VOA常速英语2019--劳工权利在伊朗被定为犯罪

Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency recently reported that three labor¹ activists³ from Khuzestan province have been sentenced to five years in prison for crimes against national security.

伊朗半官方的ILNA通讯社最近报道说，胡泽斯坦省的三名劳工活动人士因危害国家安全罪被判处五年监禁。

Two of the activists, Esmail Bakhshi and Mohammad Khanifar, worked at the Haft Tappeh sugar mill. The mill has been the scene of several protests over the lack of workers’ rights and years of unpaid⁴ wages.

其中两名活动人士Esmail Bakhshi和Mohammad Khanifar在Haft Tappeh糖厂工作。这家工厂已经发生了几起抗议活动，抗议工人缺乏权利且多年得不到工资。

Free-lance journalist and labor activist² Sepideh Gholian was also one of the three sentenced. She was arrested while participating in a demonstration⁵ at the mill in November 2018. Both Gholian and Bakhshi have said that they were tortured by agents of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry⁶ while they were in Ministry custody⁷.

自由记者和劳工活动家Sepideh Gholian也被判刑。2018年11月，她在工厂参加示威活动时被捕。Gholian和Bakhshi都表示，他们在被伊朗情报部门拘留期间受到情报部门特工的酷刑。

Although Iran’s constitution guarantees freedom of assembly, peaceful labor activism is treated as a national security offense⁸ by the regime: strikers risk harassment⁹ or arrest, and labor leaders are subjected to prosecution¹⁰, imprisonment¹¹, and worse.

虽然伊朗宪法保障集会自由，但和平劳动激进主义被当局视为国家安全犯罪：罢工者面临着被骚扰或逮捕的风险，而劳工领袖则会遭到起诉、监禁，甚至更糟。

Yet, as the U.S. State Department noted¹² in its latest human rights report on Iran, “As economic conditions in the country deteriorated¹³, strikes and worker protests were numerous and widespread across the country,” despite the regime’s repression¹⁴.

然而，正如美国国务院在关于伊朗的最新人权报告中所指出的，“随着国家经济状况的恶化，罢工和工人抗议在全国范围内发生，”尽管政权也在镇压。

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Robert Destro recently observed that in addition to the sugar mill workers, labor unrest in Iran has included strikes by truckers, teachers, health care workers and others.

美国负责民主、人权和劳工事务的助理国务卿Robert Destro最近指出，除了糖厂工人外，伊朗的劳工骚乱还包括卡车司机、教师、医疗工作者和其他人员的罢工。

“What they want to know is, why aren’t we getting paid?...You’re taking the money that we earn and you’re spending it on Hezbollah and doing bad things in Syria and other places. So worker unrest in Iran is a good barometer¹⁵ of the stress that workers are feeling. They just can’t afford basic commodities.”

“他们想知道的是，为什么我们拿不到钱?”你把我们挣的钱花在真主党身上，在叙利亚和其他地方做坏事。因此，伊朗的工人骚乱是工人所感受到压力的晴雨表。他们买不起基本的商品。”

Assistant Secretary Destro emphasized that labor rights are an integral part of fundamental human rights and dignity.

助理国务卿Destro强调，劳工权利是基本人权和尊严的组成部分。

For decades, the Iranian regime has repressed the Iranian people’s fundamental rights, and persecuted¹⁶ Iranian citizens who stand up for them. The United States has repeatedly called for the immediate¹⁷ release of all political prisoners currently held by the regime. And, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said, “The United States will always support access to information, freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, and will continue to promote accountability for those who unduly¹⁸ restrict these freedoms.”

几十年来，伊朗政权一直压制伊朗人民的基本权利，迫害为他们挺身而出的伊朗公民。美国一再呼吁立即释放目前被该政权关押的所有政治犯。正如国务卿Mike Pompeo所说，“美国将始终支持获取信息、言论自由和和平集会，并将继续推动追究那些过度限制这些自由的人的责任。”

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 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。

3 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》

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 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 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。

8 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

9 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

10 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

11 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

13 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

14 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

15 barometer   

n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标

参考例句：

• The barometer marked a continuing fall in atmospheric pressure.气压表表明气压在继续下降。
• The arrow on the barometer was pointing to"stormy".气压计上的箭头指向“有暴风雨”。

16 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

17 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

18 unduly   

adv.过度地，不适当地

参考例句：

• He did not sound unduly worried at the prospect.他的口气听上去对前景并不十分担忧。
• He argued that the law was unduly restrictive.他辩称法律的约束性有些过分了。