VOA慢速英语: 印度要改变重男轻女的文化现象

Indiato Change a Culture of Valuing Boys over Girls

印度要改变重男轻女的文化

A girl dressed in traditional attire poses as she takes part in rehearsals for the "garba" dance ahead of Navratri festival in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, Sept. 29, 2013.

For many years, Indian families seemed more interested in having boys than girls. This choice of boys has led to many illegal abortions. Doctors were told to end a pregnancy when the fetus showed signs of being female.

很久以来，印度的家庭更钟爱男孩子。他们选择要男孩子，因此导致很多不合法的堕胎。胎儿显示出女性性别时，医生会被要求终止孕妇的妊娠。

This custom has also led to a big problem in India – there are not enough girls compared to all the boys. The falling number of girls presents a major social issue for the country.

这样的风气导致印度出现一个很大的问题——相比男孩儿而言，女孩较少。女孩数量的下降呈现出一个主要的社会问题。

In a strong message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Indians that "we cannot be counted as citizens of the 21stcentury." He said aborting female fetuses is worse than an 18th century way of thinking because girls are being killed even before they are born.

一个强有力的讯息表明：印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪发表讲话说：“我们不能被称作是21世纪的共鸣。”打掉女胎儿比18世纪人们对待女性的想法更糟糕，因为女孩还没有出生就被杀死了。

PM Modi calls choosing boys over girls an "emotional disorder"

印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪称重男轻女的现象叫做“情绪失调”。

Mr. Modi said that valuing sons above daughters is an emotional disorder. And he called for a social awakening to see girls as valuable as boys.

莫迪表示珍视男孩而不重视女孩是情绪失调。他呼吁社会意识到女孩跟男孩一样重要。

The prime minister says no mother wants to do away with her child. But, he adds, family and social pressures make her involved in this crime.

总理说没有哪位母亲不想要自己的孩子，但是，来自家庭和社会的压力使他参与到这个不法行为中。

In the traditional culture in India, sons are considered a valuable resource. They can earn money for the family and take care of parents in their old age. Girls are considered a liability, bringing financial pressure on the mother and father. That is because the parents have to give a dowry, usually money or property, to the family of the girl's husband.

印度的传统文化中，儿子被视为非常有价值的资源。他们能够挣钱养家，父母年老时，照顾他们。女孩儿则被认为是债务，会给父母带来财物压力。因为父母需要准备嫁妆，通常是钱或者财物给女孩的丈夫。

Ultrasoundtechnology has made knowing the sex of the unborn possible. Studies show that during the past 40 years, as many as 12 million girls may have been aborted.

超声波技术可以让人在婴儿出生前就知道性别。研究表明：过去40年里，多达1200万的女孩儿婴儿被打掉。

Indiaexperiencing shortage of girls

印度正在经历女孩的短缺

Mr. Modi launched the campaign to "Save the Daughter, Teach the Daughter" in the northern state of Haryana. The state has the lowest number of girls to boys in India - 879 for 1,000 males. The national average is 917 girls for 1,000 males.

莫迪在哈里亚纳邦的北部发起一项“拯救女孩，教育女孩”的活动。这个邦是印度女孩数量最少的一个邦，1000个男孩，只有879个女孩。印度男女比例平均是1000:917。

The campaign aims to reduce the sharp difference in the number of male and female births. It will seek to improve equality of the sexes through education. The program will enforce existing laws that ban the abortion of female fetuses. It will also seek to improve attendance of girls in schools.

这个活动目的在于缩小男女出生比例严重差距。希望通过教育来提高男女性别的相同比例。这项计划会要求现行法律禁止打掉女性胎儿。同时还会增加女孩上学的比例。

Women and Child Development Minister, Maneka Gandhi, said the difference between girls and boys is extremely serious in some states like Haryana.

妇女和儿童发展部部长玛内卡·甘地说在一些邦中，比如哈里亚纳邦，男女之间有很大的差距，这是个严重的问题。

She says the situation is so bad that according to government estimates no girls have been born for many years in 70 villages. She adds that in some villages there are only 500 girls for 1,000 boys.

她表示这个情况非常严重，据政府统计的数据表明在70个村庄里，很多年来都没有女孩出生了。在一些村庄，男女比例只有2:1。

Aborting female fetuses takes place in every class of Indian society. The poor and rich, urban and rural, uneducated and educated often want sons. In fact, researchers found that choosing to abort a female fetus is more common among educated women. They also found that religion made no difference. The International Development Research Centre carried out the study.

打掉女胎儿在印度各个社会阶层都存在。不管是富人还是穷人，城镇里的人还是乡村的人，受教育的人或者没有受过教育的人通常都想要儿子。实际上，研究者发现选择打掉女婴儿在受教育的女性中更常见。他们还发现宗教信仰对于堕胎并没有什么影响。国际发展研究中心进行此项研究。

Last year, a United Nations report warned the lessening number of girls in India has reached an "emergency" level. It said this lack of women has caused an increase in some crimes such as the kidnapping and trafficking of women.

去年，联合国一份报道提醒：印度女孩儿数量的缺少已经达到“紧急状态”。女性数量的缺少导致一些地区绑架和拐卖妇女的犯罪增加。

I'm Mario Ritter.

我是马里奥·瑞特。

This report was based on a story from VOA's Anjana Pasricha in New Delhi. Anna Matteo wrote it for VOA Learning English with additional material from the International Development Research Centre. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in this Story

abortion – n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus

fetus – n. a human being or animal in the later stages of development before it is born

dowry – n. money or property that a wife or wife's family gives to her husband when the wife and husband marry in some cultures

liability – n. the state of being legally responsible for something : the state of being liable for something; something (such as the payment of money) for which a person or business is legally responsible

ultrasound – n. medical : a method of producing images of the inside of the body by using a machine that produces sound waves which are too high to be heard