VOA慢速英语2014 韩国移民新娘的离婚率高

 

AS IT IS 2014-06-07 Divorce Rates High for Korea's Migrant Brides 韩国移民新娘的离婚率高

From VOA Learning English, this is As It Is.  I'm Anna Matteo in Washington.

Marrying someone from a different culture is very common.  People do it all the time.  And many international marriage brokers¹ earn large profits by playing matchmaker for people.  But what happens when the marriage business starts to resemble the selling of women?  Some experts are examining the situation of migrant brides in South Korea.

Tens of thousands of South Korean men have married foreign women over the past 10 years.  However, the government reports that many of those marriages end in divorce.  And women’s rights experts are concerned about how these immigrant women are being treated.  They are asking the Korean government to make rules for these marriages.   

Lee Soo-yeon is a Vietnamese migrant bride.  Six years ago, she left Vietnam to marry a South Korean man.  Now 36-years old, she works as a translator at a center for immigrant women in Asan, a city 48 kilometers south of Seoul.  She speaks Korean and uses a Korean name, but Ms. Lee is no longer with her Korean husband.

“At first we could not communicate well. And later we began to fight a lot. He hit me. I do not hate him now, but I realized he has a drinking problem”

The couple’s young child now lives with Ms. Lee’s mother-in-law.  She says it is unlikely she will reunite with her husband.  She blames the marriage agency that introduced them in Vietnam.

“Marriage agencies do not provide any information about the men they introduce to the women. We need to know more about these men, their personalities² and their financial stability.” 

Divorces among international couples are on the rise.  As a result, the South Korean government has made new rules for giving marriage visas.  There are new financial requirements and the couple must demonstrate that they can actually talk to each other.

Chung Chin-sung is a sociology professor at Seoul National University.  She advises the Korean government on multicultural³ family policy.  She says a language requirement could help improve marriages.  But, she adds, the new visa rules do not deal with the main problem of these marriages.  She says women are being sold like a product.

“That kind of marriage market where, especially women, become a product, like a product, not a human being, should be corrected.”

Ms. Chung suggests banning agencies that arrange quick marriages between people who barely know each other.

Jolly Regacho is a counselor⁴ at the Asan migrant center.  She says if the South Korean government really wants to make stronger marriages, more education is important.  The husband, she feels, should also learn about his wife’s culture.  

“They should also make a project for the husband to learn the culture of their wife as well.”

Even with the break-up of her marriage, migrant bride Lee Soo-yeon says she does not plan to go back to Vietnam.  She says Korea is her new home.  

This report was written by VOA reporters in Korea, Jason Strother and Malte Kollenberg.

And I’m Anna Matteo. 

1 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

2 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

3 multicultural   

adj.融合多种文化的，多种文化的

参考例句：

• Children growing up in a multicultural society.在多元文化社会中长大的孩子们。
• The school has been attempting to bring a multicultural perspective to its curriculum.这所学校已经在尝试将一种多元文化视角引入其课程。

4 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。