Many South Africans call Nelson Mandela Madiba1, his clan2 name and an affectionate3 nickname. This is a sign of the closeness that they feel towards him. For in South Africa, Madiba is still seen as the warm and wise father of a transformed nation as well as a truly global statesman.
He was born in 1918. The schools Mandela attended were modeled on the British system; he later said he was taught to be a “black Englishman”. As a black South African, however, his freedoms were strictly limited. The young lawyer joined the African National Congress4, a political group, who wished to peacefully end the racial discrimination of blacks in South Africa. But faced with the regime’s increasingly brutal repression5, Mandela was charged with organizing an armed wing of the ANC. After months of living and working underground, he was arrested in 1962. Tried for treason6 two years later, he was sentenced to live in prison without possibility of parole7.
Confined8 at first to the maximum security prison of Robben Island9, Mandela could easily have given in to despair. Yet he refused to let his spirit be broken.
“Free Mandela” became a rallying10 cry throughout the world, and in 1990 he walked out of prison. Soon, he was representing the ANC in negotiations with the government that led to the first elections open to all South Africans; these led to Mandela’s election as South African president in 1994. Now South Africans of all colors take pride in their country’s peaceful transition11 from white minority rule to multi-racial democracy.
Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all South Africans. He was inaugurated12 as the first democratically elected State President of South Africa on 10, May 1994. He retired from public life in June 1999. He currently resides in his birth place—Qunu.
Interview
Q: You have said HIV/AIDS is the greatest health risk to everyone, and often speak out publicly that more needs to be done about it. Is that fair?
Mandela: Yes. We have to deal with the ignorant belief that AIDS can be caught if you are in contact with a sufferer. In contrast, remember that Princess Diana went to hospital with AIDS sufferers, sat down on their beds, shook hands with them and proved that you can be in the same room as a person with AIDS. She did very well.
In 2000 I went to a province in the north of South Africa for the opening of a rural school. I was conversing13 with the locals and they said to me that in a home nearby both parents were dead, leaving children, the eldest of whom is eight. I said,“Can we see them?” Oh, they were happy about that and as we were going there they were singing some songs about me. Then I went inside and stayed for about 25 minutes. When I came out, the same crowd ran away from me. At first I didn’t recognize that they were moving away. I quickened my pace and they also quickened theirs to get away from me. When I realized that they were running away from me, I just went back to my car.
Q: So leaders like yourself should help educate those who are ignorant.
Mandela: Absolutely. There was a lady who was suffering from HIV. She was courageous: she came to a meeting I attended and admitted that she suffered from HIV. I embraced her and I told the crowd:“Don’t isolate people who are suffering from terminal diseases because that alone kills people far more than the disease itself.” When somebody discovers that they are no longer regarded as a human being, he or she loses the will to fight.
Q: Over the years you’ve devoted a lot of time to children. What do you think are the most important lessons that parents could keep in mind when raising children?
Mandela: Without education your children can never really meet the challenges they will face. So it’s very important to give children education and explain that they should play a role for their country. I often do that for my own children and grandchildren, but I notice that my grandchildren know more now than I do!
Q: What have you learned from children?
Mandela: One advantage of associating with children is that they bring you back to reality when your thoughts are elsewhere; children can be very frank, they correct some mistakes that you have made in the past by reminding you.
Q: When you were in prison on Robben Island and elsewhere, was there something like a song or passage from a book that helped sustain14 you and keep up your spirits?
Mandela: There was a poem by an English poet, W.E. Henley15, called “Invictus.” The last lines go:
It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Q: What is your greatest strength and your greatest weakness?
Mandela: Well, I have a lot of weaknesses. I don’t think I’ve got any strength.
Q: Some observers feel you would have made a good professional boxer if there was not a liberation struggle to be fought. What other jobs do you think you might have enjoyed?
Mandela: I would have liked to have been an ordinary laborer digging trenches16. Boxing is something I enjoyed very much too, but it may have been difficult [as a career].
One of the fighters I greatly admired was Muhammad Ali. As a boxer he took all this punishment without fighting back—taking it, taking it, taking it. During his fight with George Foreman he said after a number of rounds,“We’ve been doing all this fighting and I haven’t even started yet!” You see, you can’t just take it. You can only take so much before you fight back.
Q: How would you like to be remembered in history?
Mandela: I don’t want to be thought of as some god. I would like to be remembered as an ordinary human being with virtues and vices.
