Thank you. Two years ago, I stood on the TED stage in Arusha, Tanzania. I spoke very briefly about one of my proudest creations. It was a simple machine that changed my life.
謝謝大家! 兩年前,我站在坦尚尼亞阿魯夏的TED講台上, 我非常簡要地介紹了一項我最自豪的發明, 那是一台簡易、但卻改變了我的一生的機器。
Before that time, I had never been away from my home in Malawi. I had never used a computer. I had never seen an Internet. On the stage that day, I was so nervous. My English lost, I wanted to vomit. (Laughter) I had never been surrounded by so many azungu, white people. (Laughter)
在那之前, 我從未離開過 我在馬拉威的家。 我也沒使用過電腦, 我更從來沒有見過網際網路。 那天在講台上,我好緊張, 一句英文也想不起來, 我只想吐。 (觀眾笑聲) (笑聲)從來沒有這麼多阿贊古-- 也就是白人圍著我。 (觀眾笑聲)
There was a story I wouldn't tell you then. But well, I'm feeling good right now. I would like to share that story today. We have seven children in my family. All sisters, excepting me. This is me with my dad when I was a little boy. Before I discovered the wonders of science, I was just a simple farmer in a country of poor farmers. Like everyone else, we grew maize.
那時我心裡有一個故事沒有對大家講, 但是,我覺得現在時機對了, 所以今天,我要跟大家分享這個故事。 我家裡有七個孩子。 除了我,全都是女孩。 這是我和我父親在我小時候的合照。 在我發現科學的奧妙之前, 我只是個普通農民, 來自於一個盡是貧窮農民的國家。 跟其他所有人一樣,我們種玉米。
One year our fortune turned very bad. In 2001 we experienced an awful famine. Within five months all Malawians began to starve to death. My family ate one meal per day, at night. Only three swallows of nsima for each one of us. The food passes through our bodies. We drop down to nothing.
有一年,我們的收成很差。 在2001年,我們經歷了可怕的饑荒。 在五個月之內,所有馬拉威人都開始挨餓,甚至死亡。 我們家每天只吃一餐--晚餐, 每個人只有三口青玉米麵。 食物吃進我們的身體, 我們卻沒有排洩。
In Malawi, the secondary school, you have to pay school fees. Because of the hunger, I was forced to drop out of school. I looked at my father and looked at those dry fields. It was the future I couldn't accept.
在馬拉威,要上中學 是要交學費的。 因為饑荒,我被迫輟學。 我看著我的父親, 看著乾涸的土地。 這不是我能接受的未來。
I felt very happy to be at the secondary school, so I was determined to do anything possible to receive education. So I went to a library. I read books, science books, especially physics. I couldn't read English that well. I used diagrams and pictures to learn the words around them.
以前在學校我覺得非常快樂。 所以我決定盡一切可能 去接受教育。 所以我去圖書館。 我閱讀書籍,自然科學的書,特別是物理方面的。 我的英文不是很好, 所以我只能靠文字週圍的圖表和圖片 來學習文字。
Another book put that knowledge in my hands. It said a windmill could pump water and generate electricity. Pump water meant irrigation, a defense against hunger, which we were experiencing by that time. So I decided I would build one windmill for myself. But I didn't have materials to use, so I went to a scrap yard where I found my materials. Many people, including my mother, said I was crazy. (Laughter)
有一本書把我需要的知識教給了我, 那就是風車可以抽水和發電。 能抽水意味著能灌溉。 那就能對抗饑荒, 而那正是我們那時所遭遇到的問題。 所以,我決定自己製作一座風車。 但是我沒有材料, 所以我去廢料場, 找我所需要的材料。 很多人,包括我的媽媽在內, 都說我瘋了。 (觀眾笑聲)
I found a tractor fan, shock absorber, PVC pipes. Using a bicycle frame and an old bicycle dynamo, I built my machine. It was one light at first. And then four lights, with switches, and even a circuit breaker, modeled after an electric bell. Another machine pumps water for irrigation.
我找到了一個拖拉機風扇, 一個避震器,一些PCV管。 我用一輛自行車的車架 和一台舊的自行車發電機, 開始製作我的機器。 一開始只有一盞燈。 後來變成四盞燈, 還加裝了一些開關,然後甚至有個斷路器, 那是在收到電費收入後才裝的。 另一台機器則用來 抽水灌溉。
Queues of people start lining up at my house (Laughter) to charge their mobile phone. (Applause) I could not get rid of them. (Laughter) And the reporters came too, which lead to bloggers and which lead to a call from something called TED. I had never seen an airplane before. I had never slept in a hotel. So, on stage that day in Arusha, my English lost, I said something like, "I tried. And I made it."
後來開始有人在我家門口排隊, (觀眾笑聲) 要我為他們的手機充電。 (觀眾掌聲) 這些人趕都趕不走。 (觀眾笑聲) 後來記者也來了, 然後是部落客, 再然後我就接到什麼TED的電話。 我以前從來沒有見過飛機, 我也從來沒有住過旅館。 所以,在阿魯沙上台的那一天, 我一句英文也想不起來, 我好像說了這樣的話, “我嚐試了,而且我成功了。”
So I would like to say something to all the people out there like me to the Africans, and the poor who are struggling with your dreams. God bless. Maybe one day you will watch this on the Internet. I say to you, trust yourself and believe. Whatever happens, don't give up. Thank you. (Applause)
所以我想對所有 像我一樣的人說, 對所有非洲人說, 對所有正在為夢想而奮鬥的窮苦人們說, 願上帝保佑你們。 或許有一天,你會在網路上看到這段影片, 我要告訴你,要相信你自己並堅持信念, 無論發生什麼事,都不要放棄。 謝謝大家。 (觀眾掌聲)