VOA慢速英語: 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，印度的家庭更鐘愛男孩子。他們選擇要男孩子，因此導致很多不合法的墮胎。胎兒顯示出女性性別時，醫(yī)生會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.

這樣的風氣導致印度出現(xiàn)一個很大的問題——相比男孩兒而言，女孩較少。女孩數量的下降呈現(xiàn)出一個主要的社會問題。

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.

一個強有力的訊息表明：印度總理納倫德拉·莫迪發(fā)表講話說：“我們不能被稱作是21世紀的共鳴。”打掉女胎兒比18世紀人們對待女性的想法更糟糕，因為女孩還沒有出生就被殺死了。

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

印度總理納倫德拉·莫迪稱重男輕女的現(xiàn)象叫做“情緒失調”。

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。他呼吁社會意識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.

總理說沒有哪位母親不想要自己的孩子，但是，來自家庭和社會的壓力使他參與到這個不法行為中。

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值的資源。他們能夠掙錢養(yǎng)家，父母年老時，照顧他們。女孩兒則被認為是債務，會給父母帶來財物壓力。因為父母需要準備嫁妝，通常是錢或者財物給女孩的丈夫。

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.

超聲波技術可以讓人在嬰兒出生前就知道性別。研究表明：過去40年里，多達1200萬的女孩兒嬰兒被打掉。

Indiaexperiencing shortage of girls

印度正在經歷女孩的短缺

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“拯救女孩，教育女孩”的活動。這個邦是印度女孩數量最少的一個邦，1000個男孩，只有879個女孩。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.

這個活動目的在于縮小男女出生比例嚴重差距。希望通過教育來提高男女性別的相同比例。這項計劃會要求現(xiàn)行法律禁止打掉女性胎兒。同時還會增加女孩上學的比例。

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)展部部長瑪內卡·甘地說在一些邦中，比如哈里亞納邦，男女之間有很大的差距，這是個嚴重的問題。

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.

她表示這個情況非常嚴重，據政府統(tǒng)計的數據表明在70個村莊里，很多年來都沒有女孩出生了。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社會階層都存在。不管是富人還是窮人，城鎮(zhèn)里的人還是鄉(xiāng)村的人，受教育的人或者沒有受過教育的人通常都想要兒子。實際上，研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)選擇打掉女嬰兒在受教育的女性中更常見。他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)宗教信仰對于墮胎并沒有什么影響。國際發(fā)展研究中心進行此項研究。

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)合國一份報道提醒：印度女孩兒數量的缺少已經達到“緊急狀態(tài)”。女性數量的缺少導致一些地區(qū)綁架和拐賣婦女的犯罪增加。

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