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I'm a storyteller. And I would like to tell you a few personal stories about what I like to call "the danger of the single story."
我是個說書之人。在這里，我想和大家分享一些我本人的故事，一些關于所謂的“單一故事的危險性”的經歷。
I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.
我成長在尼日利亞東部的一所大學校園里。
My mother says that I started reading at the age of two, although I think four is probably close to the truth.
我母親常說我從兩歲起就開始讀書，不過我覺得“四歲起”比較接近事實。
So I was an early reader, and what I read were British and American children's books.
所以我從小就開始讀書，讀的是英國和美國的兒童書籍。
I was also an early writer, and when I began to write, at about the age of seven,
我也是從小就開始寫作。當我在七歲那年，
stories in pencil with crayon illustrations that my poor mother was obligated to read,
開始強迫我可憐的母親閱讀我用鉛筆寫好的故事外加上蠟筆描繪的插圖時，
I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading:
我所寫的故事正如我所讀到的故事那般。
All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples,
我故事里的人物們都是白皮膚、藍眼睛的，常在雪中嬉戲，吃著蘋果，
and they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out.
而且他們經常討論天氣，討論太陽出來時，一切都多么美好。
Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria. I had never been outside Nigeria.
我一直寫著這樣故事，雖然說我當時住在尼日利亞，并且從來沒有出過國。
We didn't have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to.
雖然說我們從來沒見過雪；雖然說我們實際上只能吃到芒果；雖然說我們從不討論天氣，因為根本沒這個必要。
My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer, because the characters in the British books I read drank ginger beer.
我故事里的人物們也常喝姜汁啤酒，因為我所讀的那些英國書中的人物們常喝姜汁啤酒，
Never mind that I had no idea what ginger beer was.
雖然說我當時完全不知道姜汁啤酒是什么東西。
And for many years afterwards, I would have a desperate desire to taste ginger beer. But that is another story.
事隔多年，我一直都懷揣著一個深切的渴望，想嘗嘗姜汁啤酒的味道。不過這要另當別論了。
