Biography               

Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in Mvezo, Transkei, on July 18, 1918, to Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal counsellor to the Acting King of the Thembu people, Jongintaba Dalindyebo.

After his father’s death in 1927, the young Rolihlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni. Hearing the elder’s stories of his ancestor’s valour during the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.

He attended primary school in Qunu where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the name Nelson, in accordance with the custom to give all school children “Christian” names.

He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute, where he matriculated.

Nelson Mandela began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there as he was expelled for joining in a student protest. He completed his BA through the University of South Africa and went back to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943.

On his return to the Great Place at Mkhekezweni the King was furious and said if he didn’t return to Fort Hare he would arrange wives for him and his cousin Justice. They ran away to Johannesburg instead arriving there in 1941. There he worked as a mine security officer and after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate agent, who introduced him to Lazar Sidelsky who arranged that he do his articles through the firm of attorneys Witkin Eidelman and Sidelsky.

Meanwhile he began studying for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand. By his own admission he was a poor student and left the university in 1948 without graduating. He only started studying again through the University of London and also did not complete that degree.

In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.

Nelson Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National Congress in 1944 when he helped formed the ANC Youth League.

In 1944 he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had two sons Madiba Thembekile ‘Thembi’ and Makgatho and two daughters both called Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy. They effectively separated in 1955 and divorced in 1958.

Nelson Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its work the ANC adopted in 1949 a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action.

In 1952 he was chosen at the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his Deputy. This campaign of civil disobedience against six unjust laws was a joint programme between the ANC and the South African Indian Congress. He and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to nine months hard labour suspended for two years.

A two-year diploma in law on top of his BA allowed Nelson Mandela to practice law and in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo.

At the end of 1952 had the first in a series of banning orders. As a restricted person he was only able to secretly watch as the Freedom Charter was adopted at Kliptown on 26 June 1955.

Nelson Mandela was arrested in a countrywide police swoop of 156 activists on 5 December 1955, which led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Men and women of all races found themselves in the dock in the marathon trial that only ended when the last 30 accused, including Mr. Mandela were acquitted on 29 March 1961.

On 21 March 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest at Sharpeville against the pass laws. This led to the country’s first state of emergency on 31 March and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress on 8 April. Nelson Mandela and his colleagues in the Treason Trial were among the thousands detained during the state of emergency.

During the trial on 14 June 1958 Nelson Mandela married a social worker Winnie Madikizela. They had two daughters Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple divorced in 1996.

Days before the end of the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela travelled to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the All-in Africa Conference, which resolved he should write to Prime Minister Verwoerd requesting a non-racial national convention, and to warn that should he not agree there would be a national strike against South Africa becoming a republic. As soon as he and his colleagues were acquitted in the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela went underground and began planning a national strike for 29, 30 and 31 March. In the face of a massive mobilization of state security the strike was called off early. In June 1961 he was asked to lead the armed struggle and helped to establish Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation).

On 11 January 1962 using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Nelson Mandela left South Africa secretly. He travelled around Africa and visited England to gain support for the armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning from KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip.

He was charged with leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike. He was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment which he began serving in Pretoria Local Prison, In May 1963 he was transferred to Robben Island and returned to Pretoria in mid-June. Within a month police raided a secret hide-out in Rivonia used by ANC and Communist Party activists and several of his comrades were arrested. In October 1963 Nelson Mandela joined nine others on trial for sabotage in what became known and the Rivonia Trial.  Facing the death penalty his words to the court at the end of his famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on 20 April 1964 became immortalized:

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

On 11 June 1964 Nelson Mandela and seven other accused Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni were convicted and the next day were sentenced to life imprisonment. Denis Goldberg was sent to Pretoria Prison because he was white while the others went to Robben Island.

Nelson Mandela’s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son Thembi in 1969. He was not allowed to attend their funerals.

