(人教版)2019版高中英语电子课本(必修1)(word版,20页)-(高一)AUwMww
防震减灾手抄报内容-西安铁路职工大学
必修1 第一单元 Reading 阅读 ANNE’S BEST FRIEND
Do you want a friend whom you could tell
everything to, like your deepest feelings and
thoug
hts? Or are you afraid that your friend
would laugh at you, or would not understand what
you ar
e going through? Anne Frank wanted the
first kind, so she made her diary her best friend.
安妮最好的朋友
你想不想有一位无话不谈能推心置腹的朋友？或者你会不会担心你的
朋友会嘲笑你，会不理解你目前
的困境呢？安妮?弗兰克想要的是第一种类型的朋友，所以她把的日记视
为自己最好的朋友。
Anne lived in Amsterdam in the
Netherlands during World War II. Her family was
Jewish so t
he had to hide or they would be
caught by the German Nazis. She and her family
hide away for
two years before they were
discovered. During that time the only true friend
was her diary. She
said, “I don’t want to set
down a series of facts in a diary as most people
do, but I want this di
ary itself to be my
friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty.” Now
read how she felt after being in t
he hiding
place since July 1942.
在第二次世界大战期间，安妮住在荷兰的阿姆斯
特丹。她一家人都是犹太人，所以他们不得不躲藏起
来，否则就会被德国的纳粹分子抓去。她和她的家人
躲藏了25个月之后才被发现。在那段时期，她的日记
成了她唯一忠实的朋友。她说：“我不愿像大多数
人那样在日记中记流水账。我要把我的日记当作自己的朋
友，我把我的这个朋友叫做基蒂。”现在，来看
看安妮自1942年7月起躲进藏身处后的那种心情吧。
Thursday 15, June,
1944
Dear kitty,
I wonder if it’s
because I haven’t been able to be outdoors for so
long that I’ve grown so cr
azy about everything
to do with nature. I can well remember that there
was a time when a deep
blue sky, the song of
the birds, moonlight and flowers could never have
kept me spellbound. Th
at’s changed since I was
here.
…For example, when it was so warm, I
stayed awake on purpose until half past eleven one
evening in order to have a good look at the
moon for once by myself. But as the moon gave
far
too much light, I didn’t dare open a
window. Another time some months ago, I happened
to be
upstairs one evening when the window was
open. I didn’t go downstairs until the window had
to
be shut. The dark, rainy evening, the wind,
the thundering clouds held me entirely in their
power;
it was the first time in a year and a
half that I’d seen the night face to face…
…Sadly…I am only able to look at
nature through dirty curtains hanging before very
dusty wi
ndows. It’s no pleasure looking
through these any longer because nature is one
thing that really
must be experienced.
Yours,
Anne
1944年6月15日，星期四
亲爱的基蒂：
我不知道这是不是因为我太久无法出门的缘故，我变得对一切与大自然有关的事物都无比狂热。我记
得非常清楚，以前，湛蓝的天空、鸟儿的歌唱、月光和鲜花，从未令我心迷神往过。自从我来到这里之后
，
这一切都变了。
……比如说，有一天晚上天气很暖和，我故意熬到晚上11点半都不睡
觉，为的就是能独自好好地看看
月亮。但是因为月光太亮了，我都不敢打开窗户。还有一次，就在五个月
以前的一个晚上，我碰巧在楼上，
窗户是开着的，我一直呆到非关窗不可的时候才下楼去。漆黑的雨夜，
刮着大风，电闪雷鸣，乌云滚滚，
我完全被这种景象镇住了。这是我一年半以来第一次亲眼目睹的夜晚…
…
……不幸的是……我只能透过那满是灰尘的窗帘下那脏兮兮的窗户看看大自然。只能隔着窗户看
那大
自然实在没意思，因为大自然是需要真正体验的东西。
你的安妮
Using Language 语言运用
Reading and listening
读与听
1 Read the letter that Lisa wrote to
Miss Wang of Radio for Teenagers and predict what
Mi
ss Wang will say. After listening, check and
discuss her advice.
