中英對照讀新聞》Soaring sexual violence pushes Sierra Leone to face ’rape culture’ 性暴力激增,獅子山共和國面臨「強暴文化」
◎孫宇青
"Mary" was nine years old when her childhood abruptly ended. Three men fed her sedatives then raped her. Her mother got home to find her child lying on the ground distraught, her legs and dress stained with blood.
「瑪莉」的童年在9歲時突然結束了。3名男子餵她吃鎮靜劑後強暴了她。她的母親到家時,發現孩子失魂落魄地躺在地上,雙腿和裙子被血液染污。
The family reported the attack to the police and identified the rapists, but no charges were ever brought. Police statistics showed that recorded cases of sexual violence almost doubled last year, reaching 8,505 in a population of 7.5 million. A third of it involved the rape of a minor.
家人向警方報案後找到施暴者,但沒人被控罪。警方數據顯示,有記錄的性暴力案件,去年幾乎翻倍,在人口750萬的獅子山共和國,就有8505個案例,其中3分之1涉及未成年人。
But this shocking tally is certainly an understatement. "Mary" and her family plucked up the courage to report the crime while many do not.
然而,這個令人震驚的數字絕對被低估。「瑪莉」和她的家人鼓起勇氣報案,很多人卻未必如此。
During a 10-year civil war (1991-2001), thousands of women and girls were subjected to sexual violence, a 2003 Human Rights Watch report found.(AFP)
「人權觀察組織」在2003年發表的一份報告發現,在10年內戰期間(1991至2001年),數千名婦女和女孩曾遭遇性暴力。(法新社)
新聞辭典
distraught:形容詞,極不安的。例句:The distraught parents resorted to fortune-telling to look for their missing child.(這對極度不安的父母求助於算命,希望找回失蹤的孩子。)
minor:名詞,未成年人。例句:It is regulated that convenience stores cannot sell tobacco to minors.(便利商店按規定不能賣菸給未成年人。)
tally:名詞,紀錄;帳目。例句:Her job is to keep a tally of the number of customers going in and out.(她的工作是記錄來客數。)