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MemoryBanda_2015W-_反对童婚，一个勇士的痛诉_
I'll begin today by sharing a poem written by my friend from Malawi , 我将与大家分享一首诗, 来开始今天的演讲。 这首诗是我在马拉维的朋友,
Malawi:n.马拉维(非洲国家);
Eileen Piri.
Eileen is only 13 years old, but when we were going through the collection of poetry that we wrote, Eileen只有十三岁, 但是我们曾一起阅读
poetry:n.诗;诗意,诗情;诗歌艺术;
I found her poem so interesting, so motivating . 我发现她的诗不仅很有趣, 还很能激励他人。
motivating:v.激励;刺激;调动…的积极性(motivate的ing形式);
So I'll read it to you. 所以我在这里把这首诗读给你们听。
She entitled her poem "I'll Marry When I Want." 她把这首诗叫做
entitled:v.使享有权利;使符合资格;给…命名;(entitle的过去分词和过去式)
(Laughter) （众人笑。）
'"I'll marry when I want. “只有当我想结婚时,我才会结婚。
My mother can't force me to marry. 我的母亲不能强迫我结婚,
My father cannot force me to marry. 我的父亲也不能强迫我结婚。
My uncle, my aunt, my brother or sister, cannot force me to marry. 无论是我的叔叔阿姨, 还是兄弟姐妹, 都不能强迫我结婚。
No one in the world can force me to marry. 世界上没有任何一个人 能强迫我结婚。
I'll marry when I want. 只有当我只有当我想结婚时,我才会结婚。
Even if you beat me, even if you chase me away, even if you do anything bad to me, 哪怕你殴打我, 哪怕你驱赶我, 哪怕你对我做任何坏事,
I'll marry when I want. 只有当我想结婚时,我才会结婚。
I'll marry when I want, but not before I am well educated, and not before I am all grown up. 只有当我想结婚时,我才会结婚, 但不是在我接受过良好教育之前结婚, 也不是在我完全长大之前结婚。
I'll marry when I want." 只有当我想结婚时,我才会结婚。”
This poem might seem odd , written by a 13-year-old girl, but where I and Eileen come from, this poem, which I have just read to you, is a warrior's cry. 这首由13岁女孩写的诗, 也许看起来很奇怪。 但是在我和Eileen的家乡, 这首我刚刚都给你们听的诗, 是一种勇士的痛诉。
odd:adj.古怪的;奇数的;n.奇数;
I am from Malawi. 我来自马拉维。
Malawi is one of the poorest countries, very poor, where gender equality is questionable . 马拉维是世界上最穷的国家之一, 真的非常穷。 在这里,性别平等是备受质疑的想法。
gender:n.性别; questionable:adj.可疑的;有问题的;
Growing up in that country, 在那样的国家长大,
I couldn't make my own choices in life. 我不能为我自己的人生做选择。
I couldn't even explore personal opportunities in life. 我甚至不能探索 人生中属于我自己的机会。
explore:v.探索:探测:探险: personal:adj.个人的;身体的;亲自的;n.人事消息栏;人称代名词;
I will tell you a story of two different girls, two beautiful girls. 我给大家讲一个故事, 一个两个不同女孩的故事, 两个美丽女孩的故事。
These girls grew up under the same roof. 这两个女孩成长 在同一屋檐下。
They were eating the same food. 她们吃着同样的食物。
Sometimes, they would share clothes, and even shoes. 有时,她们分享衣服, 甚至鞋子。
But their lives ended up differently, in two different paths. 但她们的人生 走向了截然不同的道路。
The other girl is my little sister. 一个女孩是我的妹妹。
My little sister was only 11 years old when she got pregnant . 当我妹妹怀孕时, 她只有11岁。
pregnant:adj.怀孕的;富有意义的;
It's a hurtful thing. 只是一个很伤人的事。
hurtful:adj.造成损害的;
Not only did it hurt her, even me. 这件事不止伤害了她,甚至伤害到了我。
I was going through a hard time as well. 我也为此经历了很艰难的时光。
As it is in my culture, once you reach puberty stage, you are supposed to go to initiation camps. 在我们的文化中, 当你到了青春期, 你就应该参加启蒙营。
puberty:n.青春期;开花期; supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式) initiation:n.启蒙,传授;开始;入会;
In these initiation camps, you are taught how to sexually please a man. 在这些启蒙营中, 你会被教导如何以性取悦男人。
sexually:adv.性,性欲
