But here, in this place, it is not Mandela the statesman who touches my soul and fires my imagination. “My” Mandela is the prisoner, the Mandela of Robben Island, who endured 27 years behind bars (18 of them on a rock in the South Atlantic) and yet emerged with his spirit intact, brimming with a vision of a tolerant South Africa, a country liberated even for apartheid’s architects and beneficiaries.
但此时此刻，触动我的灵魂、激发我的想象力的却不是政治家曼德拉。“我的”曼德拉是罗本岛上忍受了27年铁窗生涯但仍然不改初衷的囚犯（其中18年他被关押在南大西洋岛礁）。曼德拉眼前充斥着宽容南非的愿景，即使是种族隔离的设计和受益者同样能够享受这里的自由。