国家地理:China's Lost Girls 被抛弃的女孩 -2

And China's population is coming under control, but there are consequences no one intended. Couples often feel they must have a boy. That's because boys traditionally carry on the family name, provide labor¹ and stay with parents in their old age, a kind of social security system. With intense pressure to have boys, females are now often aborted², abandoned or hidden away, some are even killed. Possibly over 100,000 baby girls in China are abandoned every year. Many end up in orphanages³ like this.

Today more than one of every four children adopted overseas and brought home to the US comes from China. They are almost all girls adopted from orphanages. But the babies adopted by Americans are only a tiny fraction of the millions of girls believed missing from China's population. And while girls are being given away, the number of boys is rising, way out of proportion. Today young Chinese boys vastly outnumber girls and it's only getting worse.

When I was standing⁴ there at Tian'anMen Square and I was looking up at that picture of Chairman Mao, you know, in so many ways the policies he enacted⁵, you know, kind of indirectly⁶ resulted in you going to become parents. You know, did that thought cause your mind a little...?
All the time, all the time. It's a very complex weird⁷ situation to be in. But it's, it's a weird feeling to notice that, yeah, like, that's how we are getting a child.

But all the tour sites in China can't ease the anxiety.

Well, we've done just about every tourist attraction in Beijing, but that's not why these families are here. Tomorrow their lives are gonna be changed forever.

I refer to myself is, well, I, I was, I was born in China and I was brought here.

Hey, so today's known as Got-you Day and all these families are gonna disperse⁸ to different parts of China and meet their baby daughters for the first time. (Morning. Morning) I've to say there is kind of this air of unpredictability right now because they don't know what condition their babies are in, they don't know if they're healthy, they don't even know where they are and actually I'm a little bit nervous.

You know there was so much chatter⁹ and buzz up in the breakfast room this morning, you know, I think everybody is just known like: oh, today is the day?

Not too far away is a little girl who has never known a mother, and she's never known a father, and she's never known a big sister and today she's gonna get out of that.

This is Fu Shuking. Soon to be Rebecca Lisa Thomson
Ha, you are gonna be a mother.
I know, that word still freaks me out, still takes me to be used to it... mama.
You guys ready?
I'm gonna get a baby, haha.
You know, the infectious, you know, your energy, I mean, I'm just like completely out of my mind too.
Everybody's been keeping it down for a really long time.

We follow our families as they fly out of Beijing heading south to the city of Nanchang.

Last day without a baby, you are gonna be mom in a couple of hours.

After a two-hour flight and a long bus ride, we finally arrived at a hotel in Nanchang, just one hour before it's time to get the babies.

Things that I've known about my adoption¹⁰ are that...

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 orphanages   

孤儿院( orphanage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It is Rotarians running orphanages for children who have no homes. 扶轮社员们为没有家的孩子办孤儿院。
• Through the years, she built churches, hospitals and orphanages. 许多年来，她盖了一间间的教堂、医院、育幼院。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

9 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

10 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。