2021年经济学人 纳瓦勒·萨达维-埃及女权先锋(1)

Obituary¹: Nawal El-Saadawi

讣告：纳瓦勒·萨达维

The uses of anger

愤怒之弩

Nawal El-Saadawi, campaigner for women’s rights, died on March 21st, aged² 89

纳瓦勒·萨达维，女权运动领袖，于3月21日去世，享年89岁。

One day, at the age of ten, Nawal El-Saadawi was sent to put on her cream dress. Such a thing was special in their poor household, in the huddled³ village of Kafr Tahla in the delta⁴ of the Nile. Her father, she was told, had a guest for her to meet. So she put on the cream dress, but also smeared⁵ raw aubergine on her teeth to turn them black. That way the guest, who was meant to be her future husband, would never, ever want to marry her.

在尼罗河三角洲卡夫塔拉拥挤的村庄里，一天，家人让十岁的纳瓦勒·萨达维穿上她淡黄色的连衣裙。换装对这个贫穷的家庭来说有特别的意义。家人告诉她，父亲要她见一位客人。于是她穿上了淡黄色连衣裙，还在牙齿上涂上生茄子，好让牙齿变黑。那样的话，这位注定要成为她未来丈夫的客人，就打消了想娶她的念头了。

She got a beating for it, but it worked, and that first victory gave her strength for the rest of her life: giant self-belief, and she needed it. Her campaign against the oppression of women in Egypt, from genital mutilation to routine marital⁶ thrashings, from puny⁷ inheritance rights to the wearing of the veil, hurled⁸ her against the authorities. Her writing was censored⁹, her books banned.

她为此遭到一顿打，但这种方式挺见效，第一次胜利为她余生提供了力量支撑：强大的自信，而她需要这种自信。她发起的反对埃及妇女压迫的运动，从割礼到司空见惯的婚姻暴力，从微不足道的遗产继承权到女性被迫戴面纱，以上种种让她不得不与当局“为敌”。她的作品受到审查，她的书籍遭到封禁。

“Women and Sex”, published in 1969, cost her her job in the ministry¹⁰ of health. Eight years later “The Hidden Face of Eve”, which spared no details of the cuttings she had seen as a doctor in the villages, shot that taboo¹¹ into general conversation and herself into electric peril¹², like a field of mines.

1969年出版的《妇女与性》使她失去了在卫生部的工作。八年后，她在《夏娃隐藏的一面》一书中将在乡村当医生时看到的割礼细节披露无疑，也将这个禁忌话题变成了大众谈资，让她自己身陷雷区般的危险境地之中。

In 1981 Anwar Sadat’s government jailed her for three months, and in the 1990s death threats sent her abroad. Each time, like a winning horse, she cleared every obstacle. In prison, while the other women wept, she sang, danced and wrote a memoir¹³ on toilet paper, using a smuggled¹⁴ eye-pencil. When her publisher in 2007 burned her play in which God was out-argued and gave up, she declared that if she said all she wanted to say she would be burned herself, like Joan of Arc.

1981年，安瓦尔·萨达特(Anwar Sadat)政府将她囚禁了3个月，90年代，她迫于死亡威胁不得不移居国外。每一次，她都像一匹获胜的马一样，跨过了每一道障碍。在监狱那段日子，当其他女人哭泣时，她唱歌、跳舞，用偷偷带进来的眼线笔在厕纸写回忆录。2007年，她在剧本里说真主被压制并且认输，出版商就烧掉了她的剧本，她宣称，如果她说出了她想说的一切，她就会像圣女贞德一样被烧死。

1 obituary   

n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的

参考例句：

• The obituary records the whole life of the deceased.讣文记述了这位死者的生平。
• Five days after the letter came,he found Andersen s obituary in the morning paper.收到那封信五天后，他在早报上发现了安德森的讣告。

2 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

4 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

5 smeared   

弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上

参考例句：

• The children had smeared mud on the walls. 那几个孩子往墙上抹了泥巴。
• A few words were smeared. 有写字被涂模糊了。

6 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

7 puny   

adj.微不足道的，弱小的

参考例句：

• The resources at the central banks' disposal are simply too puny.中央银行掌握的资金实在太少了。
• Antonio was a puny lad,and not strong enough to work.安东尼奥是个瘦小的小家伙，身体还不壮，还不能干活。

8 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 censored   

受审查的，被删剪的

参考例句：

• The news reports had been heavily censored . 这些新闻报道已被大幅删剪。
• The military-backed government has heavily censored the news. 有军方撑腰的政府对新闻进行了严格审查。

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

11 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

12 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

13 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

14 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网