万花筒 2009-01-26&01-28 女儿换啤酒

Police have arrested a California man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year old daughter into marriage in exchange for 16,000 dollars, one hundred cases of beer and several cases of meat.

 

They can’t get married in California and she can’t consent to this. And you can’t place a minor¹ in someone else’s home in exchange for money.  

 

Police say they only learned of the deal after 36-year old Marcelino de Jesus Martinez went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn’t made as promised.

 

We’re investigating this as a criminal act, all the charges of felony. It’s kinda up to the District Attorney and we'll see where it goes from there.

 

Residents say arranged marriages involving under-aged girls have become a problem in this small central coast farming community where most of the residents are Mexican immigrants.

 

We had heard that things like that were happening, and I was aware that in southern Mexico, there are some groups, there are indigenous² groups that do that. And at first I thought about it as a dowry, so it didn’t surprise me.

 

If they come to live in this country, they must accept our culture and be a part of it.

 

Police agree, saying ignorance of the law is no excuse. The 14-year old girl is now in state protective custody³.

 

Ron Simpson, The Associated Press.

 

1 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

2 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。