07年“高級英語”課文逐句翻譯（5）

　　lesson5

　　寧為黑人不為女子

　　Lesson Five I'd Rather Be Black than Female

　　我是第一位當選國會議員的黑人婦女，這使我不同凡響。

　　Being the first black woman elected to Congress has made me some kind of phenomenon.

　　國會中還有九位黑人議員和十位婦女議員，但我是第一位同時克服兩個不利因素的人。

　　There are nine other blacks in Congress； there are ten other women. I was the first to overcome both handicaps at once.

　　在這兩種不利因素中，是個女人比是黑人更糟。

　　Of the two handicaps， being black is much less of a drawback than being female.

　　如果我說做黑人比做婦女更糟糕，也許沒有人會對我的說法提出質(zhì)疑。

　　If I said that being black is a greater handicap than being a woman， probably no one would question me.

　　為什么呢？因為“眾所周知”，美國存在著對黑人的歧視。

　　Why？ Because “we all know” there is prejudice against black people in America.

　　說美國存在著對婦女的歧視對于幾乎所有男人——還有大多數(shù)女人來說——卻是不可思議的。

　　That there is prejudice against women is an idea that still strikes nearly all men – and， I am afraid， most women – as bizarre.

　　許多年以來，多數(shù)人看不到社會存在著對黑人的歧視。

　　Prejudice against blacks was invisible to most white Americans for many years.

　　當黑人終于通過靜坐示威、聯(lián)合抵制和自由乘車游行的方式以示抗議，來提及這個問題時，他們覺得簡直難以置信。

　　When blacks finally started to “mention” it， with sit-ins， boycotts， and freedom rides， Americans were incredulous.

　　“誰，我們？”他們委屈地問道。

　　“Who， us？” they asked in injured tones.

　　“我們歧視黑人？”對美國白人來說，這是漫長而痛苦的再教育的開始。

　　“We're prejudiced？” It was the start of a long， painful reeducation for white America.

　　他們，包括那些自認為是自由主義者的白人——還需要許多年才能發(fā)現(xiàn)并消除他們實際上都持有的種族主義態(tài)度。

　　It will take years for whites – including those who think of themselves as liberals – to discover and eliminate the racist attitudes they all actually have.

　　消除對婦女的歧視的困難有多大？我確信這將會是一場更持久的斗爭。

　　How much harder will it be to eliminate the prejudice against women？ I am sure it will be a longer struggle.

　　部分問題在于比起黑人來美國婦女被洗腦的程度更深，且更滿足于她們次等公民的角色。

　　Part of the problem is that women in America are much more brainwashed and content with their roles as second – class citizens than blacks ever were.

　　我來解釋一下。

　　Let me explain.

　　二十多年來我一直積極參與政治活動。

　　I have been active in politics for more than twenty years.

　　除了最后的那六年，其余那些年干活的是我，我干的是所有無聊瑣碎但對競選勝負至關(guān)重要的工作——可得到好處的卻是男人，這幾乎就是政界婦女一直以來的命運。

　　For all but the last six， I have done the work – all the tedious details that make the difference between victory and defeat on election day – while men reaped the rewards， which is almost invariably the lot of women in politics.

　　在美國政界，大部分的工作仍然是由婦女來做——大約300萬志愿者。

　　It is still women – about three million volunteers – who do most of this work in the American political world.

　　她們中任何人所能期待的最好結(jié)果是有幸當選為區(qū)或縣的副主席，這是一個隔離卻平等的職位，是給那些多年來一直忠實從事裝信封和組織牌局工作的婦女的獎賞。

　　The best any of them can hope for is the honor of being district or county vice-chairman， a kind of separate-but-equal position with which a woman is rewarded for years of faithful envelope stuffing and card-party organizing.

　　在這種職位上，她可以享受公費出差去參加州或全國性的會議或代表大會，在這些場合她的作用就是和她單位的男主席投一樣的票。

　　I n such a job， she gets a number of free trips to state and sometimes national meetings and conventions， where her role is supposed to be to vote the way her male chairman votes.

