美国国家公共电台 NPR In Egypt, The High Cost Of Romance Is Crippling Hopes Of Marriage

In Egypt, The High Cost Of Romance Is Crippling Hopes Of Marriage 

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Young love isn't all it's cracked up to be for young Egyptians. Many can't afford to get married. Egypt, a country of more than 90 million people, is suffering its worst financial crisis in years. As NPR's Jane Arraf reports, rising prices are putting a huge damper on love and marriage.

JANE ARRAF, BYLINE²: It's evening in the working-class neighborhood of Shubra el-Kheima. Children dart³ between cars in the crowded streets. In a small concrete apartment building off a crowded alley⁴, a young Egyptian woman, Sharouk, has just come home to her mother. Sharouk has worked at a factory since she was 12. She's 20 now, and she'd really like to get married, but she's had two engagements broken off because she didn't have enough money. It's so embarrassing for her family, she doesn't want her full name used.

SHAROUK: (Through interpreter) Of course I was upset. It can't be twice that this happens to me. I cried and collapsed⁵ because of it because I don't have what I need to get married.

ARRAF: In her working-class community here, the groom⁶ provides the apartment but the bride buys appliances. Sharouk's mother, Samiha, says the engagements fell apart over a fridge and stove.

SAMIHA: (Foreign language spoken).

ARRAF: She says a refrigerator now costs the equivalent of about $1,300. Even installments⁷ would be about $300 a month. That's more than Sharouk's monthly salary. When Sharouk's mother told them it would take more than a year to raise the money, first one suitor and then the other broke off the engagements. She says families are more demanding now than when she got married.

SAMIHA: (Through interpreter) They insist on a fridge and a washing machine and a gas stove. They want a television. They want a freezer.

ARRAF: Sharouk is now engaged for the third time to a man who's willing to wait until she can save money. And when she does get married, Sharouk will have to leave Cairo for the countryside. Her dreams of a good husband are simple ones.

SHAROUK: (Through interpreter) He should be respectful. He should be a good person and protect me.

ARRAF: All that, though, takes enough money to get married in the first place. We go into the tiny kitchen, and Sharouk's mother opens a battered⁸ fridge.

SAMIHA: (Foreign language spoken).

ARRAF: There are a few tomatoes in a black plastic bag and a few peppers. The price of everything has gone up, and even those are expensive. Samiha tells me, as you can see, the fridge is empty. Egypt's ongoing⁹ economic crisis is also putting a strain on Egyptians who are already married. At the huge central agency for statistics, figures show that divorce rates have doubled over the past 10 years.

AMAL FOUAD: I think from my knowledge, economic reason is the main reason for the marriage dissolution.

ARRAF: That's Amal Fouad. She's in charge of population research. She says more divorces are being initiated¹⁰ by women partly because husbands are having a harder time supporting their families.

It's a weekday night, and this cafe is full of young guys playing pool. Some of them are university students, and they have big plans for their futures¹¹. All of those plans involve getting married. But even now, they're worrying that they won't be able to afford it.

KARIM MOHAMMED: (Through interpreter) There is someone. I loved her for a long time. She loves me, but she kept saying she wanted me to propose to her. I thought when I start university, I can propose, but even an engagement needs money.

ARRAF: That's Karim Mohammed, an accounting¹² student. In this solidly middle-class neighborhood of Heliopolis, Karim says even a small party, and the gold jewelry¹³ he would need to buy, would cost more than $3,000. So he and the woman he loves recently broke up.

MOHAMMED: (Through interpreter) She kept asking me, when are you going to propose? But I didn't promise her anything because a real man keeps his promises.

ARRAF: For Karim and his friends, those promises will have to wait until they have money. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Cairo.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

4 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

5 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

6 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

7 installments   

部分( installment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The first two installments were pretty close together in 1980. 第一次和节二次提款隔得很近，都是在1980年提的。
• You have an installments sales contract. 你已经订立了一份分期付款的买卖契约了。

8 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

9 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

10 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

11 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

12 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

13 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。