VOA慢速英语2015 贫穷及性别不平等问题迫使女孩步入婚姻殿堂

AS IT IS 2015-06-01 Poverty, Gender¹ Inequality Force Girls Into Marriage 贫穷及性别不平等问题迫使女孩步入婚姻殿堂

The public in Russia and beyond has expressed shock at the recent marriage of a Chechen girl to a man who is 30 years older. The girl is 17 years old. The man is a 47-year-old police chief. And he is already married to another woman.

The girl reportedly was forced to marry. Her parents apparently² gave their permission after receiving threats.  

Russian law bans forced and underage marriages. It also prevents individuals from being married to more than one person at the same time.

But in Russia's Caucasus area, tribal³ laws and traditions carry more weight than state law. And Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov supported the marriage between police chief Nazhud Guchigov and the teenager.

The Chechen leader Kadyrov attended the wedding. One of his assistants was at the bride's side for most of the ceremony. Police also warned a Russian reporter who investigated the marriage plans to stay away.

Most countries have laws that ban child marriage. But still, one in every three girls in developing countries is married before the age of 18. One in nine is married under age 15. Activists⁴, experts and others discussed the problem at a recent conference in Morocco. Girls Not Brides organized the meeting. Girls Not Brides is an alliance⁵ of international organizations working to end child marriage.

Lakshmi Sundaram leads Girls Not Brides. She says activists must speed efforts again child marriage. If not, she says, more than 1.2 billion girls will be married before the year 2050.

The problem is the worst in Bangladesh, India and Niger. In those countries, three in every four girls get married before age 18. Experts place most of the blame on poverty and gender inequality. Parents usually organize the marriages.

Sidikou Moussa is a child advocate from Nigeria. He says intervention⁶ must begin at the family level. Then, he says, activists must deal with the issue at the community level. He says communities need to see child marriage as a danger.

A 14-year girl from India was also at the conference. Duli Hembram was able to avoid the marriage her parents organized by appealing to the leader of her school.

"Today was to be my wedding day. I am not getting married. I want to study."

Experts say governments in the affected⁷ countries need to do more to keep girls in the educational system. They say officials also must protect girls from abuse⁸ and violence.

Words in This Story

bride – n. a woman who has just married or is about to be married

gender – n. the state of being male or female⁹

advocate – n. a person who argues for or supports a cause or policy

abuse – n. harmful treatment of a person or animal

1 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。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

4 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》

5 alliance   

n.同盟，同盟国，结盟，联姻

参考例句：

• China will not enter into alliance with any big power.中国不同任何大国结盟。
• The new alliance was very much in evidence.新的联盟上星期很引人注目。

6 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 abuse   

vt.滥用；辱骂；诋毁；n.滥用；恶习；弊端

参考例句：

• You can't make personal abuse on her.你不可对她进行人身攻击。
• She screamed abuse at me.她尖声责备我。

9 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。