On 31 March 1982 Nelson Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. Kathrada joined them in October. When he returned to the prison in November 1985 from prostate surgery Nelson Mandela was held alone. He began writing to the Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee who had visited him in hospital, to initiate talks about an ultimate meeting between the apartheid government and the ANC.

In 1988 he was treated for Tuberculosis and was transferred on 7 December 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. He was released from its gates on Sunday 11 February 1990, nine days after the unbanning of the ANC and the PAC and nearly four months after the release of the remaining Rivonia comrades. Throughout his imprisonment he had rejected at least three conditional offers of release.

Nelson Mandela immersed himself into official talks to end white minority rule and in 1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend Oliver Tambo. In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize and on 27 April 1994 he voted for the first time in his life and on 10 May 1994 he was inaugurated South Africa’s first democratically elected President. On his 80th birthday in 1998 he married Graça Machel.

True to his promise Nelson Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one term as President. He continued to work with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund he set up in 1995 and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Mandela-Rhodes Foundation.

In April 2007 his grandson Mandla Mandela became head of the Mvezo Traditional Council at a ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place.

Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.

تفاوتهای انگلیسی آمریکایی و انگلیسی بریتانیایی
آيا انگليسي آمريکايي (American English) و انگليسي بريتانيايي (British English) دو زبان مجزا هستند يا دو حالت مختلف از زبان انگليسي؟ بعضي‌ها مي‌گويند آنها دو زبان مختلف هستند ولي خيلي‌ها آنها را تنها حالتهاي مختلفي از يک زبان مي‌دانند.
البته هيچ پاسخ دقيقي براي اين پرسش وجود ندارد. ما فقط مي‌توانيم بگوييم که تفاوتهايي ميان آنها وجود دارد. البته بايد بدانيد که اين تفاوتها جزئي بوده و در اثر يکپارچه شدن دنياي امروز اين تفاوتها روز به روز کمتر مي‌شوند.
در ادامه با برخي از تفاوتهاي ميان اين دو نسخه از زبان انگليسي آشنا مي‌شويد.

املاي کلمات
انگليسي بريتانيايي تمايل دارد که املاي بسياري از کلماتي که ريشه فرانسوي دارد را حفظ کند، در حاليکه آمريکايي‌ها بيشتر سعي مي‌کنند کلمات را همانطور که تلفظ مي‌کنند بنويسند. علاوه بر اين، آنها حروفي را که مورد نياز نيست حذف مي‌کنند. به مثالهاي زير دقت کنيد:

اگر چه هر دو نسخه‌ي آمريکايي و بريتانيايي زبان انگليسي صحيح هستند، اما املاي آمريکايي معمولاً ساده‌تر است. بنابراين بهتر است بطور کلي از املاي آمريکايي استفاده کنيد، مگر اينکه بخواهيد براي خوانندگان بريتانيايي چيزي بنويسيد.                                                                                                                                          تلفظ
تلفظ‌ها و لهجه‌هاي گوناگوني در انگليسي محاوره‌اي وجود دارد که پرداختن به همه آنها در يک مقاله امکانپذير نيست. بنابراين تنها به تفاوتهاي اصلي بين دو نوع اصلي انگليسي،‌ يعني انگليسي آمريکايي و انگليسي بريتانيايي اشاره مي‌کنيم:
صداي /r/ ممکن است در بعضي از کلمات انگليسي بريتانيايي رسا نباشد؛ مثلاً کلمات car، park، star و bark را در نظر بگيريد. قاعده‌ي آن اينست که حرف r تنها وقتي که يک حرف صدادار بعد از آن بيايد تلفظ مي‌شود، مانند Iran، British و bring.
آمريکاييها تمايل دارند کلماتي که به «-duce» ختم مي‌شوند (مانند reduce، produce، induce و seduce) را بصورت /-du:s/ تلفظ کنند. در انگليسي بريتانيايي اين اغلب کمي متفاوت است:/-dju:s/ براي فراگيري سيستم تلفظ IPA آمريکاييها تمايل دارند کلمات را با حذف حروف کاهش دهند. بعنوان مثال کلمه «facts» در انگليسي آمريکايي درست مثل «fax» تلفظ مي‌شود - حرف t تلفظ نمي‌شود.
گاهي حروف صدادار در انگليسي بريتانيايي حذف مي‌شوند. بعنوان مثال در هيچيک از کلمات «secretary» و «tributary» حرف a تلفظ نمي‌شود.
گاهي استرس کلمه در هر کدام از دو نسخه آمريکايي و بريتانيايي تفاوت دارد              advertisement                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 / '   / American English/ ' /                                                                                     British English                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               لغت

