经济学人190:性别选择,哑巴啦?

 　　Sex selection

　　性别选择

　　Cat got your tongue?

　　哑巴啦？

　　Aug 6th 2011 | from the print edition

　　Unnatural¹ Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men. By Mara Hvistendahl. Public Affairs; 314 pages; $26.99 and ?17.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

　　《非自然选择：选男不选女和世界挤满男人的后果》。马拉?赫弗斯坦托尔（Mara Hvistendahl）。公共事务出版社; 共314页; 价格为$ 26.99美元和17.99英镑。可从Amazon.com和Amazon.co.uk网站购买。

　　AS HE walked into the maternity² ward³ of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital in Delhi on his first day at work in 1978, Puneet Bedi, a medical student, saw a cat bound past him “with a bloody⁴ blob dangling⁵ from its mouth.” “What was that thing—wet with blood, mangled⁶, about the size of Bedi’s fist?” he remembers thinking. “Before long it struck him. Near the bed, in a tray normally reserved for disposing of used instruments, lay a fetus⁷ of five or six months, soaking in a pool of blood…He told a nurse, then a doctor, I saw a cat eat a fetus. Nobody on duty seemed concerned, however.” Mara Hvistendahl, a writer at Science magazine, is profoundly concerned, both about the fact that abortion⁸ was treated so casually⁹, and the reason. “Why had the fetus not been disposed of more carefully? A nurse’s explanation came out cold. “Because it was a girl.”

　　1978年，普尼特?贝迪（Puneet Bedi）还是名医学院学生，当他上班第一天走进德里人民领导杰布里卡什?纳拉扬医院的产科病房时，看见一只猫 “嘴里叼着一个血淋淋东西”快速经过他身边跑掉了。“那是什么东西---湿淋淋，血肉模糊的，大约贝迪的拳头大小？”他想着记起来了。“不久，他被震惊了。看到床边通常留着为清理使用过的手术工具的一个托盘里放着一个五六个月的胎儿，浸泡在血液里……他先告诉护士，然后医生，‘我看到了猫正在吃胎儿’。然而，值班的人似乎并不关心。”《科学杂志》的作家马拉?赫弗斯坦托尔（Mara Hvistendahl）既深刻地关注着随便对待堕胎的事实，也深刻关注堕胎的理由。“为什么胎儿不能小心地处理呢？护士冷冷地解释到，‘因为那是个女孩。’”

　　Sex-selective abortion is one of the largest, least noticed disasters in the world. Though concentrated in China and India, it is practised in rich and poor countries and in Buddhist¹⁰, Hindu, Christian¹¹ and Muslim societies alike. Because of males’ greater vulnerability to childhood disease, nature ensures that 105 boys are born for every 100 girls, so the sexes will be equal at marriageable age. Yet China’s sex ratio is 120 boys per 100 girls; India’s is 109 to 100.

　　性别选择性堕胎是这个世界上最大的灾难之一，然而受到的关注却最少。虽然大部分集中在中国和印度，不过，无论是富国还是穷国，无论是佛教，印度教还是穆斯林社会，都在为这项灾难“添砖加瓦。因为男性更容易受到儿童疾病的影响，自然出生确保了每100个女孩出生就有105个男孩，所以性别比例在结婚年龄时会达到持平。然而，中国的性别比例是每出生100个女孩有120个男孩；印度的性别比例为100个女孩比109个男孩。

　　The usual view of why this should be stresses traditional “son preference” in South and East Asia. Families wanted a son to bear the family name, to inherit property and to carry out funerary duties. Ms Hvistendahl has little truck with this account, which fails to explain why some of the richest, most outward-looking parts of India and China have the most skewed sex ratios. According to her account, sex-selection technologies were invented in the West, adopted there as a population-control measure and exported to East Asia by Western aid donors¹² and American military officials.

　　男女比例为什么失衡，人们普遍观点认为东南亚人强调传统的“重男轻女”思想。家庭需要儿子来传宗接代，继承财产以及养老送终的职责。赫弗斯坦托尔女士的看法跟这个叙述几乎毫无共通之处。因为该叙述还是未能解释为什么印度和中国一些最富裕的，最开放的地方性别比例最不正常（或最倾斜）。根据她的解释，性别选择技术是在西方发明并被作为人 口控制措施而采用的，而且被西方援助者和美国军官传播到了东亚。

　　The ultrasound and other technologies that identify the sex of a fetus started out as diagnostic devices to help people with sex-linked diseases, such as haemophilia, conceive healthy children. They were greeted rapturously in America in the 1960s. “Ultrasound Device Takes Guessing Out of Pregnancy” ran one headline. “Control of Life: Audacious Experiments Promise Decades of Added Life” ran another.

