名人演講:For the Children 為了孩子[奧黛麗·赫本]

For the Children 為了孩子
——Audrey Hepburn 奧黛麗·赫本

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[00:02.06]Up until some eighteen months ago

[00:04.77]before I was given the great privilege

[00:06.68]of becoming a volunteer for UNICEF

[00:09.46]I used to be overwhelmed

[00:11.14]by a sense of desperation

[00:12.64]and helplessness

[00:13.62]when watching television

[00:15.51]or reading about the indesCRIbable misery

[00:18.09]of the developing world's

[00:19.46]children and their mothers.

[00:22.29]If I feel less helpless today,

[00:25.15]it is because

[00:26.30]I have now seen what can be done

[00:28.28]and what is being done

[00:29.79]by UNICEF, by many other organizations

[00:32.29]and agencies, by the churches,

[00:34.62]by governments,

[00:35.95]and most of all,

[00:37.16]with very little help,

[00:38.63]by people themselves.

[00:40.92]And yet, we must do more

[00:43.19]about the alarming state

[00:44.65]of the children

[00:45.86]in the developing world

[00:47.52]many are only just surviving

[00:50.08]especially when we know

[00:51.55]that the finances needed

[00:52.87]are minimal

[00:53.96]compared to the global expenditure

[00:55.49]of this world,

[00:57.11]and when we know

[00:58.00]that less than half of one percent

[00:59.62]of today's world economy

[01:01.32]would be the total required

[01:03.01]to eradicate the worst aspects

[01:04.93]of poverty and to meet basic human needs

[01:08.01]over the next ten years.

[01:11.21]In other words,

[01:13.84]there is no deficit in human resources

[01:16.64]the deficit is in human will.

[01:20.72]The question I am most frequently asked is

[01:23.96]What do you really do for UNICEF

[01:27.73]Clearly, my task is to inform,

[01:31.32]to create awareness

[01:32.69]of the need of children.

[01:34.73]To fully understand the problems

[01:36.62]of the state of the world's children,

[01:38.92]it would be nice to be an expert

[01:40.64]on education, economics,

[01:42.54]politics, religious traditions, and cultures.

[01:46.17]I am none of these things,

[01:48.90]but I am a mother.

[01:50.72]There is unhappily a need

[01:52.55]for greater advocacy for children

[01:54.77]children haunted by undernourishment,

[01:57.61]disease and death.

[01:59.68]You do not have to be a "financial whiz"

[02:02.58]to look into so many little faces

[02:05.47]with diseased, glazed eyes

[02:07.36]and to know that this is

[02:09.04]the result of CRItical malnutrition,

[02:11.69]one of the worst symptoms

[02:12.80]of which is vitamin A deficiency

[02:15.17]that causes corneal lesions

[02:17.37]resulting in partial or total blindness,

[02:20.28]followed within a few weeks by death.

[02:24.15]Every year there are as many as 500,000

[02:28.91]such cases in countries

[02:30.53]like Indonesia, Bangladesh,

[02:32.75]India, the Philippines, Ethiopia.

[02:36.59]Today there are in fact,

[02:39.20]millions of children at risk

[02:41.27]of going blind.

[02:43.25]Little wonder

[02:44.01]that I and many other UNICEF volunteers

[02:46.67]travel the world

[02:47.74]to raise funds before it is too late,

[02:50.57]but also to raise awareness

[02:51.89]and to combat a different kind of darkness,

[02:54.61]a darkness people find themselves in

[02:56.98]through lack of information

[02:58.40]on how easy it is to reach out

[03:00.28]and keep these children.

[03:02.95]It costs eighty-four cents a year

[03:05.23]to stop a child from going blind

[03:08.01]the price of two vitamin A capsules.

[03:10.94]I have known UNICEF for a long time.

[03:15.26]For, almost forty-five years ago,

[03:18.09]I was one of the tens of thousands

[03:19.96]of starving children

[03:21.35]in war-ravaged Europe

[03:22.91]to receive aid from UNICEF,

[03:24.58]immediately after our Liberation.