در جدول زير چند کلمه متداول بريتانيايي به همراه معادل آمريکايي آن ارائه شده است

The evolution of mathematics might be seen as an ever-increasing series of abstractions, or alternatively an expansion of subject matter. The first abstraction, which is shared by many animals, was probably that of numbers: the realization that a collection of two apples and a collection of two oranges (for example) have something in common, namely quantity of their members.

In addition to recognizing how to count physical objects, prehistoric peoples also recognized how to count abstract quantities, like time – days, seasons, years.Elementary arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division)naturally followed.

Since numeracy pre-dated writing, further steps were needed for recording numbers such as tallies or the knotted strings called quipu used by the Inca to store numerical data. Numeral systems have been many and diverse, with the first known written numerals created by Egyptians in Middle Kingdom texts such as the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus

The earliest uses of mathematics were in trading, land measurement, painting and weaving patterns and the recording of time. More complex mathematics did not appear until around 3000 BC, when the Babylonians and Egyptians began using arithmetic, algebra and geometry for taxation and other financial calculations, for building and construction, and for astronomy. The systematic study of mathematics in its own right began with the Ancient Greeks between 600 and 300 BC.

Mathematics has since been greatly extended, and there has been a fruitful interaction between mathematics and science, to the benefit of both. Mathematical discoveries continue to be made today. According to Mikhail B. Sevryuk, in the January 2006 issue of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, "The number of papers and books included in the Mathematical Reviews database since 1940 (the first year of operation of MR) is now more than 1.9 million, and more than 75 thousand items are added to the database each year. The overwhelming majority of works in this ocean contain new mathematical theorems and their proofs."

لغاتی که پیش رویتان است یک لیست بسیار کوتاه از واژگان فارسی دخیل در انگلیسی یا انگلیسی دخیل در فارسی است.امیدوارم از مطالعه ی آنها استفاده کامل را داشته باشید.
Nav-1: ناو. واژه ایرانی به معنی کشتی درانگلیسی است.

: Caravan–۲کاوران.

Arch-3: قوس.درفارسی ارک، اراک و اریکه داریم که به مفاهیم مرکز ، قلب وحتی قوس به کار رفته اند .

King-4: پادشاه. این واژه انگلیسی ازریشه Kay پهلوی و Kavi اوستایی است. درزبان پشتو،خنتما (نجیب زاده وبزرگوار) ودرزبان ترکی خان به احتمال زیاد با این ریشه ها قرابت دارند.

Spinach-5: اسفناج.این واژه ایرانی درزبان های دیگربه صورت گوناگون یافت می شود ازجمله درانگلیسی وفرانسه Spinach ودرزبانهای دیگراروپایی کم وبیش کاربرد دارد. جالب این است که بدانیم اسفناج خود معرب سپاناج فارسی است ودرفرهنگ های کهن عربی چون “البلغد” ابو یعقوب کردی نیشابوری و “السامی فی السامی” میدانی نیشابوری به همین صورت آمده است.

