VOA慢速英语--在阿富汗,一些父母被迫卖掉孩子以求生存-

Desperate Parents in Afghanistan Faced with Selling Their Children

In a large, simple settlement in western Afghanistan, Aziz Gul is fighting to save her daughter.

Her husband sold the 10-year-old girl into marriage without telling his wife. He took a down-payment so he could feed his family of five children. Without that money, he told his wife, they would all starve. He had to sacrifice one child to save the rest.

Many of Afghanistan's poorest people are making such decisions as their nation faces severe poverty.

The aid-dependent country's economy was already struggling when the Taliban seized power last August. The international community then froze Afghanistan's valuables overseas and halted all funding, unwilling¹ to work with a Taliban government.

The effects of such actions have been devastating². Aid groups now say more than half the population faces severe food shortages³.

"Day by day, the situation is deteriorating⁴ in this country, and especially children are suffering," said Asuntha Charles. She is national director of the World Vision aid organization in Afghanistan. The organization runs a health center for displaced⁶ people just outside the western city of Herat.

Charles said, "Today I have been heartbroken to see that the families are willing to sell their children to feed other family members."

Arranging marriages for very young girls is somewhat common throughout the area. The groom's family pays money to make the marriage happen. The child usually stays with her own parents until she is at least 15 years of age. Yet with many families unable to pay for even simple food, some say they would permit husbands to live with their very young daughters. Some are even trying to sell their sons.

But Gul is resisting. She herself was married off at 15 years old. She said she would kill herself if her daughter, Qandi Gul, is forcibly taken away.

Gul remembers well when she found out her husband had sold Qandi. For around two months, the family had been able to eat enough food. She decided⁷ to ask her husband how they were paying for the food. That is when he told her what he had done.

"My heart stopped beating. I wish I could have died at that time, but maybe God didn't want me to die," Gul said. Qandi sat close to her mother. "Each time I remember that night ... I die and come back to life. It was so difficult."

She asked her husband why he did it.

"He said he wanted to sell one and save the others. ‘You all would have died this way,' (he said.) I told him, ‘Dying was much better than what you have done.'"

Gul told her brothers and village elders that her husband had sold their child without telling her. They supported her. With their help, she received a "divorce" for her child, but only on condition that she repay⁸ the $1,000 that her husband received from the groom's family.

It is money she does not have. Her husband fled, possibly fearing Gul might denounce⁹ him to officials. The Taliban government recently announced a ban on forcing women into marriage.

The family her husband sold the girl to has already tried several times to claim Qandi, Gul said.

"If I can't provide money to pay these people and can't keep my daughter by my side, I have said that I will kill myself," Gul said. "But then I think about the other children. What will happen to them? Who will feed them?"

Gul's oldest child is 12. Her youngest is just two months old. Gul leaves the children with her mother while she goes to work in people's homes. Her 12-year-old son works picking saffron after school. He makes just enough to keep the family fed. But the saffron season is short.

"We don't have anything," Gul said.

Words in This Story

devastating - adj. causing great damage or harm

deteriorate¹⁰ - v. to become worse as time passes

displace⁵ - v. to force (people or animals) to leave the area where they live

elder - n. of greater age

saffron - n. an orange powder that is made from a type of flower (called a crocus) and that is used to color and flavor food

divorce - n. a complete separation between two things

1 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

2 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

3 shortages   

n.不足( shortage的名词复数 )；缺少；缺少量；不足额

参考例句：

• Food shortages often occur in time of war. 在战争期间常常发生粮食短缺的情形。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• At the same time, worldwide food and fuel shortages eased. 同时，世界性粮食和石油短缺的现象终止了。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

4 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

5 displace   

vt.取代，迫使...离开家园，使离开原位

参考例句：

• The extraordinary thing was that french did not displace English.奇特的是，法语没有取代英语。
• At present,obviously,nevertheless,he was not likely to displace himself.但时至今日，很清楚，他不可能再迁徙了。

6 displaced   

移动( displace的过去式和过去分词 )； 替换； 移走； 撤职

参考例句：

• Gradually factory workers have been displaced by machines. 工厂的工人已逐渐被机器取代。
• He was displaced by another young man. 他已被另一个年轻人顶替。

7 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。

8 repay   

v.偿还，报答，还钱给

参考例句：

• I feel honor bound to repay the money I borrowed.我觉得有责任归还我借的钱。
• I must repay her for her kindness.我必须报答她的恩惠。

9 denounce   

vt.谴责，声讨，告发

参考例句：

• We should denounce a heresy.我们应该公开指责异端邪说。
• He had thought to denounce or even assault this man.他本来想要申斥，甚至痛打这个人一顿。

10 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。