VOA慢速英语2020 澳大利亚土著为曾遭受过的奴隶待遇向政府索赔

Thousands of aboriginal¹ Australians are expected to join a legal case that lawyers are bringing against the West Australian government. The case seeks payment for what it says are years of unpaid² work. Historians have said that, at the time, the officials knew the work was a form of slavery.

有律师对西澳大利亚政府提起了诉讼，预计会有数万名土著人加入。该案要求政府赔偿他们所说的多年无偿工作。历史学家表示，当时，官员们知道这项工作是一种奴隶制。

The legal action says the unfair labor³ took place during the 19th and 20th centuries. It says indigenous⁴ children as young as four were taken from their families to work in mines, on farms and as servants in Australia. Many received little or no money, and some were paid only with bread and meat. Lawyers have said conditions were "akin⁵ to slavery."

这起法律诉讼称不公平劳动发生在19和20世纪。案件称小到4岁的土著儿童被从家人身边带走，到矿山、农场工作以及在澳大利亚当仆人。许多人只得到非常少报酬，甚至没有报酬，有的人只得到了面包和肉当作报酬。律师们表示，这种状况类似于奴隶制。

Until the 1970s, money earned by indigenous workers in Western Australia was paid to the state government, but rarely given to the worker.

西澳大利亚土著工人赚到的钱都付给了州政府，很少付给工人，直到20世纪70年代为止。

Lawyers have said as many as 10,000 workers and their descendants would be able to join the legal case. The lawyers brought the case in Australia's Federal Court. 

律师们表示，上万名工人及其后代将能够加入这起诉讼。律师们将此案提交到了澳大利亚联邦法院。

Jan Saddler is a lawyer at Shine Lawyers, a legal company that is leading the court case. She said indigenous Western Australians were part of the case. Some are now more than 70 or 80 years old.

简·萨德勒是Shine Lawyers法律公司的一名律师，这家公司主导了这起案件。萨德勒表示，西澳大利亚土著人士是这起案件的一部分。其中一些人现在已经七八十岁了。

"...They are actually waiting to receive their wages from the 1940s and the 1950s and they still have not been paid, and this is what that claim is all about," she said.

萨德勒说：“他们实际上是等着领取上世纪四五十年代的工资，他们仍然没有拿到这笔报酬，这就是这起索赔案的全部内容。”

Australia's laws controlled everything in an indigenous person's life -- from what they could buy to whether they could get married. The law also permitted that their wages could be taken by the government. That situation lasted until the 1970s.

澳大利亚法律控制了土著人生活的方方面面，从他们可以购买的商品，到他们是否可以结婚。法律还允许政府可以拿走他们的工资。这种状况一直持续到上世纪70年代。

In February 2008, then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to Australia's indigenous peoples for the way they had been treated.

2008年2月，时任澳大利亚总理陆克文为土著人被对待的方式向他们道歉。

"To the Stolen Generations, I say the following: as Prime Minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the parliament of Australia, I am sorry," he said.

他说：“对于被偷走的一代，我有话要说：作为澳大利亚总理我要说声对不起。我代表澳大利亚政府说声对不起。我代表澳大利亚议会说声对不起。”

Stolen Generations is the name given to tens of thousands of Australian Aboriginal children who were taken from their families. They were sent to white Australians as workers or servants up until the 1970s.

被偷走的一代是指数万名被从家里带走的澳大利亚土著儿童。他们被送到澳大利亚白人家里当作工人或仆人，直到上世纪70年代为止。

The Western Australian state government has said it hopes for a settlement. The government would like mediators to negotiate with the indigenous people.

西澳大利亚政府已经表示希望达成和解。政府希望调解员与土著人民进行谈判。

Reparations plans have paid millions of dollars to indigenous workers in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. An earlier reparations plan in Western Australia limited payments to $1,400 and came with several conditions. Indigenous peoples' rights campaigners said it was too restricted and did not truly answer for the injustices⁶ of the past. 

昆士兰州和新南威尔士州出台的赔偿方案已经向土著工人支付了数百万美元。西澳大利亚此前的一项赔偿方案将赔偿限制在1400美元，并附带了一些条件。土著人民权利运动家表示，这些限制太严格了，不能真正解决过去的不公正现象。

A federal parliamentary investigation⁷ in 2006 tried to establish how much money may have been stolen from aboriginal Australians over the many years. Lawmakers found that wage theft was so widespread that is was impossible to arrive at a final amount.

2006年，联邦议会进行了一项调查，试图确定多年来从澳大利亚土著那里偷走了多少钱。议员们发现，偷走工资的现象非常普遍，无法得出一个最终的数额。

1 aboriginal   

adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的

参考例句：

• They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
• The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

6 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。