Mandela’s Garden

1. Mandela’s Garden by Nelson Mandela (1993 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate)

2. Reading selectively or Extensively Knowledge is power./ Everybody knows it. /the main way for us students to gain knowledge is from the books. /So some students argue that/ we should read extensively in order to know something about everything,/ thus broadening our knowledge and enriching experience/As books are of different kinds and have different content/, so some students argue that we should read selectively,/ that is to read those book /which are of benefits both to our mind and body and dismiss those which are of no good to us/As far as I am concerned,/ I think we should selectively do extensive reading./ Knowledge is limitless while life is short./ So we should make full use of our time to do the most effective reading /and make the greatest contribution to our motherland./

3. Mandela’s Garden • Background Information • Warming-up questions • Structure analysis • Text appreciation • Language understanding

4. Background • Born: July 18, 1918 • Place of Birth: Village near Umtata(乌姆塔塔)in the Transkei(特兰斯凯), South Africa • Residence: Qunu, Transkei, South Africa • Biographical highlights: • 1944 - Joined African National Congress • 1956-61 - Tried for treason, acquitted 1961 • 1960 - ANC banned • 1961 - Formation of Umkhonto

5. June 12,1964 - Sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting to overthrow the government • 1964-1982 - Incarcerated at Robben Island Prison off Cape Town • 1982-1990 - Imprisoned at Pollsmoor Prison • February 18, 1990 - Released • 1991 - Elected president of the ANC • 1993 - Received Nobel Peace Prize • 1994 - 1999 - President of South Africa • June 16, 1994 - Formation of Nelson Mandela Children's Fund

6. Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. Since his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela has been at the center of the political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's antiapartheid movement, he was moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is respected everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality.

7. Long Walk to Freedom is his moving and autobiography, a book destined to take its place among the finest memoirs of history's greatest figures. Here for the first time, Nelson Mandela tells the extraordinary story of his life - an epic of struggle, setback, renewed hope, and ultimate triumph, which has, until now, been virtually unknown to most of the world.

8. The foster son of a Thembu chief, Mandela was raised in the traditional, tribal culture of his ancestors, but at an early age he learned the modern, reality of what came to be called apartheid, one of the most powerful and effective systems of oppression. In Long Walk to Freedom, he tells of his early years as an impoverished student and law clerk in Johannesburg(约翰内斯堡南非东北部一城市), of his slow political awakening, and of his role in the rebirth of a inactive ANC (African National Congress) and the formation of its Youth League in the 1950s. He describes the struggle to reconcile/harmonize his political activity with his devotion to his family, the hurt breakup of his first marriage, and the painful separations from his children.

9. He describes vividly the political warfare in the fifties between the ANC and the government, the notorious Rivonia Trial of 1964, at which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He tells the surprisingly eventful twenty-seven years in prison and the complex negotiations that led both to his freedom and to the beginning of the end of apartheid. Finally he provides the unforgettable events since his release that produced at last a free, multiracial democracy in South Africa. To millions of people around the world, Nelson Mandela stands, as no other living figure does, for the triumph of dignity and hope over despair and hatred, of self-discipline and love over persecution and evil.

10. Warming-up questions • How much do you know about Nelson Mandela? • What do you think is his greatest contribution to his country and whole human being? • What personality do you find about Mandela from the text? • Do you find any charisma of him as a leader and husband?

11. Structure 8 The gardening gives him satisfaction, offers a taste of freedom, and makes him strong physically and mentally. It has become a metaphor and gives him inspiration on how to be a good revolutionary leader and how to nourish important human relationship.. 9 Part 1: Description of his gardening experience (para. 1- ) Part 2: Significance of his gardening experience (para. - the end)

12. Text appreciation: concise&parataxis 1) In early 1977, the authorities announced the end of manual labor and arranged some type of work for us to do in the courtyard, so we could spend our days in our section. The end of manual labor was liberating.I could now spend the day reading, writing letters, discussing issues with my comrades, or preparing legal documents. The free time also allowed me to pursue what became two of my favorite hobbies on Robben Island: gardening and tennis.

13. 2)To survive in prison, one must develop ways to take satisfaction in one's daily life. One can feel fulfilled by washing one's clothes so that they are particularly clean, by sweeping a hallway so that it is empty of dust, by organizing one's cell to save as much space as possible. Just as one takes pride in important tasks outside of prison, one can find the same pride in doing small things inside prison. 3)Almost from the beginning of my sentence on Robben Island, I asked the authorities for permission to start a garden in the courtyard. For years, they refused without offering a reason. But eventually they gave in, and we were able to cut out a small garden on a narrow patch of earth against the far wall.

14. 4)The soil in the courtyard was dry and rocky. The courtyard had been constructed over the garage dump, and in order to start my garden, I had to remove a great many rocks to allow the plants room to grow. At the time, some of my comrades joked that I was a miner at heart, for I spent my days in a wasteland and my free time digging in the courtyard. 5)The authorities supplied me with seeds. I at first planted tomatoes, chilies, and onions ?hardy plants that did not require rich earth or constant care. The early harvests were poor, but they soon improved. The authorities did not regret giving permission, for once the garden began to flourish, I often provided the wardens with some of my best tomatoes and onions.