　　在开始的时候，确认胎儿性别的超声波扫描和其它技术是作为诊断设备来帮助有伴性遗传的病人帮助孕育健康儿童（译者注：超声波技术有助于早期检测胎儿性别，以此可以知道孕妇是否可到健康婴儿），如血友病。美国20世纪60年代，这些技术得到了狂热的欢迎。报纸刊登标题为“超声波设备使得怀孕期间无需再猜”的文章。另一篇文章为“生命控制：大胆创新的实验有望为人类增寿几十年”。

　　But 1960s America was also a period of growing concern (hysteria, even) about population in developing countries. Policymakers, demographers¹³ and military men all thought rapid population growth was the biggest single threat to mankind and that drastic measures would be needed to rein¹⁴ it in. One such figure was Paul Ehrlich, whose book, “The Population Bomb”, became a bestseller in 1968. Mr Ehrlich pointed¹⁵ out that some Indian and Chinese parents would go on having daughter after daughter until the longed-for son arrived. If, he argued, they could be guaranteed a son right away, those preliminary daughters would not be born, and population growth would be lower. Sex selection became a tool in a wider battle to stop “overpopulation”.

　　但20世纪60年代的美国也是日益（甚至是歇斯底里的）关注发展中国家人口的阶段。政策制定者，人口学家和军人都认为快速的人口增长是人类的最大威胁，并将需要采取极端措施来严格控制。保罗?埃尔利希（PaulEhrlich）就是这样一位人物。1968年，他的《人口炸弹》成了畅销书。埃尔利希先生（MrEhrlich）指出，印度和中国的一些父母在生了一个个女儿之后是不会停止生育的，直到他们想要的儿子出生为止。他认为，假如他们能被立马保证会生一个儿子，那么，那些起先出生的女儿就不会出生了，因而人口增长率就会降低。性别选择在阻止更广泛的“人口过剩”的斗争中成了一项工具。

　　But how did an obsession¹⁶ of Western policymakers turn into the widespread practice of destroying female fetuses¹⁷ in Asia? Partly, argues Ms Hvistendahl, through aid. The Ford¹⁸ and Rockefeller Foundations gave over $3m to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the 1960s, helping¹⁹ it to pioneer India’s first amniocentesis tests, initially²⁰ for genetic²¹ abnormalities and later for identifying fetal sex. India at that time was the World Bank’s biggest client, and the bank made loans for health projects conditional²² on population control.

　　然而，西方政策制定者们的痴迷如何转变成了破害亚洲女性胎儿的普遍做法呢？赫弗斯坦托尔女士（Ms Hvistendahl）认为，在一定程度上是通过对外援助来达到这点的。20世纪60年代，美国福特和洛克菲勒基金会向全印医学科学研究所（AIIMS）提供了300万美元，帮助该研究所创办了印度首次羊膜穿刺检查，开始是为遗传异常（畸形）检查，后来则为鉴别胎儿性别检查。那时，印度是世界银行最大的客户，而世界银行卫生项目贷款条件就是人口控制。

　　No less important, American military officers helped make abortion the population control tool of choice in those Asian countries where they wielded²³ influence, first in Japan in the late 1940s and 1950s, then South Korea in the 1960s. USAID, America’s aid agency, provided Jeeps for mobile clinics which roamed South Korea performing abortions²⁴. At one point, a quarter of the country’s health budget was going on population control and the number of abortions hit an all-time record in Seoul, where, in 1977, there were 2.75 abortions for every live birth. “What would have happened if the government hadn’t allowed for such easy abortion?” asks one sociologist²⁵. “I don’t think sex-selective abortion would have become so popular.”

　　在亚洲国家，同样重要的是，美国军官促进了使得堕胎成为人口控制工具的选择；他们在那儿施加了影响。首先是在日本，在20世纪40年代末和50年代；然后是韩国，在20世纪60年代。美国援助机构---美国国际开发署为韩国流动诊所提供吉普车。这些吉普车漫游在韩国大地上帮助执行人工流产手术。在某种意义上，该国医疗预算的四分之一是用于人口控制。1977年，汉城堕胎数量创历史新高，每个生命降生就有2.75次堕胎。“假如政府没有提供这样容易的堕胎技术，将会发生什么呢？”一位社会学家问道。“我并不认为堕胎会变得如此受欢迎。”

　　Ms Hvistendahl is convincing in telling the little-known story of how Westerners helped create the conditions under which sex selection began in Asia. But her emphasis on the West’s role is less sure an explanation for the practice’s spread throughout China and India. China’s coercive population-control policies were developed in the late 1970s, at the end of the Cultural Revolution and the early reforms of Deng Xiaoping. This was a period of isolation²⁶ and modest opening-up, when China was not much interested in Western advice. The available records are scanty²⁷ so it is hard to be sure, but the influence of Westerners on the one-child policy seems modest. Westerners had more clout²⁸ in India, but it turns out some of them used it against, rather than for, sex selection. One (Indian) doctor from AIIMS, arguing in favour of sex-selective abortions, concedes that “this may not be acceptable to persons in the West…” Oh.

