A black South African friend of mine was driving near Pretoria when his car broke down. He got out and began waving at passing cars, asking for help. A bearded white man drove up in a pickup truck – in my friend’s eyes, the archetypal Afrikaner, or “Boer”. The man glanced at my friend, and drove on. “Oh, no,” my friend thought. “I’m in Boer territory. Nobody’s going to dare give a black man a lift.” He stood there cursing his fate – when suddenly the Afrikaner in the truck appeared again and beckoned him to jump in. As they drove off, the Afrikaner said: “I was raised with some bad ideas. Now I’m trying to change myself.” They stayed in touch afterwards.
我的一位南非黑人朋友驱车在比勒陀利亚附近行驶时，他的车出了故障。他下车向过往车辆招手求救。一位蓄了胡子的白人驾驶着一辆皮卡开了过来，在我的朋友眼里，他是典型的南非白人，即“布尔人”(Boer)。那人瞥了我的朋友一眼，没有停车。我的朋友想道：“哎，糟了。我在布尔人的领地。没人敢让黑人搭便车。”他站在那里抱怨自己的霉运，但那位白人突然驾着卡车再次出现，示意他上车。开车后，白人说道：“我小时候被灌输了一些不好的想法。现在我试图改变自己。”两人后来一直保持着联系。