Dear Miss Wang,
I
am having some trouble with my classmates at the
moment. I’m getting along well with a b
oy in
my class. We often do homework together and we
enjoy helping each other. We have bec
ome
really good friends. But other students have
started gossiping. They say that this boy and I
have fallen in love. This has made me
angry. I don’t want to end the friendship, but I
hate other
s gossiping. What should I do?
Yours,
Lisa
1 读读琳达为青少年写给电台王小组的这封信，然后王
小姐可能会怎么说。听完录音之后，核对并讨
论她的建议。
亲爱的王小姐：
现在我同班上的同学有些麻烦事。我跟我们班里的一位男同学一直相处的很好。我们常常一起做家庭
作业
，而且很乐意互相帮助。我们成了真正好朋友。可是，其他同学却在背后议论起来，他们说我和这位
男同
学在谈恋爱，这使我很生气。我不想中断这段友谊，但是，我又讨厌人家背后说闲话。我该怎么办呢？
你的莉萨
Reading and writing 读与写
Miss
Wang has received a letter from Xiaodong. He is
also asking for some advice. Read th
e letter
on the right carefully and help Miss Wang answer
it.
王小姐收到小冬的一封来信。小冬是要征求一些意见。仔细阅读右边的信，然后帮王小姐回复。
Dear Miss Wang,
I’m a student from Huzhou
Senior High School. I have a problem. I’m not very
good at com
municating with people. Although I
try to talk to my classmates, I still find it hard
to make good f
riends with them. So I feel
quite lonely sometimes. I do want to change this
situation, but I don’t
know how. I would be
grateful if you could give me some advice.
Yours,
Xiaodong
亲爱的王小姐：
我
是湖州高中的一名学生，我有一个难题，我不大善于与人们交际。虽然我试着和班上的同学交谈，
但是，
我还是很难跟他们成为好朋友。因此，有时候我感到十分的孤独。我确实想改变这种现状，但是我
却不知
道怎么办。如果您能给我提些建议，我会非常感谢的。
你的小东
2
Decide which are the best ideas and put them into
an order. Then write down your advice
and
explain how it will help. Each idea can make one
paragraph. The following sample and the
expressions may help you
Dear Xiaodong,
I’m sorry you are having trouble in making
friends. However, the situation is easy to change
i
f you follow my advice. Here are some tips to
help you.
First, why not…?
If you do
this,…
Secondly, you could can …
Then
That way, …
Thirdly, it would be a good idea
if …
By doing this, …
I hope you will
find these ideas useful.
Yours
Miss
Wang
2 决定哪些是最好并把它们按顺序组织起来。然后把你的建议写出来，并解释它为什
么会有所帮助。
每个想法可以自成一个段落。下面的例子和表达可能对你有所帮助。
亲爱的小冬：
很遗憾听说你在交朋友的过程中遇到了困难。但是，如果你听听我的建议，这种情况
是很容易改变的。
这些建议会对你有所帮助。
第一，为什么不……呢？
如果你这样做……
第二，你可以……
这样的话……
第三，如果……那将是个不错的主意。
通过做……
我希望你会发现这些想法对你有所帮助。
你的王小姐
LEARNING TIP
学习建议
It’s a good habit for you to keep a
diary. It can help you remember past events. You
can ex
press your feelings and thoughts in it.
It will help you improve your English if you write
your diar
y in English. Why not have a try?
写日记对你来说是一个好习惯。它可以帮你记住一些过去发生的事件。你还可以在日记中表达你的情
感和思想。如果你用英语写日记的话，还可以帮助你提高英语水平。为什么不试一试呢？
第二单元 Reading 阅读 THE ROAD TO MODERN ENGLISH
At the end of the 16th century, about five
to seven million people spoke English. Nearly all
o
f them lived in England. Later in the next
century, people from England made voyages to
conque
r other parts of the world and because
of that, English began to be spoken in many other
countri
es. Today, more people speak English as
their first, second or foreign language than ever
before.