　　赫弗斯坦托尔女士（Ms Hvistendahl）令人信服地讲述了一个不为人知的故事：西方人如何助长性别选择在亚洲开始的情形。但是，她强调，西方的作用并不能解释这种做法在整个中国和印度的转播。中国强制性人口控制政策在文化大革命结束以及邓小平早期改革的20世纪70年代末开始发展。这是个孤立而适度开放的时代，中国当时对西方的建议并没有过多的兴趣。可获得的记载也很少，因而也很难下定论，但是西方人对独生子女政策的影响似乎并不太大。西方人在印度却有着更大的权力和影响，但最后证明，他们中一些人是用这个方法反对性别选择，而不是为了性别选择。一位来自全印医学科学研究所的（印度）医生，主张支持性别选择堕胎并承认此举西方人是不会接受的…”哦。

　　Ms Hvistendahl’s history is marred²⁹ by the occasional lapses³⁰ into self-righteousness and polemic³¹. She says others who have written about sex-selection technology have not been critical enough “because blaming backward cultural traditions is simpler.” She dismisses a World Bank report that said South Korean actions to combat sex selection had worked, as “flat-out wrong”, apparently³² because it would let the bank off the hook for previous support of population control. She calls Western population policies a “plot”.

　　赫弗斯坦托尔女士（Ms Hvistendahl）的故事被偶尔陷入自以为是和激烈的争辩給毁了。她说，其他写了性别选择技术的人批判的并不够，“因为谴责落后的文化传统变得更加简单。”她并不接受世界银行的一份报告。这则报告称，韩国与性别选择作斗争的行动已经起了作用。其理由就是这则报告“彻头彻尾错了”，显然是因为此报告将让世行摆脱以前支持人口控制的责任。她称西方人口政策为一个“阴谋”。

　　Still, the merits of her book outweigh³³ such flaws. Ms Hvistendahl’s distinctive³⁴ contribution is twofold. She provides a history of the modern practice of sex-selective abortion, based on new and detailed³⁵ research, and she helps readers think about its possible consequences. Most of them look grim. America’s violent Wild West, she points out, had a huge preponderance of men. Excess males in central and southern China also contributed to the Taiping rebellion of 1850-64, one of the bloodiest³⁶ civil wars in history.

　　尽管如此，她的书依然瑕不掩瑜。赫弗斯坦托尔女士（Ms Hvistendahl）特殊的贡献是双重的。以新的详细的研究为基础，她提供了性别选择堕胎的现代实践的历史，而且她帮助读者思考这种实践的可能后果。大部分结果看上去很严酷。她指出，美国充满暴力而荒凉的西部绝大多数为男子。中国中部和南部男性过多也促成了1850年至1864年历史上最血腥的内战之一的太平天国起义。

　　Sex selection, Ms Hvistendahl says, still does not get its proper attention. Female genital mutilation is all over the websites of UNICEF and the World Health Organisation³⁷. Sex selection, in contrast, hardly gets a mention. One hopes her book will help the subject get its due.

　　赫弗斯坦托尔女士（Ms Hvistendahl）表示， 性别选择仍然得不到应有的重视。联合国儿童基金会和世界卫生组织的网站上到处都是毁坏女性外阴的信息。相反，性别选择几乎不值得一提。谁都希望她的书将有助于这个主题得到应有的承认。

1 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

2 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

3 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

4 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

5 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

6 mangled   

vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• His hand was mangled in the machine. 他的手卷到机器里轧烂了。
• He was off work because he'd mangled his hand in a machine. 他没上班，因为他的手给机器严重压伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

8 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

9 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

10 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

11 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

12 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 demographers   

n.人口统计学( demography的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Demographers, however, point out that the'single" trend will have a profound effect on American institutions. 不过，人口学家们指出，“单身”趋势将对美国的公共机构产生深远的影响。 来自时文部分
• Selectivity of human migration long been the focus of demographers and economists. 人口迁移的选择性一直以来都是人口学家和经济学家关注的焦点。 来自互联网

14 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

15 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

16 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

17 fetuses   

n.胎，胎儿( fetus的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• DNA was extracted from fetuses at mid-gestation, about 10 days past conception. DNA从受孕大约10天后的中期妊娠胚胎中提取。 来自互联网
• Brucellosis is a disease that causes fetuses to abort in cattle. 普鲁士菌病是一种可以导致牲畜胎儿夭折的疾病。 来自互联网

18 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

19 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

20 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

21 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

22 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

23 wielded   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The bad eggs wielded power, while the good people were oppressed. 坏人当道，好人受气
• He was nominally the leader, but others actually wielded the power. 名义上他是领导者，但实际上是别人掌握实权。

24 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

25 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

26 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

27 scanty   

adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的

参考例句：

• There is scanty evidence to support their accusations.他们的指控证据不足。
• The rainfall was rather scanty this month.这个月的雨量不足。

28 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

29 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

30 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

31 polemic   

n.争论，论战

参考例句：

• He launched into a fierce polemic against the government's policies.他猛烈地抨击政府的政策。
• He wrote a splendid polemic in my favour.他写了一篇出色的文章为我辩护。

32 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

33 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

34 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

35 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

36 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

37 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。