2019年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--用委婉语掩盖性暴力会导致更恶劣后果(3)

 

But there are unintended consequences. Sexual assault is usually defined (for example, by American and British authorities) as sexual contact without consent. This means that the gamut¹ runs widely, from groping to the most savage² rapes³. That can make it hard for those not directly involved to understand the gravity of individual cases. It might even let the most vicious rapists take advantage of a perception that perhaps they committed a lesser⁴ crime.

但也有一些意想不到的后果。性侵犯通常被定义为(例如，美国和英国官方)未经同意的性接触。这意味着范围很广，从猥亵到最野蛮的强奸。这使得那些没有直接参与的人很难理解个别案件的严重性。它甚至可能让最恶毒的强奸犯利用一种观念，即他们可能犯了较轻的罪行。

And the old words are often the most powerful. Activists⁵ have berated⁶ newspapers which reported that Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced and now-dead financier, “cavorted⁷” with “underage women”; he raped⁸ and trafficked teenage girls. Similarly, some want to ditch the term “child pornography”, since it refers to a heinous⁹ criminal enterprise, not consenting performances as in the adult kind. It sometimes seems people cannot talk about sexual violence except in terms adapted from consensual relations.

而古老的话语往往是最有力的。一些报纸报道称，已名誉扫地、现已过世的金融家杰弗里?爱泼斯坦与“未成年女性”“ cavorted 嬉戏”；他强奸、贩卖少女。同样地，一些人想要抛弃“child pornography 儿童色情”这个术语，因为它指的是一种十恶不赦的犯罪行为，而不是像成人那样自愿表演。有时人们似乎不能谈论性暴力，除非是在双方知情同意的基础上改编的。

Now feminists¹¹ are saying “we need to talk about rape”, as Deborah Cameron, a linguist¹², does in a recent post on her blog, “Language: a feminist¹⁰ guide”. Applying the right vocabulary to a crime will not curtail¹³ it, but the abstractions and legalese common in the media and politics can drain the task of urgency, by making the scourge¹⁴ seem less acute. Just as “murder” should not be routinely dressed up as “homicide”, nor “torture” consigned¹⁵ to the catch-all bin¹⁶ of “human- rights abuses”, so it is with the vocabulary of sexual abuse. It is hard to tackle a problem you are afraid to name.

现在女权主义者说“我们需要讨论强奸”，正如语言学家黛博拉·卡梅隆最近在她的博客“语言:女权主义指南”上发表的文章中写道。对犯罪使用正确的词汇并不能减少它，但是在媒体和政治中常见的抽象和法律术语可以使灾难看起来不那么尖锐，从而耗尽紧急任务。正如“murder 谋杀”不应该被例行地伪饰成“homicide 杀人”，“torture 酷刑”也不应该被扔进“human- rights abuses 侵犯人权”这个包罗万象的垃圾箱，同理性侵犯的词汇也是如此。

1 gamut   

n.全音阶，(一领域的)全部知识

参考例句：

• The exhibition runs the whole gamut of artistic styles.这次展览包括了所有艺术风格的作品。
• This poem runs the gamut of emotions from despair to joy.这首诗展现了从绝望到喜悦的感情历程。

2 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

3 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

4 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 berated   

v.严厉责备，痛斥( berate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Marion berated Joe for the noise he made. 玛丽昂严厉斥责乔吵吵闹闹。 来自辞典例句
• It berated Mussolini for selling out to Berlin. 它严厉谴责了墨索里尼背叛、投靠柏林的行径。 来自辞典例句

7 cavorted   

v.跳跃( cavort的过去式 )

参考例句：

• URGELLING, India-He drank wine, cavorted with women and wrote poetry that spoke of life's earthly pleasures. 他喝着酒，和女人跳着舞，写着述说生命最纯美的诗。 来自互联网
• St. Paul cavorted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage. 圣保罗欢闹了基督教。他传讲了圣恶毒，就是婚姻的另一个名字。 来自互联网

8 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

9 heinous   

adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的

参考例句：

• They admitted to the most heinous crimes.他们承认了极其恶劣的罪行。
• I do not want to meet that heinous person.我不想见那个十恶不赦的人。

10 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

11 feminists   

n.男女平等主义者，女权扩张论者( feminist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Only 16 percent of young women in a 1990 survey considered themselves feminists. 在1990年的一项调查中，只有16%的年轻女性认为自己是女权主义者。 来自辞典例句
• The organization had many enemies, most notably among feminists. 这个组织有许多敌人，特别是在男女平等主义者中。 来自辞典例句

12 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

13 curtail   

vt.截短，缩短；削减

参考例句：

• The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
• The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。

14 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。

15 consigned   

v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃

参考例句：

• I consigned her letter to the waste basket. 我把她的信丢进了废纸篓。
• The father consigned the child to his sister's care. 那位父亲把孩子托付给他妹妹照看。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

16 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。