许多南非人称纳尔逊·曼德拉为“马迪巴”，这是曼德拉在部族里的称呼，也是人们对他的敬称。这一点足以说明南非人感受到曼德拉的亲近。在南非，马迪巴被视为处在变革中的南非的热情和睿智的长辈，是一位真正的世界级政治家。
曼德拉生于1918年。他所上的学校采纳的是英国教育体系；他曾经说自己从小被教育如何成为一名“黑皮肤的英国人”。然而，作为黑皮肤的南非人，他的自由是非常有限的。年轻的律师曼德拉参加了非洲人国民大会——这是一个希望通过和平方式结束南非种族歧视的政治团体。但是，为了抗击统治者日益残酷的镇压，曼德拉负责组织了非洲人国民大会中的武装派别。几个月的地下生活与工作后，曼德拉于1962年被捕。两年后，他被控犯叛国罪，判处终身监禁，不得假释。
曼德拉最初是被关在罗本岛监狱，这里戒备森严，可谓安全之至。在曼德拉的处境，一个人本可能很容易感到绝望。但是，他不愿让自己精神崩溃。
一时间，“释放曼德拉”的呼声回荡在整个世界。1990年，曼德拉终于走出了监狱。很快地，曼德拉代表非洲人国民大会与当时的南非政府谈判，从而开创了所有南非人都可以参加的第一次大选。在此基础上，曼德拉于1994年被选为南非总统。现在，不同肤色的南非人感到非常自豪：他们的国家从少数白人统治和平过渡到了多种族民主体制。
1993年，曼德拉代表所有南非人接受了诺贝尔和平奖。1994年5月10日，他宣誓就任南非历史上第一任民选总统。1999年6月，他从公职退休。目前，他居住在自己的出生地——库努。
访谈录
记者：您说艾滋病是当今社会最严重的公共健康危机，并且公开呼吁在这方面需要做更多的事情。是这样的吗？
曼德拉：是的。我们要面对人们的愚昧观念——与艾滋病患者接触后就会被传染。相比之下，记得已故英国王妃戴安娜来到艾滋病人住的医院，坐在他们的床上，与他们握手，从而证明了人们可与艾滋病人同处一室。她做得很好。
2000年，我到南非北部的某省去参加当地一所乡村学校的开学典礼。我与当地人交谈。他们告诉我，附近有一家父母双亡，留下几个孩子，最大的才8岁。我说：“我们去看看他们，好吗？”哦，他们对此很高兴。在去的路上，他们不停地唱着，大概为我唱赞歌。后来，我进了那家的门，呆了大概25分钟。当我出来的时候，还是那群人顿时一哄而散，离我远远的。开始，我并没意识到他们走开了。我加快步伐追赶，他们也加快步伐，试图离我远一点。当我明白了他们是在躲避我，我只得回到车上去。
记者：那么，像您这样的领袖人物就应该帮助教育这些无知的人。
曼德拉：绝对没错。有一位女士罹患了艾滋病。她很勇敢：她赶来参加我出席的一个会议，承认自己患了艾滋病。我拥抱了她，并对大家说：“不要孤立绝症患者，因为这种孤立会比疾病本身杀死更多的人。”一旦有人发现他们不再被当人看待，他们就会失去抗争的意志。
记者：在过去的几年里，您把许多时间奉献给了儿童事业。您觉得在养育子女方面，父母应该牢记的教训是什么？
曼德拉：如果不接受教育，你的孩子不可能应对将要面临的挑战。因此，教育孩子，向他们解释他们应该报效国家，这是非常重要的。我经常这样教育自己的子孙们，不过我注意到了我的孙辈们现在懂得的可比我多。
记者：您从孩子们那里学到什么？
曼德拉：与孩子们在一起的一个优点是当你心猿意马时他们会让你回归现实；同时，孩子们十分坦率，他们纠正你以前所犯的一些错误，他们能够让你想起自己所犯的错误。
记者：您在罗本岛或其他地方被囚禁时，有什么东西，如一首歌，或一段文字，促使您坚持下去，保持高昂的斗志？
曼德拉：英国诗人W.E.亨雷写的一首诗，名为“不屈的人”。最后几行是：
不管大门如何紧闭，
不管圣卷如何满布惩戒，
我依然是自己命运的主人，
我依然是自己灵魂的舵手。
记者：您最大的长处是什么？您最大的弱点又是什么？
曼德拉：哦，我有许多弱点。我不认为我有什么长处。
记者：有观察家认为如果不是参加解放斗争，您很可能会成为一位职业拳击手。还有其他您觉得喜欢的工作吗？
曼德拉：我或许想做一名挖壕沟的普通劳动者。当然，拳击也是我非常喜欢的，但是作为职业，一定是挺难的。
穆罕穆德·阿里是我最敬佩的拳击手之一。作为一名拳击手，他遭受了许多磨难而无法还击——忍受，忍受，再忍受。在与乔治·福尔曼的比赛中，经过几轮较量，他说：“我们已经打了那么长时间，可是我觉得自己还没有开始呢！”你瞧，你不能只是忍受。忍受到一定时候，你得还击。
记者：您希望历史将以怎样的方式记住您？
曼德拉：我不想被当作神来看待。我只想让人把我当作一个有德行、也有缺陷的普通人来看待。
1. Madiba: 马迪巴是曼德拉的部族名，后演变为对曼德拉的尊称和爱称。
2. clann. 部落
3. affectionate adj. 亲爱的，挚爱的
4. African National Congress: 南非非洲人国民大会（简称非国大，ANC）是南非最大的黑人民族主义政党，也是主要执政党。它反对种族隔离制度，主张建立统一、民主和种族平等的南非。1912年由一些知名黑人创建。第一任主席为杜比牧师。当时称南非土著人国民大会，1925年改为现名，有成员约70万人。
5. repression n. 镇压，抑制
6. treason n. 叛国罪
7. parole n. 假释
8. confine v. 限制，禁闭，囚禁
9. Robben Island: 罗本岛。在1960-1991年期间关过上千名为自由和人权抗争的政治犯（有色人种）。
10. rally v. 鼓舞士气，重整旗鼓
11. transition n. 过渡，转变
12. inaugurate v. 就职（典礼）
13. converse v. 交谈，谈话
14. sustain v. 坚持，维持，支撑
15. William Ernest Henley：威廉·厄内斯特·亨雷（1849—1903），英国著名作家、诗人。出生于葛罗斯特郡，从小有残疾，曾任多家杂志的编辑，以戏剧和诗歌创作著称。
16. trench n. 沟渠，壕沟