You cannot imagine how the name of Robben Island made us afraid. It was a prison from which no one escaped. There I spent the hardest time of my life. But when I got there Nelson Mandela was also there and he helped me. Mr Mandela began a school for those of us who had little learning. He taught us during the lunch breaks and the evenings when we should have been asleep. We read books under our blankets and used anything we could find to make candles to see the words. I became a good student. I wanted to study for my degree but I was not allowed to do that. Later, Mr Mandela allowed the prison guards to join us. He said they should not be stopped from studying for their degrees. They were not cleverer than me, but they did pass their exams. So I knew I could get a degree too. That made me feel good about myself.你无法想象罗本岛的名字是如何让我们感到害怕的。那是一座无人逃离的监狱。在那里，我度过了人生中最艰难的时光。但当我到达那里时，纳尔逊·曼德拉也在那里，他帮助了我。曼德拉先生为我们这些几乎没有学习的人开办了一所学校。他在午休时间和晚上本该睡觉的时候教我们。我们在毯子下看书，用我们能找到的任何东西做蜡烛来看单词。我成了一个好学生。我想攻读学位，但没有被允许。后来，曼德拉先生允许狱警加入我们。他说不应该阻止他们攻读学位。他们并不比我聪明，但他们确实通过了考试。所以我知道我也可以获得学位。这让我自我感觉良好。
When I finished the four years in prison, I went to find a job. Since I was better educated, I got a job working in an office. However, the police found out and told my boss that I had been in prison for blowing up government buildings. So I lost my job. I did not work again for twenty years until Mr Mandela and the ANC came to power in 1994. All that time my wife and children had to beg for food and help from relatives or friends. Luckily Mr Mandela remembered me and gave me a job taking tourists around my old prison on Robben Island. I felt bad the first time I talked to a group. All the terror and fear of that time came back to me. I remembered the beatings and the cruelty of the guards and my friends who had died. I felt I would not be able to do it, but my family encouraged me. They said that the job and the pay from the new South African government were my reward after working all my life for equal rights for the Blacks. So now at 51 I am proud to show visitors over the prison, for I helped to make our people free in their own land.当我结束了四年的牢狱生活后，我去找了一份工作。由于我受过更好的教育，我找到了一份在办公室的工作。然而，警察发现了，并告诉我的老板，我因炸毁政府大楼而入狱。所以我失去了工作。直到1994年曼德拉和非国大上台，我才重新工作了20年。在那段时间里，我的妻子和孩子不得不向亲戚或朋友乞讨食物和帮助。幸运的是，曼德拉先生记得我，并给了我一份工作，就是带着游客参观我在罗本岛的旧监狱。我第一次和游客们交谈时感觉很糟糕。当时所有的恐惧都回到了我的脑海中。我想起了警卫和我死去的朋友们的殴打和残忍。我觉得我做不到，但我的家人鼓励我。他们说，这份工作和南非新政府的工资是我为黑人争取平等权利而工作了一辈子的回报。因此，现年51岁的我很自豪能带游客参观监狱，因为我帮助我们的人民在自己的土地上获得了自由。