通向现代英语之路
在16世纪末，大约有五至七百万人讲英语。几
乎所有这些讲英语的人都住在英格兰。在其后的一个世
纪中，英格兰人为征服世界航海到了世界其他一些
地方，结果世界的其他地方的人们也开始说英语了。今
天，把英语作为自己的第一语言、第二语言或外语
来使用的人比以往任何时候都多。
Native English
speakers can understand each other even if they
don’t speak the same kind o
f English. Look at
this example:
British Betty: Would you like
to see my flat?
American Amy: Yes, I’d like
to come up to your apartment.
以英语作为母语的人，即使他们所讲不是同一种英语，他们也能彼此听懂。请看看这个例子：
英国人贝蒂：来看看我的公寓吗？
美国人艾米：好的，我来看看你的公寓吧。
So
why has English changed over time? Actually all
languages change and develop when cul
tures
meet and communicate with each other. At first the
English spoken in England between abo
ut AD 450
and 1150 was very different from the English
spoken today. It was based more on G
erman than
the English we speak at present. Then gradually
between about AD 800 and 1150, E
nglish became
less like German because those who ruled England
spoken first Danish and later
French. These
new settlers enriched the English language and
especially its vocabulary. So by th
e 1600’s
Shakespeare was able to make use of a wider
vocabulary than ever before. In 1620 so
me
British settlers moved to America. Later in the
18th century some British people were taken t
o
Australia too. English began to be spoken in both
countries.
那么，随着时间的推移英语为什么发生了变化呢？实际上，当不同文化相互
交流渗透时，所有的语言
都会有所发展和变化。开始，英格兰人在大约公元450年到1150年之间所
说的英语与我们今天所说的英语
很不一样。当时的英语更多的是以德语为基础的，不像我们现在说的英语
。后来，大约在公元800年至11
50年之间，英语慢慢变得不那么像德语，因为统治英格兰的那些人
开始是说丹麦语，后来说法语。这些新
来的定居者丰富了英语语言，尤其是丰富了英语词汇。所以到17
世纪初的时候，莎士比亚能够得以使用比
以往任何时候都丰富的词汇。1620年一些英国定居者来到了
美洲，后来到了18世纪的时候，一些英国人
还被带到了澳大利亚。英语也就开始在这两个国家使用。
Finally by the 19th century the language was
settled. At that time two big changes in
English
spelling happened: first Samuel
Johnson wrote his dictionary and later Noah
Webster wrote The
American Dictionary of the
English Language. The latter gave a separate
identity to American En
glish spelling.
最后到19世纪的时候，英语这种语言就变得稳定了。当时，英语的拼写发生了两个
很大的变化：先是
塞缪尔?约翰逊编写了他的英语词典，后是诺亚?韦伯斯特出版了《美国英语词典》。
后者使得美式英语的
拼写有了其独特的个性。
English now is also
spoken as a foreign or second language in South
Asia. For example, Ind
ia has a very large
number of fluent English speakers because Britain
ruled India from 1765 to 1
947. During that
time English became the language for government
and education. English is also
spoken in
Singapore and Malaysia and countries in Africa
such as South Africa. Today the num
ber of
people learning English in China is increasing
rapidly. In fact, China may have the largest
number of English learners. Will Chinese
English develop its own identity? Only time will
tell.
现在英语在南亚地区也被作为外语或第二语言使用。比如，印度就有很多人说英语说得
很流利，因为
在1765年到1947年之间英国统治着印度。在此期间，英语成了印度政府和教育所用
的语言。在新加坡和
马来西亚以及像非洲的南非，人们现在也说英语。当今，在中国学英语的人数正在快
速增加，事实上，中
国可能是学英语人数最多的国家。中国式英语是否也能发展成一种具有自己独特个性
的语言？这还有待时
间去证明。
Using Language 语言运用
STANDARD ENGLISH AND DIALECTS
What is
standard English? Is it spoken in Britain, the US,
Canada, Australia, India and New
Zealand?
