VOA常速英语2014--Uprising Opens Doors for Ukrainian Women 起义为乌克兰妇女提供新的机会

Uprising Opens Doors for Ukrainian Women 起义为乌克兰妇女提供新的机会

KYIV — Ukraine's protest movement, that led to the ouster of the government last week, involved many women in both traditional and non-traditional roles, and some of them hope it marked the start of a revolution in women's status. 

Independence Square has been crowded with protesters and their supporters for months.  The men who guard the barricades 1 against police assault are hailed as heroes, and those who were killed are honored as martyrs 2.

独立广场上几个月来一直挤满了抗议者及其支持者，男人们守卫对付警察进攻的障碍，他们被称赞为英雄，那些死亡者被称为烈士。

Women joined the effort, mostly in support roles - preparing food, passing bricks, and delivering sandwiches and tea to the men on the barricades.

妇女也加入进来，主要做辅助性的工作：为守卫障碍的男人们准备食物、传递砖头、送三明治和茶。

"The guys are just sitting there and pretending they are very important, very cool.  And the women are really working," said Nina, a security volunteer, who hides her face to stay safe. She broke out of the old stereotypes 3 to stand guard with the young men.

“这些家伙就坐在那里，装作自己很重要、很酷的样子。妇女们是真正在工作的。”妮娜是一名安全志愿者，为了安全她遮盖了脸部。她打破了陈规陋习，和年轻男子一起站着守卫。

"I know how to cook.  I know how to clean.  And also I know how to talk.  And I know how to think, how to organize and how to fight," she said.

“我知道怎么做饭，会打扫，知道怎么讲话，知道如何思考、组织和战斗。”

Nina is one of a growing number of women who are using the opportunity of this uprising to make a revolution in their own lives.

妮娜就是这样越来越多的一批妇女，她们利用这次起义的机会来对自己的生活进行一次革命。

Not far from Nina's location, Aleksandra Nazarova is taking a shift guarding a government office to be sure no documents that might contain evidence of corruption 4 are removed.

Aleksandra Nazarova在轮流值班，确保没人从政府办公室拿走含有腐败证据的文件。

"The only option for me is to inspire other women to be as active as they want to be in every place they want to be active," she explained.

“我所能做的就是激励其他妇女，在她们想发挥作用的地方尽可能地表现自己。”

Many of the women in non-traditional roles are part of the Women's Brigade, formed last month to assert their right to work alongside the men. 

扮演非传统角色妇女们大多属于上月组建的妇女旅，其目的是要求同男子一样工作的权利。

"With the former government, we always fought for women's equality and equal representation.  If we don't succeed now to have a totally different reality, then for a lot of women this whole fight was senseless," said  Nina Potarska, one of the organizers of the Women's Brigade.

“在上届政府执政时，我们总是为妇女平等和同票同权进行战斗。如果我们现在不能彻底改变现状，那么对很多妇女来说这整个的战斗都是没有意义的，”妮娜·帕塔斯卡是妇女旅的组织者之一。

Women of all generations have been supporting the protests in whatever ways they can.  And at the Women's Consortium of Ukraine, Chairwoman Maria Alekseyenko says that's what is important.

各个年龄段的妇女们都以自己的方式支持抗议，在乌克兰妇女联合会，主席Maria Alekseyenko说这一点很重要。

"Most important now was for women to realize that they can make their own decision on how to participate.  And it was important also for women to understand they should participate in all activities that concern their life," she said.

“现在最重要的是让妇女们意识到他们能自己决定如何参与，同时能理解自己应该参加与自己生活相关的所有活动。”

On Independence Square, the now three-month-long political rally continues, watched over by a huge portrait of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.  But she is the exception.  Most Ukrainian women have more traditional roles - something that may change more rapidly now for the country's new generation.

在独立广场，已经持续三个月的政治集会仍在继续，前总理尤利娅·季莫申科的巨型画像也在看着这一切。但她是个例外，大多数乌克兰妇女扮演的是更传统的角色，对于该国年轻一代来说这种变革可能会更迅速。