With Islamist groups expected to do well in Egypt's parliamentary elections, many Coptic Christians are concerned that their limited rights will come under greater threat.
在埃及，预计伊斯兰宗教团体将在这届议会选举中赢得多数席位，这一消息，让很多信仰基督教的埃及科普特人感到不安，他们担心，目前有限的权利将受到进一步的威胁。
The trash of millions of people collects in Cairo's Garbage City, the narrow lanes filled with plastic, metal, wood - anything the district residents can resell to eke out a living.
埃及首度开罗市内有一个专门收集垃圾的“特区”，开罗市内数百万人日常的垃圾都集中在这里。住在这个“特区”里的居民设法从垃圾堆里找出塑料、金属、木材等各种能卖钱的废品。
The slum, on the outskirts of the capital, is home to a large Coptic Christian community. Many are trash collectors, or zabaleen. And above the squalor is a testament to their faith - the largest Christian church in the Middle East, cut into the hillside that begins the plateau east of Cairo.
埃及的很多科普特基督徒就住在开罗郊外这个以贫困著称的“特区”里，这儿的很多居民都是以捡破烂为生，日子很穷，但是他们的信仰却异常地坚定。这里有着中东地区最大的一个基督教堂，教堂座落在开罗东部高地的半山腰上。
For Christians, Egypt is the land revered for sheltering a young Jesus and his family. But it has long been the province of an Islamic majority, a fact that some Coptic Christians say Muslims are quick to point out.
对于基督教信徒来说，埃及这块土地因为曾经给少年耶稣和他的家人提供了衣食住所而具有着特殊的，甚至是圣地的涵义。不过，很长时间来，这里的居民主要是穆斯林，基督教徒是明显的少数。这一点，一些科普特基督徒说，当地的穆斯林往往也不含蓄地提醒他们。
Said, who gives only his first name, says Christians are discriminated against.
一位叫萨伊德的科普特基督徒说，在这里，基督教信徒受到歧视。
He says Coptic Christians do not have the same rights as other people in the country, and that others look down on them as if they are not human. Said says discrimination was institutionalized under the old government, with restrictions on church construction and the ability to change one's faith. The current military government has proved no better, he says, cracking down on a Coptic protest march last month, in a violent night that left 25 people dead.
他说，信仰基督教的科普特基督徒在埃及没有和其他人一样拥有同等的权利，其他人往往也都看不起他们，仿佛他们是另类一般。萨伊德说，在穆巴拉克掌权时期，科普特基督徒受到的歧视可以说是制度化了，不能随便盖教堂，也不能随便改换宗教。
Now, some Christians say, it can only get worse. The elections that started this week are expected to favor Islamist parties, including the conservative Salafis.
一些科普特基督徒说，如今，情况可能还不如从前。这个星期开始的选举据说将让很多伊斯兰党派和团体入围，其中还包括极其保守的萨拉菲派。
Medhat Sa'ad, a resident of Garbage City, fears that if Salafis are in charge, a woman walking on the streets without a veil "could be slaughtered."
“垃圾特区”的居民麦德哈特·萨阿德说，他担心萨拉菲派掌权以后，不戴头巾、不蒙面上街的妇女恐怕都要面临被斩首的境地。
Although Salafi-inspired violence has dominated newspaper headlines in recent months, some experts say widespread fear is not justified.
尽管最近几个月以来，受到萨拉菲派系的影响而产生的暴力不断地成为各大报纸的头版头条，但是，一些专家说，从总体上来说，不必因此而恐惧。
"I know a lot of people, even very practicing Muslims, who take their faith very seriously, who do not want to see this kind of interpretation of Islam being overrepresented in parliament. I would say, in general, most Egyptians are more leaning to the more moderate interpretation of Islam or moderate involvement of Islam in political life," political analyst Rania el-Malki says.
政治分析人士拉尼雅·埃尔-马尔基说：“我认识很多人，甚至包括那些笃信伊斯兰教的穆斯林在内，大家都并不希望看到议会里有太多的极端保守派穆斯林。在我看来，埃及人总体上说是希望对伊斯兰教有一个比较温和的拴释，在政治生活中，也不希望伊斯兰教过于卷入。”
Even if extremist views prevail, some Coptic Christians in Garbage City say they will never leave.
即便极端主义论点和论调在这里占据了上风，“垃圾特区”里，至少一些科普特基督徒说，不管怎么样，他们永远也不会离开自己的故乡和家园。
Adel Gad el-Rab is a former garbage collector who says God protects everyone in Egypt. When reminded that the country's once thriving Jewish community is all but gone, he declares he will never leave until, as he puts it, he goes to "his homeland in heaven."
阿代尔·加德·埃尔-拉布过去也是捡破烂为生的。他说，上帝保佑着埃及所有的人。当记者说，这里一度有很多犹太人，如今不也是不见了吗？埃尔-拉布坚持说，直到去见上帝那一天，他是不会离开这儿的。
El-Rab says the people here are the poorest in Cairo. "We are the garbage collectors," he says, "but we live on a mountain of faith."
他说，住在这个“特区”里的人，是埃及最穷的，“我们都是以捡破烂为生的”，但是他说，“我们住在信仰的圣殿里。” |