瑟利夫夫人在哈佛大学2011年毕业典礼上的演讲(7)

去年，我们的三个邻国当中有两个，经历了或者惊险地避免了内战。我们忍耐地接受他们的难民，因为不到十年之前，正是他们接受了我们的大量难民。我们的经济发展规划，受到低下的学习和执行能力的限制，这意味着我们的困难并不仅仅是资金不足。提高政府表现的计划，比想象的进展缓慢，因为我们体制落后，而且还有不诚实、讲人情的腐败价值观。基础设施的开发，也受到巨大修复成本的制约，因为我们缺乏维修能力，而且过去二十多年的内部冲突带来的恶意破坏，使得情况大大恶化。

Yet, today, we are proud that young Liberian children are back in school, preparing

themselves to play a productive part in the new Liberian society. Our seven-year-olds do not hear guns and do not have to run. They can smile again. We can thus say with

confidence that we have moved our war-torn nation from turmoil to peace, from disaster to development, from dismay to hope. And it was the Liberian women who fought the final battle for peace, who came, their number and conviction the only things greater than their diversity, to demonstrate for the end to our civil war. I am, therefore, proud to stand before you, humbled by the success in representing the aspirations and expectations of Liberian women, African women, and, I dare to say, women worldwide.

但是，令我们骄傲的是，今天利比里亚的儿童已经重返校园，为建设一个新利比里亚做准备。我们的七岁儿童不会听到枪声，也不必逃亡。他们可以重新微笑。我们能够自信地说，我们已经令这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家，从战乱走向和平，从灾难走向发展，从忧伤走向希望。正是利比里亚妇女，为和平进行最后的战斗，她们的人数和信念战胜内部的差异，她们终结了内战。因此，我非常骄傲地站在你们面前，为能够代表利比里亚妇女、非洲妇女、甚至全世界的妇女，而感到荣幸万分。

Today I stand equally proud, as the first woman president of our African continent, a continent that has embraced the process of change and transformation. I am proud that Liberia became a beacon of hope in Africa. With few notable exceptions, Africa is no

longer a continent of countries with corrupt big men who rule with iron fists. It is no longer the Dark Continent in continual economic free fall, wallowing in debt, poverty and disease.

今天，我同样自豪地作为非洲大陆第一位女总统来到这里，非洲正在进入变革和转型的时期。我为利比里亚成为非洲希望的灯塔，而感到自豪。除了极少数突出的例外，非洲不再是独裁者一手遮天、腐败无处不在的大陆。它也不再是经济像自由落体那样下滑的黑暗大陆，不再沉溺于债务、贫穷和疾病。

When he addressed the Ghanaian Parliament in 2009, President Barack Obama

reminded the people of Africa that it would no longer be the great men of the past who would transform the continent. The future of all of our countries is in the hands of the young people, people like you, Obama said, “brimming with talent and energy and hope, who can claim the future that so many in previous generations never realized.”