VOA标准英语2012--Pakistani Family Fights Tradition of Paying Giving Daughters to Settle Debts
时间：2019-01-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(十二月)
Pakistani Family Fights Tradition of Paying Giving Daughters to Settle Debts
Asma was just four when her father refused to hand her over to another family. The family and tribal 1 elders demanded she take the place of her sister, who had fled their home after being abused.
But her father refused to obey the tribal tradition called "swara" and was killed along with one of his sons in retaliation 2 by the other family.
Widow Bakht Jana recalls the night tribal elders ruled that she give up her daughter.
"I was very angry and upset," said Jana. "I cried a lot, and I was not willing to give my small child in swara. This is a cruel tradition followed by tribes for years and years. And I lost my husband and son for trying to put a stop to this."
Jana and her remaining 11 children were forced to flee their village. Her son Hafiz ur Rehman says "swara" has no place in Pakistan.
"The government can take action against this," said ur Rehman. "If the government can conduct operations against terrorism, then why not against this? They can issue orders forbidding this tradition and the police should implement 3 that decision in our villages."
Lawmaker Riaz Fatihana says the government has passed laws to protect women, but the problem lies at the local level.
"First, police [are] not cooperating with victims and they are reluctant to register cases freely," Fatihana explained. "Secondly 4, courts take many years to announce judgment 5 and meanwhile there is no protection to witnesses and families of victims."
The concept of women as property to be exchanged for debts is most prevalent in Pakistan's northwest and southwest tribal and feudal 6 areas.
But professor of gender 7 studies Farzana Bari says the concept of women as second class citizens is woven into the entire society.
"There is an economics of the gender status quo and gender hierarchies 8 in society, and state does not actually want to change that, they have no will to do that," Bari noted 9. "They do things very superficially, ok, legislation they will pass, but they will make sure those are not enforced properly."
Despite their hardships, Rehman says he is trying to convince others to stand up for their daughters' and sisters' rights, as his family did for Asma.
- He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
- The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。
- retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
- He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
- The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。
- Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
- Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。
- The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
- He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
- Feudal rulers ruled over the country several thousand years.封建统治者统治这个国家几千年。
- The feudal system lasted for two thousand years in China.封建制度在中国延续了两千年之久。
- French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
- Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。
- That's a trip of two hierarchies. 那是两个领导层之间的互访。
- Hierarchies of authority, spans of control, long-range plans, and budgets. 等级森严的权力机构，控制范围，长期计划，预算。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