻非洲人之声_
It began with one question: 一切从一个问题开始:
If Africa was a bar, what would your country be drinking or doing? 如果非洲是个酒吧,你的国家在喝什么、干什么？
I kicked it off with a guess about South Africa, which wasn't exactly according to the rules because South Africa's not my country. 我先写了一个对南非的猜测, 其实这并不太符合规则, 因为南非不是我的祖国。
according to:根据,据说;
But alluding to the country's continual attempts to build a postracial society after being ravaged for decades by apartheid , 但是这个猜测影射了南非的持续努力, 在被种族隔离政策蹂躏了几十年后, 它想打造一个后种族歧视的社会。
alluding:v.间接提到;暗指;影射;(allude的现在分词) continual:adj.持续不断的;频繁的; attempts:n.企图,试图;尝试(attempt的复数);v.试图;努力去做(attempt的三单形式); ravaged:v.毁坏;损坏;严重损害;(ravage的过去分词和过去式) apartheid:n.种族隔离;
I tweeted , #ifafricawasabar South Africa would be drinking all kinds of alcohol and begging them to get along in its stomach. 我发了一条推文:#如果非洲是个酒吧, 然后苦苦哀求把它赶紧消化掉。
tweeted:v.(小鸟)吱吱地叫;啾鸣;(tweet的过去分词和过去式) alcohol:n.酒精;乙醇;含酒精饮料;
And then I waited. 然后我就开始等。
And then I had that funny feeling where I wondered if I crossed the line. 我突然有那种奇怪的感觉,怀疑自己是不是有些越界了。
So, I sent out a few other tweets about my own country and a few other African countries I'm familiar with. 然后,我又发了几条有关自己国家的推文, 还有一些我比较熟悉的非洲国家。
tweets:n.啾啾声,小鸟叫声(tweet的复数形式);v.鸣叫(tweet的三单形式); familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友;
And then I waited again, but this time 然后我又开始等, 但是这一次,
I read through almost every tweet I had ever tweeted to convince myself, no, to remind myself that I'm really funny and that if nobody gets it, that's fine. 我几乎读完了我曾经发过的所有推文, 以此说服自己, 不对……是提醒自己,我其实很幽默, 如果别人看不懂,那就算了吧。
convince:v.使确信;使相信;说服,劝说; remind:v.提醒;使想起;
But luckily, 但是幸运的是,
I didn't have to do that for very long. 我并不用这样长时间提醒自己。
Very soon, people were participating . 人们很快就参与进来了。
participating:v.参加;参与(participate的现在分词)
In fact, by the end of that week in July, the hashtag #ifafricawasabar would have garnered around 60,000 tweets, lit up the continent and made its way to publications all over the world. 事实上,就在七月那周的周末, 那个推特话题 #如果非洲是个酒吧 大概已经产生了6万条推文, 它点燃了整个大陆, 而且出现在了全世界的各类刊物中。
hashtag:n.标签; garnered:v.获得,得到,收集(信息、支持等);(garner的过去分词和过去式) continent:n.大陆,洲,陆地;adj.自制的,克制的; publications:n.出版物(publication的复数);
People were using the hashtag to do many different things. 人们在用这个话题标签做各种各样的事情。
To poke fun at their stereotypes : 调侃自己国家的陋习:
poke:v.刺,捅;戳;伸出;刺探;闲荡;n.戳;刺;袋子;懒汉; stereotypes:n.模式化观念(或形象); v.对…形成模式化(或类型化)的看法; (stereotype的第三人称单数和复数)
[#IfAfricaWasABar Nigeria would be outside explaining that he will pay the entrance fee, all he needs is the bouncer's account details.] [#如果非洲是个酒吧,尼日利亚呆在酒吧外不停解释 自己一定会付入场费, 他只需要问清楚守门员的银行账户。]
(Laughter) （笑声）
To criticize government spending: 批判政府的财政支出:
criticize:v.批评;批判;挑剔;指责;评论;评价;
[#ifafricawasabar South Africa would be ordering bottles it can't pronounce running a tab it won't be able to pay] [#如果非洲是个酒吧南非一直在点叫不出名字的酒, 把酒桶的龙头一直开着却根本付不起钱。]
pronounce:v.发音;读(音);正式宣布(或公布,授予等); tab:n.标签;签条;突耳;凸舌;v.说(某人)适合于(某工作或角色);
To make light of geopolitical tensions : 调侃地缘政治的紧张局势:
make light of:轻视;对…不在乎; geopolitical:adj.地理政治学的; tensions:张力;紧张;