Believe it or not, there is no such thing as
standard English. Many people believe the
English spoken on TV and the radio is standard
English. This is because in the early days of
ra
dio, those who reported the news were
expected to speak excellent English. However, on
TV and
the radio you will hear differences in
the way people speak.
When people use words
and expressions different form “standard
language”, it is called a dial
ect. American
English has many dialects, especially the
midwestern, southern, African American a
nd
Spanish dialects. Even in some parts of the USA,
two people from neighbouring towns speak
a
little differently. American English has so many
dialects because people have come from all
ov
er the world.
Geography also plays a
part in making dialects. Some people who live in
the mountains of t
he eastern USA speak with an
older kind of English dialect. When Americans
moved form one pl
ace to another, they took
their dialects with them. So people from the
mountains in the southeast
ern USA speak with
almost the same dialect as people in the
northwestern USA. The USA is a l
arge
country in which many different dialects are
spoken. Although many Americans move a lot,
t
hey still recognize and understand each
other’s dialects.
什么是标准英语？是在英国、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚、印
度、新西兰所说的英语吗？信不信由你，
（世界上）没有什么标准英语。许多人认为，电视和收音机里所
说的英语就是标准英语，这是因为在早期
的电台节目里，人们期望新闻播音员所说的英语是最好的英语。
然而，在电视和收音机里，你也会听出人
们在说话时的差异。
当人们使用不同于“标准语
言”的词语和表达时，那就叫做方言。美国英语有许多方言，特别是中西部地
区和南部地区的方言，以及
美国黑人和西班牙人的方言。即使在美国有些地区，两个相邻城镇的人所说的
方言也可能稍有不同。美国
英语之所以有这么多的方言是因为美国人是来自世界各地的缘故。
地理位置对方言的形成也有所影
响。住在美国东部山区的一些人说着比较古老的英语方言。当美国人
从一个地方搬到另一个地方时，他们
也就把他们的方言随着带去了。因此，美国东南部山区的人同美国西
北部的人所说的方言就几乎相同。美
国是一个大国，有着许许多多彼此不同的方言。虽然许多美国人经常
搬家，但是他们仍然能够辨别和理解
彼此的方言。
Reading and speaking 读与说
1
Amy and her American friends are visiting London.
They plan to visit Amy’s aunt and deci
de to go
there by underground, but cannot find the nearest
underground station. So she asks dir
ections
and then tells her friends. Read the dialogue and
circle the words that mean the same.
1 艾米和她
的美国朋友正在参观伦敦。她们计划去拜访艾米的姑妈，并决定乘地铁去，但是她们找不
到最近的地铁站
。所以她问问了路，然后告诉她的朋友。读对话，然后圈出意思相同的词。
AMY:
Excuse me, Ma’ma. Could you tell me where the
nearest subways is?
LADY: Er...the
underground? Well, go round the corner on your
left-hand side, straight on an
d cross two
streets. It’ll be on your right-hand side.
AMY: Thanks so much.
FRIENDS: What did she
say, Amy?
AMY: She told us to go around the
corner on the left and keep going straight for two
blocks.
The subway will be on our right.
艾米：对不起，夫人，你能告诉我去最近的地铁站怎么走吗？
夫人：呃……地铁？哦，往左边拐过去，一直往前走，走过两条街，地铁就是右边。
艾米：多谢了。
朋友：艾米，她说什么？
艾米：她叫我们往左边拐过去，一直往前走，走过两条街，地铁就是右边。
【意思相同的词】
subway←→underground （地铁）
right-hand
side←→right （右边）
street←→block 街道，街区
第三单元 Travel journal JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG
PART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PLAN
My name
is Wang Kun. Ever since middle school, my sister
Wang Wei and I have dreamed
about taking a
great bike trip. Two years ago she bought an
expensive mountain bike and then s
he persuaded
me to buy one. Last year, she visited our cousins,
Dao Wei and Yu Hang at their
college in
Kunming. They are Dai and grew up in western
Yunnan Province near the Lancang Ri
ver, the
Chinese part of the river that is called the
Mekong River in other countries. Wang Wei s
oon
got them interested in cycling too. After
graduating from finally got the chance to
t
ake a bike trip. I asked my sister, are we
going?It was my sister who first had the ide
a
to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where
it begins to where it ends. Now she is
plan
ning our schedule for the trip.
