VOA慢速英语2015 印度要改变重男轻女的文化现象

 

AS IT IS 2015-02-03 India to Change a Culture of Valuing Boys over Girls 印度要改变重男轻女的文化现象

For many years, Indian families seemed more interested in having boys than girls. This choice of boys has led to many illegal abortions³. Doctors were told to end a pregnancy⁴ when the fetus⁵ showed signs of being female.

This custom has also led to a big problem in India – there are not enough girls compared to all the boys. The falling number of girls presents a major social issue for the country.

In a strong message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Indians that “we cannot be counted as citizens of the 21st century.” He said aborting⁶ female fetuses⁷ is worse than an 18th century way of thinking because girls are being killed even before they are born.

PM Modi calls choosing boys over girls an "emotional disorder⁸"

Mr. Modi said that valuing sons above daughters is an emotional disorder. And he called for a social awakening⁹ to see girls as valuable as boys.

The prime minister says no mother wants to do away with her child. But, he adds, family and social pressures make her involved in this crime.

In the traditional culture in India, sons are considered a valuable resource. They can earn money for the family and take care of parents in their old age. Girls are considered a liability, bringing financial pressure on the mother and father. That is because the parents have to give a dowry, usually money or property, to the family of the girl’s husband. 

Ultrasound technology has made knowing the sex of the unborn possible. Studies show that during the past 40 years, as many as 12 million girls may have been aborted¹⁰.

India experiencing shortage of girls

Mr. Modi launched the campaign to “Save the Daughter, Teach the Daughter” in the northern state of Haryana. The state has the lowest number of girls to boys in India - 879 for 1,000 males. The national average is 917 girls for 1,000 males.

The campaign aims to reduce the sharp difference in the number of male and female births. It will seek to improve equality of the sexes through education. The program will enforce existing laws that ban the abortion² of female fetuses. It will also seek to improve attendance of girls in schools.

Women and Child Development Minister, Maneka Gandhi, said the difference between girls and boys is extremely serious in some states like Haryana.

She says the situation is so bad that according to government estimates no girls have been born for many years in 70 villages. She adds that in some villages there are only 500 girls for 1,000 boys.

Aborting female fetuses takes place in every class of Indian society. The poor and rich, urban and rural, uneducated and educated often want sons. In fact, researchers found that choosing to abort¹ a female fetus is more common among educated women. They also found that religion made no difference. The International Development Research Centre carried out the study.

Last year, a United Nations report warned the lessening¹¹ number of girls in India has reached an “emergency” level. It said this lack of women has caused an increase in some crimes such as the kidnapping and trafficking of women.  

Words in this Story

abortion – n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus

fetus – n. a human being or animal in the later stages of development before it is born

dowry – n. money or property that a wife or wife's family gives to her husband when the wife and husband marry in some cultures

liability – n. the state of being legally responsible for something : the state of being liable for something; something (such as the payment of money) for which a person or business is legally responsible

ultrasound – n. medical : a method of producing images of the inside of the body by using a machine that produces sound waves which are too high to be heard

1 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

2 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。

3 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

4 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

5 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。

6 aborting   

v.（使）流产( abort的现在分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• Target machine is rebooting due to a different deployment task. Aborting deployment. 由于有另一个部署任务，目标计算机正在重新启动。正在中止部署。 来自互联网
• The number of seconds elapsed before aborting a connection attempt. 在中止连接尝试之前经过的秒数。 来自互联网

7 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

8 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

9 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

10 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 lessening   

减轻，减少，变小

参考例句：

• So however much he earned, she spent it, her demands growing and lessening with his income. 祥子挣多少，她花多少，她的要求随着他的钱涨落。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• The talks have resulted in a lessening of suspicion. 谈话消减了彼此的怀疑。