[03:27.42]That liberation freed us from hunger,

[03:29.92]repression, and constant violence.

[03:32.96]We were reduced to near total poverty,

[03:35.32]as is the developing world today.

[03:39.06]For it is poverty

[03:40.06]that is at the root

[03:41.43]of all their suffering

[03:42.58]the not-having

[03:44.01]not having the means to help themselves.

[03:46.16]That is what UNICEF is all about

[03:48.83]helping people to help themselves

[03:50.94]and giving them the aid to develop.

[03:53.98]The effect of the monstrous burden of debt

[03:57.09]in the developing world

[03:58.46]has made the poor even poorer,

[04:00.64]and has fallen most heavily on the neediest.

[04:03.38]Those whom it has damaged the most

[04:05.22]have been the women and children.

[04:07.89]Unlike droughts, floods, or earthquakes,

[04:11.25]the tragedy of poverty

[04:12.86]cannot easily be captured

[04:14.45]by the media

[04:15.23]and brought to the attention

[04:16.34]of the public worldwide.

[04:18.56]It is happening not in any

[04:20.70]one particular place,

[04:21.91]but in slums and shanties

[04:23.83]and neglected rural communities

[04:25.45]across two continents.

[04:27.43]It is not happening

[04:29.41]at any one particular time,

[04:30.91]but over long years of increasing poverty,

[04:32.89]which have not been featured

[04:34.76]in the nightly news

[04:35.87]but which have changed the lives

[04:37.19]of many millions of people.

[04:39.33]And it is happening

[04:41.00]not because of any one visible cause,

[04:43.67]but because of

[04:44.50]an unfolding economic drama

[04:46.53]in which the industrialized nations

[04:48.46]play a leading part,

[04:50.32]which is spreading human misery

[04:51.84]and hardship on a scale

[04:53.00]and of a severity uNPRecedented

[04:55.23]in the postwar era.

[04:57.86]In Africa, for instance,

[04:59.15]in spite of national reforms,

[05:01.17]improved weather conditions,

[05:02.88]and a surge of their agricultural output,

[05:05.67]all their hard-earned gains

[05:06.89]have been undermined

[05:08.00]by international economic trends

[05:10.25]and a drastic fall in commodity prices.

[05:13.01]They are now compelled to return

[05:14.88]four times as much money

[05:16.44]as they were loaned!

[05:18.11]But the poorest sectors of society

[05:20.08]in the developing world

[05:21.44]are also suffering

[05:22.71]as a result of all

[05:23.93]too frequent misappropriation of funds,

[05:26.58]as well as the tremendous inequality

[05:28.75]in the distribution of land

[05:30.38]and other productive resources.

[05:33.40]UNICEF's business is children

[05:35.78]not the workings of the international economy.

[05:39.52]In its everyday work

[05:42.15]in over 100 developing nations,

[05:44.43]UNICEF is brought up

[05:46.10]against a face of today's

[05:47.67]international economic problems

[05:49.59]that is not seen

[05:50.71]in the corridors of financial power,

[05:52.93]not reflected in the statistics

[05:54.51]of debt service ratios,

[05:56.58]not seated at the

[05:57.90]conference tables of debt negotiations

[06:00.23]it is in the face of a child.

[06:03.36]It is the young child

[06:04.53]whose growing mind and body

[06:06.07]is susceptible to permanent damage

[06:07.60]from even temporary deprivation.

[06:10.62]The human brain and body

[06:12.36]are formed within the first five years of life,

[06:15.10]and there is no second chance.

[06:17.48]It is the young child

[06:19.05]whose individual development today,

[06:21.68]and whose social contribution tomorrow,

[06:23.90]are being shaped by the economics of now.

[06:27.29]It is the young child who is

[06:29.06]paying the highest of all prices.

[06:30.42]We cannot therefore ignore

[06:33.00]the economic issues

[06:34.18]which for so many millions

[06:35.92]of the world's poorest families

[06:37.70]have made the 1980s

[06:39.33]into a decade of despair.

