VOA慢速英語(yǔ): 印度要改變重男輕女的文化現(xiàn)象

Indiato Change a Culture of Valuing Boys over Girls

印度要改變重男輕女的文化

A girl dressed in traditional attire poses as she takes part in rehearsals for the "garba" dance ahead of Navratri festival in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, Sept. 29, 2013.

For many years, Indian families seemed more interested in having boys than girls. This choice of boys has led to many illegal abortions. Doctors were told to end a pregnancy when the fetus showed signs of being female.

很久以來(lái)，印度的家庭更鐘愛(ài)男孩子。他們選擇要男孩子，因此導(dǎo)致很多不合法的墮胎。胎兒顯示出女性性別時(shí)，醫(yī)生會(huì)被要求終止孕婦的妊娠。

This custom has also led to a big problem in India – there are not enough girls compared to all the boys. The falling number of girls presents a major social issue for the country.

這樣的風(fēng)氣導(dǎo)致印度出現(xiàn)一個(gè)很大的問(wèn)題——相比男孩兒而言，女孩較少。女孩數(shù)量的下降呈現(xiàn)出一個(gè)主要的社會(huì)問(wèn)題。

In a strong message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Indians that "we cannot be counted as citizens of the 21stcentury." He said aborting female fetuses is worse than an 18th century way of thinking because girls are being killed even before they are born.

一個(gè)強(qiáng)有力的訊息表明：印度總理納倫德拉·莫迪發(fā)表講話說(shuō)：“我們不能被稱(chēng)作是21世紀(jì)的共鳴。”打掉女胎兒比18世紀(jì)人們對(duì)待女性的想法更糟糕，因?yàn)榕⑦€沒(méi)有出生就被殺死了。

PM Modi calls choosing boys over girls an "emotional disorder"

印度總理納倫德拉·莫迪稱(chēng)重男輕女的現(xiàn)象叫做“情緒失調(diào)”。

Mr. Modi said that valuing sons above daughters is an emotional disorder. And he called for a social awakening to see girls as valuable as boys.

莫迪表示珍視男孩而不重視女孩是情緒失調(diào)。他呼吁社會(huì)意識(shí)到女孩跟男孩一樣重要。

The prime minister says no mother wants to do away with her child. But, he adds, family and social pressures make her involved in this crime.

總理說(shuō)沒(méi)有哪位母親不想要自己的孩子，但是，來(lái)自家庭和社會(huì)的壓力使他參與到這個(gè)不法行為中。

In the traditional culture in India, sons are considered a valuable resource. They can earn money for the family and take care of parents in their old age. Girls are considered a liability, bringing financial pressure on the mother and father. That is because the parents have to give a dowry, usually money or property, to the family of the girl's husband.

印度的傳統(tǒng)文化中，兒子被視為非常有價(jià)值的資源。他們能夠掙錢(qián)養(yǎng)家，父母年老時(shí)，照顧他們。女孩兒則被認(rèn)為是債務(wù)，會(huì)給父母帶來(lái)財(cái)物壓力。因?yàn)楦改感枰獪?zhǔn)備嫁妝，通常是錢(qián)或者財(cái)物給女孩的丈夫。

Ultrasoundtechnology has made knowing the sex of the unborn possible. Studies show that during the past 40 years, as many as 12 million girls may have been aborted.

超聲波技術(shù)可以讓人在嬰兒出生前就知道性別。研究表明：過(guò)去40年里，多達(dá)1200萬(wàn)的女孩兒嬰兒被打掉。

Indiaexperiencing shortage of girls

印度正在經(jīng)歷女孩的短缺

Mr. Modi launched the campaign to "Save the Daughter, Teach the Daughter" in the northern state of Haryana. The state has the lowest number of girls to boys in India - 879 for 1,000 males. The national average is 917 girls for 1,000 males.

莫迪在哈里亞納邦的北部發(fā)起一項(xiàng)“拯救女孩，教育女孩”的活動(dòng)。這個(gè)邦是印度女孩數(shù)量最少的一個(gè)邦，1000個(gè)男孩，只有879個(gè)女孩。印度男女比例平均是1000:917。

The campaign aims to reduce the sharp difference in the number of male and female births. It will seek to improve equality of the sexes through education. The program will enforce existing laws that ban the abortion of female fetuses. It will also seek to improve attendance of girls in schools.

這個(gè)活動(dòng)目的在于縮小男女出生比例嚴(yán)重差距。希望通過(guò)教育來(lái)提高男女性別的相同比例。這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃會(huì)要求現(xiàn)行法律禁止打掉女性胎兒。同時(shí)還會(huì)增加女孩上學(xué)的比例。

Women and Child Development Minister, Maneka Gandhi, said the difference between girls and boys is extremely serious in some states like Haryana.

婦女和兒童發(fā)展部部長(zhǎng)瑪內(nèi)卡·甘地說(shuō)在一些邦中，比如哈里亞納邦，男女之間有很大的差距，這是個(gè)嚴(yán)重的問(wèn)題。

She says the situation is so bad that according to government estimates no girls have been born for many years in 70 villages. She adds that in some villages there are only 500 girls for 1,000 boys.

她表示這個(gè)情況非常嚴(yán)重，據(jù)政府統(tǒng)計(jì)的數(shù)據(jù)表明在70個(gè)村莊里，很多年來(lái)都沒(méi)有女孩出生了。在一些村莊，男女比例只有2:1。

Aborting female fetuses takes place in every class of Indian society. The poor and rich, urban and rural, uneducated and educated often want sons. In fact, researchers found that choosing to abort a female fetus is more common among educated women. They also found that religion made no difference. The International Development Research Centre carried out the study.

打掉女胎兒在印度各個(gè)社會(huì)階層都存在。不管是富人還是窮人，城鎮(zhèn)里的人還是鄉(xiāng)村的人，受教育的人或者沒(méi)有受過(guò)教育的人通常都想要兒子。實(shí)際上，研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)選擇打掉女?huà)雰涸谑芙逃呐灾懈Ｒ?jiàn)。他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)宗教信仰對(duì)于墮胎并沒(méi)有什么影響。國(guó)際發(fā)展研究中心進(jìn)行此項(xiàng)研究。

Last year, a United Nations report warned the lessening number of girls in India has reached an "emergency" level. It said this lack of women has caused an increase in some crimes such as the kidnapping and trafficking of women.

去年，聯(lián)合國(guó)一份報(bào)道提醒：印度女孩兒數(shù)量的缺少已經(jīng)達(dá)到“緊急狀態(tài)”。女性數(shù)量的缺少導(dǎo)致一些地區(qū)綁架和拐賣(mài)婦女的犯罪增加。

I'm Mario Ritter.

我是馬里奧·瑞特。

This report was based on a story from VOA's Anjana Pasricha in New Delhi. Anna Matteo wrote it for VOA Learning English with additional material from the International Development Research Centre. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in this Story

abortion – n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus

fetus – n. a human being or animal in the later stages of development before it is born

dowry – n. money or property that a wife or wife's family gives to her husband when the wife and husband marry in some cultures

liability – n. the state of being legally responsible for something : the state of being liable for something; something (such as the payment of money) for which a person or business is legally responsible

ultrasound – n. medical : a method of producing images of the inside of the body by using a machine that produces sound waves which are too high to be heard