经济学人:刀口余生 变性人应该被如何对待(上)

 　　Asia: Banyan¹: Knife-edge lives 亚洲：榕树：刀口余生

　　The effects of discrimination against transgender Asians are huge, if hidden. 在亚洲，变性人遭受严重歧视，却鲜为人知

　　It's a matter of survival, one Indian transgender woman explains: never make eye contact with anyone potentially threatening. 对于那些可能危及你安全的人，眼神交流都该避免，一位印度的变性女性解释道，因为性命攸关。

　　Yet in the warren of alleys², workshops and tenements³ that is Old Delhi, Mallika, with a defiant⁴ gleam, is having none of it. 然而，对于生活在旧德里的Malika来说，无论是巷陌闹市、工坊商店还是简陋公寓，尽管眼里闪烁着一丝不甘，她可真的与路人毫无眼神交流了。

　　Until recently neighbours used to mock her and denounce her as a danger to their children. 不久前，邻居还奚落，甚至告发Malika，认为她威胁到了他们的孩子。

　　With police connivance⁵, they pressured her to leave. 在警察的默许之下，邻居甚至逼迫她Malika搬家。

　　But then SPACE, an NGO working with transgender people, took up her cause. 还好，致力于帮助变性人的非政府组织SPACE随后帮Malika解了围。

　　It taught Mallika her rights, and engaged the whole area in discussions,  它让Malika明白自身的权利，组织整个社区一同协商，

　　warning neighbours as well as the police that discrimination against trans or “third gender” people was illegal, and that prosecutions⁶ and fines would follow. 警告邻居和警察——歧视变性人和“第三性”人可是违法的，将面临起诉与罚款。

　　Now, Mallika says, her street has stopped mocking her, and she can go about “full of attitude”. Mallika说，现在街坊都不敢再奚落她了，而她也终于可以“昂首挺胸”地上街了。

　　“It’s them who don’t dare look at me,” she boasts. 她得意地说，“现在可是他们不敢正眼看我了。”

　　There are 9m-9.5m transgender people in Asia and the Pacific, according to an estimate by Sam Winter of Curtin University in Australia, equivalent to 0.3% of the population. 根据澳大利亚科廷大学的山姆·温特估计，约有900-950万变性人生活在亚太地区，占人口总数的0.3%。

　　Others say the figures could be much higher. 一些人认为，可能还不止这个数。

　　In some countries, in some respects, their life is getting better. 在一些国家，变性人在某些方面的确生活得越来越好。

　　Courts or governments in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan have all recognised transgender people as a legal category and defended their rights to a certain extent. 孟加拉国、印度、尼泊尔和巴基斯坦都承认了变性人的法律地位，并且在一定程度上保护他们的权利。

　　A group of Muslim clerics in Pakistan recently declared that it was haram to persecute⁷ them. 在巴基斯坦，一群穆斯林教士宣称，迫害变性人是一种暴行。

　　Singapore has allowed hospitals to perform sex changes since the 1970s and formally legalised trans marriages (although not gay ones) in 1996. 而新加坡自20世纪70年代就允许人们去医院接受变性手术，并且在1996年就认可变性婚姻（尽管同性恋婚姻还是违法）。

　　Yet discrimination remains⁸ horrific. 然而，变性人仍面临着十分严重的歧视。

　　Transgender people are often the targets of violence, as a UNDP report highlighted last year. 去年，一份UNDP的报告曾明确指出，变性人经常遭受暴力迫害。

　　In China, the attackers are often relatives of the victim. 在中国，施暴者多为受害人的亲属。

　　One survey in Australia reported that three-fifths of trans men (ie, people who were deemed female at birth but now identify as male) suffer abuse from their partners. 一份澳大利亚调查指出，五分之三的变性人（比如出生时是女性现在变性为了男性）遭受伴侣虐待。

　　And in Fiji 40% of trans women have been raped⁹. 在斐济，40%变性女性曾遭受强暴。

　　School dropout¹⁰ rates are invariably high, with an 85% rate among trans girls at secondary school surveyed in Vietnam. 变性人的辍学率一直居高不下。据调查显示，在越南，85%的变性女孩于中学辍学。

　　There are problems of getting work even in relatively¹¹ tolerant societies: in Hong Kong, trans people have an unemployment rate four times the territory’s average. 即使在对变性人相对包容的社会，变性人仍然很难找到工作。在香港，变性人失业率是地区平均值的四倍。

