With the possible exception of Fidel Castro’s Cuba, there are few nations that so closely reflect one man’s legacy as Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew, now 91 and in hospital with severe pneumonia, can claim to have built the nation that today has a higher material standard of living than the UK, the US or Norway. His punchily written memoir, From Third World to First, shows an acute awareness of his achievement in conjuring a prosperous city state from an unpromising history and geography. But how will Singapore fare when its founding father is gone?
很可能除了菲德尔•卡斯特罗(Fidel Castro)领导的古巴之外，没有几个国家像新加坡这样，如此鲜明地反映出一个人的遗产。李光耀(Lee Kuan Yew)可谓这个国家的建立者，新加坡今日的物质生活水平已经超过了英国、美国和挪威。91岁高龄的李光耀目前因严重肺炎在住院。他的重磅回忆录《从第三世界到第一世界》(From Third World to First)，展现了他对自己成就的敏锐认识，他像魔术师一样，将没有辉煌历史、地理条件一般的新加坡，变成了一个繁荣的城市国家。但是当国父离去，新加坡将如何发展呢？