[#IfAfricaWasABar South Sudan would be the new guy with serious anger management issues .] [#如果非洲是个酒吧南苏丹会是一个新来的人, 有着严重的情绪失调症。]
management:n.管理;管理人员;管理部门;操纵;经营手段; 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)
To remind us that even in Africa there are some countries we don't know exist: 还有人提醒我们, 有些非洲国家即使是非洲人也没听说过:
[#IfAfricaWasABar Lesotho would be that person who nobody really knows but is always in the pictures.] [#如果非洲是个酒吧莱索托是一个没人知道的家伙, 却总是能出现在照片里。]
And also to make fun of the countries that don't think that they're in Africa: 同时也调侃那些自认为不属于非洲的国家:
make fun of:取笑;
[#IfAfricaWasABar Egypt, Libya , Tunisia , Algeria and Morocco be like "What the hell are we doing here?!!"] [#如果非洲是个酒吧埃及、利比亚、突尼斯、 阿尔及利亚、摩洛哥说,“我们到底在这鬼地方干什么？！”]
Libya:n.埃及以西的北非地方古名;利比亚; Tunisia:n.突尼斯(非洲国家);
(Laughter) （笑声）
And to note the countries that had made a big turnaround : 而且还提到了一些做出重大转变的国家:
turnaround:n.转变;转向;突然好转;回车道;
[#ifAfricawasabar Rwanda would be that girl that comes with no money and no transport but leaves drunk, happy and rich] [#如果非洲是个酒吧卢旺达是一个女孩儿, 她来的时候一穷二白,走的时候却很醉很爽很有钱。]
transport:n.运输;输送;运送;运输机;v.输送;传播;使产生身临其境的感觉;(旧时)流放;
But most importantly, people were using the hashtag to connect. 但更重要的是, 人们在用这个话题标签来交流。
People were connecting over their Africanness. 人们交流他们内心的非洲特质。
So for one week in July, 就在七月的一周时间里,
Twitter became a real African bar. 推特变成了一个真正的非洲酒吧。
And I was really thrilled , mainly because I realized that Pan-Africanism could work, that we had before us, between us, at our fingertips a platform that just needed a small spark to light in us a hunger for each other. 我真的很兴奋, 主要是因为我发觉泛非主义是真实可行的, 在我们面前,在我们指尖, 就是一个平台,只需要一点火花, 就可以点燃人与人之间的渴望之情。
thrilled:adj.非常兴奋; v.使非常兴奋; (thrill的过去分词和过去式) mainly:adv.大多;大部分;主要地;首要地; Pan-Africanism:泛非主义; fingertips:n.指尖;(fingertip的复数) platform:n.平台; v.把…放在台上[放在高处; spark:n.火花;电火花;火星;活力;v.引发;触发;冒火花;飞火星;
My name is Siyanda Mohutsiwa, 我的名字是希杨达·莫胡提瓦,
I'm 22 years old and I am Pan-Africanist by birth. 我现在22岁, 从出生起就是泛非主义者。
Now, I say I'm Pan-Africanist by birth because my parents are from two different African countries. 我说自己一出生就是泛非主义者, 是因为我的父母来自两个不同的非洲国家。
My father's from a country called Botswana in southern Africa. 我的父亲来自一个非洲南部的国家,名叫博茨瓦纳。
It's only slightly bigger than Germany. 它只比德国稍大一点。
slightly:adv.些微地,轻微地;纤细地;
This year we celebrate our 50th year of stable democracy . 今年我们庆祝了祖国获得稳定民主50周年。
stable:n.马厩;牛棚;adj.稳定的;牢固的;坚定的;vi.被关在马厩;赶入马房; democracy:n.民主,民主主义;民主政治;
And it has some very progressive social policies . 而且它提出了不少进步的社会政策。
progressive:adj.进步的;先进的;开明的;稳步的;n.进步人士;开明人士;改革派; policies:n.政策;方针;原则;为人之道;保险单(policy的复数)
My mother's country is the Kingdom of Swaziland. 我的母亲祖国是斯威士兰王国。
It's a very, very small country, also in southern Africa. 它是个很小的国家,同样在非洲南部。
It is Africa's last complete monarchy . 它是非洲最后一个完整的君主制国家。
monarchy:n.君主政体;君主国;君主政治;
So it's been ruled by a king and a royal family in line with their tradition,for a very long time. 它由国王和皇室所统治, 长久以来都依照他们的传统行事。
royal:adj.国王的;女王的;皇家的;n.王室成员; in line with:符合;与…一致;
On paper, these countries seem very different. 从表面上看,这两个国家看上去很不同。
