经济学人:刀口余生 变性人应该被如何对待(下)

 　　Yet hijras, and their counterparts in other Asian societies, remain on society’s margins¹. 然而，海吉拉斯和其他亚洲国家类似人群都仍处在社会边缘。

　　As Anjaann Joshii of SPACE puts it: “You can sing, dance, bless, curse—but that’s it.” 正如SPACE的安佳佳·佐丝所言，你可载歌载舞，也可携福撒咒，但你也就仅限于此。

　　The linguistic² roots of the word hijra convey a sense of leaving one’s tribe. 从语言学来看，海吉拉斯的词根流露着一股“离群感”。

　　Many hijras find life in a new community, usually called a dera, run by a guru-mother. 许多海吉拉斯会组建一个新部落，通常称作dera，由一位“古鲁妈妈”统领。

　　Yet such protection comes at a cost. 但这种保护并非“免费午餐”。

　　Three of the five hijras whom Banyan³ met in Old Delhi had been castrated. Banyan曾在旧德里拜访过五位海吉拉斯，其中三位已接受阉割。

　　In modern practice, the surgical⁴ element of a sex change takes place at the very end of a careful process of counselling, hormone⁵ therapy and plastic surgery. 按现代惯例，变性人在接受手术前，都会进行一系列严谨的步骤，比如先进行咨询，后接受荷尔蒙治疗，再接受塑形手术。

　　But for many hijras, surgery would be too grand a term for the removal of the testicles and penis  但对于多数海吉拉斯而言，他们大多连麻醉剂都不会注射，在仅服用酒精或大麻的情况下，就切除睾丸和阴茎，

　　and the insertion of a silver pin into the urethra, with no anaesthetic but alcohol and marijuana. 把银制针管塞进尿道，若将此称作手术，可谓荒谬。

　　Worse, many gurus are mafia bosses running rackets in defined territories. 许多古鲁是在特定地区行骗的团伙头目，对海吉拉斯而言，这可谓是雪上加霜。

　　They pocket four-fifths of hijras’ earnings⁶. 他们吸纳了海吉拉斯五分之四的收入。

　　Any hijra setting up as a guru herself risks murder. 若有海吉拉斯想自立门户，她可得小心人头落地了。

　　And running away to another dera, even if to the far end of the country, will be reported back to the guru. 无论是逃跑到其他dera，还是跑到国家边境，他们的行踪依旧逃不出古鲁的掌控。

　　It is, in effect, a system of bonded⁷ labour. 实际上，这就是一种包身工制度。

　　And when you die, say the hijras, your guru won’t even come to claim your corpse—unless there is gold to strip off it. 海吉拉斯说，若你死去，古鲁甚至不会认领你的尸首，除非你身上还有钱让他们搜刮。

　　There is even less protection for those who sell sex or beg. 那些从事性工作和乞讨的变性人就更缺乏保护了。

　　Mehak, a trans beggar, faces violence in male shelters and is refused entry to female ones, so she sleeps in a park each night. Mehak是一位变性乞讨者，她在男性收容所受尽欺凌，又无法进入女性收容所，所以她只能每夜睡在公园。

　　Every few days, young thugs steal her paltry⁸ takings at knifepoint. 每隔几天，一些小流氓就用刀威迫她交出其微乎其微的钱财。

　　Although the courts in some Asian countries are beginning to uphold transgender rights, laws are often confused and enforcement rare. 尽管一些亚洲国家的司法机关开始维护变性人的权利。但相关法律经常含糊不清且甚少得以实施。

　　In 2014 India’s Supreme¹⁰ Court recognised a third gender⁹, yet the British-era penal¹¹ code still criminalises sexual activities against the “order of nature”. 印度最高法院在2014年承认了第三性别的合法地位，但其英属刑法仍将“违反自然规律”的性行为定罪。

　　The current draft of a bill working its way through Parliament enshrines transgender rights by mandating¹² inclusive education for trans children, and special employment and health provisions. 近期，一份于国会通过的草案将大幅提高变性人的权利，它包括变性儿童的独特义务教育、特殊雇佣制度和医疗健康保障。

　　Yet it denies individuals the right to “self-identify” —ie, choose their own gender, a key desire. 但它否定个人“个体身份”的权利，例如变性人最渴望的选择自身性别。

　　That would be left to “experts” instead. 换而言之，这就将由“专家”来定断你的性别了。

　　Trans activists¹⁴ are lobbying to have that changed. 变性运动分子正在游说政府对此作出改变。

　　Elsewhere in the region, the law is an ass¹⁵. 在亚洲其他地区，变性人的相关法律形同虚设。

　　Several Pacific nations ban cross-dressing (another hand-me-down from prudish¹⁶ Victorians). 几个太平洋国家禁止人们穿着异装（谈性色变的维多利亚风俗再现）。

　　Even in Thailand, supposedly tolerant to cross-dressingmen, vagrancy¹⁷ laws are used to harass¹⁸ transwomen. 人们一般认为泰国会对异装男士比较包容，但即使在这里，变性女性常因流浪罪受到骚扰。

　　In Cambodia police conduct regular round-ups of trans women under public-safety laws and demand bribes¹⁹ to let them go. 在柬埔寨，警察经常以公共安全名义围堵变性女性，要她们上交贿赂才放行。

　　Many countries still define transsexualism as a mental illness. 许多国家仍将变性定义为一种心理疾病。

　　Trans people adopting children is illegal in most Asian countries. 在大多数亚洲国家，变性人收养孩子都算违法。

　　Activist¹³ groups like SPACE have made strides in a few short years. 数年来，像SPACE这种变性人运动组织已经竭尽全力维护变性人利益。

　　But they are baby steps for what needs to come. 但就变性人群体所需而言，这宛如沧海一粟。

1 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

2 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

3 banyan   

n.菩提树，榕树

参考例句：

• This huge banyan tree has a history of more than 400 years.这棵大榕树已经有四百多年的历史了。
• A large banyan tree may look like a forest.大型的榕树看起来象一片树林。

4 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

5 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

6 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

7 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

8 paltry   

adj.无价值的，微不足道的

参考例句：

• The parents had little interest in paltry domestic concerns.那些家长对家里鸡毛蒜皮的小事没什么兴趣。
• I'm getting angry;and if you don't command that paltry spirit of yours.我要生气了，如果你不能振作你那点元气。

9 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

10 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

11 penal   

adj.刑罚的；刑法上的

参考例句：

• I hope you're familiar with penal code.我希望你们熟悉本州法律规则。
• He underwent nineteen years of penal servitude for theft.他因犯了大窃案受过十九年的苦刑。

12 mandating   

托管（mandate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Current requirements mandating that committees keep minutes are too general. 目前对委员会要保持详细记录的指令性要求，还是太过一般化了。
• Mandating that workers who quit without permission forfeit a month's wages. 规定工人私自离岗将受到罚没一个月工资的处罚。

13 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

14 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

16 prudish   

adj.装淑女样子的，装规矩的，过分规矩的；adv.过分拘谨地

参考例句：

• I'm not prudish but I think these photographs are obscene.我并不是假正经的人，但我觉得这些照片非常淫秽。
• She was sexually not so much chaste as prudish.她对男女关系与其说是注重贞节，毋宁说是持身谨慎。

17 vagrancy   

（说话的，思想的）游移不定； 漂泊； 流浪； 离题

参考例句：

• The tramp was arrested for vagrancy. 这个流浪汉因流浪而被捕。
• Vagrancy and begging has become commonplace in London. 流浪和乞讨在伦敦已变得很常见。

18 harass   

vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰

参考例句：

• Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
• They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。

19 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