VOA慢速英语2015 印度马哈拉施特拉邦禁止贩卖牛肉

AS IT IS 2015-03-16 India’s Maharashtra State Bans Beef  印度马哈拉施特拉邦禁止贩卖牛肉

Last week, the western Indian state of Maharashtra banned beef consumption. The state government has barred possession or sales of the meat.

上周，印度西部的马哈拉施特拉邦禁止牛肉消费，该邦政府禁止拥有或销售牛肉。

Hindu groups welcomed the ban. But many Muslims in western India have criticized it. They say it will make tens of thousands of people jobless.

印度教信徒欢迎该禁令，但印度西部很多穆斯林表示批评，称这将导致成千上万人失业。

Hindus consider cows holy. The animals are already protected in India. But, the new law extends the ban to slaughtering 2 bulls, bullocks, and calves 3.

印度教徒视牛为圣物，这种动物在印度得到保护，但新法将禁令扩大到禁止屠宰公牛、犍牛和小牛。

The ban took effect on March 5. On that day, many slaughter 1 houses in Maharashtra suddenly closed. Beef disappeared from the menus of restaurants, including those in the state capital, Mumbai.

该禁令于3月5日生效，在那天，马哈拉施特拉邦的很多屠宰场突然关闭，牛肉从餐馆的菜单上消失了，包括该邦首都孟买在内。

Under the new law, having or selling beef could lead to fines or prison terms of up to five years. The Bharatiya Janata Party passed the law. The BJP won control of the state government last year.

根据新法，拥有或销售牛肉能被罚款，或判高达5年的徒刑。印度人民党通过了这项法律，该党去年赢得了对邦政府的控制权。

The party attempted to ban beef 20 years ago when it was also in power. But the ban was never passed because the BJP lost power soon after.

20年前该党当权时就试图禁止牛肉，但因为该党很快失去权力，禁令就没有得到通过。

Mohammad Ali Qureshi is president of the Mumbai Suburban 4 Beef Dealers 5 Association. He said the ban will have a bad effect on tens of thousands of butchers, beef retailers 6, and others involved in the trade.

穆罕默德·阿里·库雷希是孟买郊区牛肉交易商协会主席，他说该禁令对成千上万的屠户、牛肉销售商等相关人员产生了不利影响。

He said many of those affected 7 are among the poorest people in the area. They have little or no education, and cannot easily get other jobs. He said people have become jobless without notice.

他说受影响者很多都是该地区最贫困人口，他们没有或很少接受教育，无法轻易找到其他工作，他说人们事先没有得到通知就失业了。

Beef consumption in India is limited to non-Hindus. But the country has become the world’s second-biggest exporter of beef. Most of the meat comes from buffaloes 8.

印度的牛肉消费仅限于非印度教徒，但该国已成为全世界第二大牛肉出口国，大多数牛肉来自水牛。

Hindu groups do not like that India is a major exporter of beef. They say many cows are being illegally killed.

印度教群体对印度是重要的牛肉出口国不满，他们说很多牛被非法杀害。

Muslims control most of the beef trade. Banning beef has become a major issue between India’s Hindus and Muslims.

穆斯林控制着大部分牛肉交易，禁止牛肉成为印度的印度教徒和穆斯林之间的主要问题。

Venkatesh Abdev is with the World Hindu Council. He says his group will fight for a nationwide ban on beef consumption. Mr. Abdev agrees that the ban will affect people working in the beef trade. But he says it is a price to be paid. He notes the killing 9 of cows is a very emotional issue for Hindus.

文卡塔斯就职于世界印度教理事会，他说本组织将争取在全国范围内禁止牛肉消费。他承认该禁令会影响牛肉贸易行业的就职人员，但他说这是必须要付出的代价，他说，屠杀母牛对印度教徒来说是件很伤感情的事。

Mohammad Shahid Sheikh is president of a beef transporters group in Deonar, where one can find India’s biggest slaughterhouse. He says more and more trucks with cattle are being attacked. The attacks are blamed on Hindu activists 10.

穆罕默德·沙希德·谢赫是Deonar牛肉运输组织负责人，这里有印度最大的屠宰场，他说有越来越多装载牛的卡车被袭击，袭击活动是印度教活动人士所为。

Mr. Sheikh says those in the beef trade tell protesters that they are following all of the rules. But the protesters say they will do everything they can to prevent the animals from being killed.

谢赫称牛肉贸易从业者告诉抗议者，他们遵守了所有规定。但抗议者称将尽一切努力来阻止牛被杀害。

The beef ban also became a top trend on Twitter last week. Some Twitter users supported the move, but thousands criticized the ban. Some users compared the progress made on protecting cows to the lack of progress on safety for women.

上周牛肉禁令成为推特上的热门话题，一些用户支持此举，但还有无数人批评该禁令。一些用户还将保护母牛上的进展与女性安全上的进展不力作比较。

In the words of one user, “Good to know India is more safe for cows than women.”

用一位用户的话来说，就是“很高兴知道在印度，牛比女性更安全。”

Words in This Story

consumption – n. the act of eating or drinking something

suddenly – adv. very quickly in usually an unexpected way

bullocks – n. young bulls

slaughterhouse – n. a building where animals are killed for their meat