2016年经济学人 沙特阿拉伯的女人们(下)

 

In Riyadh and in Jeddah, though not in a few more liberal places such as Qatif, the clerics—who always opposed female participation¹ in the elections—have stopped the new female local councillors from sitting in the council chambers² with men.

在利雅得和吉达，尽管不是像卡提夫那样的自由城市，那些一直以来禁止新任女性议员和男性一同坐在会议室里的传教士，他们也一直反对女性参与到竞选当中。

But to clerical consternation³, (veiled) women now operate the tills in Ikea, a Swedish furniture outlet⁴, in a poorer part of Riyadh, and men and women queue in mixed aisles⁵.

让阿訇惊愕的是，在利雅得一个较为落后地区，（戴面纱的）女性已在宜家家居（瑞典的家具专营店）从事收银员的工作，而且男女在混合走道中一同排队结账。

At the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology outside Jeddah, male and female students attend the same lectures and mingle⁶ freely.

在地处吉达旁的阿卜杜拉国王科技大学里，男女同学可一起参加同一门课的学习并且自由地往来。

Architects of new office blocks locate male and female toilets on the same floor.

新办公楼群建筑也把男女卫生间设计在同一层楼。

Most Saudi women have yet to take the liberties their Iranian counterparts do with the veil.

大多数沙特女性还没能像伊朗女性那样擅自摘下面纱。

“Parents would object if I didn't cover my face,” says a primary school headmistress who longs to remove it.

一位渴望摘下面纱的小学女校长说道：“如果我不用面纱遮住我的脸，父母会很反对”。

But growing numbers of high-school girls are donning headscarves only, no matter that their elders consider that scandalous.

但是越来越多的高中女生只戴头巾，尽管长辈会认为只戴头巾不戴面纱是可耻的行为。

In Jeddah, a more liberal port city, seamstresses design abayas with bright colours and women smoke water-pipes out of doors.

在相对自由地港口城市吉达，不仅女裁缝师会设计颜色鲜艳的长袍，而且女性也会在公共场合抽水烟。

But worryingly, King Abdullah's incremental⁷ reforms seem to be stalling and even going to reverse under his successor, King Salman.

但是，令人担忧的是国王阿卜杜拉在位期间推出的渐进改革在其接任者萨勒曼的领导下似乎要宣告停止甚至是倒退。

His young son, Muhammad, who operates most of the levers of power, says he is anxious to increase Saudi productivity, and to lower birth-rates, by getting women out of the home and into the workplace.

国王的小儿子，手握多项大权的穆罕默德说道他很急切地想要通过促使女性离开家庭走上工作岗位来提高沙特的生产力，降低出生率。

But even so he seems nervous of confronting the religious establishment, on whom the Al Saud rulers depend for legitimacy⁸.

但是尽管如此，在面对宗教伦理时仍心有余悸，毕竟这是沙特王国统治者所依赖的法治基础。

Many of Abdullah's reformers have been shifted; and a host of hardliners are back.

阿卜杜拉国王旗下的改革派大多已经被调离，一大群强硬派回归。

The only female minister, in the education ministry⁹, was dismissed soon after Salman took the throne.

在萨勒曼掌权之后，唯一的女部长（服务于教育部）也被解职。

Four women who publicly defied the still unreformed ban on female driving were barred from contesting local elections.

四名女性因公然反抗未经改革的禁止妇女驾驶的法令，而被禁止参与当地选举。

Shoppers in Jeddah report that the religious police are back, demanding that department stores black out any glimpse of unveiled women on their packaging.

据报道，吉达的消费者称宗教警察重返，要求购物商场禁止不戴面纱的女性入内。

One executive at an international financial-services firm says that the snoops carried out three spot-checks on her office last year to check for signs of the sexes mingling¹⁰.

一位国际金融机构的总经理表示这些警察去年在她的办公室进行了三次是否有与异性交往嫌疑的随机抽查。

She is once again being forced to enter through side-entrances when visiting clients, while her male counterparts go through the front door;

在与客户见面时，她再次被迫从侧门进入，然而她的男性工作伙伴则可走前门。

and they have to travel to meetings in separate cars.

而且在外出参会时，男女必须乘坐不同的车辆。

In the new, more conservative environment, perhaps the best hope for women is that the country might rediscover its own traditions.

在越来越保守的新环境下，对女性而言最大的希望在于国家能重拾传统。

A senior official admires footage of the Saudi state's founder¹¹, Abdulaziz, holding court in 1930s Mecca, while women riding on horseback bring their wares¹² to market.

一位高级官员很崇尚20世纪30年代在麦加执政的沙特国王阿卜杜勒阿齐兹所推行的女性政策，当时女性可骑在马背上带着货物去市场交易。

At Jeddah's annual festival, the organisers display the colourful costumes women used to wear before the puritans imposed the black abaya of the central desert on the whole country.

在吉达的年度盛会上，组织者会展示五颜六色的服装，而这些服装是在清教徒迫使女性身着黑色长袍之前女性曾穿过的服装。

Most striking of all is the Prophet Muhammad's own requirement that women and men perform the pilgrimage to Mecca together;

最振奋人心的是，先知穆罕默德曾要求男女一同前往麦加朝圣，

and that when women go round the Kaaba, Islam's holiest place, they show their face.

而且当女性绕行克尔白（位于麦加的伊斯兰教最为神圣的朝圣场所）时可露出其面容。

Saudi Arabia's new rulers might take note.

沙特阿拉伯的新国王可能记录下了这些。

1 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

2 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

3 consternation   

n.大为吃惊，惊骇

参考例句：

• He was filled with consternation to hear that his friend was so ill.他听说朋友病得那么厉害，感到非常震惊。
• Sam stared at him in consternation.萨姆惊恐不安地注视着他。

4 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

5 aisles   

n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊

参考例句：

• Aisles were added to the original Saxon building in the Norman period. 在诺曼时期，原来的萨克森风格的建筑物都增添了走廊。
• They walked about the Abbey aisles, and presently sat down. 他们走到大教堂的走廊附近，并且很快就坐了下来。

6 mingle   

vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往

参考例句：

• If we mingle with the crowd,we should not be noticed.如果我们混在人群中，就不会被注意到。
• Oil will not mingle with water.油和水不相融。

7 incremental   

adj.增加的

参考例句：

• For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说，提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
• By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法，已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句

8 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 mingling   

adj.混合的

参考例句：

• There was a spring of bitterness mingling with that fountain of sweets. 在这个甜蜜的源泉中间，已经掺和进苦涩的山水了。
• The mingling of inconsequence belongs to us all. 这场矛盾混和物是我们大家所共有的。

11 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

12 wares   

n. 货物, 商品

参考例句：

• They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
• The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。