2021年经济学人 纳瓦勒·萨达维-埃及女权先锋(3)

In 2008 a law was passed in Egypt to ban female genital mutilation. It was a solid achievement for her, but she was hardly satisfied. The ban was cosmetic¹; the country simply wanted to cover up the disgrace she had exposed. Second, it was ineffective against such an ingrained habit: 90% of Egyptian women were cut before it, and almost as many were being cut a decade later.

2008年，埃及通过了一项法律，禁止女性“割礼”。这对她来说是一项实实在在的成就，但她并不满足于此。这种禁令只是表面文章；这个国家只是想掩盖她所揭露的耻辱。其次，对于这种根深蒂固的陋习，表面功夫是徒劳的；90%的埃及女性在法律出台前已经接受了割礼，十年后也差不多有同样多的女性会接受割礼。而且，这仅仅是个开始。

Also, it was merely a start. Women still needed easier divorce, and she showed the way, divorcing all three of her husbands (“I’m not fit for the role of a wife, you may be sure of that!”). They needed protection from sexual harassment², proper equality before the law, an equal chance to get jobs. More of them, not fewer, were wearing veils, a symbol to her of the veiled minds of both women and men. Matters would never improve until the system itself was changed.

女性仍然需要更加容易的离婚（手续），她是在这方面的先驱，她和三任丈夫离了婚(“我不适合做一位妻子，你们可能确信这一点!”)。她们需要得到免受性骚扰的保护，法律面前应有的男女平等，以及就业的平等机会。戴着头纱的女性不减反增。在她看来，头纱象征着男女被蒙蔽的思想。除非制度本身被撼动，否则永远只是治标不治本。

By “the system”, she meant everything. As a secularist³, she wanted God gone, and with it the grip of Islamic law over all women’s lives. But her diehard Marxism told her that it was really the patriarchal class system, not Islam, that kept them down. All would be well if wealth were distributed equally, so that the poor no longer laboured for bread while the rich basked⁴ in opulence⁵.

她所说的“体制”指的是一切。作为一名世俗主义者，她希望真主消失，同时让支配所有女性生活的伊斯兰法律彻底消弭。但是她坚定的马克思主义告诉她，是父权阶级制度在压制剥削女性，而不是伊斯兰教。如果财富得到平均分配，那么一切都会好起来，如此穷人就不用在富人悠闲享受富足生活时为了糊口而拼命劳作。

All would be even better if, as Nasser had wanted, Egypt’s oil revenue was no longer drained away by foreigners into the coffers of Western multinationals⁶. That was the path to real, equal democracy, and her answer to every problem. Reforms in isolation⁷ were a sideshow. The whole lot had to go.

如果像纳赛尔希望的那样，埃及的石油收入不再被外国人拿走，流入西方跨国公司的金库，那么一切都将改善。这是通往真正、平等的民主道路，也是她解决所有问题的答案。孤立的改革只是表面文章。整个体制需要被颠覆。

1 cosmetic   

n.化妆品；adj.化妆用的；装门面的；装饰性的

参考例句：

• These changes are purely cosmetic.这些改变纯粹是装饰门面。
• Laughter is the best cosmetic,so grin and wear it!微笑是最好的化妆品，所以请尽情微笑吧！

2 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

3 secularist   

n.现世主义者，世俗主义者；宗教与教育分离论者

参考例句：

4 basked   

v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽

参考例句：

• She basked in the reflected glory of her daughter's success. 她尽情地享受她女儿的成功带给她的荣耀。
• She basked in the reflected glory of her daughter's success. 她享受着女儿的成功所带给她的荣耀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 opulence   

n.财富，富裕

参考例句：

• His eyes had never beheld such opulence.他从未见过这样的财富。
• He owes his opulence to work hard.他的财富乃辛勤工作得来。

6 multinationals   

跨国公司( multinational的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These local companies are only small fry compared with the huge multinationals. 同那些跨国公司比，这些当地的公司不过是小鱼小虾。
• Some people believe that the multinationals have too much power. 有人认为跨国公司的权力太大了。

7 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。