And when I was a kid, I could see the difference. 当我是个孩子的时候,我就可以看到二者的差别。
It rained a lot in one country, it didn't rain quite as much in the other. 一个国家下雨下得很多,另一个国家下雨没那么多。
But outside of that, I didn't really realize why it mattered that my parents were from two different places. 但是除此之外,我并没有深刻意识到 我的父母来自两个不同国家这有多么重要。
But it would go on to have a very peculiar effect on me. 但是随着时间推移,它对我产生了很特殊的影响。
peculiar:adj.特殊的;独特的;奇怪的;罕见的;n.特权;特有财产;
You see, I was born in one country and raised in the other. 要知道,我是出生在其中一个国家, 但是在另一个国家长大。
When we moved to Botswana, 当我们搬家到博茨瓦纳,
I was a toddler who spoke fluent SiSwati and nothing else. 我是个小孩儿,可以说流利的西斯瓦提语, 除此之外就没了。
toddler:n.学步的小孩;幼童装; fluent:adj.流畅的,流利的;液态的;畅流的;
So I was being introduced to my new home, my new cultural identity , as a complete outsider , incapable of comprehending anything that was being said to me by the family and country whose traditions I was meant to move forward. 我来到我的新家园, 接受新的文化身份, 完全是作为一个外来人, 我根本不能听懂对我所说的任何话, 而这个家庭、这个国家的传统都是我必须要接受的。
cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的; identity:n.身份;同一性,一致;特性;恒等式; outsider:n.外人;无取胜希望者; incapable:adj.不能的;无能力的;不能胜任的; comprehending:n.理解;v.理解(comprehend的现在分词);
But very soon, I would shed SiSwati. 但是很快,我就抛弃了西斯瓦提语。
shed:v.摆脱;去除;蜕;落;n.工棚;简易房;剪羊毛棚;挤奶棚;
And when I would go back to Swaziland, 当我每次回到斯威士兰的时候,
I would be constantly confronted by how very non-Swazi I was becoming. 我都会深切感受到自己变得多么“非斯威士兰”。
constantly:adv.不断地;时常地; confronted:v.使…无法回避;降临于;处理;面对;对抗;(confront的过去分词和过去式)
Add to that my entry into Africa's private school system, whose entire purpose is to beat the Africanness out of you, and I would have a very peculiar adolescence . 还要加上一点,我进入了非洲的私立学校系统, 它的唯一目标就是把你的非洲特质去除掉, 正因如此,我度过了一个特别的青春期。
private school:n.私立学校;私立中小学; adolescence:n.青春期;
But I think that my interest in ideas of identity was born here, in the strange intersection of belonging to two places at once but not really belonging to either one very well and belonging to this vast space in between and around simultaneously . 然而我对个人身份研究的爱好就是在这里产生的, 我处在一个奇怪的交叉路口,似乎同属于两个不同地方, 却又不真正属于其中任何一个, 又好像更属于二者之间空旷、虚无的空间。
intersection:n.交叉;十字路口;交集;交叉点; simultaneously:adv.同时地;
I became obsessed with the idea of a shared African identity. 我对共同的非洲身份这个想法产生了浓厚的兴趣。
obsessed:v.使痴迷;使迷恋;使着迷;(obsess的过去式和过去分词)
Since then, I have continued to read about politics and geography and identity and what all those things mean. 自此之后,我不断地阅读有关政治的文章, 还有地理、身份认知,努力搞明白这些都意味着什么。
politics:n.政治;钩心斗角;政治观点;v.(贬)从事政治活动;(politic的第三人称单数)
I've also held on to a deep curiosity about African philosophies . 我同样对非洲哲学有着强烈的好奇心。
curiosity:n.好奇,好奇心;珍品,古董,古玩; philosophies:n.哲学;思想体系;人生哲学;(philosophy的复数)
When I began to read, 当我开始阅读的时候,
I gravitated towards the works of black intellectuals like Steve Biko and Frantz Fanon, who tackled complex ideas like decolonization and black consciousness . 我特别倾向于阅读黑人学者的一些作品, 比如史蒂夫·比可和弗朗兹·法农, 他们研究了复杂的话题, 比如说去殖民化问题,还有黑人意识运动。
