自由路漫漫美文
Then I slowly saw that not only was I not free, but my brothers and sisters were not free. I saw that it was not just my freedom that was curtailed, but the freedom of everyone who looked like I did. That is when I joined the African National Congress, and that is when the hunger for my own freedom became the greater hunger for the freedom of my people. The chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me. It was during these long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.
我漸漸發現不光是我失去了自由，我的兄弟姐妹也失去了自由。 不光我的自由被大打折扣。看起來和我的一樣的所有其他人的自由都被大打折扣。在我加入非洲國民大會的時候，也就是當我從追求個人的自由轉變為追求人民的自由的時候。加於每一個人身上的枷鎖，就是加於全體人民身上的；加於全體人民身上的枷鎖就是加於我身上的枷鎖。正是在那些漫長而又孤獨的歲月裡，我從為我自己的民族鬥爭轉變成為全體的人民——白人和黑人，追求自由的奮鬥。我深知正如其他事情一樣，壓迫者和被壓迫者同樣必須得到解放。
When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that that is not the case. The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.
當我步出監獄的`時候，我就把解放被壓迫者以及壓迫者視為我的使命。有人說這使命已經完成，但我知道並非如此，事實上我們並沒有獲得自由，我們只是獲得爭取自由的自由，獲得了不被壓迫的自由，我們的征程才剛剛開始，我們剛剛踏出這艱苦而又漫長的征程的第一步。在通往自由的道路上我走了很久。我努力不讓自己止步。在這條路上我也曾迷失過，但我卻發現了一個秘密，就是當爬過一座高山後，才發現原來還有更多的山要攀登，我只是在這裡稍加歇息，看一看身邊的美好風景，回顧一下自己所走過的路，但我只能稍作停留，因為隨著自由而來的還有責任，我不敢逗留，漫長的旅途還未到盡頭。