TED演讲:本世纪最大的不公(4)

 　　Let me tell you about Mahabuba.  我要告诉你们马哈布巴的故事。

　　She lives in Ethiopia.  她住在埃塞俄比亚。

　　She was married against her will at age 13.  她13岁时被迫结婚。

　　She got pregnant, ran to the bush to have the baby,  她怀孕了，试图在灌木丛中生下孩子，

　　but you know, her body was very immature,  但她的身体还那么稚嫩，

　　and she ended up having obstructed¹ labor².  她不幸发生了难产。

　　The baby died, and she ended up with a fistula.  孩子死了，她得了阴道瘘管。

　　So that meant she was incontinent;  这意味着她会失禁。

　　she couldn't control her wastes.  她无法控制大小便。

　　In a word, she stank³.  总之，她浑身发臭。

　　The villagers thought she was cursed; they didn't know what to do with her.  村民认为她被诅咒了；他们也不知道如何对待她。

　　So finally, they put her at the edge of the village in a hut.  所以他们把她安置在村子边缘的小草屋内。

　　They ripped off the door  并且把门卸掉，

　　so that the hyenas⁴ would get her at night.  好让土狼晚上进来吃她。

　　That night, there was a stick in the hut.  那天晚上，草屋里只有一根棍子。

　　She fought off the hyenas with that stick.  她奋力用棍子赶跑了土狼。

　　And the next morning,  第二天早上，

　　she knew if she could get to a nearby village where there was a foreign missionary⁵,  她决定去邻村找外国传教士，

　　she would be saved.  她知道他们会救她。

　　Because she had some damage to her nerves,  因为神经受到创伤，

　　she crawled all the way -- 30 miles --  她一路是爬过去的--30里路--

　　to that doorstep, half dead.  她爬到的时候，已经奄奄一息。

　　The foreign missionary opened the door,  外国传教士打开门，

　　knew exactly what had happened,  了解了一切，

　　took her to a nearby fistula hospital in Addis Ababa,  带她去了亚的斯亚贝巴的一所瘘管医院，

　　and she was repaired  她得到了治疗，

　　with a 350-dollar operation.  350美金的手术。

　　The doctors and nurses there noticed  那里的医生和护士还注意到，

　　that she was not only a survivor,  她不仅是个幸存者，

　　she was really clever, and they made her a nurse.  她还非常聪明，所以他们让她做了护士。

　　So now, Mahabuba,  现在的马哈布巴，

　　she is saving the lives  每天都在拯救生命，

　　of hundreds, thousands, of women.  上百上千的女人的生命。

　　She has become part of the solution, not the problem.  她已经成为了解决方案的一部分，而非问题。

　　She's moved out of a vicious cycle  她也冲破诅咒

　　and into a virtuous⁶ cycle.  开始了全新的生命循环。

　　I've talked about some of the challenges,  我已经谈了一些挑战，

　　let me talk about some of the solutions,  现在来说说解决办法，

　　and there are predictable solutions.  有可预测的解决办法。

　　I've hinted at them: education  其实我已经暗示过了：教育，

　　and also economic opportunity.  以及经济机会。

　　So of course, when you educate a girl,  很显然，一个接受了教育的女孩，

　　she tends to get married later on in life,  倾向于更迟结婚，

　　she tends to have kids later on in life, she tends to have fewer kids,  更晚生孩子，生更少的孩子，

　　and those kids that she does have,  并且对于她的孩子，

　　she educates them in a more enlightened fashion.  她会给他们提供更好的启蒙教育。

　　With economic opportunity,  至于经济机会，

　　it can be transformative.  改变是革命性的。

1 obstructed   

阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止

参考例句：

• Tall trees obstructed his view of the road. 有大树挡着，他看不到道路。
• The Irish and Bristol Channels were closed or grievously obstructed. 爱尔兰海峡和布里斯托尔海峡或遭受封锁，或受到了严重阻碍。

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 stank   

n. (英)坝，堰，池塘 动词stink的过去式

参考例句：

• Her breath stank of garlic. 她嘴里有股大蒜味。
• The place stank of decayed fish. 那地方有烂鱼的臭味。

4 hyenas   

n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These animals were the prey of hyenas. 这些动物是鬣狗的猎物。 来自辞典例句
• We detest with horror the duplicity and villainy of the murderous hyenas of Bukharinite wreckers. 我们非常憎恨布哈林那帮两面三刀、杀人破坏，干尽坏事的豺狼。 来自辞典例句

5 missionary   

adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士

参考例句：

• She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
• I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。

6 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。