【英语语言学习】令加拿大蒙羞的事件

There is a strange thing happening in Canada. Research from the country's Native Women's Association estimates that as many as 4,000 native women may have gone missing or been murdered in the last three decades. An earlier study by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police put that figure closer to 1,200. The Canadian government has now begun a formal inquiry¹ into the situation. Carolyn Bennett is the Canadian minister of Indigenous² and Northern Affairs. And she joins us from New York. Thanks for being with us.

CAROLYN BENNETT: You're very welcome.

MARTIN: Clearly, this is now something that the government thinks is troubling enough to launch its own investigation³. What's the theory? Why do you think this is happening - all of these women going missing or being killed?

BENNETT: Well, clearly in Canada the indigenous population, and particularly women, they are way overrepresented in the numbers that are murdered and/or have gone missing. Indigenous women are 4 percent of the population and 24 percent of those that are murdered.

MARTIN: Can you give us a clearer picture of this demographic group? I mean, how well are they assimilated into the mainstream⁴ culture? What's their economic status like? What's the relationship to the authorities, to law enforcement?

BENNETT: We have three distinct populations in Canada - First Nations, Inuit and Metis. They are increasingly moving to cities. But it is a huge problem in that we've also got more indigenous children in foster care than at the height of our tragedy of residential⁵ schools, when they were ripped from their families and put into boarding schools. So we know that assimilation is a bad idea. We know that children do well when there is a secure personal cultural identity - when they can be a proud Inuit young girl. And when that's taken from them and they no longer feel proud of that, they lose their sense of self, sense of control, and that they actually end up very vulnerable and at risk of terrible problems. We also are dealing⁶ with terrible problems in poverty and housing and educational attainment⁷.

MARTIN: Do you have any idea whether or not these alleged⁸ crimes - these deaths and disappearances⁹ - are happening - are being perpetuated¹⁰ by other members of the native population or outside of that population?

BENNETT: Well, as you know, Rachel, most women die at the hands of someone they've known. In the indigenous population, it's a little bit less than in the non-indigenous population - a little bit more likely to be somebody that wasn't an intimate partner. But nonetheless, we know we've got to deal with child abuse that leads to addictions¹¹ that leads to incarceration¹² - is a huge issue both for men and women. We have learned through the hearings coast to coast to coast that there's been a very uneven¹³ application of justice in our country and that indigenous people are way overrepresented in the prisons. So we've got a lot of things that we have to deal with.

MARTIN: Some of these cases, I understand, go back 30 years.

BENNETT: Oh, indeed, and what we heard in the hearings is so sad because some of the cases were deemed a suicide or deemed an accident. And the investigation just wasn't done properly. And so the indigenous people in Canada felt that there was a completely uneven application of the justice system.

MARTIN: So how is the investigation going to move forward? Will you be looking into cases that have been cold for decades?

BENNETT: That's a deliberation. That's certainly what the families want - I think particularly the families who feel that the death of their loved one was deemed a suicide or an accident when they don't think so. There's a particularly tragic¹⁴ case where two young women - Maisy and Shannon - were deemed to be runaways¹⁵, but their cell phones and their purses were left on the table. And the families know that there's no teenage girl that would leave their cell phone and their purse on the table if they were indeed about to run away. Another one of the deaths and one of the near-deaths were people - young women who were in the child-welfare system in a hotel in downtown Winnipeg with very little supervision¹⁶. This is has captured the attention of Canadians. They know there's something really wrong going on, and I am honored that our prime minister has decided¹⁷ we have to get on and deal with it.

MARTIN: Carolyn Bennett is Canada's minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Thanks so much for talking with us about this.

BENNETT: You're very welcome.

1 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

2 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

5 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 attainment   

n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣

参考例句：

• We congratulated her upon her attainment to so great an age.我们祝贺她高寿。
• The attainment of the success is not easy.成功的取得并不容易。

8 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

9 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

10 perpetuated   

vt.使永存（perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• This system perpetuated itself for several centuries. 这一制度维持了几个世纪。
• I never before saw smile caught like that, and perpetuated. 我从来没有看见过谁的笑容陷入这样的窘况，而且持续不变。 来自辞典例句

11 addictions   

瘾( addiction的名词复数 )； 吸毒成瘾； 沉溺； 癖好

参考例句：

• He has removed the stigma of drug addictions. 他已经洗去吸毒的污点了。
• Intelligent people are good at using reason to control excessive addictions. 智慧的人善于用理性来控制过度的嗜欲。

12 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

13 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

14 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

15 runaways   

（轻而易举的）胜利( runaway的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They failed to find any trace of the runaways. 他们未能找到逃跑者的任何踪迹。
• Unmanageable complexity can result in massive foul-ups or spectacular budget "runaways. " 这种失控的复杂性会造成大量的故障或惊人的预算“失控”。

16 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

17 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。