VOA标准英语2008年-Indian Widows Continue to Live Desperate Life i

By Madhur Singh
Vrindavan, India
24 January 2008

Vrindavan, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is called the "City of Widows." Upper-caste Hindu widows who are disowned by their families go there to live. Young and old spend their remaining years singing hymns¹ in temples in exchange for food, and a small daily stipend² of coins. As Madhur Singh reports from Vrindavan, despite efforts by the government and aid organizations, most of the women subsist³ in abysmal⁴ conditions.

 

Vrindavan in Northern India is one of the holiest cities of Hinduism. The deity⁵ Krishna, the philosopher-prince of ancient India, is said to have spent his childhood here. The city, with thousands of temples devoted⁶ to Krishna, attracts millions of tourists each year.

 

For centuries, Vrindavan has also been home to thousands of Hindu widows, mostly upper-caste women from West Bengal, who were either abandoned by their families, or are seeking refuge from greedy and cruel relatives.

 

An estimated 15,000 of these women are believed to be residing in Vrindavan today, and the number is increasing. Most survive by singing hymns in temples known as bhajan ashrams. In exchange for chanting six hours every day, the widows receive a little food, and the equivalent of 15 cents a day.

 

Some can also be seen begging on the streets, wearing white saris with their heads shaven according to custom. There have been reports that some, by choice or because of circumstances, have gone into prostitution.

Even as Indian women are making strides in the workplace, in a country where the president is a woman, the widows of Vrindavan continue to be victimized by traditions that critics call outdated⁷ and unjust.

 

Usha Rai, of the support group Guild⁸ of Service, is the author of the latest study about the widows for the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM. She says not all these widows come to Vrindavan voluntarily.

 

"Very often the women were taken there and abandoned there by relatives saying, 'We'll come back for you,' and who never came back," said Rai.

 

The UNIFEM study revealed that most of Vrindavan's widows are indigent⁹ and aged¹⁰, with little access to medical facilities or government pensions.

 

The women are expected to spend their days contemplating¹¹ God, living a frugal¹² existence, and awaiting death.

Traditionally, upper-caste Hindus have not been allowed to remarry, but widowhood remains¹³ a stigma¹⁴ for most Indians, especially those in rural areas and from less-educated families. Land reforms initiated¹⁵ by the British enabled widows to inherit property from their dead husbands, which greedy relatives sometimes try to usurp¹⁶. Since the women are considered inauspicious, people will not give them respectable employment.

Activists¹⁷ say Vrindavan's religious institutions do little to support the women, despite reportedly being flush with funds.

Usha Rai says the temples where the widows find refuge should take practical steps to help the women and their often-destitute children.

 

"With the money that they get, they could open schools for the children of widows. If they could provide skills training, it will be great," Rai added.

 

Government and private support groups do provide care and shelter for hundreds of women. But that is a small minority of total widow population.

 

Anita Jatav, 37, has spent the last six years in Vrindavan.

 

She says that after her husband died she was ill-treated by his family, who tried to force her to marry her brother-in-law, a drunkard. So she escaped to Vrindavan, where she heard no one goes hungry. She brought her three children with her.

 

Jatav is a rare success story here, doing odd jobs and learning sewing and embroidery¹⁸. Her children are getting schooling¹⁹, in part thanks to a home run by the All India Women's Conference. The home's caretaker, Kamlesh Singh, says other widows prefer to beg rather than learn a skill.

She says donations are always pouring in to Vrindavan, so some women are now used to begging, and it is very difficult to convince them to go to rehabilitation²⁰ homes. But those who are wise and value their own security, she says, go to the homes willingly.

 

Amar Bari, meaning "My Home," is a group facility run by another private organization. Among its residents is Ranu Mukherjee, 80, who sings a song about a king who has so many worries while the beggar has no such cares.

 

Mukherjee, widowed in her early 20s, has spent the last quarter century in Vrindavan. There is little doubt she will spend the rest of her life here.

 

Recently, the Women and Child Development Ministry²¹ announced that it will begin rehabilitating²² and retraining the country's 33 million widows, and try to get them remarried. But activists are skeptical²³, saying India has a long way to go before such women, cast aside by society, can overcome the traditional stigma of widowhood.

1 hymns   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At first, they played the hymns and marches familiar to them. 起初他们只吹奏自己熟悉的赞美诗和进行曲。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• I like singing hymns. 我喜欢唱圣歌。 来自辞典例句

2 stipend   

n.薪贴；奖学金；养老金

参考例句：

• The company is going to ajust my stipend from this month onwards.从这一个月开始公司将对我的薪金作调整。
• This sum was nearly a third of his total stipend.这笔钱几乎是他全部津贴的三分之一。

3 subsist   

vi.生存，存在，供养

参考例句：

• We are unable to subsist without air and water.没有空气和水我们就活不下去。
• He could subsist on bark and grass roots in the isolated island.在荒岛上他只能靠树皮和草根维持生命。

4 abysmal   

adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的

参考例句：

• The film was so abysmal that I fell asleep.电影太糟糕，看得我睡着了。
• There is a historic explanation for the abysmal state of Chinese cuisine in the United States.中餐在美国的糟糕状态可以从历史上找原因。

5 deity   

n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物)

参考例句：

• Many animals were seen as the manifestation of a deity.许多动物被看作神的化身。
• The deity was hidden in the deepest recesses of the temple.神藏在庙宇壁龛的最深处。

6 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

7 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

8 guild   

n.行会，同业公会，协会

参考例句：

• He used to be a member of the Writers' Guild of America.他曾是美国作家协会的一员。
• You had better incorporate the firm into your guild.你最好把这个公司并入你的行业协会。

9 indigent   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的

参考例句：

• The town government is responsible for assistance to indigent people.镇政府负责给穷人提供帮助。
• A judge normally appoints the attorney for an indigent defendant at the defendant's first court appearence.法官通常会在贫穷被告人第一次出庭时，为其指派一名辩护律师。

10 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

11 contemplating   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
• She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。

12 frugal   

adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的

参考例句：

• He was a VIP,but he had a frugal life.他是位要人，但生活俭朴。
• The old woman is frugal to the extreme.那老妇人节约到了极点。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

14 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

15 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

16 usurp   

vt.篡夺，霸占；vi.篡位

参考例句：

• Their position enabled them to usurp power.他们所处的地位使其得以篡权。
• You must not allow it to usurp a disproportionate share of your interest.你不应让它过多地占据你的兴趣。

17 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》

18 embroidery   

n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品

参考例句：

• This exquisite embroidery won people's great admiration.这件精美的绣品，使人惊叹不已。
• This is Jane's first attempt at embroidery.这是简第一次试着绣花。

19 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

20 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

21 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。

22 rehabilitating   

改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的现在分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• She was more concerned about protecting the public than rehabilitating the criminal. 她比较关心保护百姓，而不大关心改造罪犯。

23 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。