True Calling-真实的呼唤

True Calling|真实呼唤Cries of joy rang out in the streets of Maathai’s hometown as women danced about in celebration5. Weeping tears of joy, Maathai, 64, knelt down and planted the seeds of a Nandi flame tree6 at the base of Mount Kenya. “It cannot get any better than this,” she said. “Maybe in heaven.”Mother Nature’s HelperThat wasn’t the first that Maathai has planted. She has been planting seedlings7 for decades. She founded the Green Belt Movement, a massive ecological8 effort that has planted 30 million trees in Kenya and dozens of other African countries.According to the Norwegian9 Nobel Prize Committee, Maathai has cultivated more than just trees—she’s promoted peace by ensuring that there are enough natural resources so that people won’t h ave to fight over them in the future.“[Maathai’s] approach10 to sustainable development11 in democracy, human rights and women’s rights doesn’t separate the issues but treats them as one interconnected12 problem,” the committee said. “She thinks globally and acts locally.”Maathai is the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. She is the sixth African to win the award. She received a medal and $1.36 million in a ceremony.For Maathai, the prize has reaffirmed13 the importance of her cause—protecting the environment14. “It’s a matter of life and death for this country,” she said. “The Kenya forests are facing extinction15.Root of the ProblemThe Kenya forests weren’t always in danger. When Maathai was a child, her hometown was full of l ush16, green hills. She remembers drawing water from a spring, “fascinated by the way the clean, cool water pushed its way through the soft red clay17.” she told London’s Independent. The area was so green that there was no word in the local language for desert.Today, treeless tea plantations18 have replaced the green hills, and Maathai’s spring has dried up. “I feel the tragedy under my feet,” she said. “Gulleys19 stare at me, telling the story of soil erosion20, unknown before. Hunger is on the faces of the people.”Mining, logging, and development have swallowed21 Kenya’s forests. Only 2 percent of the country’s original tree cover remains. The deforestation22 isn’t limited to Kenya—four-fifths of Africa’s productive land may soon turn to desert.Maathai refused to sit back and watch Kenya’s forests shrink23. In 1977, she founded the Green Belt Movement. What started as a few seedlings in her backyard quickly turned into a nationwide effort with thousands of volunteers. Many are poor women who earn a small sum for every tree they plant that takes root.The new trees help slow the area from turning into a desert，keeping the animals living environment intact, provides fuel, building materials, and food for future generations. Forests also absorb carbon dioxide24, a greenhouse gas25 that may cause global warming.An Uphill BattleMaathai has been compared to a tree—solid and unbowed, no matter how hard the wind blows. Growing up in Kenya’s male-dominated society, the stubborn crusader26 faced strong opposition.Maathai has spent her life challenging the limits placed on Kenyan women. She went to college and graduate school in the United States and returned to Kenya to become the first woman to head a department at a Kenyan university.When she started her environmental campaign in the late 1970s, her unexpected outbursts took many Kenyans by surprise27. “It is unusual for a woman here to be very outspoken28,” said Gaitho, a Kenyan political columnist29. “[Maathai] is seen as a threat to male domination.”For years, she battled former Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi over the environment. Their struggle made international news in 1989, when Maathai forced the president to abandon plans to build a government building in a Nairobi30 park. The dispute got so heated that she fled to Tanzania after receiving death threats.That wasn’t the only time Maathai’s life was in danger. In 1998, she and a few other Green Belt Movement members were severely beaten when they tried to plant trees in Karura Forest, on the outskirts31 of Nairobi. Afterward, Maathai declared from her hospital bed, “As soon as I recover, I shall return to Karura Forest, even if they bury me there.”Seeds of HopeMaathai’s tireless efforts and successes have inspired countless32 Kenyan women. “When we were growing up, it was so hard for us girls who were clever to know what to do,” Lydia, a bank manager in Nairobi, told London’s Independent. “Our parents encouraged us, but they were most concerned about how we would find husbands and have children. People like Wangari Maathai showed us that it was possible to fight for other things we believed were important.”肯尼亚，奈立——(2004年)10月8日，旺加里·马塔伊电话铃响了，她并没指望听到什么新闻头条，但迎接她却正是特大新闻。