Candy-6کلمه قند واژه ای است پارسی همان طور که شکرواژه ای است ایرانی. پس ازساخته شدن شکردرایران که به اعتراف عمومی ریشه آن ایرانی وفارسی است کلمه قند به همین نام به وجود آمد کم وبیش ریشه های مشابهی مثل کندو را درزبان فارسی می یابیم. یکی از واژههای انگلیسی که ریشه مشابهی با قند دارد عبارتست ازCandy (شیرینی ). زیرا شیرینی ولذت دراین واژه با کلمه قند سنجیده شده است. گفته شده کاندیدای وکالت درزمان قدیم لباس سفید رنگ شکری می پوشیده وبه همین ترتیب خود را نامزد انتخابات می کرده وبدین رو واژه Candidate(کاندیدا نامزد) ساخته شد.

: Orange-7نارنج وترنج درپارسی کهن به نارنج وپرتقال اطلاق می شده است.

Lemon -8: لیمو.

Saffron-9: زعفران نیز واژه بین المللی گردیده ودرتمام اروپا کاربرد دارد.

۱۰-Bazaar : بازار

۱۱-Ideal : ایده آل

۱۲-pistachio : پسته

۱۳-Doctor : دکتر،پزشک،طبیب

۱۴-Machine : ماشین

۱۵-Appendicitis : آپاندیس

۱۶-Address : آدرس

۱۷-Soup : سوپ

۱۸-Cigarette : سیگار

۱۹-Eyebrow : ابرو

۲۰-لغات MotherوBrotherوFather جزء لغاتی است است که در این دسته است و لازم به توضیح نیست.

نام جانوران و حشرات

توجه به نامهای حیوانات و حشرات نشان میدهد که در این زمینه هم انگلیسی از زبانهای ایران و به ویژه پارسی متاثر بوده است.

Elephant: فیل.دگرگون شدة الفیل عربی است که ریشة آن پیل پارسی است.
Sponge: اسفنج. جانوری دریایی است، ضمناً این نام به اسفنج مصنوعی هم اطلاق میشود که مصارف صنعتی و پزشکی دارد.
Carcass: لاشه و مردار. جابهجا شده کرکس است که پرندهای مردارخوار میباشد. شاید در دوران رواج آیین زرتشتی که جنازهها را در معرض هوای آزاد در کوهها قرار میدادند و عملاً هر جنازه خوراک کرکس میشد، این واژه با لاشه و مردار مترادف شد.

Cow: گاو
برخی دیگر از واژههای انگلیسی که شباهت آشکار به فارسی دارند ، عبارتند از:

Mouse با موش فارسی.

Giraffe همان ریشه زرافة فارسی است.

Canary قناری.

Jackal شغال.

برخی دیگر لغات مشترک در فارسی و انگلیسی
Technology
Internet
Sandwich
Kangaroo
Shampoo
Kabab
Piano
Caravan
Saffron
Rose
Shah
Spinach
Lemon
Bazar
Doctor
Machine
Address
Soup
Cigarette
Eyebrow
Mouse
Canary قناری
Asia
Printer
Post
Telephone
Football
Computer
Carcass کرکس

Your name is very important.When you think of yourself,you probably think of your name first.It is an important part of your identity.Right now,the two most popular names for babies in the United States are ''Jacob" for boys and "Emily" for girls.Why are these names popular?And why are some names unpopular? Names can become popular because of fomous actors,TV or book characters,or athletes.Popular names suggest very positive things.Unpopular names suggest negative things.Surprisingly,people generally agree on the way they feel about names.Here are some common opinions about name from a recent survey

Boys'names

George:average,boring

     Jacob:creative,friendly

        Michael:goodlooking,athletic

  Stanley:nerdy,serious

                                                          Girls'names

Betty:old-fashioned,average

                                             Emily:independent,adventurous

                               Jane:plain,ordinary

                                              Nicole:beautiful,intelligent                                So why do parents give their children unpopular names?The biggest reason is tradition.Many people are named after a family member.Of course,opinions can change over time.A name that is unpopular now might become popular in the future.That's good news for all the Georges and Bettys out there.