人教版版高中英语电子课本(必修)
澳洲论坛-新疆教育网站
人教版版高中英语电子课本(必
修)
———————————————————————————————— 作者：
———————————————————————————————— 日期：
2
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 thought
s? Or are you afraid that
your friend would laugh at you, or would not
understand what you are goi
ng 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 the
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 diary itself t
o be
my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty.” Now
read how she felt after being in the hiding
pla
ce 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 crazy
about
everything to do with nature. I can well remember
that there was a time when a deep blue
3
sky, the song of the birds,
moonlight and flowers could never have kept me
spellbound. That’s chan
ged since I was here.
…For example, when it was so warm, I stayed
awake on purpose until half past eleven one
ev
ening 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
upstair
s 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
wind
ows. 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……
4
……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 Miss
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 boy
in my class. We often do
homework together and we enjoy helping each other.
We have become
really good friends. But other
students have started gossiping. They say that
this boy and I have fal
len in love. This has
made me angry. I don’t want to end the friendship,
but I hate others 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
？
5
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 the l
etter 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 commu
nicating with people. Although I
try to talk to my classmates, I still find it hard
to make good friends
with them. So I feel
quite lonely sometimes. I do want to change this
situation, but I don’t know h
ow. 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 a
nd explain how it
will help. Each idea can make one paragraph. The
following sample and the expr
essions may help
you
Dear Xiaodong,
6
I’m sorry you are having trouble in making
friends. However, the situation is easy to change
if
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……
7
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 expr
ess your feelings and
thoughts in it. It will help you improve your
English if you write your diary 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 of t
hem lived in England.
Later in the next century, people from England
made voyages to conquer oth
er parts of the
world and because of that, English began to be
spoken in many other countries. To
day, 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。
8
Native English speakers can
understand each other even if they don’t speak the
same kind of
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 cultur
es
meet and communicate with each other. At first the
English spoken in England between about A
D 450
and 1150 was very different from the English
spoken today. It was based more on German t
han
the English we speak at present. Then gradually
between about AD 800 and 1150, English bec
ame
less like German because those who ruled England
spoken first Danish and later French. Thes
e
new settlers enriched the English language and
especially its vocabulary. So by the 1600’s
Shake
speare was able to make use of a wider
vocabulary than ever before. In 1620 some British
settlers
moved to America. Later in the 18th
century some British people were taken to
Australia too. Engli
sh 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115
0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1150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。
9
Finally by the
19th century the language was settled. At that
time two big changes in English s
pelling
happened: first Samuel Johnson wrote his
dictionary and later Noah Webster wrote The
Ame
rican Dictionary of the English Language.
The latter gave a separate identity to American
English sp
elling.
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, India
has
a very large number of fluent English speakers
because Britain ruled India from 1765 to 1947.
During that time English became the language for
government and education. English is also
spoke
n in Singapore and Malaysia and countries
in Africa such as South Africa. Today the number
of pe
ople 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1
765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
Ze
aland? Believe it or not, there is no such
thing as standard English. Many people believe the
Englis
h spoken on TV and the radio is standard
English. This is because in the early days of
radio, thos
e 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.
10
When people use words and expressions different
form “standard language”, it is called a
dialec
t. American English has many dialects,
especially the midwestern, southern, African
American and S
panish 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 over the wor
ld.
Geography
also plays a part in making dialects. Some people
who live in the mountains of the
eastern USA
speak with an older kind of English dialect. When
Americans moved form one place to
another,
they took their dialects with them. So people from
the mountains in the southeastern USA
speak
with almost the same dialect as people in the
northwestern USA. The USA is a large countr
y
in which many different dialects are spoken.
Although many Americans move a lot, they still
recog
nize 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
11
1 Amy and her American friends
are visiting London. They plan to visit Amy’s aunt
and decide
to go there by underground, but
cannot find the nearest underground station. So
she asks direction
s 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 and
c
ross 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. T
he 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）
12
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 ab
out taking a great bike trip. Two
years ago she bought an expensive mountain bike
and then she p
ersuaded 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 River, the
Chinese part of the river
that is called the Mekong River in other
countries. Wang Wei soon got the
m interested
in cycling too. After graduating from finally got
the chance to take a bike tri
p. I asked my
sister, are we going?It was my sister who first
had the idea to cycle along
the entire Mekong
River from where it begins to where it ends. Now
she is planning our schedule
for the trip.
I am fond of my sister but she has one
serious shortcoming. She can be really stubborn.
Altho
ugh she didn't know the best way of
getting to places, she insisted that she organize
the trip prope
rly. Now, I know that the proper
way is always her way. I kept asking her, are we
leaving a
nd when are we coming back?I asked
her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of
course, she
hadn't; my sister doesn't care
about details. So I told her that the source of
the Mekong is in Qingh
ai Province. She gave me
a determined look—the kind that said she would not
change her mind.
When I told her that our
journey would begin at an altitude of more than
5,000 metres, she seeme
d to be excited about
it. When I told her the air would be hard to
breathe and it would be very col
d, she said it
would be an interesting experience. I know my
sister well. Once she has made up he
r 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
with
good maps that showed details of world
geography. From the atlas we could see that the
Mekong
13
River begins in
a glacier on a Tibetan mountain. At first the
river is small and the water is clear a
nd
cold. Then it begins to move quickly. It becomes
rapids as it passes through deep valleys,
travel
ling across western Yunnan Province.
