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I'm a storyteller. And I would like to tell you a few personal stories about what I like to call "the danger of the single story."
我是个说书之人。在这里，我想和大家分享一些我本人的故事，一些关于所谓的“单一故事的危险性”的经历。
I grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria.
我成长在尼日利亚东部的一所大学校园里。
My mother says that I started reading at the age of two, although I think four is probably close to the truth.
我母亲常说我从两岁起就开始读书，不过我觉得“四岁起”比较接近事实。
So I was an early reader, and what I read were British and American children's books.
所以我从小就开始读书，读的是英国和美国的儿童书籍。
I was also an early writer, and when I began to write, at about the age of seven,
我也是从小就开始写作。当我在七岁那年，
stories in pencil with crayon illustrations that my poor mother was obligated to read,
开始强迫我可怜的母亲阅读我用铅笔写好的故事外加上蜡笔描绘的插图时，
I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading:
我所写的故事正如我所读到的故事那般。
All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples,
我故事里的人物们都是白皮肤、蓝眼睛的，常在雪中嬉戏，吃着苹果，
and they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out.
而且他们经常讨论天气，讨论太阳出来时，一切都多么美好。
Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria. I had never been outside Nigeria.
我一直写着这样故事，虽然说我当时住在尼日利亚，并且从来没有出过国。
We didn't have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to.
虽然说我们从来没见过雪；虽然说我们实际上只能吃到芒果；虽然说我们从不讨论天气，因为根本没这个必要。
My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer, because the characters in the British books I read drank ginger beer.
我故事里的人物们也常喝姜汁啤酒，因为我所读的那些英国书中的人物们常喝姜汁啤酒，
Never mind that I had no idea what ginger beer was.
虽然说我当时完全不知道姜汁啤酒是什么东西。
And for many years afterwards, I would have a desperate desire to taste ginger beer. But that is another story.
事隔多年，我一直都怀揣着一个深切的渴望，想尝尝姜汁啤酒的味道。不过这要另当别论了。