[06:42.42]Today the heaviest burden

[06:44.70]of a decade of frenzied borrowing

[06:46.46]is falling not on the military,

[06:48.38]nor on those foreign bank accounts,

[06:50.61]nor on those

[06:51.94]who conceived the years of waste,

[06:53.98]but on the poor

[06:54.99]who are having to do

[06:56.01]without the bare necessities,

[06:57.84]on the women who do not have enough food

[07:00.03]to maintain their health,

[07:01.50]on the infants

[07:02.78]whose minds and bodies

[07:03.84]are being stunted

[07:04.69]because of untreated illnesses

[07:06.36]and malnutrition,

[07:07.58]and on children

[07:08.49]who are being denied their only opportunity

[07:10.41]ever to go to school.

[07:14.29]When the impact becomes visible

[07:16.17]in the rising death rates among children,

[07:18.30]then what has happened is simply

[07:20.22]an outrage against

[07:21.66]a large section of humanity.

[07:24.38]Nothing can justify it.

[07:26.35]The consensus now beginning to take shape

[07:28.58]is that the burden of debt

[07:29.94]must be lifted to a degree

[07:31.87]where the developing countries

[07:33.09]can cope with debt repayment,

[07:34.70]to the point where their economies

[07:36.82]can grow out of

[07:37.78]their overwhelming indebtedness,

[07:39.35]and set them on the road

[07:40.85]to recovery and real development.

[07:43.88]World population growth

[07:45.20]is beginning to be brought under control.

[07:48.18]Change is in prospect everywhere

[07:50.89]and if at this time

[07:51.96]there is the vision to use this opportunity

[07:54.08]creatively to see a brave new world

[07:56.58]and to dare to reach for it,

[07:58.90]there is a real possibility over

[08:00.48]the next ten years to begin

[08:02.06]to come to grips

[08:03.37]with the triad of fundamental problems

[08:05.39]which threaten mankind:

[08:07.78]the presence and the threat of war,

[08:09.34]the deterioration of the environment,

[08:11.67]and the persistence

[08:12.83]of the worst aspects of absolute poverty.

[08:17.62]Many of the great social changes

[08:20.55]of modern history

[08:21.66]the abolition of slavery,

[08:23.43]the ending of colonial rule,

[08:25.36]the isolation of apartheid,

[08:27.28]the increasing consensus on the environment,

[08:29.86]or the growing recognition

[08:31.60]of the rights of women

[08:33.18]have begun with rhetorical commitment

[08:35.63]which has eventually turned into action.

[08:38.21]In the 1990s it may at last

[08:40.84]be the turn of the child,

[08:42.51]and our dream for

[08:43.46]an international summit for children

[08:45.33]and ratification of the Convention

[08:47.15]on the Rights of the Child

[08:48.63]could become a reality.

[08:51.52]Forty thousand children

[08:52.65]still die every day-280,000 a week.

[08:57.35]No natural calamity,

[08:58.86]be it flood or earthquake,

[09:00.49]has ever claimed as many children's lives

[09:02.96]and this happens every week mostly

[09:06.20]in the silent emergency

[09:07.87]of preventable diseases

[09:09.44]like polio, tetanus, tuberculosis, measles,

[09:13.03]and the worst killer of all,

[09:15.01]dehydration from diarrhea

[09:17.39]caused by unclean drinking water

[09:18.61]and malnutrition.

[09:21.74]It costs five dollars

[09:24.01]to vaccinate a child for life,

[09:25.83]6 cents will prevent death

[09:27.85]from dehydration,

[09:29.39]and 84 cents per year

[09:31.01]will stop a child from going blind.

[09:33.86]How is it that governments

[09:34.99]spend so much on warfare

[09:36.73]and bypass the needs of their children,

[09:39.02]their greatest capital,

[09:40.44]their only hope for peace?

[09:43.48]I must admit to you

[09:44.64]that the magnitude of the task

[09:46.26]that UNICEF has undertaken

[09:47.93]sometimes overwhelms me,

[09:50.00]and I am saddened and frustrated

[09:51.78]when I stop to think

[09:52.76]of what we cannot do

[09:54.54]like change the world overnight

[09:56.70]or when I have to deal with

[09:57.82]the cynics of this world

[09:59.25]who argue,

[10:00.26]Is it morally right

[10:01.48]to save the lives of children

[10:02.92]who will only grow up

[10:03.97]to more suffering and poverty

[10:05.10]due to overpopulation?

