2013年自考英语(二)课文译文:家门口的奴隶制

更新时间：2013-09-16 08:50:17 来源：|0

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　　家门口的奴隶制

　　There are estimated to be more than 20,000 overseas domestic servants working in Britain (the exact figure is not known because the Home Office, the Government department that deals with this, does not keep statistics). Usually, they have been brought over by foreign businessmen, diplomats or Britons returning from abroad. Of these 20,000, just under 2,000 are being exploited and abused by their employers, according to a London-based campaigning group which helps overseas servants working in Britain.

　　据估计在不列颠工作的外籍家庭佣人有两万之众(确切的数字尚不得而知，因负责这一事务的政府部门内政部没有做这方面的数字统计)。这些佣人通常都是由在英国的外商、外交官或从国外回来的英国人带来的。根据一个总部设在伦敦旨在帮助在英国工作的外国佣人的政治团体的说法，在这两万人中有近两千人正遭受到雇主的剥削和虐待。

　　The abuse can take several forms. Often the domestics are not allowed to go out, and they do not receive any payment. They can be physically, sexually and psychologically abused. And they can have their passports removed, making leaving or "escaping" virtually impossible.

　　虐待有几种形式：家庭佣人常常不允许外出或不给工钱;可以受到肉体、性或精神方面的虐待，可以被没收护照，使他们根本不可能离开或是“逃跑”。

　　The sad condition of women working as domestics around the world received much media attention earlier this year in several highly publicised cases. In one of them, a Filipino maid was executed in Singapore after being convicted of murder, despite protests from various quarters that her guilt had not been adequately established. Groups like Anti-Slavery International say other, less dramatic, cases are equally deserving of attention, such as that of Lydia Garcia, a Filipino maid working in London:

　　今年早些时候，由于几桩广为人知的案件，世界各地女佣人的悲惨处境受到了舆论界的极大关注。案件之一是一位菲律宾女佣因证明有谋杀罪在新加坡被处死，尽管各地纷纷抗议，说这名女佣的罪名还不完全成立。像“反奴役国际”这样的组织声称，其他一些不太显眼的案件也同样值得关注，例如在伦敦工作的菲律宾女佣莉迪亚?加西亚一案：

　　"I was hired by a Saudi diplomat directly from the Philippines to work in London in 1989. I was supposed to be paid $ 120 but I never received that amount. They always threatened that they would send me back to my country.”

　　“1989年，一名沙特外交官直接把我从菲律宾雇到伦敦工作。说好了每月给我120英镑，但我从来没有拿到那么多，而且他们还常常威胁要把我遣送回国。”

　　Then there is the case of Kumari from Sri Lanka. The main breadwinner in her family, she used to work for a very low wage at a tea factory in Sri Lanka. Because she found it difficult to feed her four children, she accepted a job working as a domestic in London. She says she felt like a prisoner at the London house where she worked:

　　再就是斯里兰卡的女佣库马里一案。她家主要靠她挣钱维持生活，她曾在一家斯里兰卡的茶厂工作，收入微薄。因难以养活自己的四个孩子，库马里便同意到英国当女仆。她说在伦敦那幢房子里做活，感觉像个囚犯：

　　"No days off -- ever, no breaks at all, no proper food. I didn't have my own room; I slept on a shelf with a spad0 of only three feet above me. I wasn't allowed to talk to anybody. I wasn't even allowed to open the window. My employers always threatened to

　　“没有节假日。甚至没有歇息的时间，也没有一口像样的饭菜。我没有自己的房间，睡在搁板上，在我上方只有三英尺的空间。不允许我同任何人讲话，甚至连窗户都不允许我开。我的雇主总是威胁要向内政部或警察局告我的状。”

　　At the end of 1994 the British Government introduced new measures to help protect domestic workers from abuse by their employers. This included increasing the minimum age of employees to 18, getting employees to read and, understand an advice leaflet, getting employers to agree to provide adequate maintenance and conditions, and to put in writing the main terms and conditions of the job (of which the employees should see a copy).

　　1994年底，英国政府采取了新的措施，以保护家庭佣人不遭受其雇主的虐待。这些措施包括：把受雇人的最低年龄提高至18岁，让受雇人读懂并理解建议手册，责成雇主同意提供足够的生活费用和适宜的工作条件，把工作的主要项目和条件形成文学(受雇人应该看到文字本的复印件)。

　　However, many people doubt whether this will successfully reduce the incidence of abuse. For the main problem facing overseas maids and domestics who try to complain about cruel living and working conditions is that they do not have independent immigrant status and so cannot change employer. (They are allowed in the United Kingdom under a special concession in the immigration rules which allows foreigners to bring domestic staff with them.) So if they do complain, they risk being deported.

　　但是，许多人对此能否有效地减少虐待发生仍怀有疑虑。因外籍女佣和家仆想对恶劣的生活和工作条件提出申诉所面临的主要问题是，他们没有独立的移民身份，因此不能改换雇主(英国移民法中规定，外国人有携带家仆的特权)。所以，佣人如果真想抱怨的话，他们就面临着被遣送回国的危险

　　Allowing domestic workers the freedom to seek the same type of work but with a different employer, if they so choose, is what groups like Anti-Slavery International are campaigning the Government for. It is, they say, the right to change employers which distinguishes employment from slavery.

　　允许家庭佣人有根据自己意愿寻找同种工作但是不同雇主的自由，是“反奴役国际”这类组织正促使政府去实现的事情。这些组织说，正是有权更换雇主的权力使雇用与奴役划清了界线。

?2013年7月各省市自考成绩查询入口汇总