美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'Macho' Brazil, Fast-Rising Star Marília Mendon?a Is Inspiring Women To Push Back

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

This is a crucial time for Brazil. In a couple months, Brazilians will elect a new president. It's not clear yet who will win. The country is trying to dig out from a huge corruption¹ scandal and the worst recession in its history. NPR's Philip Reeves traveled deep into Brazil to find out how young people are thinking about their futures² in difficult times.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE³: We've come to the south of Brazil, to cattle and soya bean country.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

REEVES: Antonio de Andrade's been making music around here for decades.

ANTONIO DE ANDRADE: (Singing in Portuguese).

REEVES: People here are particularly fond of Andrade's specialty⁴...

ANDRADE: (Singing in Portuguese).

REEVES: ...Brazilian music called sertanejo.

ANDRADE: (Speaking Portuguese).

REEVES: Andrade says people here prefer a traditional kind of sertanejo - country songs that speak of...

ANDRADE: (Speaking Portuguese).

REEVES: ...Romance and adventure, of brave cowboys crossing rivers teeming⁵ with piranha fish. He's actually wearing a black cowboy hat.

ANDRADE: (Singing in Portuguese).

REEVES: These are songs from a man's world. Now a new form of sertanejo's arrived here that's defiantly⁶ giving voice to Brazilian women who are young and single. It's proving very popular.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Foreign language spoken over loudspeaker).

REEVES: We're at Expo Londrina, a giant agricultural fair in the Brazilian state of Parana. Andrade plays this gig every year. Ranchers and breeders come to the show to see the latest technology, to auction⁷ cattle.

(SOUNDBITE OF SHEEP BLEATING)

REEVES: ...And to display immaculately groomed⁸ sheep in the hope of winning a trophy⁹. Here, you can buy a supersized tractor, a peacock or a pig.

(SOUNDBITE OF PIG SNORTING)

REEVES: You can eat in cafes where every main dish once had hooves or trotters, or go to the horse shed and admire a legendary¹⁰ rodeo stud. This is mostly a macho world. Men hold two-thirds of Brazil's agribusiness jobs. Yet, young women are pushing back, says Layssa Soares, who's 23.

LAYSSA SOARES: That is changing. You can see women driving trucks, working in farms, veterinarian girls. So I think it's getting better.

REEVES: Soares is studying to become a veterinarian and has come to the fair to attend a lecture. She wants a successful career, although she sure she'll face discrimination because of her age and gender¹¹.

SOARES: I feel like when we are working, people think women can't do that, but no, women can do anything they want. It's kind of normal to hear mens talking some bad things about girls and women, you know? But it's not normal. You - people need to know that it's not normal.

REEVES: Soares says one way Brazilian women can get that message across is through sertanejo music because music is changing, too.

SOARES: Right now, women are taking place in sertanejo music, so the subjects in the songs are different right now. They're representing the girl power, I think.

REEVES: The sun is beginning to set over the expo's show ground. Crowds of young women are heading for the ground's giant arena¹². They're here to see some of that girl power firsthand. One of its pioneers, Marilia Mendonca, is about to perform. At 22, Mendonca is already a superstar. She was Brazil's most popular singer on YouTube over the last three years. You hear her songs all over the country. Some people use another word to describe her kind sertanejo - feminejo.

CAMILA DA SILVA: (Speaking Portuguese).

REEVES: Camila da Silva, who's 28, is among the fans.

DA SILVA: (Speaking Portuguese).

REEVES: "Marilia Mendonca sings great songs," she says, "that give women self-worth."

(CHEERING)

REEVES: Mendonca arrives for the show and steps into her dressing¹³ room.

MARILIA MENDONCA: (Laughter).

REEVES: Stardom so early in life has taken her by surprise.

MENDONCA: (Through interpreter) It's a very big surprise. I never imagined that we would win over my city, let alone Brazil.

REEVES: Mendonca says it happened naturally and thinks this is because she sings about the world as it really is.

MENDONCA: (Through interpreter) I say that Marilia Mendonca is various different women rolled into one. I talk about things that have happened in my life and things that have happened in the lives of other women around me.

REEVES: In Brazil, Marilia Mendonca has become the voice of young women who push back by singing about walking out on bad relationships and about having the confidence to be yourself. One of her biggest hits, "Alo Porteiro," is about banning an ex-boyfriend from returning to her apartment. Mendonca says she never actually set out deliberately¹⁴ to spread a social message.

MENDONCA: (Through interpreter) But women identify with the music, and they start taking action like kicking a partner out who's unfaithful or leaving home if they're not being treated properly there.

REEVES: This is not exactly radical¹⁵ feminism, but remember; Brazil's, at heart, a conservative country. Machismo runs deep here. Marilia Mendonca relishes¹⁶ challenging that in her own way.

MENDONCA: (Through interpreter) My feminism is a feminism of attitude. I've never gone out to protest in the street. My life is protest.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MENDONCA: (Yelling) Hello, Expo Londrina.

(CHEERING)

REEVES: Her show begins.

MENDONCA: (Singing in Portuguese).

REEVES: The arena is filled with some 15,000 people.

MENDONCA: (Singing in Portuguese).

REEVES: Fans are taking videos with their cellphones and drinking beer.

MENDONCA: (Speaking Portuguese).

(CHEERING)

REEVES: "Who's single, happy and doesn't want to get hitched¹⁷ in 2018? Raise your hand," says Mendonca. Lots of hands go up. This crowd has many young women.

MENDONCA: (Singing in Portuguese).

REEVES: Many seem to know these songs by heart and are singing along.

MENDONCA: (Singing in Portuguese).

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE: (Singing in Portuguese).

REEVES: "I'm not obliged to satisfy you. I take care of my own life," say the lyrics¹⁸. As the nights deepens and Marilia Mendonca's songs echo across cattle country, there's every reason to hope these young Brazilians will take care of their own lives very well, indeed. Philip Reeves, NPR News, Londrina.

(SOUNDBITE OF HELENA MEIRELLES' "A VOLTA DA GUIRA CAMPANA")

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 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。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

5 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

6 defiantly   

adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地

参考例句：

• Braving snow and frost, the plum trees blossomed defiantly. 红梅傲雪凌霜开。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

8 groomed   

v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗

参考例句：

• She is always perfectly groomed. 她总是打扮得干净利落。
• Duff is being groomed for the job of manager. 达夫正接受训练，准备当经理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。

10 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

11 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。

12 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

13 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

14 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

15 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

16 relishes   

n.滋味( relish的名词复数 )；乐趣；（大量的）享受；快乐v.欣赏( relish的第三人称单数 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望

参考例句：

• The meat relishes of pork. 这肉有猪肉味。 来自辞典例句
• The biography relishes too much of romance. 这篇传记中传奇色彩太浓。 来自辞典例句

17 hitched   

（免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上

参考例句：

• They hitched a ride in a truck. 他们搭乘了一辆路过的货车。
• We hitched a ride in a truck yesterday. 我们昨天顺便搭乘了一辆卡车。

18 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。