I am
fond of my sister but she has one serious
shortcoming. She can be really stubborn.
Alt
hough she didn't know the best way of
getting to places, she insisted that she organize
the trip
properly. Now, I know that the proper
way is always her way. I kept asking her, are we
l
eaving and when are we coming back?I asked
her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of
c
ourse, she hadn't; my sister doesn't care
about details. So I told her that the source of
the Meko
ng is in Qinghai Province. She gave me
a determined look—the kind that said she would not
cha
nge her mind. When I told her that
our journey would begin at an altitude of more
than 5,000 m
etres, she seemed to be excited
about it. When I told her the air would be hard to
breathe and i
t would be very cold, she said it
would be an interesting experience. I know my
sister well. Once
she has made up her mind,
nothing can change it. Finally, I had to give in.
Several months before our trip,Wang Wei and
I went to the library. We found a large atlas
w
ith good maps that showed details of world
geography. From the atlas we could see that the
Me
kong River begins in a glacier on a Tibetan
mountain. At first the river is small and the
water is
clear and cold. Then it begins to
move quickly. It becomes rapids as it passes
through deep vall
eys, travelling across
western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river
becomes a waterfall and ent
ers wide valleys.
We were both surprised to learn that half of the
river is in China. After it leaves
China and
the high altitude,the Mekong becomes wide，brown
and warm. As it enters Southeast
Asia, its
pace slows. It makes wide bends or meanders
through low valleys to the plains where ri
ce
grows. At last, the river delta enters the South
China Sea.
沿湄公河而下的旅行
第一部分 梦想与计划
我的名字叫王坤。从高中起，我姐姐和我就一直梦想作一次伟大的自行车旅行。两年前，她买了一辆
价钱
昂贵的山地自行车，然后她还说服我也买了一辆。去年她去看望了我们的表兄弟—在昆明读大学的刀
伟和
宇航。他们是傣族人，在云南省西部靠近澜沧江的地方长大，湄公河在中国境内的这一段叫澜沧江，
流经
其他国家后就叫湄公河。很快，王薇使表兄弟也对骑车旅行产生了兴趣。到大学毕业后，我们终于有
了作
一次骑车旅行的机会。我问姐姐：“我们要去哪里？”首先想到要沿湄公河从源头到终点骑车旅行的是我
的姐姐。现在，她正为这次旅行制订计划。
我很喜欢我姐姐，但是她有一个严重的缺点，她有时确
实很固执。尽管她对到某些地方的最佳路线并
不清楚，她却坚持要把这次旅行安排的尽善尽美。现在我知
道了这个尽善尽美的方式总是她的方式。我老
是问她：“我们什么时候动身？什么时候回来？”我问她是
否已经看过地图。当然她并没有看过，我的姐姐是
不会考虑细节的。于是我告诉她湄公河的源头在青海省
。她给了我一个坚定的眼神—这种眼神表明她是不
会改变主意的。当我告诉她我们的旅行将从5000多
米的的高地出发时，她似乎显得很兴奋。当我告诉她那
里空气稀薄，呼吸会很困难，而且天气会很冷时，
她却说这将是一次很有趣的经历。我非常了解我的姐姐，
她一旦下了决心，就什么也不能使她改变。最后
，我只好让步了。
在我们旅行前的几个月，王薇和我去了图书馆。我们找到了一本
大型的地图册，里面有一些世界地理
的明细图。我们从图上可以看到，湄公河源于西藏一座山上的冰川。
起初，河很小，河水清澈而冷冽，然
后它开始快速流动。它穿过深谷时就变成了急流。流经云南西部。有
时，这条河形成瀑布进入宽阔的峡谷。
我们惊奇的发现这条河有一半是在中国境内。当流出中国，流出高
地后，湄公河就变宽，变暖了。河水也
变成了黄褐色。而当它进入东南亚以后，流速减慢，河水变宽慢慢
地穿过低谷，到了长着稻谷的平原。最
后，湄公河三角洲的各支流流入中国南海。
Reading and discussing
JOURNEY DOWN THE
MEKONG
PART 2 A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS
Although it was autumn, the snow was already
beginning to fall in legs were so he
avy and
cold that they felt like blocks of ice. Have you
ever seen snowmen ride bicycles? That's
what
we looked like! Along the way children dressed in
long wool coats stopped to look at us. I
n the
late afternoon we found it was so cold that our
water bottles r,the lakes shone
like glass in
the setting sun and looked Wei rode in front of
me as is
very reliable and I knew I did't
need to encourage climb the mountains was hard
work b
ut as we looked around us,we were
surprised by the seemed to be able to see for
mile
one point we were so high that we found
ourselves cycling through we began g
oing down
the was great fun especially as it gradually
became much the valleys
colourful butterflies
flew around us and we saw many yaks and sheep
eating green this
point we had to change our
caps,coats,gloves and trousers for T-shirts and
shorts.