Sometimes the river becomes a waterfall and enters
wide vall
eys. We were both surprised to learn
that half of the river is in China. After it
leaves China and th
e high altitude,the Mekong
becomes wide，brown and warm. As it enters
Southeast Asia, its pace sl
ows. It makes wide
bends or meanders through low valleys to the
plains where rice 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
14
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 heav
y 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. In the lat
e 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 reliabl
e and I knew I did't need to
encourage climb the mountains was hard work but
as we looke
d around us,we were surprised by
the seemed to be able to see for one point
we
were so high that we found ourselves
cycling through we began going down the
was
great fun especially as it gradually became much
the valleys colourful butterflies fle
w 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 s
upper
Wang Wei put her head down on her pillow and went
to sleep but I stayed midnig
ht the sky became
clearer and the stars grew brighter. It was so
was almost no wind-o
nly the flames of our fire
for I lay beneath the stars I thought about how
far we had al
ready travelled.
15
We will reach Dali in Yunnan
Province soon,where our cousins Dao Wei and Yu
Hang will join
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 i
n the village wells rose and fell,rose
and s noticed that the well walls had deep cracks
in
them.A smelly gas came out of the the
farmyards,the chickens and even the pigs were
t
oo nervois to ran out of the fields looking
for places to jumped out of their bowls
and
about 3:00 am on july 28,1976,some people saw
bright lights in the sound o
f planes could be
heard outside the city of Tangshan even when no
planes were in the the
city,the water pipes
in some buildings cracked and the one million
people of the city,who t
hiught 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 kilometr
es directly
below the city the greatest earthquake of the 20th
century had was felt in Beijin
g,which is more
than two hundred kilometres -third of the nation
felt it.A huge crack that
was eight kilometres
long and thirty metres wide cut across
houses,roads and burst fr
om 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 p
number of people who were killed or
injured reached more than 400,000.
But how
could the survivors believe it was
natural?Everywhere they looked nearly everything
wa
s of the city's hospitals,75%of its
factories and buildings and 90% of its homes were
g
covered the ground like red autumn
wind,however,could blow them d
ams fell and
most of the bridges also fell or were not safe for
railway tracks were no
w 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 were shocked.
Then,later
that afternoon,another big quake which was almost
as strong as the first one shook Tang
16
of the rescue workers and doctors
were trapped under the buildings fell
down.
Water,food,and electricity were hard to
begab to wonder how long the disaster would
las
t.
All hope was not after the
quakes,the army sent 150,000 soldiers to Tangshan
to hel
p the rescue ds of thousands of people
were army organized teams to di
g out those
who were trapped and to bury the the north of the
city,most of the 10,000 min
ers were rescued
from the coal mines s built shelters for survivors
whose homes had b
een water was taken to the
city bu train,truck and ,the city began to
br
eathe 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
competi
tion about new Tangshan. Your speech
was heard by a group of five judges, all of whom
agreed th
at it was the best one this year.
Your parents and your school should be very proud
of you!
Next month the city will open a new
park to honour those who died in the terrible
disaster. The
park will also honour those who
helped the survivors. Our office would like to
have you speak to t
he park vistors on July 28
at 11:00 am. As you know,this is the day the quake
happened thirty-___
_years ago.
We invite
you to bring your family and friends on that
special day.
17
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
Nelson
Mandela was a very difficult period of
my life. I was twelve years old. It was in 1952
and Mandela
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 where
I studied for only two years was three
kilometers away. I had to leave because my family
could not
continue to pay the school fees and
the bus fare. I could not read or write well.
After trying hard,
I got a job in a gold mine.
However, this was a time when one had got to have
a passbook to live
in Johannesburg. Sadly I
did not have it because I was not born there, and
I worried about wheth
er I would become out of
work.
The day when Nelson Mandela helped me
was one of my happiest. He told my how to get
the
correct papers so I could stay in
Johannesburg. I became more hopeful about my
future. I never f
orgot how kind Mandela was.
When he organized the ANC Youth League, I joined
it as soon as I
could. He said:
“The
last thirty years have seen the greatest number of
laws stopping our rights and progress,
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 jo
bs they wanted. The
parts of town in which they had to live were
decided by white people. The pla
ces 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:
18
“…we were put into a
position in which we had either to accept we were
less important or fight
the government. We
chose to attack the laws. We first broke the law
in a way which was peaceful;
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 government
buildings. It was very
dangerous because if I was caught I could be put
in prison. But I was happ
y to help because I
knew it would help us achieve our dream of making
black and white people eq
ual.
THE REST
OF ELIAS' STORY
You cannot imagine how the
name of Robben Island made us afraid. It was a
prison from whic
h no one escaped. There I
spent the hardest time of my life. But when I got
there Nelsom Mandel
a was also there and he
helped me. Mr Mandela began a school for those of
us who had little lear
ning. He taught us
during the lunch breaks and the evenings when we
should have been asleep. W
e read books under
our blankets and used anything we could find to
make candles to see the word
s. I became a good
student. I wanted to study for my degree but I was
not allowed to do that. Lat
er, Mr Mandela
allowed the prison guards to join us. He said they
should not be stopped from stud
ying for their
degrees. They were not cleverer than me , but they
did pass their 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
go
t a job working in an office. However, the
police found out and told my boss that I had been
in pri
nson for blowing up government
buildings. So I lost my job. I did not work again
for twenty years u
ntil M r Mandela and the ANC
came to power in 1994. All that time my wife and
children had to b
eg for good and help from
relatives or friends. Luckily Mr Mandela
remembered me and gave me a
job taking
tourists around my old prison on Robben Islannd. I
felt bad the first time I talked to a g
roup.
All the terror and fear of that time came back to
me. I remembered the beatings and the cru
elty
of the guards and my friends who had died. I felt
I would not be able to do it, but my family
e
19
ncouraged me. They
said that the job and the pay from the new South
African government were m
y 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 own land.
20