[10:08.68]Letting children die

[10:10.02]is not the remedy to overpopulation;

[10:12.86]family planning and birth spacing is.

[10:16.04]Rapid population growth

[10:17.30]can be slowed

[10:18.16]by giving the world's poor

[10:19.38]a better life,

[10:20.70]giving them health,

[10:21.70]education, housing, nutrition, civil rights.

[10:25.80]These things are not free

[10:27.32]but available at a cost

[10:28.85]that developing countries can afford,

[10:31.12]given the assistance they need.

[10:33.50]China, Indonesia,

[10:35.07]Thailand, and Mexico have already proven

[10:37.39]that population can be slowed

[10:39.36]by working on public health education

[10:41.58]and family planning.

[10:43.86]The World Bank now forecasts

[10:46.54]that by the early 1990s

[10:48.25]the world should reach

[10:49.23]the historic turning point

[10:50.50]at which the annual increase

[10:52.27]in global population begins to decline.

[10:55.70]It is also true

[10:57.18]that in no country

[10:58.39]has the birth rate declined

[10:59.82]before infant deaths have declined.

[11:02.60]In other words,

[11:03.46]parents can plan

[11:04.63]to have two children

[11:05.59]if they know they will survive,

[11:07.37]rather than having six

[11:08.67]in the hopes that two will survive.

[11:11.45]That is why UNICEF is also

[11:13.23]so dedicated to

[11:14.28]educating and informing mothers

[11:16.12]in child care.

[11:17.99]For it is the mother who is

[11:19.16]still the best "caretaker" of her child,

[11:21.84]and UNICEF supports any amount

[11:23.57]of educational projects

[11:25.24]for women in the developing countries

[11:27.20]that relate directly to health and nutrition,

[11:29.44]sanitation and hygiene,

[11:31.33]education and literacy.

[11:34.70]So today I speak for those children

[11:36.97]who cannot speak for themselves:

[11:39.04]children who are going blind

[11:40.42]through lack of vitamins;

[11:42.39]children who are slowly

[11:43.35]being mutilated by polio;

[11:46.61]children who are wasting away

[11:48.33]in so many ways

[11:49.34]through lack of water;

[11:51.41]for the estimated 100 million street children

[11:54.04]in this world

[11:55.11]who have no choice

[11:56.07]but to leave home

[11:56.98]in order to survive,

[11:58.61]who have absolutely nothing

[11:59.98]but their courage and their smiles

[12:01.35]and their dreams;

[12:03.07]for children who have no enemies

[12:04.79]yet are invariably the first tiny victims

[12:07.16]of war

[12:08.64]wars that are no longer confined

[12:10.15]to the battlefield

[12:11.42]but which are being waged

[12:12.83]through terror and intimidation

[12:14.55]and massacre

[12:16.54]children who are therefore growing up

[12:18.21]surrounded by the horrors of violence

[12:20.79]for the hundreds of thousands of children

[12:22.67]who are refugees.

[12:24.79]The task that lies ahead for UNICEF

[12:26.52]is ever greater,

[12:28.24]whether it be repatriating

[12:29.76]millions of children in Afghanistan

[12:31.39]or teaching children how to play

[12:33.51]who have only learned how to kill.

[12:36.46]Charles Dickens wrote,

[12:38.20]In their little world,

[12:39.26]in which children have their existence,

[12:41.34]nothing is so finely perceived

[12:43.71]and so finely felt as injustice.

[12:47.84]Injustice which we can avoid

[12:49.53]by giving more of ourselves,

[12:51.76]yet we often hesitate

[12:52.82]in the face of such apocalyptic tragedy.

[12:56.26]Why, when the way

[12:57.37]and the low-cost means

[12:58.84]are there to safeguard

[13:00.33]and protect these children?

