VOA慢速英語(yǔ)：委內(nèi)瑞拉選美選手代表其他國(guó)家參賽

Venezuelan Beauty Contestants Represent Other Countries

委內(nèi)瑞拉選美選手代表其他國(guó)家參賽

The 67th Miss Universe beauty pageant will take place December 16 in Bangkok, Thailand.

第67屆環(huán)球小姐選美比賽將于12月16日在泰國(guó)曼谷舉行。

The competition will include young women from around the world representing their countries. But one South American country, Chile, will not be represented by a native Chilean.

來(lái)自世界各地的女性將會(huì)代表她們的國(guó)家參賽，但是南美國(guó)家智利不是由本土人代表。

Instead, Andrea Diaz, a native of Venezuela will have that honor.

相反，委內(nèi)瑞拉人安德莉亞·迪亞茲將會(huì)獲得這份榮耀。

Diaz grew up in Valencia, Venezuela. She began training as a model at age 12 at a school there. At 19, she won a pageant organized by her town's baseball team.

迪亞茲在委內(nèi)瑞拉的瓦倫西亞長(zhǎng)大。她12歲開始在那里的一所學(xué)校接受模特培訓(xùn)。19歲時(shí)，她贏得了鎮(zhèn)上棒球隊(duì)組織的選美大賽。

As Diaz moved along her career path, she also moved away from home. She went first to Panama, and later to Mexico, for modeling jobs. In 2015, she settled in Chile, where most of her family members now live.

隨著迪亞茲走上職業(yè)模特的道路，她也搬離了家。她首先為了模特工作去了巴拿馬，然后是墨西哥。2015年，她在智利定居下來(lái)，她的大部分家人現(xiàn)在也都住在智利。

The 27-year-old woman told the Associated Press, "I represent the new Chile. This is an inclusive country where immigrants come in search of opportunities."

這位27歲的女士對(duì)美聯(lián)社表示：“我代表全新的智利。這是一個(gè)包容性的國(guó)家，移民們來(lái)此尋找機(jī)會(huì)。”

Thousands of people leave Venezuela each day to escape a lack of food and medicine in the country. Its economic crisis has created an almost 1 million percent inflation rate. Many beauty pageant hopefuls have left Venezuela and have found work in modeling and media fields.

每天有成千上萬(wàn)人離開委內(nèi)瑞拉，以逃離該國(guó)的食物和藥品短缺。該國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)導(dǎo)致了近萬(wàn)倍的通貨膨脹率。很多選美大賽的種子選手都離開委內(nèi)瑞拉，并在模特和媒體領(lǐng)域找到了工作。

Diaz is one of several Venezuelan beauty pageant competitors representing countries other than their homeland. Next month, a Venezuelan competitor will represent Portugal at the Miss World event in China. And, a recent Miss Earth pageant had two Venezuelan models who competed for other countries, including Jessica Russo.

迪亞茲是代表祖國(guó)以外國(guó)家參加選美大賽的幾位委內(nèi)瑞拉選手之一。下個(gè)月，一位委內(nèi)瑞拉選手將會(huì)代表葡萄牙參加在中國(guó)舉行的世界小姐大賽。最近的地球小姐選美大賽有兩名委內(nèi)瑞拉模特代表其它國(guó)家參賽，其中就包括杰西卡·盧梭。

Russo represented Peru just one year after moving to the country. She told the AP, "My dream of being a beauty queen was not going to stop just because I arrived in a new country."

盧梭在搬到秘魯僅僅一年之后就代表該國(guó)參賽。她對(duì)美聯(lián)社表示：“我成為選美冠軍的夢(mèng)想不會(huì)僅僅因?yàn)榘岬揭粋€(gè)新國(guó)家而停止。”

The 22-year-old competitor did not make it into the Miss Earth finals. But she is not giving up. She says she hopes to one day win a competition for Peru, the country where her mother was born.

這位22歲的選手沒有進(jìn)入地球小姐決賽，但她并沒有放棄。她說(shuō)，她希望有一天能為她母親出生的國(guó)家秘魯贏得一場(chǎng)選美比賽。

Beauty pageants are followed almost as closely as baseball in Venezuela. The South American country is a world leader in international pageants. Seven Miss Universe and six Miss World winners have been from Venezuela.

選美比賽在委內(nèi)瑞拉被棒球比賽緊緊跟隨。這個(gè)南美國(guó)家是國(guó)際選美大賽的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。有7名環(huán)球小姐和6名世界小姐的獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)叨紒?lái)自委內(nèi)瑞拉。

Critics say beauty competitions are sexist and outdated. But many Venezuelans argue that pageants have helped hundreds of women gain careers as models, actors, news announcers and more.

批評(píng)者表示，選美大賽是性別歧視，已經(jīng)過(guò)時(shí)了。但是很多委內(nèi)瑞拉人認(rèn)為，選美比賽幫助了數(shù)百名女性獲得了模特、演員、新聞播報(bào)員等事業(yè)。

I'm Jonathan Evans.

喬納森·埃文斯報(bào)道。

The 67th Miss Universe beauty pageant will take place December 16 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The competition will include young women from around the world representing their countries. But one South American country, Chile, will not be represented by a native Chilean.

Instead, Andrea Diaz, a native of Venezuela will have that honor.

Diaz grew up in Valencia, Venezuela. She began training as a model at age 12 at a school there. At 19, she won a pageant organized by her town’s baseball team.

As Diaz moved along her career path, she also moved away from home. She went first to Panama, and later to Mexico, for modeling jobs. In 2015, she settled in Chile, where most of her family members now live.

The 27-year-old woman told the Associated Press, “I represent the new Chile. This is an inclusive country where immigrants come in search of opportunities.”

Thousands of people leave Venezuela each day to escape a lack of food and medicine in the country. Its economic crisis has created an almost 1 million percent inflation rate. Many beauty pageant hopefuls have left Venezuela and have found work in modeling and media fields.

Diaz is one of several Venezuelan beauty pageant competitors representing countries other than their homeland. Next month, a Venezuelan competitor will represent Portugal at the Miss World event in China. And, a recent Miss Earth pageant had two Venezuelan models who competed for other countries, including Jessica Russo.

Russo represented Peru just one year after moving to the country. She told the AP, “My dream of being a beauty queen was not going to stop just because I arrived in a new country.”

The 22-year-old competitor did not make it into the Miss Earth finals. But she is not giving up. She says she hopes to one day win a competition for Peru, the country where her mother was born.

Beauty pageants are followed almost as closely as baseball in Venezuela. The South American country is a world leader in international pageants. Seven Miss Universe and six Miss World winners have been from Venezuela.

Critics say beauty competitions are sexist and outdated. But many Venezuelans argue that pageants have helped hundreds of women gain careers as models, actors, news announcers and more.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

pageant – n. a beauty contest

opportunities – n. chances