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How can I speak in 10 minutes about the bonds of women over three generations,
10分鐘何嘗夠我來講述，關(guān)于三代婦女間的紐帶，
about how the astonishing strength of those bonds took hold in the life of a four-year-old girl huddled with her young sister,
這條紐帶有著驚人的力量，把4歲小姑娘和她的妹妹、母親、祖母綁在一起5天5夜，
her mother and her grandmother for five days and nights in a small boat in the China Sea more than 30 years ago.
擠在一條小船飄在中國海，已經(jīng)過去了30多年，
Bonds that took hold in the life of that small girl and never let go -- that small girl now living in San Francisco and speaking to you today.
這條紐帶一直留在小女孩的腦海中，不曾磨滅--那個(gè)小女孩現(xiàn)在居住在舊金山，今天正在為你們講述。
This is not a finished story. It is a jigsaw puzzle still being put together. Let me tell you about some of the pieces.
這是一個(gè)不斷延續(xù)的故事，就像一幅正在被拼接的拼圖一樣，請?jiān)试S我講述其中的片段。
Imagine the first piece: a man burning his life's work.
回想起來的第一個(gè)畫面是，一個(gè)男人拼盡全力地工作。
He is a poet, a playwright, a man whose whole life had been balanced on the single hope of his country's unity and freedom.
他是一個(gè)詩人兼劇作家，一生都致力于國家的統(tǒng)一和自由。
Imagine him as the communists enter Saigon -- confronting the fact that his life had been a complete waste.
想象著他作為一名共產(chǎn)主義者進(jìn)入胡志明市，面對著完全被拋棄的一生。
Words, for so long his friends, now mocked him. He retreated into silence.
面對朋友們的嘲笑，他沉默以對。
He died broken by history. He is my grandfather. I never knew him in real life.
作為歷史，他已經(jīng)死去，他就是我的祖父，我從來不了解他的真實(shí)生活。
But our lives are much more than our memories. My grandmother never let me forget his life.
但是我們的生活比記憶更加豐富。祖父讓我永記他的一生。
My duty was not to allow it to have been in vain, and my lesson was to learn that, yes, history tried to crush us, but we endured.
而我的職責(zé)就是不讓他的經(jīng)歷成為徒勞，我的責(zé)任是從中學(xué)習(xí)，是的，歷史試圖打垮我們，而我們一直忍受著。
The next piece of the jigsaw is of a boat in the early dawn slipping silently out to sea.
下一塊拼圖是黎明的早上一葉扁舟，悄悄滑向大海
My mother, Mai, was 18 when her father died -- already in an arranged marriage, already with two small girls.
我母親，Mai，18歲喪父，已經(jīng)被包辦了婚姻，有了兩個(gè)小女兒。
For her, life had distilled itself into one task: the escape of her family and a new life in Australia.
對于她，生活唯一目的就是逃離家庭，在澳大利亞開始新生活。
It was inconceivable to her that she would not succeed. So after a four-year saga that defies fiction, a boat slipped out to sea disguised as a fishing vessel.
這對她來說，簡直就是天方夜譚。因此，在經(jīng)歷了長達(dá)四年的難以描述的冒險(xiǎn)之后，一艘偽裝成漁船的船悄悄出海了。
All the adults knew the risks. The greatest fear was of pirates, rape and death.
大人們知道其中的危險(xiǎn)。最大的威脅是海盜，強(qiáng)奸和死亡。
Like most adults on the boat, my mother carried a small bottle of poison.
和所有成年人一樣，我母親帶了一小瓶毒藥。
If we were captured, first my sister and I, then she and my grandmother would drink.
如果我們被抓獲，我妹妹、我、母親和祖母依次服毒自盡。