There is this special day, which they call "Very Special Day" 在营中,有一个特殊的日子, 营里的人叫它“非常特别的一天”。
where a man who is hired by the community comes to the camp and sleeps with the little girls. 在这一天一个被社区雇佣的男人, 来到营中, 和这些小女孩睡觉。
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
Imagine the trauma that these young girls go through every day. 想象一下这些年轻的姑娘每天 都承受着怎样的伤害。
trauma:n.[外科]创伤(由心理创伤造成精神上的异常);外伤;
Most girls end up pregnant. 许多女孩最后都怀孕了。
They even contract HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases . 她们甚至感染了HIV和艾滋病, 以及其他性传染病。
contract:v.收缩;感染;订约;n.合同;婚约; HIV:n.艾滋病病毒; transmitted:v.传送;输送;发射;播送;传播;传染;(transmit的过去分词和过去式) diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类;
For my little sister, she ended up being pregnant. 而我的妹妹最后怀孕了。
Today, she's only 16 years old and she has three children. 今天,妹妹只有16岁, 但她有三个孩子。
Her first marriage did not survive, nor did her second marriage. 她的第一次婚姻和第二次婚姻 都以离婚告场。
On the other side , there is this girl. 但另一方面,那另一个女孩,
On the other side:另一面;在另一边;
She's amazing. 是令人称奇的。
(Laughter) （众人笑。）
(Applause) （掌声）
I call her amazing because she is. 我之所以说她令人称奇,
She's very fabulous . 是因为她真的很棒。
fabulous:adj.难以置信的;传说的,寓言中的;极好的;
That girl is me. (Laughter) 另一个女孩就是我。（众人笑。）
When I was 13 years old, 当我13岁时,
I was told, you are grown up, you have now reached of age, you're supposed to go to the initiation camp. 我被告知,我已经长大了, 已经到了那个年纪了, 应该去那个启蒙营了。
I was like, "What? 我大概是这样回答的,“什么！
I'm not going to go to the initiation camps." 我是不会去启蒙营的。“
You know what the women said to me? 你知道那个女人对我说了什么吗？
'"You are a stupid girl. Stubborn . 她说,“你是个蠢姑娘。顽固的家伙。
Stubborn:adj.顽固的;顽强的;难处理的;
You do not respect the traditions of our society, of our community." 你不尊重我们社会,我们社区的传统。”
I said no because I knew where I was going. 我说不,因为我知道我的路在哪。
I knew what I wanted in life. 我知道我在生活中想要什么。
I had a lot of dreams as a young girl. 作为一个年轻的女孩,我有许多梦想。
I wanted to get well educated, to find a decent job in the future. 我想接受良好的教育, 以便在未来找到体面的工作。
decent:adj.正派的;得体的;相当好的;
I was imagining myself as a lawyer, seated on that big chair. 我想象我作为一个律师, 坐在一个大椅子上。
Those were the imaginations that were going through my mind every day. 这些想象每天都会在我心中浮现。
imaginations:n.[心理]想象力;空想;幻想物;
And I knew that one day, 我知道总有一天,
I would contribute something, a little something to my community. 我会为我的社区贡献一点东西。
contribute:v.贡献,出力;投稿;捐献;
But every day after refusing, women would tell me, "Look at you, you're all grown up. Your little sister has a baby. 但每天,我拒绝那个女人后, 那个女人都会对我说, “看看你,你已经长大了。
What about you?" 而你呢？”
That was the music that I was hearing every day, and that is the music that girls hear every day when they don't do something that the community needs them to do. 那就是我每天听到的曲子, 也是当女孩们没有做社区所要求的事时 她们每天听到的曲子。
When I compared the two stories between me and my sister, 当我比较着我和我妹妹这两个不同的故事时,
compared:adj.比较的,对照的; v.相比; (compare的过去式和过去分词)
I said, "Why can't I do something? 我想,为什么我不能做些什么呢？
Why can't I change something that has happened for a long time in our community?" 为什么我不能改变我们社区中 这一直发生的状况呢？