gravitated:v.被吸引到;受吸引而参加(gravitate的过去分词和过去式) intellectuals:n.[劳经]知识分子(intellectual的复数); tackled:v,解决,处理,对付;(tackle的过去式和过去分词) complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施; decolonization:n.非殖民地化,殖民地自治化; consciousness:n.意识;知觉;觉悟;感觉;
And when I thought, at 14, that I had digested these grand ideas, 当时14岁的我觉得自己已经消化了这些宏大的想法,
digested:v.消化;领会;领悟;理解;(digest的过去分词和过去式)
I moved on to the speeches of iconic African statesmen like Burkina Faso's Thomas Sankara and Congo's Patrice Lumumba. 我就转而研究非洲着名领导者的演讲, 比如说布基纳法索的托马斯·桑卡拉, 还有刚果的帕特里斯·鲁姆巴。
iconic:adj.图标的,形象的; statesmen:n.政治家;
I read every piece of African fiction that I could get my hands on. 我阅读过了我能得到的所有的非洲小说。
So when Twitter came, 于是当推特出现时,
I hopped on with the enthusiasm of a teenage girl whose friends are super, super bored of hearing about all this random stuff . 我就带着年轻女孩的热情欣然加入了其中, 我的朋友们早就对我乱七八糟的话题感到烦躁了。
hopped:v.单脚跳行;齐足(或双足)跳行;(hop的过去分词和过去式) enthusiasm:n.热心,热忱,热情; bored:adj.无聊的;厌倦的;烦闷的;v.使厌烦;钻,凿,挖;(bore的过去分词和过去式) random:adj.[数]随机的;任意的;胡乱的;n.随意;adv.胡乱地; stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
The year was 2011 and all over southern Africa and the whole continent, affordable data packages for smartphones and Internet surfing became much easier to get. 那年是2011年, 那时整个非洲南部,甚至是整个大陆, 都有了智能手机的流量包,还有网络冲浪资源, 这些都更容易获取了。
affordable:adj.负担得起的; smartphones:智能手机(smartphone的复数); surfing:v.冲浪;进行冲浪运动;(互联网上)浏览;(surf的现在分词)
So my generation, we were sending messages to each other on this platform that just needed 140 characters and a little bit of creativity. 所以对于我这一代人,我们在这个平台互相发消息, 只需要140个字符还有一丁点创意。
On long commutes to work, in lectures that some of us should have been paying attention to, on our lunch breaks, we would communicate as much as we could about the everyday realities of being young and African. 在去上班的通勤途中, 在我们本应集中精力听讲的课堂上, 在我们的午休时间, 我们尽可能多地交流, 讨论作为年轻人、非洲人所要面对的日常现实。
commutes:v.经常往返(于两地); n.上下班路程; (commute的第三人称单数和复数)
But of course, this luxury was not available to everybody. 但是当然,这种奢侈不是所有人都能享受的。
luxury:n.奢侈,奢华;奢侈品;享受;adj.奢侈的;
So this meant that if you were a teenage girl in Botswana and you wanted to have fun on the Internet, one, you had to tweet in English. 所以这意味着,如果你是博茨瓦纳的一个十几岁女孩, 你想在网上找点乐趣, 首先,你得要用英语发推。
Two, you had to follow more than just the three other people you knew online. 其次,你要关注更多人,不只是你所知的两三个能上网的人。
You had to follow South Africans, Zimbabweans, Ghanaians, Nigerians. 你要关注南非人、津巴布韦人、加纳人、尼日利亚人。
And suddenly, your whole world opened up. 突然,你的整个世界都打开了。
And my whole world did open up. 我的整个世界的确打开了。
I followed vibrant Africans who were travelling around the continent, taking pictures of themselves and posting them under the hashtag #myafrica. 我关注了许多活跃的非洲人,他们环绕非洲大陆旅行, 他们给自己拍照, 然后分享到推特上,标记了话题 #我的非洲。
vibrant:adj.振动的;充满生气的;响亮的;战栗的;
Because at that time, if you were to search Africa on Twitter or on Google or any kind of social media , you would think that the entire continent was just pictures of animals and white guys drinking cocktails in hotel resorts . 因为在那个时候, 如果你在推特或者谷歌,或是其它社交媒体, 搜索非洲的内容, 你觉得整个大陆都是各种动物的图片, 或者白人在度假村喝鸡尾酒的情景。
