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Mr. Mandela, perhaps the world’s most beloved statesman and a natural showman, has repeatedly announced his retirement from public life only to appear at a pop concert in his honor or a political rally. But recently, as he canceled engagements, rumors that he was gravely ill swirled so persistently in South Africa that his foundation released a statement saying he was “as well as anyone can expect of someone who is 91 years old.”
曼德拉先生也许是当今世界最为人爱戴的政治家和公众人物。他多次表示要从公众生活中脱离出来，只出现在纪念他的流行音乐会和政治集会。但是最近由于他取消多个约定，以至于在南非谣言四起，不断地有人说他已经病入膏肓。(为此)他的基金会发明声明：“曼德拉像大家所想象的90岁的老人一样(健康)。”
Yet even as Mr. Mandela fades from view, he retains a vital place in the public consciousness here. To many, he is still the ideal of a leader — warm, magnanimous, willing to own up to his failings — against which his political successors are measured and often found wanting. He is the founding father whose values continue to shape the nation.
尽管曼德拉先生已经退出公众的视野，但他在南非人民的心中仍然占有重要地位。对于许多人来说，他仍然是理想的领导人---热心，大度，勇于披露自己的缺点，也正是这一点使他的政治接班人以此为鉴，常常发现自己的不足。他是南非这个国家缔造者，同时他的价值观仍在影响着整个民族。
“It’s the idea of Nelson Mandela that remains the glue that binds South Africa together,” said Mondli Makhanya, editor in chief of The Sunday Times. “The older he grows, the more fragile he becomes, the closer the inevitable becomes, we all fear that moment. There’s the love of the man, but there’s also the question: Who will bind us?”
星期曰泰晤士报的主编Mondli Makhanya说：“正是纳尔逊曼德拉的思想使南非整体联合在一起。随着他年龄的日益增长，他也越来越虚弱。他正在走向生命的终结。我们都害怕那一时刻(到来)。有人民对他的爱，还有一个问题：将来谁还能联合我们?”