That was when I called other girls just like my sister, who have children, who have been in class but they have forgotten how to read and write. 这时,我召集了其他女孩, 像我的妹妹那样都有孩子的女孩。 她们上过学但已经忘记了怎样读书写字。
I said, "Come on, we can remind each other how to read and write again, how to hold the pen, how to read, to hold the book." 我说,“来吧,我们可以互相提醒, 怎样再次阅读与书写, 怎样握笔,怎样朗读,怎样拿书。”
remind:v.提醒;使想起;
It was a great time I had with them. 我和她们度过了愉快的时光。
Nor did I just learn a little about them, but they were able to tell me their personal stories, what they were facing every day as young mothers. 我不止是对她们多了一点肤浅了解, 而是我从她们那听到了她们自己的故事, 以及作为年轻的母亲每天所面对的事。
That was when I was like, 'Why can't we take all these things that are happening to us and present them and tell our mothers, our traditional leaders, that these are the wrong things?" 那时我想, ”为什么我们不能把发生在我们身上的事 讲述给我们的母亲听,我们传统的领导人听。 告诉他们这些事是错的呢？”
traditional:传统的,惯例的,
It was a scary thing to do, because these traditional leaders, they are already accustomed to the things that have been there for ages. 这样做还是挺恐怖的, 因为那些传统的领导人 已经习惯了这样的事。 这样的事也发生了很多年了。
accustomed to:习惯于;
A hard thing to change, but a good thing to try. 确实是很难改变, 但是不妨一试。
So we tried. 于是我们尝试了。
It was very hard, but we pushed. 这确实很艰难,但我们挺过去了。
And I'm here to say that in my community, it was the first community after girls pushed so hard to our traditional leader, and our leader stood up for us and said no girl has to be married before the age of 18. 我在这里可以告诉大家, 我们的社区是第一个在 女孩们不断对这些传统领导人努力后, 领导人站在了我们这边,并宣布 没有女孩必须在18岁前结婚。
stood up for:维护,拥护;
(Applause) （掌声）
In my community, that was the first time a community, they had to call the bylaws , the first bylaw that protected girls in our community. 在我的社区中, 第一次定下了地方性地法规。 是第一个在我们社区中 保护女孩的地方法规。
bylaws:n.章程;规章制度;细则(bylaw的复数);
We did not stop there. 我们并没有在此止步。
We forged ahead. 我们更进一步。
forged:v.艰苦干成;努力加强;假冒;制作;(forge的过去分词和过去式)
We were determined to fight for girls not just in my community, but even in other communities . 我们坚信为女孩而战不只限于我的社区, 而应该也在其他社区中这样做。
determined:adj.决定了的:v.决定;(determine的过去分词和过去式) communities:n.社区;社会;团体;共有(community的复数)
When the child marriage bill was being presented in February, we were there at the Parliament house. 在2月份,当童婚法案被提出后时, 我们就待在国会大厦。
Parliament:n.议会,国会;
Every day, when the members of Parliament were entering, we were telling them, "Would you please support the bill?" 每天,当议会成员进入, 我们就请求他们,“能请你支持这一法案吗？”
And we don't have much technology like here, but we have our small phones. 我们那没有高科技, 但我们有自己的小手机。
technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
So we said, "Why can't we get their numbers and text them?" 于是我们想,为什么我们不能得到他们的号码
So we did that. It was a good thing. 于是我们那样做了。结果很好。
(Applause) （掌声）
So when the bill passed, we texted them back, "Thank you for supporting the bill." 所以当法案通过时,我们也再发短信, “感谢您对法案的支持。”
(Laughter) （众人笑。）
And when the bill was signed by the president, making it into law, it was a plus. 当法案由总统签署, 变成法律时,就又是一个进步。
Now, in Malawi, 18 is the legal marriage age, from 15 to 18. 现在,在马维拉,18周岁时法定结婚年龄。
legal:adj.法律的;合法的;法定的;
(Applause) （掌声）
It's a good thing to know that the bill passed, but let me tell you this: 知道这法案通过是很令人高兴的, 但让我告诉你,
