VOA慢速英语2015 非盟承诺破除"童婚"旧俗

AS IT IS 2015-11-30 African Union Promises to Stop Child Marriage 非盟承诺破除"童婚"旧俗

The number of girls married in Africa is expected to double in the next 35 years, experts say.

专家预计未来三十五年内，非洲儿童新娘的数量将会翻倍。

That means almost half, or 310 million girls, by 2050 will be married before they reach adulthood¹, says a United Nations report.

联合国出具的一份报告称，到2050年会有将近一半，约3.1亿女孩在未成年时被迫结婚。

The African Union says it wants to end child marriage in Africa. Delegates² at a summit³ in Zambia are expected to set 18 years old as the lowest legal age for marriage across the continent.  

非盟表示希望根除这一童婚现象。而在赞比亚举行的峰会上，各方代表希望将整个非洲大陆的最低法定结婚年龄设定为18岁。

Marriage before age 18 is already against the law in most African countries. Yet the UN says more 125 million African women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday. Experts say most were given to men in traditional or religious unions in violation⁴ of the law.

其实，未满18岁结婚在非洲大多数国家已经属于违法行为。联合国还表示，据统计，现在约1.25亿的非洲女性是在未满18岁时结的婚。专家表示，大多数女性是在法律不允许的情况下被迫与传统家族或宗教联盟的男子结婚。

Most child marriages involve girls, statistics⁵ show. Some boys ages 17 and younger do get married, but examples are rare.

统计数据显示，童婚现象中的女孩居多。当然，也包括一些17岁以下的男孩，但是这种情况并不常见。

African Union chairwoman Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma says local culture that undervalues girls and women is to blame. Poverty and lack of education are also responsible, experts say.

非盟主席祖玛表示，当地歧视女性的落后文化根深蒂固。专家也表示，贫穷和教育落后等因素也不可忽视。

Cornelius Williams is associate director of child protection at UNICEF. He says studies show child marriage can be deadly.

科尼利厄斯.威廉姆斯是联合国儿童基金会的儿童保护协会副主任。他表示，童婚所引发的结果可能是致命的。

Child brides are less likely to finish school, he explains. They are more likely to become victims of violence. And, they are more likely to become teenage mothers, with a high risk of their children being stillborn.

他进一步解释道，儿童新娘失去了受教育的机会。他们更容易遭受来自各方面的暴力伤害。此外，因为小小年纪就已为人母，因此，孩子胎死腹中的风险很高。

The best way to prevent child marriage is to enforce⁶ and improve educational options for girls, he says. That will change opinions about the role of girls in society.

防止童婚最有效的办法是改善女孩受教育的社会现状。这一举措将会使人们对于女孩在社会中所扮演的角色有很大的改观。

Enforcing⁷ the ban on marriage for girls younger than 18, he says, is necessary. So is educating parents.

他强调，未满18岁的女孩禁止结婚的这一法令是很有必要的，当然，还需要加强对父母的教育。

He says he could not think of his 16-year-old daughter marrying in the next two years.

他还补充说，无法想象自己16岁的女儿在未来两年后结婚是什么场景。

He says he wants his daughter to be able to determine her life path. He wants her to be able to determine whom she marries, what she wants to do with her life in terms of her profession -- in terms of any choices she wants to make.

他希望女儿能够循着自己的人生轨迹，选择自己想要嫁的对象，选择自己想要奋斗的职业或领域，可以自由地选择她想做的任何事情。

Cornelius Williams says, “I wish that for all girls in Africa.”

威廉姆斯表示，“但愿所有的非洲女孩都可以实现这一自由的梦想。”

Words in This Story

bride – n. a women who just married or who plans to be married

role – n. position, the part that someone or something has in an activity or situation

conceive⁸ – v. to think of or to create something in one’s mind

determine – v. to decide something; to be the cause of something

profession – n. a job that requires special education or training

1 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

2 delegates   

代表，代表团成员( delegate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The conference was attended by delegates from 56 countries. 此次会议有来自56个国家的代表出席。
• Delegates expressed strong opposition to the plans. 代表强烈反对这些计划。

3 summit   

n.最高点，峰顶；最高级会议；极点

参考例句：

• They climbed up the mountain and reached the summit.他们爬山，最终达到了山顶。
• The summit of the mountain is lost in the cloud and mist.山顶隐没在云雾之中。

4 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

5 statistics   

n.统计，统计数字，统计学

参考例句：

• We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
• Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。

6 enforce   

vt.实施，执行；强制，强迫；加强，坚持

参考例句：

• You have no right to enforce your own views on me.你无权把你自己的观点强加给我。
• They tried to enforce agreement with their plans.他们企图迫使人们同意他们的计划。

7 enforcing   

v.实施( enforce的现在分词 )；执行；强迫；强制执行

参考例句：

• The flower structure in one tree was different, enforcing cleistogamy. 同一株树上的花结构不同，因而闭花受精是强制实现的。 来自辞典例句
• The house had been cleared of every object enforcing the remembrance. 这座房子里能勾起人们记忆的所有物件均被消除了。 来自辞典例句

8 conceive   

vt.设想，构想，怀孕，受（孕）

参考例句：

• You may conceive a new world in the atomic age.你可以设想出原子时代的新世界。
• I can hardly conceive of your doing such a thing.我很难想象你会做出这种事情。