VOA标准英语2009-Berber Women Try to Keep Rug Making Alive, P

By Solana Pyne
Marrakesh, Morocco
17 November 2009

Moroccan carpets are prized for their beauty and can fetch hundreds of dollars in stores. But little of that money ends up in the hands of the women who spend months weaving the carpets.

Rug weavers² see little profits from their craft

 
Fadma Hassi
Villagers in Morocco's Tazenakht region are renowned³ for producing rugs of particular beauty. But for these Berber women, weaving the 10 kilos of raw wool it takes to make one carpet isn't art, it's a livelihood⁴.
 
"In the past, in the regions of Tazenakht and Ouarzazate, families lived off wool and weaving," Fadma Hassi said.

That's become very hard to do. Weavers spend a month preparing the wool, and another month transforming it into a carpet.

Their current project is a specific order, and they'll earn $50 in profit. Split three ways, they'll each net about 25 cents a day. It's not much, but that's more than they would get at the local souk, or market.

"The souk doesn't pay a reasonable price. It doesn't even cover the cost of the wool," Rakia Nid Lchguer states.

One solution: eliminating the middleman

 
Moroccan carpet weavers say the 'middlemen' pay little for the rugs but sell them at a profit
There buyers are the middlemen. They buy the rugs from the villagers and sell them to shops in Marrakesh and other tourist hubs.

At carpet shops here in Marrakesh, rugs sell for hundreds of dollars. But most weavers are poor women in isolated⁵ villages, who don't even speak Moroccan Arabic. For them, these markets are very far away.

"You have a very nice carpet, they don't give you a good price. Then they take it to Marrakesh and they get good money for it," Khadija Ighilnasaf said.

Ighilnasaf is president of the Women's Weaving Association of Anzal. In this mountain village, 88 women have united to cut out the middleman.

"Now, instead of selling to a middleman, you bring it to the association and sell it yourself," Fatima Ait Elkadi explains.

A large carpet takes about a month to weave and sells for around $150. All but $20 goes directly to the weaver¹.

"Now I get all the money, all of it," Ighilnasaf says, "The woman gets the money and she can buy things she needs."

The weavers are now making more money per carpet, but they're not selling many. In the two years since they started the association, treasurer⁶ Zahara Ait Ali sold only four rugs, for a total of $300. "You sell one carpet and you have to wait a long time before you sell the next one," she said.

Art of weaving berber could be lost with next generation

 
Fadma Hassi
With so little money reaching the weavers, young women are opting⁷ not to learn the craft.

"I have five daughters. There is only one who knows how to weave," Lchguer said.

"Our daughters say we've ruined our health making carpets, and we get nothing from it. They want to learn new trades," Hassi states, "They don't want to learn this one anymore."

And with each child who refuses to learn, an art that's endured here for centuries inches closer to extinction⁸.

 

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 weavers   

织工，编织者( weaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Navajo are noted as stockbreeders and skilled weavers, potters, and silversmiths. 纳瓦霍人以豢养家禽，技术熟练的纺织者，制陶者和银匠而著名。
• They made out they were weavers. 他们假装是织布工人。

3 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

4 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 treasurer   

n.司库，财务主管

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith was succeeded by Mrs.Jones as treasurer.琼斯夫人继史密斯先生任会计。
• The treasurer was arrested for trying to manipulate the company's financial records.财务主管由于试图窜改公司财政帐目而被拘留。

7 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

8 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。