There are countries where 18 is the legal marriage age, but don't we hear cries of women and girls every day? 在那些18周岁是法定结婚年龄的国家, 难道我们没有听到女性和女孩每天的啜泣吗？
Every day, girls' lives are being wasted away. 每天,女孩的生活都被浪费。
This is high time for leaders to honor their commitment . 现在到了领导人们尊重这一事业的时候了。
high time:应该立即做某事的时候; commitment:n.承诺;投入;保证;许诺;
In honoring this commitment, it means keeping girls' issues at heart every time. 尊重这一事业, 意味着每一次都把女孩们的问题放在心上。
issues:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;(issue的第三人称单数和复数)
We don't have to be subjected as second, but they have to know that women, as we are in this room, we are not just women, we are not just girls, we are extraordinary . 我们不想被当作二等公民对待。 但他们应该知道,就像这一屋子中的女人一样, 我们不只是女人,不只是女孩。 我们不同凡响。
extraordinary:adj.非凡的;特别的;离奇的;临时的;特派的;
We can do more. 我们能做到更多。
And another thing for Malawi, and not just Malawi but other countries: 另一件事是, 对于马拉维和其他国家来说,
The laws which are there, you know how a law is not a law until it is enforced ? 法律是在那里的。 但没有被执行的法律就不是法律。
enforced:adj.强迫的;强制性的;v.强制执行;迫使;(enforce的过去分词和过去式)
The law which has just recently passed and the laws that in other countries have been there, they need to be publicized at the local level, at the community level, where girls' issues are very striking. 这刚刚被通过的童婚法, 和其他国家已有的法律 需要在地方级,在社区级, 在这些女孩面对的问题突出的地方, 广而告之,不断宣传。
recently:adv.最近;新近; publicized:v.宣传(publicize的过去分词);公布;广告;
Girls face issues, difficult issues, at the community level every day. 女孩每天都在社区中面对着很艰难的问题。
So if these young girls know that there are laws that protect them, they will be able to stand up and defend themselves because they will know that there is a law that protects them. 如果这些女孩知道有法律保护着她们, 她们就会站起身来,为自己辩护。 因为她们知道有法律能保护她们。
And another thing I would say is that girls' voices and women's voices are beautiful, they are there, but we cannot do this alone. 我想说的另一件事是, 女孩和女性的声音 是美妙的,就在哪。 但我们不能只是这样听。
Male advocates , they have to jump in, to step in and work together. 男性中的支持者也应该站出来, 一起为此努力。
advocates:n.拥护者; vt.主张(advocate的第三人称单数);
It's a collective work. 这是一个集体性的工作。
collective:adj.集体的;共同的;集合的;集体主义的;n.集团;集合体;集合名词;
What we need is what girls elsewhere need: good education, and above all, not to marry whilst 11. 我们需要的也是其他地方女孩需要的: 好的教育,以及最重要的,不在11岁就结婚。
elsewhere:adv.在别处;到别处; whilst:conj.同时;时时,有时;当…的时候;
And furthermore , 更进一步的是,
furthermore:adv.此外;而且;
I know that together, we can transform the legal, the cultural and political framework that denies girls of their rights. 我知道我们一起, 能够改变法律, 改变文化和改变政治框架。 这些否认女孩权利的东西。
transform:v.使改变;使改观;使转换;n.[数]变换式;[化]反式; cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的; denies:v.否认;否定;拒绝接受;拒绝;(deny的第三人称单数)
I am standing here today and declaring that we can end child marriage in a generation. 我今天站在这,告知大家, 我们在一代人的时间里就能禁止童婚。
This is the moment where a girl and a girl, and millions of girls worldwide , will be able to say, "I will marry when I want." 而那时, 就是全球数以亿计的女孩, 能够说出, “只有当我想结婚时,我才会结婚。”
worldwide:adj.全世界的;adv.在世界各地;
(Applause) （掌声）
Thank you. (Applause) 谢谢大家。（掌声）