Google:谷歌;谷歌搜索引擎; media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉; cocktails:n.鸡尾酒;凉菜;混合物;(cocktail的复数) resorts:n.度假村;度假胜地(resort复数);v.诉诸(resort的第三人称单数);
(Laughter) （笑声）
But Africans were using this platform to take some kind of ownership of the tourism sectors . 但是非洲人利用这个平台, 在这些旅游信息中找寻某种意义上的归属感。
sectors:n.部门; v.把…划成扇形;
It was Africans taking selfies on the beaches of Nigeria. 尼日利亚的海滩上,是非洲人自己在自拍。
It was Africans in cocktail bars in Nairobi. 内罗毕的鸡尾酒吧里,是非洲人自己在品酒。
And these were the same Africans that I began to meet in my own travels around the continent. 而在我自己的环大陆旅行中, 这些非洲人也正是我所遇到的人。
We would discuss African literature , politics, economic policy . 我们会讨论非洲文学、政治、经济政策。
literature:n.文学;文献;文艺;著作; economic:adj.经济的,经济上的;经济学的; policy:n.政策,方针;保险单;
But almost invariably , every single time, we would end up discussing Twitter. 但是每次都不可避免的, 就是讨论到推特。
invariably:adv.总是;不变地;一定地;
And that's when I realized what this was. 那时我才发觉这真正的意义。
We were standing in the middle of something amazing, because for the first time ever young Africans could discuss the future of our continent in real time , without the restriction of borders, finances and watchful governments. 我们正处于一个伟大的事物之中。 因为历史上第一次, 非洲的年轻人可以实时讨论我们大陆的未来, 而且没有国界、经济状况限制,也没有小心警惕的政府盯着。
real time:adj.实时的;接到指示立即执行的; restriction:n.限制;约束;束缚; watchful:adj.注意的;警惕的;警醒的;
Because the little known truth is many Africans know a lot less about other African countries than some Westerners might know about Africa as a whole . 因为并没什么人知道, 很多非洲人对其它非洲国家的了解, 其实少于一些西方人对整个非洲大陆的了解。
Westerners:n.西方人(westerner的复数); as a whole:总的来说;
This is by accident, but sometimes, it's by design. 这其实是个意外情况, 但是有时,这都是设计好的。
For example, in apartheid South Africa, black South Africans were constantly being bombarded with this message that any country ruled by black people was destined for failure. 例如说,在种族隔离政策下的南非, 南非黑人要持续地接受一种暗示, 就是任何被黑人统治的国家, 都是注定要失败的。
bombarded:v.轰炸(bombard的过去分词); adj.被轰击的; destined:adj.注定的;命定的;去往…的;v.注定;(destine的过去式和过去分词)
And this was done to convince them that they were much better off under crushing white rule than they were living in a black and free nation. 这么做是为了说服他们, 他们生活在一个受白人压迫统治的社会, 比一个黑人统治的自由社会要更好。
crushing:adj.惨重的,毁坏性的;v.压碎;压坏;压伤;挤压变形;(crush的现在分词)
Add to that Africa's colonial , archaic education system, which has been unthinkingly carried over from the 1920s -- and at the age of 15, I could name all the various causes 再提一提非洲过时的殖民性教育系统, 它被人不经思考地从20世纪20年代带到现在, 在我15岁的时候,我就可以背出
colonial:n.殖民地居民;adj.殖民地的,殖民的; archaic:adj.古代的;陈旧的;古体的;古色古香的; unthinkingly:adv.不假思索地;轻率地;
of the wars that had happened in Europe in the past 200 years, but I couldn't name the president of my neighboring country. 欧洲过去200年里所有战争发生的原因, 但是我连我的邻国的总统名字都不知道。
neighboring:adj.邻近的;接壤的;v.邻近;使接近;位于…附近;(neighbor的现在分词)
And to me, this doesn't make any sense because whether we like it or not, the fates of African people are deeply intertwined . 对我来说这简直无比荒谬, 因为不管我们喜不喜欢如此, 非洲人民的命运是紧紧交织的。
intertwined:adj.缠绕的;错综复杂的;v.使缠结,缠绕(intertwine的过去式);
When disaster hits, when turmoil hits, we share the consequences . 当灾难来袭时,当骚乱发生时, 结果由我们所共享。