　　1963年，當我企圖擺脫這一角色代表布魯克林的貝德富錫—斯圖維桑特參加競選紐約州眾議院的席位時，遇到了極大的阻力。

　　When I tried to break out of that role in 1963 and run for the New York State Assembly seat from Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant， the resistance was bitter.

　　從競選一開始，我就要面對他們毫不掩飾的對女性的敵意。

　　From the start of that campaign， I faced undisguised hostility because of my sex.

　　但是在四年以后，當我競選國會議員時，性別問題才成了一個主要爭端。

　　But it was four years later， when I ran for Congress， that the question of my sex became a major issue.

　　我所在黨派的黨員召開秘密會議討論如何阻止我參加競選。

　　Among members of my own party， closed meetings were held to discuss ways of stopping me.

　　我的對手，著名的人權(quán)運動領(lǐng)袖詹姆士？法默竭力把自己塑造成一個具有男子漢氣概的黑人形象；他坐著帶有擴音器的卡車在附近地區(qū)巡回，車上滿載著留著非洲發(fā)式、穿顏色花哨的寬袍和蓄胡子的年輕人。

　　My opponent， the famous civil-rights leader James Farmer， tried to project a black， masculine image； he toured the neighborhood with sound trucks filled with young men wearing Afro haircuts， dashikis， and beards.

　　電視臺記者對我不屑一顧，他們忽略了一個非常重要的數(shù)據(jù)，而對此我和我的競選經(jīng)紀人韋斯利？麥克唐納？霍爾德卻很清楚。

　　While the television crews ignored me， they were not aware of a very important statistic， which both I and my campaign manager， Wesley MacD. Holder， knew.

　　在我這個區(qū)內(nèi)，登記參加投票選舉的人中男女的比例是1∶2.5.而且那些婦女是有組織的——是教師家長協(xié)會、教會社團、牌局俱樂部以及其他社會服務(wù)性團體的成員。我去找她們尋求幫助。

　　n my district there are 2.5 women for every man registered to vote. And those women are organized – in PTAs， church societies， card clubs， and other social and service groups I went to them and asked their help.

　　法默先生到現(xiàn)在仍然不知道他是如何被擊敗的。

　　Mr. Farmer still doesn't quite know what hit him.

　　當一位聰明的年輕女大學(xué)生開始找工作時，為什么第一個問題總是“你會打字嗎？”

　　When a bright young woman graduate starts looking for a job， why is the first question always： “Can you type？”

　　在這個問題背后是一整部婦女受歧視的歷史。

　　A history of prejudice lies behind that question.

　　為什么被看成是秘書而不是管理者？為什么被看成是圖書管理員和教師而不是律師？

　　Why are women thought of as secretaries， not administrators？Librarians and teachers， but not doctors and lawyers？

　　因為她們被認為是不一樣的，低人一等的。

　　Because they are thought of as different and inferior.

　　快樂的家庭主婦和心滿意足的黑鬼都是由歧視產(chǎn)生的典型人物。

　　The happy homemaker and the contented darky are both stereotypes produced by prejudice.

　　婦女甚至還沒有達到黑人所達到的象征性的平等水平。

　　Women have not even reached the level of tokenism that blacks are reaching.

　　最高法院中沒有婦女，只有兩名婦女曾擔任內(nèi)閣的職位，但現(xiàn)在一個也沒有。

　　No women sit on the Supreme Court. Only two have held Cabinet rank， and none do at present.

　　只有兩位婦女擔任大使。

　　Only two women hold ambassadorial rank.

　　婦女主要從事工資低、伺候人、沒有前途的工作。即使她們獲得較好的職位，他們的工資也總是比同樣工作的男人低。

　　But women predominate in the lower-paying， menial， unrewarding， dead-end jobs， and when they do reach better positions， they are invariably paid less than a man for the same job.

　　這不是歧視又是什么？

　　If that is not prejudice， what would you call it？

　　幾年前，我與一位政治領(lǐng)袖談?wù)撚嘘P(guān)一個有前途的青年婦女做候選人的事。

　　A few years ago， I was talking with a political leader about a promising young woman as a