Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi Collect Nobel Peace Prizes
DEC. 10, 2014
By
They came from lands that had
fought wars against each other, and that still skirmish — an older man and a
high school student divided by faith and generations; he a Hindu, she a Muslim;
he age 60, she 17.
But when Malala Yousafzai, the
Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012, and Kailash
Satyarthi, an Indian campaigner for the rights of children, were named joint winners of the $1.1 million Nobel Peace Prize in October,
the choice seemed to speak to a desire to transcend differences and forge a
common campaign in support of dispossessed children across the globe.
On Wednesday, Ms. Yousafzai and Mr.
Satyarthi received their awards from the Norwegian Nobel Committee in a vast
and ornate chamber at the Oslo
City Hall
Ms. Yousafzai said the Nobel Prize “is not just for me.” “It is for
those forgotten children who want education,” she continued. “It is for those
frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want
change.”
Ms. Yousafzai became the youngest
recipient of the prize since it was first awarded in 1901, adding to an
extraordinary tally of accolades including visits with President Obama and with
Queen Elizabeth II and an address to the United Nations.
“Her
courage is almost indescribable,” Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Nobel
Committee, told those at the ceremony on Wednesday.
If
their shared award “can contribute to bringing Indians and Pakistanis, two
people so near to one another and yet so distant, closer to one another, this
would add an extra dimension to the prize,” Mr. Jagland said.
Standing
side by side to receive medals and diplomas, the two winners drew a standing
ovation from the audience before them.
In
his speech to the ceremony, Mr. Satyarthi, speaking alternately in Hindi and in
English, declared that he represented “the sound of silence, the cry of
innocence, and the face of invisibility.”
“I have come here to share the voices and dreams of our
children, because they are all our children,” he said.
“There is no greater violence than to
deny the dreams of our children,” he said.
“I refuse to accept that the shackles of
slavery can ever be more stronger than the quest for freedom,” he added. “The
single aim of my life is that every child is free to be a child.”
“We live in an age of rapid
globalization,” he continued. “We are connected through high-speed Internet. We
exchange goods and services in one single global market. Thousands of flights
every day connect us to every corner of the globe.
“But there is one serious disconnect. It
is the lack of compassion,” he said, adding: “Let us globalize compassion.”
Ms. Yousafzai, who studies at Edgbaston High School
for Girls in Birmingham , England , said she had brought with her five
other teenage girls from Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria
“This is where I will begin, but it is
not where I will stop,” she said. “I will continue this fight until I see every
child in school.”
She
added: “Why is it that countries which we call so strong are so powerful in
creating wars but so weak in bringing peace? Why is it that giving guns is so
easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it that making tanks is so easy, but
building schools is so hard?”
Even
before the ceremony, Ms. Yousafzai and Mr. Satyarthi seemed intent on using the
occasion not simply as a platform for acknowledgment of their achievements, but
also as a podium from which to renew their campaigns.
“We
are not here just to accept our award, get this medal and go back home,” Ms.
Yousafzai told a news conference on the eve of the ceremony, according to
Agence France-Presse. “We are here to tell children, especially, that you need
to stand up. You need to speak up for your rights. It is you who can change the
world.”
“In
this world, if we are thinking we are modern and have achieved so much development,”
she said on Tuesday, “then why is it that there are so many countries where
children are not asking for any iPad or computer or anything? What they are
asking for is just a book, just a pen, so why can’t we do that?”
Mr.
Satyarthi, who has struggled to free child laborers, said, “This prize is
important for the millions and millions who are denied a childhood.”
“There
are children who are sold and bought like animals,” he said.
“There are children who are born and live in situations of conflict
and terror,” he added, referring to Ms. Yousafzai as “the bravest child we can
think of.”
Structure of the Lead：
WHO- Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi
WHEN- December, 10, 2014
WHAT- Awarded awards
WHY- To speak to a desire to transcend differences and forge a common campaign in support of dispossessed children across the globe.
WHERE- Norwegian Nobel Committee
HOW- To promote the right of human
Key words:
1. skirmish : 前哨戰
2. campaigner : 活動家 , 出征者
3. joint : 聯合
4. ornate : 華麗的
5. chamber : 房間
6. dignitaries : 政要
7. ovation : 喝采
8. indescribable : 難以形容的
9. globalization : 全球化
10. struggle : 鬥爭
1. skirmish : 前哨戰
2. campaigner : 活動家 , 出征者
3. joint : 聯合
4. ornate : 華麗的
5. chamber : 房間
6. dignitaries : 政要
7. ovation : 喝采
8. indescribable : 難以形容的
9. globalization : 全球化
10. struggle : 鬥爭
資料來源: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/world/europe/malala-yousafzai-kailash-satyarthi-nobel-peace-prize.html?_r=0
