12/30/2013

Mandela’s closest aide tells of her life with ’beloved Madiba’ 曼德拉最貼身助理講述與「受人愛戴的馬迪巴」共處時光

Zelda la Grange joined the presidential typing pool in 1994. She soon won Mandela’s trust and went on to become his right-hand woman.

齊爾達.拉格蘭吉1994年加入總統府打字組。她很快就贏得曼德拉的信任,之後成為他的左右手。

For 16 years, Zelda la Grange was the constant companion at Nelson Mandela’s side. It gave her unrivalled access to world leaders from Bill Clinton to Muammar Gaddafi.

齊爾達.拉格蘭吉有16年的時間都陪伴在曼德拉左右。這給予她無人能及的機會,接近從柯林頓到格達費等世界各國領袖。

Mandela was a tough and demanding but irreplaceable boss, she recalls.

她回憶說,曼德拉是很嚴格、要求很多,但卻無人可取代的老闆。

"He was straightforward but I have to say he wasn’t a pushover. If he’d made up his mind about something, he stuck to that."

「他有話直說,但我要說,他不是容易被說服的人。如果他對某件事下定決心,就會堅持到底。」

Mandela has been criticised for maintaining warm relations with leaders such as Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.

曼德拉因為與如利比亞的格達費這類領導人維持良好關係而受批評。

La Grange explained: "Madiba never condoned the things that Gaddafi did wrong but the fact that he delivered on his promise meant a lot to Madiba because it showed him there was a relationship based on trust.

拉格蘭吉解釋說,「馬迪巴從未寬恕格達費做錯的那些事,但他信守承諾對馬迪巴來說深具意義,因為這表明他們之間有基於信任的關係。」

"Gaddafi was so hospitable whenever we went to Libya. He would ask Madiba, ’What would you like to be prepared for supper?’ There’s very few other heads of state who went to the trouble to ask Madiba what he wanted to eat."

「不論我們何時造訪利比亞,格達費都很好客。他會問馬迪巴『您想要晚餐為您準備什麼?』其他國家領袖少有人會不怕麻煩地問馬迪巴想吃什麼。」

《新聞辭典》

pushover:名詞,容易被說服、讓步的人,容易完成、取得的事物。

stick to:動詞片語,堅持、堅守,遵循。

例句:Chris will definitely stick to his decision. He is no pushover.(克里斯肯定會堅持他的決定。他不是好說話的人。)

go to the trouble (to do something / of doing something):動詞片語,不怕麻煩、費心力做某事。例句:Don’t go to the trouble to cook. I’ve already had supper.(不必張羅飯菜。我已經吃過晚餐了。)

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