听力文本

And they had traveled from near, they had traveled from far,because they wanted to make their voices heard.
有些住在附近，有些远道而来,但他们都想表达自己的声音
And I asked one of the voters, I said, Whom are you going to vote for?
我问一个选民：你打算投谁的票？
And he said, I'm sorry, I can't tell you.
他说：不好意思不能告诉你。
He said that his vote was in his heart.
他说他心中有打算。
And I understood, this was their election,and they weren't going to let anyone take it away from them.
我非常理解，这是他们的选举，他们不会让任何人夺走这个权利。
Now the first round of the voting didn't bring forth a clear winner,so nobody had achieved the absolute majority,so voting went into a second round three weeks later.
第一轮选举没有诞生一个明晰的获选人,还没有人完全占上风,所以3周后进行第二轮选举。
The candidates were back on the road; they were campaigning.
候选人重新开始竞选活动。
The rhetoric of the candidates, of course, changed.
他们收起了文绉绉的措辞。
The heat was on.
气氛变得激烈。
And then the cliche came to haunt us.
然后就出现了意料之中的状况。

There were claims of intimidation at the polling stations,of ballot boxes being stolen.
投票站收到举报，声称投票箱被窃取。
Inflated results started coming in and the mob was starting to get out of control.
随之而来一系列的麻烦人群开始失去控制。
We witnessed the eruption of violence in the streets.
我们目睹了大街上大量的暴力事件。
People were being beaten brutally.
很多人惨遭毒打。
The army started firing their guns. People were scrambling.
军队开始开火。人群混乱不堪。
It was complete chaos.
完全一片混乱。
And my heart sank,because I thought, here we are again.
我的心渐渐往下沉，因为我想，再一次。
Here is another proof that the African is not capable of governing himself.
非洲再一次证明我们非洲人没有能力自治。
And not only that, I am documenting it documenting my own cultural shortcomings.
不仅如此，我正在记录，记录着我自己的文化的短处。
So when the echo of the gunshots had lingered,it was soon drowned by the chanting of the mob,and I didn't believe what I was hearing.
然而当枪声逐渐散去，人群开始呼喊，我无法相信我所听到的。
They were chanting, We want peace.
他们在呼喊我们渴望和平。
We want peace.
我们渴望和平。

演讲介绍
杰瑞斯梅尔茨是一位瑞士加纳裔制片人，2008年他去加纳录制总统选举。他在那里的所见所闻让他对民主和他自身有了全新的认识。