VOA慢速英语2018 委内瑞拉选美选手代表其他国家参赛

Venezuelan Beauty Contestants¹ Represent Other Countries

The 67th Miss Universe beauty pageant² will take place December 16 in Bangkok, Thailand.

第67届环球小姐选美比赛将于12月16日在泰国曼谷举行。

The competition will include young women from around the world representing their countries. But one South American country, Chile, will not be represented by a native Chilean.

来自世界各地的女性将会代表她们的国家参赛，但是南美国家智利不是由本土人代表。

Instead, Andrea Diaz, a native of Venezuela will have that honor.

相反，委内瑞拉人安德莉亚·迪亚兹将会获得这份荣耀。

Diaz grew up in Valencia, Venezuela. She began training as a model at age 12 at a school there. At 19, she won a pageant organized by her town’s baseball team.

迪亚兹在委内瑞拉的瓦伦西亚长大。她12岁开始在那里的一所学校接受模特培训。19岁时，她赢得了镇上棒球队组织的选美大赛。

As Diaz moved along her career path, she also moved away from home. She went first to Panama, and later to Mexico, for modeling jobs. In 2015, she settled in Chile, where most of her family members now live.

随着迪亚兹走上职业模特的道路，她也搬离了家。她首先为了模特工作去了巴拿马，然后是墨西哥。2015年，她在智利定居下来，她的大部分家人现在也都住在智利。

The 27-year-old woman told the Associated Press, “I represent the new Chile. This is an inclusive³ country where immigrants come in search of opportunities.”

这位27岁的女士对美联社表示：“我代表全新的智利。这是一个包容性的国家，移民们来此寻找机会。”

Thousands of people leave Venezuela each day to escape a lack of food and medicine in the country. Its economic crisis⁴ has created an almost 1 million percent inflation⁵ rate. Many beauty pageant hopefuls have left Venezuela and have found work in modeling and media fields.

每天有成千上万人离开委内瑞拉，以逃离该国的食物和药品短缺。该国的经济危机导致了近万倍的通货膨胀率。很多选美大赛的种子选手都离开委内瑞拉，并在模特和媒体领域找到了工作。

Diaz is one of several Venezuelan beauty pageant competitors representing countries other than their homeland. Next month, a Venezuelan competitor will represent Portugal at the Miss World event in China. And, a recent Miss Earth pageant had two Venezuelan models who competed for other countries, including Jessica Russo.

迪亚兹是代表祖国以外国家参加选美大赛的几位委内瑞拉选手之一。下个月，一位委内瑞拉选手将会代表葡萄牙参加在中国举行的世界小姐大赛。最近的地球小姐选美大赛有两名委内瑞拉模特代表其它国家参赛，其中就包括杰西卡·卢梭。

Russo represented Peru just one year after moving to the country. She told the AP, “My dream of being a beauty queen was not going to stop just because I arrived in a new country.”

卢梭在搬到秘鲁仅仅一年之后就代表该国参赛。她对美联社表示：“我成为选美冠军的梦想不会仅仅因为搬到一个新国家而停止。”

The 22-year-old competitor did not make it into the Miss Earth finals. But she is not giving up. She says she hopes to one day win a competition for Peru, the country where her mother was born.

这位22岁的选手没有进入地球小姐决赛，但她并没有放弃。她说，她希望有一天能为她母亲出生的国家秘鲁赢得一场选美比赛。

Beauty pageants⁶ are followed almost as closely as baseball in Venezuela. The South American country is a world leader in international pageants. Seven Miss Universe and six Miss World winners have been from Venezuela.

选美比赛在委内瑞拉被棒球比赛紧紧跟随。这个南美国家是国际选美大赛的领导者。有7名环球小姐和6名世界小姐的获奖者都来自委内瑞拉。

Critics say beauty competitions are sexist and outdated⁷. But many Venezuelans argue that pageants have helped hundreds of women gain careers as models, actors, news announcers and more.

批评者表示，选美大赛是性别歧视，已经过时了。但是很多委内瑞拉人认为，选美比赛帮助了数百名女性获得了模特、演员、新闻播报员等事业。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

pageant – n. a beauty contest

opportunities – n. chances

1 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 pageant   

n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧

参考例句：

• Our pageant represented scenes from history.我们的露天历史剧上演一幕幕的历史事件。
• The inauguration ceremony of the new President was a splendid pageant.新主席的就职典礼的开始是极其壮观的。

3 inclusive   

adj.(of)包括的，包含的；范围广的

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging.账单包括吃、住费用。
• It's an all inclusive price;there is nothing extra to pay.这是一个包罗一切的价格，不需再额外付款了。

4 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

5 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。

6 pageants   

n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 )；穿古代服装的游行；再现历史场景的娱乐活动；盛会

参考例句：

• It is young people who favor holding Beauty pageants. 赞成举办选美的是年轻人。 来自互联网
• Others say that there's a fine line between the pageants and sexual exploitation. 其他人说，选美和性剥削之间只有非常细微的界线。 来自互联网

7 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。