Unit 5 Nelson Mandela—a modern hero导读：曼德拉曾在牢中服刑 27 年，在其 40 年的政治生涯中获得了超过一百项奖项，其中最显著的是 1993 年的诺贝尔和平奖。他是南非首位黑人总统，被尊称为“南非国父”，而且是一位当代英雄。Nelson Mandela: several things you didn't knowNelson Mandela was an international figure, and many details of his life and career were public knowledge. But here are several things you may not have known about the late South African leader.★His original name was not Nelson.Rolihlahla Mandela was seven years old when a teacher gave him an English name—Nelson—according to the custom to give all school children Christian names. This was common practice in South Africa and in other parts of the continent, where a person could offen be given an English name that foreigners would find easier to pronounce.★He was a boxing fan.In his youth, Nelson Mandela enjoyed boxing and longdistance running. Even during the 27 years he spent in prison, he would exercise every morning.“I did not enjoy the violence of boxing so much as the science of it，” he wrote in his autobiography (自传) Long Walk to Freedom. In the Mandela Family Museum in Soweto, visitors can find the world championship belt given to Mandela by American boxer Sugar Ray Leonard.★He forgot his glasses when he was released from prison.Mr Mandela's release on 11 February 1990 followed years of political pressure against apartheid (种族隔离政策). Mr Mandela's reading glasses stayed behind in prison when Mr Mandela and his then wife Winnie were taken to the centre of Cape Town to address a huge and excited crowd. But when he pulled out the text of his speech, he realized he had forgotten his glasses and had to borrow his wife's.★He had his own...