[13:02.05]It is for leaders, parents,

[13:03.71]and young people

[13:05.18]young people,

[13:05.90]who have the purity of heart

[13:07.48]which age sometimes tends to obscure

[13:09.46]to remember their own childhood

[13:11.57]and come to the rescue of those

[13:13.85]who start life against such heavy odds.

[13:17.90]Children are our most vital resource,

[13:20.75]our hope for the future.

[13:22.73]Until they not only can be assured

[13:24.60]of physically surviving

[13:26.07]the first fragile years of life,

[13:27.95]but are free of emotional,

[13:29.42]social and physical abuse,

[13:31.75]it is impossible

[13:32.61]to envisage a world

[13:33.97]that is free of tension and violence.

[13:36.24]But it is up to us to make it possible.

[13:39.78]UNICEF is a humanitarian institution,

[13:42.56]not a charitable organization.

[13:45.44]It deals in development,

[13:46.86]not in welfare,

[13:48.43]giving handouts to those waiting

[13:50.50]with their hands outstretched.

[13:52.21]On my travels to Ethiopia,

[13:54.09]Venezuela, Ecuador,

[13:55.61]Central America,

[13:56.77]Mexico, and the Sudan,

[13:58.79]I have seen no out-stretched hands,

[14:01.12]only a silent dignity

[14:02.89]and a longing to help themselves,

[14:04.51]given the chance.

[14:07.08]UNICEF's mandate is to protect every child

[14:09.31]against famine,

[14:10.68]thirst,

[14:11.44]sickness,

[14:12.19]abuse,

[14:12.80]and death.

[14:14.42]But today we are dealing with

[14:15.64]an even more ominous threat,

[14:17.60]man's inhumanity to man

[14:19.42]with the dark side of humanity

[14:21.50]that is polluting our skies and our oceans,

[14:23.83]destroying our forests

[14:25.40]and extinguishing

[14:26.43]thousands of beautiful animals.

[14:28.15]Are our children next?

[14:30.33]That is what we are up against.

[14:33.01]For it is no longer enough

[14:34.53]to vaccinate our children,

[14:36.04]to give them food and water,

[14:37.46]and only cure the symptoms

[14:39.45]of man's tendency

[14:40.35]to destroy everything we hold dear,

[14:42.07]everything life depends on,

[14:44.36]the very air we breathe,

[14:46.03]the earth that sustains us,

[14:47.75]and the most precious of all,

[14:49.98]our children.

[14:52.40]Whether it be famine in Ethiopia,

[14:54.65]excruciating poverty in Guatemala

[14:56.61]and Honduras,

[14:58.18]civil strife in El Salvador,

[15:00.10]or ethnic massacre in the Sudan,

[15:02.62]I saw but one glaring truth.

[15:05.01]These are not natural disasters,

[15:07.49]but man-made tragedies,

[15:09.26]for which there is only

[15:10.77]one man-made solution-peace.

[15:14.93]Even if this mammoth Operation Life-Line Sudan

[15:18.17]were only to achieve half its goal,

[15:20.50]due to the countless odds

[15:21.92]it is up against-in a vast country

[15:24.46]with no infrastructure,

[15:25.58]few roads to speak of,

[15:29.07]no communication system

[15:28.91]it will have succeeded,

[15:31.19]For not only will it

[15:32.86]have saved thousands of lives,

[15:34.58]but it will also have given the Sudan hope.

[15:37.46]The United Nations will

[15:38.74]have shown the world

[15:39.85]that only through corridors of tranquility

[15:41.87]can children be saved,

[15:43.89]that only through peace

[15:44.75]can man survive,

[15:46.37]and only through development

[15:47.43]will they survive,

[15:48.75]with dignity and a future.

[15:50.77]A future in which we can say

[15:52.43]we have fulfilled our human obligation.

[15:55.28]Your 1 percent is an example

[15:57.24]of 100 percent

[15:59.17]but all together a beautiful example

[16:00.95]to us of love and caring.

[16:03.52]Together there is nothing we cannot do.

[16:06.15]Thank you!