female oppression

　　no one who has studied history, even superficially, will for a moment dispute the statement that there has brooded very steadily over the female half of the human family an air of repression, of limitation, of hindrance , of disability, of gloom, of servitude. if there have been epochs during which women have been regarded equal to men, they have been brief and abnormal.

　　among the hindus, woman was the slave of man , forbidden to speak the language of her master, and compelled to use the patois of the slaves. the hebrews pronounced her an afterthought of the deity, and the mother of all evils. the greek law regarded her as a child, and held her in life-long tutelage. the greek philosophers proclaimed her a “monster”,“ an accidental production”. medieval councils declared her unfit for instruction. the early christian fathers denounced her as a“ noxious animal”, a“painted temptress”, a“ necessary evil”,“a desirable calamity”, and a“ domestic peril”.

　　in marriage she has been a serf; as a mother she has been robbed of her children; in public instruction she has been ignored; in labor she has been a menial, and then inadequately compensated; civilly she has been a minor, and politically she has had no existence. she has been the equal of man only when punishment and the payment of taxes were in question.

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. fill in the blanks with proper prepositions and do not refer to the passage until you finish the exercise :

　　1. there has brooded very steadily________ the female half of the human family an air of repression.

　　2. women have never been regarded ________equal man .

　　3. as a mother she has been robbed ________her children.

　　4. she has been the equal of man only when punishment and the payment of taxes were ________question.

　　Ⅱ. fill in the blanks with proper words :

　　in marriage she has been a ______( 奴隶) ; as a mother she has been_____( 使失去) of her children; in public instruction she has been ______( 忽视) ; in labor she has been a ______( 仆人) , and then inadequately ______( 补偿) ; civilly she has been a minor, and politically she has had no ______( 存在) .

　　参考答案

　　Ⅰ.

　　1. over 2 . to 3 . of 4 . in

　　Ⅱ.

　　serf / robbed / ignored / menial / compensated / existence

　参考译文

　　受压迫的女性

　　学 过历史的人, 即使只是浅尝辄止, 学了一点皮毛知识, 也不会立刻对下面这句话持有 异议: 在人类家庭中占半壁江山的女性身上一直笼罩着压抑的、受限制的、被阻碍的、无能 为力的、忧郁的和被奴役的气氛。如果历史上存在女人与男人一视同仁的时期的话, 那么 这段时期一定非常短暂而又有悖常理。

　　在印度人眼里, 女人是男人的奴隶, 她们被禁止使用主人的语言, 而只能使用奴隶的语 言; 希伯来人宣称女人是上帝在造出亚当之后才造出来的, 还认为她是万恶之源; 希腊法律 将女人视为孩子, 对她进行终身监护。希腊哲学家则将女人称为“ 怪物”, 还说女人是“ 附 属品”; 中世纪的地方议会称女人不适合接受教育; 早期的基督教教父们公开指责女人是 “ 有害动物”、“ 虚伪的妖妇”、“ 不可避免的罪恶”、“ 诱人的灾难”和“ 家中的危险人物”。

　　在婚姻中, 女人像奴隶一样受到男人压制; 作为母亲, 她的孩子被抢走; 在普及大众教 育的时候, 女人被人遗忘; 生产劳动时, 她又成为卑微的仆人, 事后得不到应有的补偿; 从公 民权利角度说, 她微不足道; 在政治领域, 她也没有生存空间。只有在实施惩罚和交纳税款 的时候, 她才获得同男人平等的地位。

　　阅读导评

　　在男性统治的世界里, 女性不可避免地沦为被压迫、被歧视、被损毁的对象。即使在今 天, 法律上已经赋予了女性完全等同于男性的地位, 但看不见的歧视依然存在。真正实现 男女平等, 任重而道远。

　　阅读导释

　　1. brood over v. 笼罩, 如: a cloud is brooding over the hills. ( 一片乌云笼罩着山岗。) 后面的 air 指的是“笼罩在女性身上的气氛”。

　　2. hindus n. 印度人, 印度教教徒。文章后面还出现了hebrew ( n. 希伯来人) , 主要是用来 称呼从犹太人的始祖亚伯拉罕到率领犹太人逃脱埃及的摩西这段时期的古犹太人。希 伯来人最初居住在阿拉伯半岛东南部, 后经两河流域迁到巴勒斯坦。

　　3. patois n. 方言, 土语。本文中是指“( 奴隶的) 语言”。意义与其相似的单词还有dialect, vernacular 等。

　　4. afterthought n. 后来添加的东西, 事后产生的想法。这里是指“ 上帝在造出亚当以后, 为 了怕他寂寞而造出女人夏娃”。

　　5. 正被考虑的, 正在谈论的, 如: the woman in question is sitting over there. ( 提到的那个女人就在那里坐着呢)