15. 6)While I have always enjoyed gardening, it was not until I was behind bars that I was able to tend my own garden. My first experience in the garden was at Fort Hare, as part of university's manual labor requirement, I worked in one of my professors' garden and enjoyed the contact with the soil as an alternative to my intellectual labors. Once I was in Johannesburg studying and then working, I had neither the time nor the space to start a garden. 7)I began to order books on gardening. I studied different gardening techniques and types of fertilizers. I did not have many of the materials that the books discussed, but I learned through trial and error. For a time, I attempted to grow peanuts, and used different soils and fertilizers, but finally I gave up. It was one of my few failures.

16. 8)A garden was one of the few things in prison that one could control. To plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it and harvest it, offered a simple but enduring satisfaction. The sense of being the owner of the small patch of earth offered a small taste of freedom. 9)In some ways I saw the garden as a metaphor for certain aspects of my life. Leaders must also look after their gardens; they, too, plant seeds, and then watch, cultivate, and harvest results. Like gardeners, leaders must take responsibility for what they cultivate; they must mind their work, try to drive back enemies, save what can be saved, and eliminate what can not succeed.

17. 10)I wrote Winnie two letters about a particularly beautiful tomato plant, how I made it grow from a tender seedling to a strong plant that produced deep red fruit. But then, either through some mistake or lack of care, the plant began to wither and decline, and nothing I did would bring it back to health. When it finally died, I removed the roots from the soil, washed them, and buried them in a corner of the garden.

18. 11)I told her this small story at great length. I don't know what she read into that letter, but when I wrote it I had a mixture of feelings: I did not want our relationship to go the way of that plant, and yet I felt that I had been unable to nourish many of the most important relationships in my life. Sometimes there is nothing one can do to save something that must die.

19. Language understanding 1. The end of manual work is liberating. I felt liberated from the manual work. I found Dickens’s novel very interesting. I was ____. The news was very disappointing. I felt terribly ______. The result is a bit surprising. Everybody was ______. The whole experience was exciting. We all got extremely ______.

20. 2. tosurvive in prison • vi. to remain alive or in existence: 洪水过后，生还者极少。 ----Few survived after the flood. ----Books have survived from the time of the Egyptians. • vt. to live longer than; outlive: 他比妻子多活好多年。 ----He survived his wife for many years. • to live or persist through 经过暴风雨袭击, 这所房屋并未倒塌。 ----The house survived the storm.

21. the survival of the fittest, hopes of survival the only survivor of the shipwreck send help to the survivors of the earthquake 3. …one must develop ways to take satisfaction in one’s daily life. take satisfaction in (doing) sth. to learn to enjoy sth. more phrases: find satisfaction in feel satisfaction at to sb.'s satisfaction (to the satisfaction of sb.)

22. satisfaction • satisfy, satisfied, satisfying, satisfactory, satisfaction • I had a feeling of _________ when the work was finished. • Mr. Knight give a __________ smile. • All the information was not enough to _______ me. • I am not ________ with the present situation. • After a _________ meal, you no longer feel hungry. • That certainly seems a __________ explanation. satisfactory satisfy satisfied satisfying satisfying

23. 4. …that I was a miner at heart. at by • He is an enthusiastic reformer __ _heart. • I must get this poem __ _heart. • The words were spoken ___ _the depths of her heart. • He has lost his heart ____ a very pretty young girl. • heart and soul • heart attack • break one’s heart from to

24. 5. contact • n. 各国人民的友好接触促进文化和经济交流。 Friendly contacts between different peoples facilitate the cultural and economic interchange. 她和许多人有联系。 She comes into contact with many people. a contact in Paris 在巴黎的联络人 • v. I shall contact you by telephone on Friday. • be in [out of] contact with, lose contact with • contact lenses, contact officer

25. 6. decline v. n. to slope or move downwards 他们希望物价能下降。 They wish that prices would decline. to move from a better to a worse position, or from higher to lower His power/health/influence has begun to decline now that he is old. to refuse, (usu. Politely); be unwilling We asked them to come to our party, but they declined (the invitation). the decline of the Roman Empire 罗马帝国的衰亡 the decline of life 晚年, 暮年 autumn decline 秋衰, 秋落

26. cf. • decline, to refuse politely, formal word 他谢绝提名。 He declined the nomination. • refuse, to say or show one is unwilling to give or accept sth. general word. 他拒绝接受此款。 He refused to take the money. • reject, to refuse to accept, believe, strong word 他们拒收损坏的货物。 They rejected damaged goods.

27. refuse/decline an invitation; refuse permissions; decline, reject, or turn down a suggestion; refuse, decline, reject, or turn down an offer; reject or turn down a plan or proposal. • must decline in words: The horse rejected/refused the apple.

