高考英语 考前突破阅读理解能力 文化教育 曼德拉获释之历史回顾素材.docVIP

曼德拉获释之历史回顾 It is one of the supreme ironies that on 11 February 1990, the day that Nelson Mandela was released after 27-and-a-half years in prison, the event that much of South Africa and the rest of the world had been waiting decades for, the country was not ready for him. 在1990年2月11日，被囚禁27年半的的曼德拉终于获释，这真是个极大的讽刺。因为大部分南非人和世界上其他人民都等这一刻数十年了，这个国家还没有准备好迎接他的变革。 ? The iconic image of that moment – a lean, beaming（喜气洋洋的） Mandela in a dark suit emerging from Victor Verster prison holding hands with Winnie, both raising triumphant（得意洋洋的） clenched fist salutes – belied the chaos around them. ? The first person to shake Mandelas hand as he exited the prison gates was John Battersby, a journalist with the Christian Science Monitor, who had arrived on the scene five minutes before only to walk straight into Mandela, who greeted him with his trademark bonhomie (much to the chagrin懊恼，委屈 of the rest of the journalist pack, who had been waiting outside the gates for 11 hours). ? The release, at 5 pm, was an hour late. Mandela had not been seen in public in almost three decades, and that was in 1962, 14 years beforeSouth Africa got television. He had been absent all that time. Yet in his absence he had grown ever more present. ? The convoy stopped a few times so that Mandela could get out and speak to ordinary South Africans along the route. People stared dazed and disbelieving as the convoy made its slow, 40-mile journey to downtown Cape Town. ? In the city centre, the expectant crowd of more than 60,000 crushed into the Grand Parade in front of the City Hall, and in the extreme heat, grew restless. Late afternoon gave way to evening and hundreds of people fainted and had to be treated by the first-aid ambulances. Skirmishes broke out and a number of people were shot by police. ? All eyes were on the balcony where Mandela was to make his appearance. Familiar faces showed themselves to polite cheering, but people had not come to see Allan Boesak or Jesse Jackson. When Mandela and ento