TED演讲:本世纪最大的不公(6)

 　　Let me tell you about Beatrice Biira.  下面这个故事有关碧翠斯，比拉.

　　Beatrice was living in Uganda  碧翠斯住在乌干达，

　　near the Congo border,  刚果边界附近，

　　and like Dai Manju, she didn't go to school.  和戴曼君一样，她失学了。

　　Actually, she had never been to school,  其实她从未去过学校，

　　not to a lick¹, one day.  一点都没有。

　　Her parents, again, said,  她的父母也说，

　　"Why should we spend the money on her?  “我们为什么要在她身上花钱？

　　She's going to spend most of her life lugging² water back and forth³."  她这辈子都只需要来来回回运水。”

　　Well, it just so happens, at that time,  那时候她确实只是来来回回运水。

　　there was a group in Connecticut  在康涅狄格州有一个团体，

　　called the Niantic Community Church Group in Connecticut.  名为“康涅狄格州奈安蒂克教会”。

　　They made a donation⁴ to an organization  他们给一个

　　based in Arkansas  位于阿肯色州德名为“小母牛”的

　　called Heifer International.  国际慈善组织捐款。

　　Heifer sent two goats to Africa.  “小母牛”送了两头山羊去非洲。

　　One of them ended up with Beatrice's parents,  其中一头最后给了碧翠斯的父母。

　　and that goat had twins.  那头山羊后来生了双胞胎。

　　The twins started producing milk.  双胞胎小山羊开始产奶。

　　They sold the milk for cash.  他们卖山羊奶赚钱。

　　The cash started accumulating,  钱越来越多，

　　and pretty soon the parents said,  有一天她父母说，

　　"You know, we've got enough money. Let's send Beatrice to school."  “既然我们有了足够的钱，就送碧翠斯去上学吧。”

　　So at nine years of age,  所以在她九岁时，

　　Beatrice started in first grade --  碧翠斯开始读小学一年级--

　　after all, she'd never been to a lick of school --  完全从头开始--

　　with a six year-old.  和一群六岁的孩子一起。

　　No matter, she was just delighted to be in school.  尽管如此她非常高兴。

　　She rocketed to the top of her class.  她很快赶上进度并成为了最好的学生。

　　She stayed at the top of her class  她始终保持着第一名，

　　through elementary school, middle school,  小学，中学，

　　and then in high school,  一直到高中，

　　she scored brilliantly on the national examinations  她在全国统考中考了非常棒的分数，

　　so that she became the first person in her village,  于是她成为他们村子里，

　　ever, to come to the United⁵ States  第一个拿奖学金，

　　on scholarship⁶.  来到美国的人。

　　Two years ago,  两年前，

　　she graduated from Connecticut College.  她从康奈迪格学院毕业了。

　　On the day of her graduation,  毕业那天，

　　she said, "I am the luckiest girl alive  她说，“我如此幸运地活着，

　　because of a goat."  多亏一头山羊。”

　　And that goat was $120.  那头山羊价值120美金。

1 lick   

vt.舔（吃），打败，轻拍，吞卷；n.舔，少许

参考例句：

• I think we could lick the best teams there.我想我们能打败那儿最好的队。
• The house would look better with a lick of paint.这房子稍加颜色就好看了。

2 lugging   

超载运转能力

参考例句：

• I would smile when I saw him lugging his golf bags into the office. 看到他把高尔夫球袋拖进办公室，我就笑一笑。 来自辞典例句
• As a general guide, S＄1 should be adequate for baggage-lugging service. 一般的准则是，如有人帮你搬运行李，给一新元就够了。 来自互联网

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 donation   

n.捐赠，捐献，捐助；捐赠物

参考例句：

• She made a personal donation to the fund.她以个人名义向基金会捐款。
• Then next big donation of musical instruments came from Germany.第二笔音乐乐器的大型捐助来自德国。

5 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

6 scholarship   

n.学问，学术成就，奖学金

参考例句：

• The girl who won the scholarship was quite outstanding.得奖学金的女孩是相当杰出的。
• I made up my mind to apply for a scholarship.我决定申请奖学金。