28. 7. pursue • 警方正在追捕一个在逃的犯人。 The police are pursuing an escaped prisoner. • 她持续不断地学了五年英语。 She pursued the study of English for five years. • 他沿着河流走到它的源头。 He pursued the river to its source. • 对世界人民我们一贯奉行友好政策。 We have always pursued a friendly policy towards the people all over the world. • scholastic pursuit 学术探讨[研究]; in one's pursuit of happiness 追求幸福

29. 8. fulfill • 他们提前完成了任务。 They fulfilled their work ahead of time. • 如果他不努力,他将永远也不会实现有所成就的抱负。 If he's lazy, he'll never fulfill his ambition to achieve anything. • 她作为演员充分发挥了自己的才能。 She succeeded in fulfil(l)ing herself as an actress. • fulfil(l) one's duty 履行义务 fulfil(l) one's promise 兑现诺言 • a sense of fulfillment 满足感

30. 9. constant • He drove at a constant speed. • A thermostat keeps the temperature constant. • The machinery requires constant maintenance. • constant rain 绵绵不断的雨 constant trouble 时常发生的麻烦 a constant friend 忠实的朋友 • constancy of purpose 志向不变 size constancy 尺寸不变 constancy of temperature 温度恒定情况

31. 10. flourish • 植物在这种土地上生长得很繁茂。 Plants flourish in this earth. • He is flourishing in his new job. • The British Empire flourished in the 19th century. • 他炫耀财富。 He flourishes his wealth. • 他们领我们看遍了房子，颇有炫耀的神色。 They showed us about the house with much flourish. • in full flourish 盛极一时; 在全盛期 • flourish like the green bay-tree 事业兴旺; 飞黄腾达 (来自《圣经》)

32. 11. endure • They had spent three days in the desert without water, and could not endure much longer. • Few of the runners endured to the finish. • She endures many discomforts without complaint. • 我不能忍受音量大的音乐声。 I can't endure loud music. • 他的名望永存。 His fame will endure for ever. • Cheap cloth has little endurance. • 长跑运动员需要有很大的耐力。 Long distance runners need great endurance. • His cruelty is beyond endurance.

33. 12. eliminate • She went through the typescript carefully to eliminate all errors from it. • We eliminate most of the runners in the heats; only the best run in the final. • The platform bridge over the railroad tracks eliminated danger in crossing. • He was distressed at the elimination from the contest. 13. nourish • 牛奶供给婴儿养料。 Milk nourishes a baby. • nourish hope in one’s heart • sit up and take nourishment 病好了; 复原了

34. 14. wither • Older people are complaining that the old ethical values are withering away. • 花在寒冷的天气里凋谢了。 The flowers withered in the cold. • 她的一瞥使他无言以对。 She withered him with a look. 15. tender • tender meat 嫩肉 a tender mother 慈母 • a person of tender age [years] 年幼而未成熟的人 • 我的手指一碰就疼，因为我昨天割破了。 My finger is tender because I cut it yesterday. • She has a tenderness for cats.

35. 16. manual • of or relating to the hands manual labour 手工 a manual worker 体力劳动者 manual training 手工课 • a small reference book, especially one giving instructions. a manual for students (n.) 学生手册 descriptive manual 说明书

36. 17. bar • The bar of soap slipped from his grasp. • 他的英语很差,这是他运用新电脑软件的一个障碍。 His bad English is a bar to his using new computer software. (喻) • After finishing her legal studies she was called to the bar. (be called to the bar 获准当律师) • 他把门全闩上了。 He barred all the doors. • 我们这里禁止吸烟。 We bar smoking here. • 他是最好的学生, 无人可比。 He is the best student bar none. • behind bars 在监狱服刑

37. 18. at length * after some time; eventually: At length we arrived at our destination. * For a considerable time; fully: He described his trip to me at length. at some length 相当详尽地 • more phrases about length *cannot see beyond the length of one's nose 鼠目寸光 * find [have, get, know, take] the length of sb.'s foot 看出某人的短处; 摸透某人以便加以控制 • keep sb. at arm‘s length 对某人敬而远之 EXERCISE

38. D • There’s little chance that mankind would __ a nuclear war. A. retain B. endure C. maintain D. survive • In the past, most foresters have been men, but today, the number of women __ this field is climbing. A. engaging B. devoting C. registering D. pursuing D

39. D • In previous times, when fresh meat was in short __, pigeons were kept by many households as a source of food. A. store B. provision C. reserve D. supply • __ she wondered if she had made a mistake. A. Not until long afterwards that B. Not long until afterwards C. It was not until long afterwards that D. It was long afterwards until C

40. C • Humidity is so intense in some parts of the tropics that Europeans find they are unable to __ it. A. maintain B. persist C. endure D. sustain • She once again went through her composition carefully to __ all spelling mistakes from it. A. withdraw B. diminish C. abandon D. eliminate D

41. C • Those people __ a general understanding of the present situation. A. lack of B. are lacking of C. lack D. are in lack • last year, the crime rate in Chicago has sharply __. A. declined B. lessened C. descended D. slipped A

42. D • Crisis would be the right term to describe the __ in many animal species. A. minimization B. restriction C. descent D. decline