时代周刊:美国正在辜负母亲这一群体(1)

America is failing moms.

美国正在辜负母亲这一群体

Let's start over.

那就让我们从头开始吧

By Lyz Lenz

文/丽兹·伦茨

In 1974, humorist Erma Bombeck published a syndicated newspaper column

1974年，幽默作家艾尔玛·邦贝克在报纸上发表了一篇一稿多投的专栏文章，

that looms¹ over the lives of American mothers whether they’ve read it or not.

这篇文章堪称概括了所有美国母亲的生活面貌，无论她们看过这篇文章与否。

In "When God Created Mothers," Bombeck describes God making a mother with the help of an angel.

邦贝克在这篇题为“上帝创造母亲时”的文章中写到，上帝在天使的帮助下创造了一位母亲。

"She has to be completely washable, but not plastic.

“她必须完全可以水洗，但不能是塑料材质的。

Have 180 movable parts...all replaceable," God tells the angel.

要有180个可移动的组建——还都要是可更换的组建，”上帝对天使说道。

"Run on black coffee and leftovers².

“用清咖啡和剩菜就能养活。

Have a lap that disappears when she stands up.

有站起身来就会消失的游泳圈。

A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair.

从腿骨折到失恋，一切伤痛都只需一个吻就能治愈。

And six pairs of hands."

还要有三头六臂。”

My mother, who homeschooled eight children, saw that column as a mark of her valor³.

我的母亲，一个独自教养了8个孩子的女人，她就将这篇专栏文章视为了自己英勇的标记。

Not only did it hang on our wall at home,

这篇文章不仅被张贴在了我们家的墙上，

I grew up hearing it quoted in church sermons on Mother's Day.

从小到大，我还能经常在教堂母亲节当天的布道中听到大家引用这句话。

But once I became a mother, I came to hate that column.

然而，自从我自己也为人母之后，我就开始讨厌这篇专栏了。

I think Erma Bombeck did us dirty.

我觉得艾尔玛·邦贝克给我们泼了脏水。

As the pandemic forces us to rethink almost every aspect of our society,

因为疫情，我们不得不开始重新思考社会的方方面面，

from why we go into an office to how we set up a kindergarten classroom,

从我们为什么要走进办公室，到如何设立幼儿园教室，

allow me to suggest that we reassess the very foundation of our society: motherhood.

在此，请允许我提一个建议：我们对社会的基石——母亲——也应该重新审视一番了。

Motherhood is valorized in American culture because we don't want to admit the truth:

就美国文化而言，母亲这一身份之所有会受到赞扬其实是因为我们不愿面对现实：

we have built an entire economy on the backs of unpaid⁴ and poorly paid women.

我们把整个经济的负担都压在了酬劳很低，甚至是没有酬劳的女性肩上。

Even as gender⁵ roles have shifted in the U.S.,

虽然美国的性别角色已经发生了一定的转变，

the expectation that the mother will be the parent primarily responsible for maintaining the household and taking care of the children,

但社会对母亲应当是父母双方中承担操持家庭和照顾孩子的主要责任的一方的期待，

no matter what else she has on her plate,

无论她还有多少其他的事情要做，

is still as true today as when Bombeck wrote her column.

至今仍和邦贝克写那篇专栏时一样严重。

1 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

3 valor   

n.勇气，英勇

参考例句：

• Fortitude is distinct from valor.坚韧不拔有别于勇猛。
• Frequently banality is the better parts of valor.老生常谈往往比大胆打破常规更为人称道。

4 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

5 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。