人教版高中英语课文原文和翻译_必修1
酸菜鱼的做法和步骤图-安全心得
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 thoughts?
Or are you
afraid that your friend would laugh at you, or
would not understand what you are
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 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
to be my friend, and I shall call my
friend Kitty.” Now read how she felt after being
in the 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。
[来源:学科网]
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
sky, the song of the
birds, moonlight and flowers could never have kept
me spellbound. That’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
windows. 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。 [来源:学#科#网Z#X#X#K]
„„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
[来源:学科网]
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
fallen 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？[来源:学+科+网]
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 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
communicating 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
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
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„„
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 express
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
？
[来源:学科网ZXXK]
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
them lived in England. Later in the next
century, people from England made voyages to
conquer
other parts of the world and because
of that, English began to be spoken in many other
countries.
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 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 cultures
meet and communicate with each other. At first
the English spoken in England between about
AD
450 and 1150 was very different from the English
spoken today. It was based more on German
than
the English we speak at present. Then gradually
between about AD 800 and 1150, English
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 the 1600’s
Shakespeare 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. 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。
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
English
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, 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
spoken in
Singapore and Malaysia and countries in Africa
such as South Africa. Today the number
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 radio, 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.[来源:学科网ZXXK]
When people use words and expressions
different form “standard language”, it is called a
dialect.
American English has many dialects,
especially the midwestern, southern, African
American and
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 over
the world.[来源:学#科#网Z#X#X#K]
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
country in which many different
dialects are spoken. Although many Americans move
a lot, they
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
decide
to go there by underground, but cannot
find the nearest underground station. So she asks
directions 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
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？[来源:学科网ZXXK]
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
she 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 River,
the Chinese part of the river
that is called the Mekong River in other
countries. Wang Wei soon
got them interested
in cycling too. After graduating from finally got
the chance to take
a bike trip. I asked my
sister, 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. Although
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,
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
Qinghai 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 seemed to be excited about
it. When I told her the air would be hard to
breathe and it 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
with good maps that showed details of world
geography. From the atlas we could see that the
Mekong 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 valleys,
travelling across
western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river
becomes a waterfall and enters
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
rice
grows. At last, the river delta enters the South
China Sea.[来源:]
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500
0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<
br>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
[来源:学,科,网]
PART 2 A NIGHT IN
THE MOUNTAINS
Although it was autumn, the
snow was already beginning to fall in legs were
so heavy
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
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 but as we
looked
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 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
midnight 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 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
in
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
too 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 of 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 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 kilometres
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
crack that was eight kilometres long and
thirty metres wide cut across houses,roads and
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 400,000.
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 were
covered the ground like
red autumn wind,however,could blow them
dams
fell and most of the bridges also fell or were not
safe for railway
tracks 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
were
,later that afternoon,another big quake which was
almost as
strong as the first one shook of
the rescue workers and doctors were trapped
under the buildings fell ,food,and
electricity were hard to
begab to wonder how
long the disaster would last.
All hope
was not after the quakes,the army sent 150,000
soldiers to Tangshan to help
the rescue ds of
thousands of people were army organized teams to
dig out those who were trapped and to bury the
the north of the city,most of the 10,000
miners were rescued from the coal mines s
built shelters for survivors whose homes
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
competition about new Tangshan. Your speech
was heard by a group of five judges, all of whom
agreed that 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
the 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.
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 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 the
correct papers so I could stay in
Johannesburg. I became more hopeful about my
future. I never
forgot 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
jobs
they wanted. The parts of town in which
they had to live were decided by white people. The
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 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 happy
to help because I
knew it would help us achieve our dream of making
black and white people
equal.
THE
REST OF ELIAS' STORY
You cannot imagine
how the name of Robben Island made us afraid. It
was a prison from which
no one escaped. There
I spent the hardest time of my life. But when I
got there Nelsom Mandela
was also there and he
helped me. Mr Mandela began a school for those of
us who had little
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 allowed 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 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 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
children
had to beg 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 group.
All the terror and fear of that time came back to
me. I remembered the
beatings 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
African 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 own land.