disaster:n.灾难,灾祸;不幸; turmoil:n.混乱,骚动; consequences:n.后果,结果;影响(consequence的复数);
When Burundians flee political turmoil, they go to us, to other African countries. 当布隆迪人逃脱政治骚乱时, 他们寻求我们帮助, 寻求其它非洲国家的帮助。
flee:v.逃走;迅速离开;逃避,逃跑
Africa has six of the world's largest refugee centers. 全世界大规模的难民中心,非洲占了六个。
refugee:n.难民;避难者;逃亡者;v.避难;adj.避难的;
What was once a Burundian problem becomes an African problem. 曾经的一个布隆迪问题, 变成了整个非洲的问题。
So to me, there are no Sudanese problems or South African problems or Kenyan problems, only African problems because eventually , we share the turmoil. 所以对我来说,没有什么“苏丹问题”, 没有“南非问题”、“肯尼亚问题”, 只有“非洲问题”, 因为最终,我们要共同度过灾难。
Sudanese:adj.苏丹的;苏丹人的;n.苏丹人; eventually:adv.最后,终于;
So if we share the problems, why aren't we doing a better job of sharing the successes? 所以,如果我们共享这些问题, 为什么我们没有更好地共享我们的成功呢？
How can we do that? 我们怎么能做到呢？
Well, in the long term, we can shoot towards increasing inter-African trade, removing borders and putting pressure on leaders to fulfill regional agreements they've already signed. 从长远来看, 我们可以努力增加非洲国家之间的贸易额, 消除国界差异,然后给各国领导者施压, 让他们努力完成他们签署的地区协定。
fulfill:v.执行,贯彻;完成,实现;兑现;达到;起到; regional:adj.地区的;局部的;整个地区的;
But I think that the biggest way for Africa to share its successes is to foster something I like to call social Pan-Africanism. 但是我认为非洲分享成功的最重要的方法, 就是促进一种我称为“社交泛非主义”的思想。
foster:vt.培养;养育,抚育;抱(希望等);adj.收养的,养育的;
Now, political Pan-Africanism already exists, so I'm not inventing anything totally new here. 目前,政治上的泛非主义已经存在, 所以我并不是在发明什么新东西。
But political Pan-Africanism is usually the African unity of the political elite . 但是政治泛非主义 一般指的是非洲政治精英的合作。
unity:n.团结;一致;联合;个体; elite:n.精英;精华;杰出人物;
And who does that benefit? 这又对谁有好处呢？
Well, African leaders, almost exclusively . 几乎只对非洲领导人有好处吧。
exclusively:adv.唯一地;专有地;排外地;
No, what I'm talking about is the Pan-Africanism of the ordinary African. 不,我在讨论的, 是普通非洲人的泛非主义。
Young Africans like me, we are bursting with creative energy, with innovative ideas. 像我这样的非洲年轻人, 我们充满了创造的能量, 富有创新的想法。
bursting:adj.充满的;渴望的;v.爆炸;猛然打开;突然开始(burst的现在分词); creative:adj.创造性的; innovative:adj.革新的,创新的;
But with bad governance and shaky institutions , all of this potential could go to waste . 但是糟糕的统治和不靠谱的制度, 会让这种潜能全部白费。
governance:n.管理;统治;支配; shaky:adj.摇晃的;不可靠的;不坚定的; institutions:n.机构;慈善机构;风俗习惯,制度;(institution的复数) potential:n.潜能;可能性;[电]电势;adj.潜在的;可能的;势的; go to waste:浪费掉;白费;
On a continent where more than a handful of leaders have been in power longer than the majority of the populations has been alive, we are in desperate need of something new, something that works. 在这个大陆上, 有许多国家领导人, 他们在位的时间,比大陆上大多数人的寿命都要长, 我们极度渴望一些新鲜血液, 一些有实效的东西。
majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: desperate:adj.不顾一切的;令人绝望的;极度渴望的;
And I think that thing is social Pan-Africanism. 而我认为,这种东西就是社交泛非主义。
My dream is that young Africans stop allowing borders and circumstance to suffocate our innovation . 我的梦想,是非洲的年轻人 不再受国界和个人处境所限制,我们的创造力不被其扼杀。
circumstance:n.环境,情况;事件;境遇; suffocate:v.受阻,受扼制;窒息; innovation:n.创新,革新;新方法;
My dream is that when a young African comes up with something brilliant, they don't say, "Well, this wouldn't work in my country," 我的梦想,是当非洲年轻人产生了一个新颖的想法时, 不会被人嘲讽,“这想法不可能在我们国家实现的”,
