英国新闻听力 刚果（金）盛行厚葬（在线收听）

In the capital Kinshasa, a funeral ceremony can be confused with a birthday party. It’s festive, people dressed extravagantly, and there is usually a concert, or even a comedy show to entertain the guests. And as the BBC’s Moore Julian reports, families in the DRC often spend a lot more money than they can afford to on elaborate funerals.

Rows and rows of market stalls all selling must-have items for Kinshasa’s profitable funeral market. On my right, there are flowers, crosses. And on my left, several coffin-making workshops.

My name is Dickson. In this workshop we make 100 or 120 coffins each month.

You, I mean, as a carpenter, how did you decide to go into coffin-making as opposed to other forms of carpentry?

Mortality is very high in our country. And people are willing to spend more, a lot more on coffin than they are spending on their living room furniture. You see, if someone dies in Kinshasa, his family will spenda lot of money on drinks, food, clothes, nice coffin, money that they wouldn’t be spending to give to theperson while he was suffering so that they can save his life for example.

It’s not clear what’s behind the overspending, but some say it might be the influence of Evangelical movements, who tell their followers that they will be rewarded if they spend money on religion. Others say it’s just peer pressure. If you have spent this much money on your funeral, then I must spend even more. This is where the morning ceremony starts at the morgue in the hospital. There is a huge queue of about a hundred people here very well dressed who’ll cry publicly expressing their grief. And outside the morgue, there is a decorated car waiting. It’s got photos of the man who died, pasted all over it. We’ve just left the hospital. Now when we are driving with the procession of about twenty cars, there is one man who is a professional camera man who is filming from outside of his car. He’s been recruited just for the occasion. So we are now driving through the city. One of the cars is making this ambulance noise that you can hear.

在刚果民主共和国首都金沙萨，葬礼看起来像一个生日宴会，节日气氛浓厚，宾客盛装出席，并且通常会有演唱会甚至喜剧表演助兴。据BBC记者摩尔·朱莉安报道，刚果民主共和国的家庭经常筹办的厚葬经常超出其经济能力范围。

在金沙萨，葬礼是一个有利可图的市场，一排排的街市档位都在贩卖葬礼必需品。在我的右手边，有鲜花、十字架。在我的左手边，有几个棺材铺。

我叫迪克逊。我们这家店铺每个月做100到120口棺材。

最为一位木匠，您为什么选择制作棺材，而不是从事其他类型的木匠工作？

我们国家的死亡率很高，而且人们也愿意在棺材上花大价钱，这要比他们在客厅家具上花的钱要多得多。你看，在金沙萨，如果有人去世了，他的家人会花很多钱购置饮品、食物、衣服和精致的棺木。然而，在逝者生前遭受病痛折磨的时候，他们是不会花这么多钱救命的。

这样过度消费的背后原因还不得而知，但有人说这可能是受到了福音运动的影响，他们告诉信徒，在宗教上花钱会有福报。还有人说是同辈压力的关系。你在葬礼上花这么多钱，我要比你花的还多。早晨的仪式在医院的太平间举行，100多号人排成长队，盛装出席，当众痛哭，表达悲痛。太平间外候着一辆花车，上面贴满了逝者生前的照片。我们刚刚离开医院，随着20辆轿车的车队前行。一位专业摄影师将机器伸出窗外进行拍摄，他是临时雇来的。我们的车队正在穿过这座城市，你可以听见其中一辆轿车发出救护车的鸣笛声。