評論
打印
What this demonstrates, I think, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story, particularly as children.
這一切所表明的，正是在一個個的故事面前我們是何等的脆弱，何等的易受影響，尤其當我們還是孩子的時候。
Because all I had read were books in which characters were foreign,
因為我當時讀的所有書中只有外國人物，
I had become convinced that books by their very nature had to have foreigners in them
我因而堅信：書要想被稱為書，就必須有外國人在里面，
and had to be about things with which I could not personally identify.
就必須是關于我無法親身體驗的事情。
Now, things changed when I discovered African books.
而這一切都在我接觸了非洲書籍之后發生了改變。
There weren't many of them available, and they weren't quite as easy to find as the foreign books.
當時非洲書并不多，而且它們也不像國外書籍那樣好找。
But because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye, I went through a mental shift in my perception of literature.
不過因為Chinua Achebe和Camara Laye之類的作家，我思維中對于文學的概念產生了質的改變。
I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate,
我意識到像我這樣的人--有著巧克力般的膚色
whose kinky hair could not form ponytails, could also exist in literature.
和永遠無法梳成馬尾辮的蜷曲頭發的女孩子們，也可以出現在文學作品中的。
I started to write about things I recognized.
我開始撰寫我所熟知的事物。
Now, I loved those American and British books I read.
但這并不是說我不喜愛那些美國和英國書籍。
They stirred my imagination. They opened up new worlds for me.
恰恰相反，那些書籍激發了我的想象力，為我開啟了新的世界。
But the unintended consequence was that I did not know that people like me could exist in literature.
但隨之而來的后果就是，我不知道原來像我這樣的人，也是可以存在于文學作品之中的。
So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this: It saved me from having a single story of what books are.
而與非洲作家的結緣，則是將我從對于書籍的單一故事(認識)中拯救了出來。
I come from a conventional, middle-class Nigerian family.
我來自一個傳統的尼日利亞中產家庭。
My father was a professor. My mother was an administrator.
我的父親是一名教授，我的母親是一名大學管理員。
And so we had, as was the norm, live-in domestic help, who would often come from nearby rural villages.
因此我們和很多其他家庭一樣，都會從附近的村莊中雇傭一些幫手來打理家事。
So, the year I turned eight, we got a new house boy. His name was Fide.
在我八歲那一年，我們家招來了一位新的男仆。他的名字叫做Fide。
The only thing my mother told us about him was that his family was very poor.
我父親只告訴我們說，Fide是來自一個非常窮苦的家庭。
My mother sent yams and rice, and our old clothes, to his family.
我的母親會時不時地將山芋、大米 還有我們穿舊的衣服送到他的家里。
And when I didn't finish my dinner, my mother would say, "Finish your food! Don't you know? People like Fide's family have nothing."
每當我剩下晚飯的時候，我的母親就會說：“吃干凈你的食物！難道你不知道嘛？像Fide家這樣的人可是一無所有的。”
So I felt enormous pity for Fide's family.
因此我對Fide的家人充滿了憐憫。
