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In Egypt, a one-day labor¹ strike calling for higher wages has had mixed results amid a security crackdown.

埃及工人罢工一天，要求提高工资。随着罢工被保安人员镇压，罢工也产生了不同的结果。

Some people refused to go to work out of solidarity² with the calls for higher wages, but others said they stayed home because they were simply afraid of trouble.

一些人呼吁，如果得不到更高的工资，他们就拒绝工作。但是另外一些人说，他们呆在家里是只是因为他们害怕惹上麻烦。

Protests planned for several locations failed to materialize after the Interior Ministry³ threatened on Saturday to prosecute⁴ anyone who took part in any sort of public demonstration⁵. Amid heavy police deployments around Cairo, only one small rally took place.

抗议者们计划在几个不同地点举行示威游行，但是他们却无法实施这些计划，因为在这之前，埃及内政部星期六威胁说要处罚任何参加任何形式公开示威游行的人。在开罗周围部署着大量警察的情况下，抗议者们只举行了一个小型的集会。

Surrounded by a thick cordon⁶ of riot police, a few hundred protesters stood on the front steps and roof of the Lawyer's Syndicate in downtown Cairo, waving Egyptian flags and chanting slogans about economic justice.

在开罗市中心，几百名抗议示威者被大量防暴警察组成的警戒圈包围，他们站在律师联合会的前门阶梯和房顶上，挥舞着埃及国旗，呼喊着经济正义的口号。

Shoe store employee Mustafa Shaaban held up a sign calling for more rights.

一家鞋店的雇员沙班举着一块标语牌，他呼吁要赋予他们更多的权利。

He said he did not go to work because food and other things have become so expensive that he can no longer afford them. He said he had to go on strike, asking "What is next?"

沙班说，他没有去工作是因为食品和其他物品的价格贵得买不起。他说，他不得不继续罢工，他的问题是“下一步该做些什么？”

But across town in the impoverished⁷ Imbaba neighborhood, most shops were open as usual. The narrow streets of the marketplace may have been less crowded than usual, but most workers and business owners there said going on strike was a luxury they simply could not afford.

但是，在城市另一边的贫穷的印巴巴镇的附近地区，大部分商店像往常一样开门营业。市场上狭窄的街道可能不像往常那么拥挤了，但是那里的大部分工人和商人说，继续进行罢工是一件奢侈的事情，因为他们罢不起工。

A clothing store employee said some people had warned him to keep his shop closed because there could be trouble, but he decided⁸ to open it up and work because he needs the money.

一家服装店的雇员说，一些人警告他停止营业，不然可能会有一些麻烦，但是他决定继续开门营业，因为他需要钱。

Another shop worker agreed that food prices were too high and wages too low, but he saw little point in striking.

He said, "We are all sick and tired of the situation, but what can we do?"

The strike call originated in the Nile Delta⁹ town of Mahalla, north of Cairo, where 25,000 factory workers had planned a strike for higher wages and other demands.

这次罢工最初在开罗北部尼罗河三角洲的迈哈莱城镇爆发。在那里，2万5千名工人计划举行罢工，他们提出得到更高的工资和其他一些要求。

But that was called off - partly because one faction¹⁰ of workers said the government had met their demands, and partly because security forces descended¹¹ on the factory overnight to ensure the machines kept running.

但是，这次罢工却被取消了，部分原因是一些工人说政府已经满足了他们的要求，还有部分原因是保安部队连夜占领了工厂，以确保机器的继续运转。

By then, the call had gone out to make the work stoppage nationwide, although nobody is entirely¹² sure who was behind it.

在那之前，号召罢工的消息开始外传，使罢工在全国范围内发生，尽管没有人能够完全确定是谁在幕后操纵了罢工活动。

A group dedicated¹³ to the strike on the Facebook social networking Web site attracted more than 66.000 members, and activists¹⁴ were sending out cellphone text messages and e-mails urging people to stay at home.

一群决心举行罢工的人在社交网站脸谱(Facebook)上吸引了6万6千多名成员加入该组织，活动人士发送手机短信和电子邮件，敦促人们呆在家里不去上班。

The national strike was backed by several minor¹⁵ political parties, but the leaders of the influential¹⁶ Muslim Brotherhood¹⁷ issued conflicting statements that left many confused about where the group stood on the issue.

一些少数派政党支持这次全国性的罢工，但是具有影响力的穆斯林兄弟会的领导人们发表了一些相互矛盾的声明，致使许多人对该党派在罢工问题上的立场产生困惑。

American University of Cairo Professor Joel Beinin, a historian who studies labor movements, said calling for a strike is a politically risky¹⁸ move.

"If you call for a general strike and not much happens, it reduces your credibility and I think the Mahalla workers understood that and backed away from it for that reason," said Joel Beinin.

Earlier, police arrested a number of activists for handing out flyers urging people to strike. Beinin said the lack of organization is nothing new for the Egyptian opposition¹⁹ and is partly a symptom of the political environment here.

"Because the repressive apparatus²⁰ of the state is so pervasive²¹ and people, many people, are so intimidated²² by it that it is very difficult to stand up openly and say we are organizing this for this place and this time, and consequently there is a lot of rumors²³, a lot of un-clarity, and as has happened a number of times in the past, the result is not very much of anything," he said.

The general strike follows more than a year of intense labor action in Egypt, but this is the first time political parties have tried to turn the workers' movements into a wider political protest. It also comes two days before Egyptians vote in local elections where most opposition candidates have been kept off the ballots²⁴.