that denies itself that pleasure, or does not understand or even acknowledge it, will be losing more than a citizenry without its ABCs. In Tanzania that briefcase is the children’s library; those sets of laminated pages, their books. When the teacher hands them out, to each his own, the smiling faces tell a story that should haunt us all, might shame those who see no purpose a library could aptly serve better than to provide space for video games, somewhere to go to get out of the rain. In Tanzania those laminated pages—those hand-held devices—will help prepare the way toward literacy, which in Africa, or any other place in the real world, is not a myth. The children Jon is teaching are learning to read in English—a third language after their tribal language and Kiswahili. In his letter he enclosed a few of the stories he’s written about how Sli goes to the market and his encounters of the day. The letter concludes: “Everyone wants an education in TZ. They feel it is their ticket to a better life. Thus, as a teacher, I want to make sure that they have every opportunity to succeed.” Back home, illiteracy is something for the “liberal elite” to worry about, and the idea that literacy provides the best route to employment as well as the wherewithal for the pursuit of happiness, the idea that literacy is the guarantor of liberty—that is a myth. To identify the social and political ties that bind poverty and illiteracy—well, that is class warfare or, alternatively, it is covert racism. The holy warriors of the Taliban tried to destroy an elevenyear-old who was telling her countrymen that education for women and girls is a right not to be denied. Are there eleven year-old girls in our country who could make that case, explaining to us the importance of literacy? Or are they vying with their brothers for a chance at the computers in the local community center, formerly the public library?

中文翻译：

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颤音和冰霜生日狂欢

否认快乐，或者不理解甚至不承认快乐，将比没有 ABC 的公民损失更多。在坦桑尼亚，那个公文包就是儿童图书馆；那些叠层纸，他们的书。当老师将它们分发给他自己的每个人时，笑脸讲述了一个应该困扰我们所有人的故事，可能会让那些认为图书馆没有任何意义的人感到羞耻，而不是为视频游戏提供空间，去某个地方出了雨。在坦桑尼亚，这些层压页面——那些手持设备——将有助于为扫盲做好准备，这在非洲或现实世界的任何其他地方都不是神话。乔恩教的孩子们正在学习用英语阅读——这是继部落语言和斯瓦希里语之后的第三种语言。在他的信中，他附上了一些他写的关于 Sli 如何进入市场和他当天遇到的故事。这封信的结论是：“每个人都希望在 TZ 接受教育。他们觉得这是他们通往更美好生活的门票。因此，作为一名教师，我想确保他们有一切成功的机会。” 回到国内，文盲是“自由精英”担心的事情，识字是就业的最佳途径，也是追求幸福的必要条件，识字是自由的保证——即一个神话。确定将贫困和文盲联系在一起的社会和政治联系——好吧，这就是阶级斗争，或者，它是隐蔽的种族主义。塔利班的圣战士试图摧毁一个 11 岁的女孩，她告诉她的同胞，妇女和女孩的教育是一项不容剥夺的权利。我们国家有没有十一岁的女孩可以证明这一点，向我们解释识字的重要性？或者他们是否与他们的兄弟争夺当地社区中心（以前是公共图书馆）的计算机的机会？