　　Trans people are often stressed and suffer high levels of mental ill-health, yet the stigma¹² makes it hard for them to find help. 变性人大多饱受严重心理疾病折磨，但在社会偏见的影响下，他们很难向外界寻求帮助。

　　Some resort to selling sex, making them vulnerable to arrest, violence and disease. 一些变性人走投无路之下只好从事性工作，可这却让他们更容易被逮捕，遭受暴力骚扰和感染疾病。

　　(Almost a quarter of trans sex workers surveyed in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, were HIV positive. ) 譬如，在巴布亚新几内亚的首都莫尔斯比港，四分之一的受访性工作者感染了艾滋病。

　　Trans people are often targeted for harassment¹³ by the authorities under public-nuisance and vagrancy¹⁴ laws, too. 政府人员常常以妨害公共利益罪和流浪罪之名找变性人的麻烦。

　　If jailed, they are often beaten up by fellow prisoners. 变性人一旦入狱，他们经常会遭到其他狱犯拳脚相向。

　　All this is despite long traditions of relative tolerance¹⁵ for transgender people in many Asian countries. 尽管在许多亚洲国家存在着对变性人相对包容的悠久传统。

　　In India, for instance, hijras, a category of men who dress as women, many of them castrated, have a certain standing¹⁶. 譬如，在印度，有一群打扮如女性的男性群体海吉拉斯，他们大多都接受过阉割，在社会上有一定地位。

　　They are thought to derive¹⁷ spiritual power from their sexual status, and so can bestow¹⁸ blessings¹⁹ or curses. 人们认为他们能从其性别身份获得精神力量，从而赋予他人祝福或诅咒。

　　They sing and dance at weddings. Failure to pay for their (often unbidden) attendance risks misfortune. 他们常在婚礼上又唱又跳，虽然经常不请自来，但如果主人不给他们出场费，那可就有可能因此而遭受不幸。

1 banyan   

n.菩提树，榕树

参考例句：

• This huge banyan tree has a history of more than 400 years.这棵大榕树已经有四百多年的历史了。
• A large banyan tree may look like a forest.大型的榕树看起来象一片树林。

2 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。

3 tenements   

n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Here were crumbling tenements, squalid courtyards and stinking alleys. 随处可见破烂的住房、肮脏的庭院和臭气熏天的小胡同。 来自辞典例句
• The tenements are in a poor section of the city. 共同住宅是在城中较贫苦的区域里。 来自辞典例句

4 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

5 connivance   

n.纵容；默许

参考例句：

• The criminals could not have escaped without your connivance.囚犯没有你的默契配合，是逃不掉的。
• He tried to bribe the police into connivance.他企图收买警察放他一马。

6 prosecutions   

起诉( prosecution的名词复数 )； 原告； 实施； 从事

参考例句：

• It is the duty of the Attorney-General to institute prosecutions. 检察总长负责提起公诉。
• Since World War II, the government has been active in its antitrust prosecutions. 第二次世界大战以来，政府积极地进行着反对托拉斯的检举活动。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 persecute   

vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰

参考例句：

• They persecute those who do not conform to their ideas.他们迫害那些不信奉他们思想的人。
• Hitler's undisguised effort to persecute the Jews met with worldwide condemnation.希特勒对犹太人的露骨迫害行为遭到世界人民的谴责。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 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

10 dropout   

n.退学的学生；退学；退出者

参考例句：

• There is a high dropout rate from some college courses.有些大学课程的退出率很高。
• In the long haul,she'll regret having been a school dropout.她终归会后悔不该中途辍学。

11 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

12 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

13 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

14 vagrancy   

（说话的，思想的）游移不定； 漂泊； 流浪； 离题

参考例句：

• The tramp was arrested for vagrancy. 这个流浪汉因流浪而被捕。
• Vagrancy and begging has become commonplace in London. 流浪和乞讨在伦敦已变得很常见。

15 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 derive   

v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• We shall derive much benefit from reading good novels.我们将从优秀小说中获得很大好处。

18 bestow   

v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费

参考例句：

• He wished to bestow great honors upon the hero.他希望将那些伟大的荣誉授予这位英雄。
• What great inspiration wiII you bestow on me?你有什么伟大的灵感能馈赠给我？

19 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》