and then give up. 然后就此放弃。
My dream is that young Africans begin to realize that the entire continent is our canvas , is our home. 我的梦想,是非洲年轻人逐渐开始意识到, 整个大陆都是我们的画板,是我们共同的家园。
canvas:n.帆布;(帆布)画布;油画;vt.用帆布覆盖;
Using the Internet, we can begin to think collaboratively , we can begin to innovate together. 利用因特网,我们开始用合作方式思考, 我们可以共同开拓创新。
collaboratively:adv.合作地;协作地; innovate:vi.创新;改革;革新;vt.改变;创立;创始;引人;
In Africa, we say, "If you want to go fast, you go alone, but if you want to go far, you go together." 在非洲,我们常说,“你想走快些,就得自己走; 你想走远些,就得一起走。”
And I believe that social Pan-Africanism is how we can go far together. 我相信社交泛非主义就是我们可以一起走远的道路。
And this is already happening. 而且这已经在发生了。
Access to these online networks has given young Africans something we've always had to violently take: a voice. 非洲年轻人接触到了在线网络, 获得了一种曾经要武力夺取的东西:自由之声。
violently:adv.猛烈地,激烈地;极端地;
We now have a platform. 我们现在拥有一个平台。
Before now, if you wanted to hear from the youth in Africa, you waited for the 65-year-old minister of youth -- 在此之前,你如果想了解非洲青少年的状况, 你要等那个65岁的青年部长——
minister:n.部长;大臣;牧师;vi.执行牧师职务;辅助或伺候某人;
(Laughter) （笑声）
to wake up in the morning, take his heartburn medication and then tell you the plans he has for your generation in 20 years time. 早上从床上爬起来, 吃了他的胃药, 然后才慢慢告诉你,接下来20年他对年轻一代的计划。
heartburn:n.心痛,妒忌;[内科]胃灼热; medication:n.药;药物;
Before now, if you wanted to be heard by your possibly tyrannical government, you were pushed to protest , suffer the consequences and have your fingers crossed that some Western paper somewhere might make someone care. 在此之前,如果你想你的声音被专制的政府听见, 你就被逼着去游行,还要承受可能的后果, 还得交叉手指默默祈祷, 希望某家西方的媒体会做些报道,吸引某些人的关注。
tyrannical:adj.残暴的;暴君的;专横的; protest:n.抗议;抗议书(或行动);反对;v.(公开)反对;抗议;申辩; fingers crossed:手指交叉;希望有好运;意思是保佑;
But now we have opportunities to back each other up in ways we never could before. 但是现在,我们有机会互相支持, 而且以一种前所未有的方式。
We support South African students who are marching against ridiculously high tertiary fees. 我们支持南非的学生, 他们正在游行反抗价格高得离谱的高等教育。
ridiculously:adv.可笑地;荒谬地; tertiary:n.第三纪;第三修道会会员;第三级教士;adj.第三的;第三位的;三代的;
We support Zimbabwean women who are marching to parliament . 我们支持津巴布韦的女性,她们反抗国家的议会。
parliament:n.议会,国会;
We support Angolan journalists who are being illegally detained . 我们支持安哥拉的记者,他们被人非法扣押。
journalists:n.新闻记者(journalist的复数); illegally:adv.非法地; detained:v.拘留;扣押;留住;阻留;(detain的过去分词和过去式)
For the first time ever, 有史以来第一次,
African pain and African aspiration has the ability to be witnessed by those who can empathize with it the most: other Africans. 非洲的痛楚、非洲的理想, 能够被那些最能感同身受的人关注: 非洲的其他同胞。
aspiration:n.渴望;抱负;送气;吸气;吸引术; witnessed:v.当场看到,目击;见证;作证;(witness的过去式和过去分词) empathize:vt.移情;神会;
I believe that with a social Pan-Africanist thinking and using the Internet as a tool, we can begin to rescue each other, and ultimately , to rescue ourselves. 我相信,利用社交泛非主义的思维方式, 并且借助网络工具的力量, 我们可以开始拯救他人, 最终,拯救我们自己。
rescue:n.救援;抢救;营救;获救;v.抢救;营救;援救; ultimately:adv.最终;最后;归根结底;终究;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）