In the early evening we always stop
to make put up our tent and then we
supper
Wang Wei put her head down on her pillow and went
to sleep but I stayed mi
dnight the sky became
clearer and the stars grew brighter. It was so
was almost no
wind-only the flames of our fire
for I lay beneath the stars I thought about how
far
we had already travelled.
We will
reach Dali in Yunnan Province soon,where our
cousins Dao Wei and Yu Hang will jo
in can
hardly wait to see them!
Unit 4 Earthquakes
Reading A NIGHT THE EARTH DIDN'T SLEEP
Strange things were happening in the
countryside of northeast three days the water
in the village wells rose and fell,rose and s
noticed that the well walls had deep crack
s in
them.A smelly gas came out of the the
farmyards,the chickens and even the pigs
were
too nervois to ran out of the fields looking for
places to jumped out of th
eir bowls and
about 3:00 am on july 28,1976,some people saw
bright lights in the sky.T
he sound of planes
could be heard outside the city of Tangshan even
when no planes were in t
he the city,the water
pipes in some buildings cracked and the one
million people
of the city,who thiught little
of these events,were asleep as usual that night.
At 3:42 am everything began to seemed as if
the world was at an end!Eleven kilom
etres
directly below the city the greatest earthquake of
the 20th century had was felt in
Beijing,which is more than two hundred
kilometres -third of the nation felt it.A huge
crac
k that was eight kilometres long and
thirty metres wide cut across houses,roads and
m burst from holes in the hills of rock
became rivers of fifteen terrible seconds
a
large city lay in suffering of the people was
-thirds of them died or were
left without
number of people who were killed or injured
reached more than 400,00
0.
But how could
the survivors believe it was natural?Everywhere
they looked nearly everything
was of the
city's hospitals,75%of its factories and buildings
and 90% of its homes w
ere covered the ground
like red autumn wind,however,could blow them
awa
dams fell and most of the bridges also
fell or were not safe for railway track
s were
now useless pieces of of thousands of cows would
never give milk
a million oigs and millions
of chickens were now filled the wells instead of
e were ,later that afternoon,another big quake
which was almost as strong as the fir
st one
shook of the rescue workers and doctors were
trapped under the ruins.M
ore buildings fell
,food,and electricity were hard to begab to
wonder how lo
ng the disaster would last.
All hope was not after the quakes,the army sent
150,000 soldiers to Tangshan to h
elp the
rescue ds of thousands of people were army
organized teams t
o dig out those who were
trapped and to bury the the north of the
city,most of the 10,0
00 miners were rescued
from the coal mines s built shelters for survivors
whose hom
es had been water was taken to the
city bu train,truck and ,the city
began to
breathe again.
Office of the City Government
Tangshan,Hebei
China
July5,2007
Dear____,
Congratulations!We are pleased to tell you that
you have won the high school speaking
comp
etition about new Tangshan. Your speech
was heard by a group of five judges, all of whom
agre
ed that it was the best one this year.
