VOA慢速英语2016 联合国:女孩仍面临性别不平等

UN Report: Young Girls Still Face Gender¹ Inequality 联合国:女孩仍面临性别不平等

A new United Nations report says a lack of education for girls in developing countries may be partly to blame for a rise in poverty worldwide.

联合国新报告显示，发展中国家的女孩缺乏教育可能会导致全球贫困现象加剧。

The U.N. released its 2016 State of the World Population Report last week in Jordan's capital, Amman. The writers examine the well-being² of 10-year-old girls as signs of success or failure of a country's development.

联合国在约旦首都安曼公布了2016年全球人口状况报告。报告聚焦10岁女孩的福祉，以作为开发成败的指标。

The report says most of the world's 10-year-old children live in developing countries. In many areas, girls face barriers to good education, healthcare and safety. The report points to problems with continued gender inequality among half of the world's young population.

报告称，全球大部分10岁女孩生活在发展中国家。很多地区的女孩在良好教育、医疗保健和安全问题方面都难以得到保障。报告还指出，全球约一半的年轻人口中仍存在性别不平等的问题。

On the day of the report’s release, a group of students sang about gender equality at a press conference in Amman. The students take classes at the city’s Princess Alia School for Girls.

发布会当日，一群学生在安曼新闻发布会上歌颂性别不平等。这些学生在安曼市阿里亚公主女子学校就读。

The report says 89 percent of the world’s 125 million 10-year-olds live in developing countries. It also says 35 million 10-year-old girls live in countries said to be very unequal on issues of gender.

报告称，全球1.25亿10岁女孩中，89%居住于发展中国家。报告还称，有3500万10岁女孩居住在那些性别不平等问题非常严重的国家。

Princess Basma Bint Talal is a Goodwill³ Ambassador for the U.N. Population Fund. She told reporters, “In some parts of the world, a 10-year-old girl looks forward to her horizons opening up” so she can reach her goals. But in other places, “she is up against closed doors.”

巴斯马·贝特·塔拉勒（Basma Bint Talal）公主是联合国人口基金会的亲善大使。她对记者说，“世界的某些地方，一位10岁的女孩期待着开阔自己的眼界”，这样她才能实现梦想。而在一些地方，“她却被拒之门外”。

Princess Basma said that girls’ chances for success are limited when their futures⁴ are decided⁵ by other people or their environment. Some barriers can threaten their safety and social or economic growth.

巴斯马公主表示，当女孩的命运由他人或所处环境决定时，她们成功的机会就非常渺茫。有的阻碍甚至会威胁到她们的安全，危及社会或经济增长。

Ten-year-old girls in many poor countries face the risk of being married off. More than 60 million girls are not in school. They do twice as much work around the home as boys their age, and they serve as unpaid⁶ laborers⁷ more than boys do.

许多生活在落后国家的10岁女孩还面临着早婚的窘境。超6000万女孩无法上学。她们所做家务是同龄男孩的两倍，而且更容易被当做无偿劳动力。

Every 10 minutes, an adolescent girl dies of violence. Many of them are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, as a result of rape⁸. Suicide is the second largest cause of death for young girls.

每10分钟就有1名女孩因暴力死亡。很多女孩因被强奸而感染艾滋病毒。自杀已经成为女孩死亡的第二大原因。

Jordan’s Princess Basma said, “Let us remember that we are all responsible. Let us remember that our every word and deed, positive or negative, can affect the road a girl travels” from this turning point in her life. She continued, “This is what will shape her role in society, which is to say our society, and our world.”

约旦巴斯马公主表示，“我们需铭记，大家对此都有责任。我们需铭记，无论是积极还是消极，我们的一言一行都会影响一位女孩人生的转折点。”她继续说，“这会塑造她们在这个社会和世界里所扮演的角色。”

The U.N. report says that investment in the health, education and empowerment of 10-year-old girls can triple a girl’s lifetime earnings⁹.

这份报告还指出，对10岁女孩的健康、教育和权利投资可将其终生收入翻三倍。

Daniel Baker¹⁰ is the humanitarian¹¹ coordinator¹² for the U.N. Population Fund’s office in Amman.

丹尼尔·贝克（Daniel Baker）是联合国人口基金会驻安曼办事处的人道主义协调员。

“Failing to invest in girls is nothing less than planned poverty. Unless we invest in girls, we’re planning to have a poorer future.”

他说，“放弃投资女孩与趋于没落无异。除非对女孩们投资，否则我们就是计划贫穷的未来。”

This is a point that cannot be noted¹³ enough, he said.

他表示，这个问题并未引起足够的重视。

The report closes with the message that doing damage to girls is harmful not only to their communities, but to humanity as a whole.

该报告末尾还提及，伤害女孩不仅危害社会，而且危害整个人类。

Words in This Story

gender - n. the state of being male or female

horizon - n. the limit of what is possible in a particular field or activity

adolescent - adj. a young person who is developing into an adult

deed - n. something that is done: an act or action

triple - v. to cause something to become three times as great or as many

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

3 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

4 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

7 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

8 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

9 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

10 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

11 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

12 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。