2022年经济学人 阿富汗的女孩想上学都是奢望(2)

Years of progress are imperilled.

多年的进步岌岌可危。

Under the previous democratic government, backed by American troops and money, there was corruption¹ and bigotry².

在美国军队和金钱的支持下的前民主政府存在腐败和偏见。

But the female literacy rate more than doubled between 2000 and 2018 to 30%.

但女性识字率在2000年至2018年间翻了一倍多，达到30%。

Thousands of women got jobs as doctors, lawyers or cops.

数以千计的女性找到了医生、律师或警察的工作。

Some became entrepreneurs.

一些人成为了企业家。

Maternal³ mortality declined sharply and female life expectancy⁴ rose by ten years.

孕产妇死亡率大幅下降，女性预期寿命增加了10年。

Now a generation of girls is falling behind.

现在，一代女孩正在落后。

Some risk their lives to attend underground schools.

一些人冒着生命危险去上地下学校。

Sexist violence was a problem even before the Taliban takeover, with 87% of women and girls saying they had suffered abuse.

甚至在塔利班掌权之前，性别歧视暴力就已经是一个问题了，87%的妇女和女孩说她们遭受过虐待。

Many teenagers will become mothers before schools reopen.

许多青少年将在学校再次开学前成为母亲。

Life is no better for older women who managed to get an education before last year’s takeover.

对于在去年接管之前成功接受教育的年长女性来说，生活也好不到哪里去。

The Taliban have purged⁵ women from most workplaces.

塔利班已经将女性从大多数工作场所清除出去了。

In a UN survey conducted in October, every single person interviewed knew a woman who had lost her job in the previous month.

在联合国10月份进行的一项调查中，每个受访者都认识一个在上个月失去工作的女性。

Qamarulbanat Quraishy has been unemployed⁶ since August and is frantically⁷ searching for work.

Qamarulbanat Quraishy自8月份以来一直处于失业状态，正在疯狂地找工作。

But employers are turning away female candidates.

但雇主们正在拒绝女性求职者。

Ms Quraishy's savings⁸ have run dry and her debts are mounting.

Quraishy女士的积蓄已经耗尽，她的债务也在不断增加。

“I have no hope,” says the 24-year-old.

“我没有希望，”这位24岁的女孩说。

Bigotry affects the economy too.

偏见也会影响经济。

In terms of the increase in hourly earnings⁹ from an extra year of schooling¹⁰, the return on educating girls in Afghanistan was more than double that of educating boys.

就多上一年学而增加的时薪来看，在阿富汗，女孩受教育的回报是男孩的两倍多。

The children of educated mothers have long been better educated, healthier and likely to earn more later in life.

长期以来，受过教育的母亲的孩子会受更好的教育，更健康，在以后的生活中可能会赚更多的钱。

The UN reckons that keeping women out of work costs Afghanistan up to $1bn, or 5% of gdp.

据联合国估计，让妇女失业给阿富汗造成的损失高达10亿美元，相当于国内生产总值的5%。

In the midst of an economic crisis, the country can ill afford the loss.

在经济危机期间，这个国家承受不起这样的损失。

When the Taliban took over, sanctions stemmed the flow of money.

当塔利班接管政权后，制裁阻止了资金的流动。

Foreign aid, which made up three-quarters of the state budget, dried up.

占国家预算四分之三的国外援助枯竭了。

Ordinary Afghans cannot withdraw savings from local banks.

普通阿富汗人不能从当地银行提取储蓄。

Many have been unpaid¹¹ for months.

许多人已经被拖欠了几个月的工资。

Almost the entire population could be desperately¹² poor by the middle of the year.

到今年年中，几乎所有人都可能面临极度贫困。

The chaotic¹³ way in which decisions have been announced points to a split between hardliners and pragmatists within the Taliban.

宣布决定的混乱方式表明，塔利班内部的强硬派和实用主义者之间存在分歧。

Secondary schools received orders not to admit girls only after they had arrived on campus last week.

上周，女生入学后，中学才接到命令，不得招收女生。

Taliban leaders have been ambiguous about this policy.

塔利班领导人对这一政策一直含糊其辞。

In some provinces, such as Kunduz and Balkh in the north of the country, girls were allowed to return to school not long after the Taliban takeover.

在一些省份，如阿富汗北部的昆都士和巴尔赫，在塔利班接管后不久，女孩就被允许重返学校。

A handful of high-ranking officials continue to educate their daughters overseas.

少数高级官员继续让他们的女儿在海外接受教育。

As Ashley Jackson at the Overseas Development Institute, a think-tank in London, puts it, “competing visions” within the Taliban are playing out in public.

正如伦敦智库海外发展研究所的阿什利·杰克逊所说，塔利班内部的“相互竞争的愿景”正在公开上演。

The only hope is that decisions that shut women out of public life could be reversed as quickly as they were announced.

唯一的希望是，快速推翻将女性排除在公共生活之外的决定，就像宣布时那么快。

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 bigotry   

n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等

参考例句：

• She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
• At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。

3 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

4 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

5 purged   

清除（政敌等）( purge的过去式和过去分词 )； 涤除（罪恶等）； 净化（心灵、风气等）； 消除（错事等）的不良影响

参考例句：

• He purged his enemies from the Party. 他把他的敌人从党内清洗出去。
• The iron in the chemical compound must be purged. 化学混合物中的铁必须清除。

6 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

7 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

8 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

9 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

10 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

11 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

12 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

13 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。