Your parents and your school should be very proud
of yo
u!
Next month the city will open a
new park to honour those who died in the terrible
disaster. T
he park will also honour those who
helped the survivors. Our office would like to
have you speak
to the park vistors on July 28
at 11:00 am. As you know,this is the day the quake
happened thi
rty-____years ago.
We invite
you to bring your family and friends on that
special day.
Sincerely,
Zhang Sha
Unit 5 ELIAS’ STORY
My name is Elias. I
am a poor black worker in South Africa. The time
when I first met Nelso
n Mandela was a very
difficult period of my life. I was twelve years
old. It was in 1952 and Man
dela was the black
lawyer to whom I went for advice. He offered
guidance to poor black people
on their legal
problems. He was generous with his time, for which
I was grateful.
I needed his help because I
had very little education. I began school at six.
The school wher
e I studied for only two years
was three kilometers away. I had to leave because
my family coul
d not continue to pay the school
fees and the bus fare. I could not read or write
well. After tryin
g hard, I got a job in a gold
mine. However, this was a time when one had got to
have a passb
ook to live in Johannesburg. Sadly
I did not have it because I was not born there,
and I worried
about whether I would become out
of work.
The day when Nelson Mandela
helped me was one of my happiest. He told my how
to get t
he correct papers so I could stay in
Johannesburg. I became more hopeful about my
future. I ne
ver forgot how kind Mandela was.
When he organized the ANC Youth League, I joined
it as soo
n as I could. He said:
“The
last thirty years have seen the greatest number of
laws stopping our rights and progres
s, until
today we have reached a stage where we have almost
no rights at all.”
It was the truth. Black
people could not vote or choose their leaders.
They could not get the
jobs they wanted. The
parts of town in which they had to live were
decided by white people. Th
e places outside
the towns where they were sent to live were the
poorest parts of South Africa.
No one could
grow food there. In fact as Nelson Mandela said:
“…we were put into a position in which we
had either to accept we were less important or
fi
ght the government. We chose to attack the
laws. We first broke the law in a way which was
pe
aceful; when this was not allowed…only then
did we decide to answer violence with violence.
As a matter of fact, I do not like
violence…but in 1963 I helped him blow up some
governm
ent buildings. It was very dangerous
because if I was caught I could be put in prison.
But I was
happy to help because I knew it
would help us achieve our dream of making black
and white pe
ople equal.
THE REST OF
ELIAS' STORY
You cannot imagine how the name
of Robben Island made us afraid. It was a prison
from w
hich no one escaped. There I spent the
hardest time of my life. But when I got there
Nelsom M
andela was also there and he helped
me. Mr Mandela began a school for those of us who
had l
ittle learning. He taught us during the
lunch breaks and the evenings when we should have
been
asleep. We read books under our blankets
and used anything we could find to make candles
to
see the words. I became a good student. I
wanted to study for my degree but I was not
allowe
d to do that. Later, Mr Mandela allowed
the prison guards to join us. He said they should
not be
stopped from studying for their
degrees. They were not cleverer than me , but they
did pass the
ir exams. So I knwe I could get a
degree too. That made me feel good about myself.
When I finished the four years in prison, I
went to find a job. Since I was better educated,
I
got a job working in an office. However, the
police found out and told my boss that I had
been
in prinson for blowing up government
buildings. So I lost my job. I did not work again
for twenty
years until M r Mandela and the ANC
came to power in 1994. All that time my wife and
childre
n had to beg for good and help
from relatives or friends. Luckily Mr Mandela
remembered me an
d gave me a job taking
tourists around my old prison on Robben Islannd. I
felt bad the first time
I talked to a group.
All the terror and fear of that time came back to
me. I remembered the bea
tings and the cruelty
of the guards and my friends who had died. I felt
I would not be able to do
it, but my family
encouraged me. They said that the job and the pay
from the new South Africa
n government were my
reward after working all my life for equal rights
for the Blacks. So now at
51 I am proud to
show visitors over the prison, for I helped to
make our people free in their ow
n land.