欧美人文风情第282篇:为什么要有国际妇女节?

 Being born a girl means clearing a lot of hurdles¹, and it begins right at the starting line. 生为女孩代表要清除许多障碍，而那在起跑线就开始了。

Sex-selective abortions² are frequent in countries like India, where girls are often seen as a financial burden. 选择性别堕胎在像印度这些国家很常见，女孩们在这些国家常被视为经济负担。

Discrimination begins even before birth. 不公平对待甚至在出生前出现了。

Sexual mutilation is the fate of at least 200 million girls in 30 countries. 割礼是三十个国家内至少两亿名女孩的命运。

It often leads to serious infections and even death. Time for school...for some. 那经常引起严重的感染甚至死亡。该上学了...对一些人来说。

In Afghanistan, 90 percent of women cannot read or write, massively reducing their chances in life. 在阿富汗，百分之九十的女性无法读或写，大幅减少了她们的人生机会。

Sixty-three million girls in the world are kept out of school. 全世界有六千三百万名女孩被挡在学校外。

Before even getting close to adulthood³, 700 million girls are forced to get married, often to much older men. 就在甚至能成年前，七亿名女孩被迫结婚，常常是嫁给年长许多的男性。

Many women go through life without the right to control their own bodies or sexuality. 许多女性一生无权掌控自己的身体或情欲。

Every year, 22 million women and girls put their health and lives at risk by having unsafe abortions. 每年，两千两百万名女人和女孩进行不安全堕胎，将自己的健康和生命置于险境。

In some countries, like Senegal, they may end up in jail. 在一些国家中，象是塞内加尔，她们还可能沦为阶下囚。

Many who make it to adulthood face entrenched⁴ discrimination that leads to violence. 许多顺利长大的女孩遭受根深蒂固、造成暴力的歧视。

Way too often, home is not a safe haven⁵, as women are beaten and abused by their own partners. 有太多时候，家不是安全的避风港，因为女性被自己的另一半殴打和虐待。

In France, a woman dies of domestic violence every 2.7 days. 在法国，每 2.7 天就有一名女性死于家暴。

Even the lucky ones can never stop fighting for equal pay, equal opportunities, and equal rights. 即使是幸运的那群也永远无法停止争取同等薪资、同等机会，以及平等权利。

Being born a girl means clearing a lot of hurdles. 生为女孩代表要清除许多障碍。

 

1 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

2 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

3 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

4 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

5 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。