VOA常速英语2016--撒哈拉以南非洲依赖童工影响国家发展

Sub-Saharan Africa's Dependence¹ on Child Labor² Affects Development 撒哈拉以南非洲依赖童工影响国家发展

As Sub-Saharan Africa strives to break the shackles³ of poverty, its population of nearly one billion people is hard at work.

随着撒哈拉以南非洲尝试打破贫困的枷锁,这里的近十亿人正从事异常艰辛的劳动。

A 2014 report by the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that one out of five Sub-Saharan children are working under difficult if not squalid conditions.

美国劳工部2014年的一份报告指出撒哈拉以南5个孩子中就有1人要么在肮脏条件下工作，要么从事的是十分艰苦的工作。

Poverty is the driving force behind child labor, says Alex Soho of the International Labor Organization in South Africa.

在通过Skype接受的一次采访中,南非国际劳工组织的亚历克斯·斯赫表示贫穷迫使童工去工作。

"They are poor. Their income is low. They cannot afford hiring adult laborers,” he said. ”So they have to rely, you know, on the work of their kids. This is true for farmers. This is true, also, for farm workers, who have to take them [children] along with them to the plantations⁴, in particular, the whole family, to complete the tasks they've been assigned."

“他们很穷。而且收入很低。他们不能雇佣成人劳动者。所以必须依靠孩子们。农民们就是这样。是这样的,对要带他们前往种植园的农场工人也是这样,尤其是对整个家族而言,要完成分配的任务。”

For these children, daily life consists of more than just backbreaking labor. Hazardous⁵ conditions are commonplace — not just on the farms, where pesticides⁶ abound⁷ and machinery⁸ meant to be run by adults poses threats to children, but also in mining, where conditions are sometimes abominable⁹.

对这些孩子们来说,他们的日常生活不仅仅是非常艰辛的劳动。恶劣危险的工作条件已经司空见惯，不仅是农场无处不在的农药及应该由成年人操作的机械对孩子构成威胁,而且在矿场,工作条件有时是令人感到可怕。

Day after day, children stand in muddy creeks¹⁰ and rivers scouring¹¹ the water for specks¹² of gold dust. There are dangers everywhere — machinery, man-sized or bigger rocks, hazardous chemicals and water-borne diseases.

孩子们日复一日站在泥泞的小溪及河流中冲刷着着金粉的斑点。这样的环境中处处隐藏着危险,如成年男性般或更大的石块,化学危险品及水源性疾病。

Cocoa industry

Another Sub-Saharan African industry dependent on child labor is cocoa, used in the production of chocolate. The U.S. Labor Department report said child labor is prevalent on cocoa plantations in Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea and Sierra Leone. In two other nations — Ivory Coast and Nigeria — it's not only that children are working; it’s that they are being forced to work. 

另一个撒哈拉以南非洲依赖童工的行业是巧克力生产中使用的可可。美国劳工部报告称在喀麦隆、加纳、几内亚及塞拉利昂的可可种植园中童工非常盛行。另外两个国家，象牙海岸及尼日利亚正不仅雇佣孩子们工作,而且还强迫他们工作。

What's worse, the use of children in the cocoa industry is increasing. A study by Tulane University found that the number of children working in the cocoa industry in 2013 and 2014 was 51 percent higher than five years earlier. The Tulane report said 1.4 million Sub-Saharan African children were working in the cocoa industry in 2014.

更糟的是,使用儿童的可可行业正呈现增加趋势。杜兰大学的一项研究发现, 2013及2014年在可可行业工作的童工数量工作比5年前高51%。杜兰大学的这份报告称, 2014年140万名撒哈拉以南的非洲儿童在可可行业工作。

An organization representing the industry says families, not corporations, are mainly responsible for the growth of child labor.

代表该行业的一个组织表示是家庭,而非公司导致童工增长。尼克·威特斯里尔则为国际可可倡议机构辩护。

"More than 99.5 percent of child labor that exists is taking place on the family farm,” said Nick Weatherill, executive director of the International Cocoa Initiative. “And, therefore, the much more extreme and definitely concerning [aspect] of [human] trafficking and kids working in indentured¹³ labor — that's less than 0.5 percent. It's still a phenomenon. It's still real, but it's principally driven by criminality. It is not driven by industry [and] corporate¹⁴ business practices."

“超过99.5%的童工是出现在家族农场。而更加极端，令人深感担心及人口贩卖问题，还有孩子们是否签订劳动契约—只占不到0.5%。这仍然是一种现象。而且仍然真实,但主要是由犯罪行为驱使。这不是由行业的商业行为所驱使。”

Anti-child labor activists¹⁵ in the United States are trying to use the courts to confront the chocolate industry. Lawsuits¹⁶ pending¹⁷ in California state courts against Hershey, Mars and Nestle are asking for money for residents who bought chocolate. State law requires candy makers¹⁸ to declare on product packages that child slavery was involved in their making.

美国的反童工活动家们正试图通过法律途径解决巧克力行业雇佣童工的问题。加州州立法院针对好时, 玛氏及雀巢提出的未决诉讼要求购买巧克力的居民们付钱。该州法律要求糖果制造商们在产品包装上标注在制造产品时涉及童工奴隶制。

Hardships for children

Aside from the physical dangers, experts say working is an obstacle to a child's long-term economic advancement¹⁹, as well.

南非国际劳工组织的亚历克斯·斯赫表示工作对于儿童长期经济发展而言是一道难题障碍。

"This work deprives a child of education and, obviously, of a future, because if a child cannot go to school, the child cannot have a future at all,” Soho said. “And this is why the measures taken by the ILO and its partners, you know, to support national stakeholders, focus on education.”

“这种工作剥夺的是孩子们接受教育的权利,而且很显然,是让他们没有未来,因为如果一个孩子不能去上学,孩子就不能有未来。因此国际劳工组织和合作伙伴正采取措施支持国家利益相关部门关注教育。”

Soho and others say that keeping children in school and helping²⁰ families pull themselves out of poverty are the keys to helping the people of Africa achieve the kind of growth they need to improve their position in the global marketplace. 

亚历克斯·斯赫和其他人表示让孩子去上学并帮助家庭摆脱贫困是帮助非洲人民实现需要提高在全球市场地位的关键。

1 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 shackles   

手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊

参考例句：

• a country struggling to free itself from the shackles of colonialism 为摆脱殖民主义的枷锁而斗争的国家
• The cars of the train are coupled together by shackles. 火车的车厢是用钩链连接起来的。

4 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

5 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

6 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

8 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

9 abominable   

adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的

参考例句：

• Their cruel treatment of prisoners was abominable.他们虐待犯人的做法令人厌恶。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

10 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

11 scouring   

擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤

参考例句：

• The police are scouring the countryside for the escaped prisoners. 警察正在搜索整个乡村以捉拿逃犯。
• This is called the scouring train in wool processing. 这被称为羊毛加工中的洗涤系列。

12 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

13 indentured   

v.以契约束缚（学徒）( indenture的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Africans became indentured servants, trading labor for shelter and eventual freedom. 非洲人成为契约上的仆人，以劳力交换庇护及最终的自由。 来自互联网
• They are descendants of indentured importees. 他们是契约外来工的后代。 来自互联网

14 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

15 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

17 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

18 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

20 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。