四六级

　　Female Oppression

　　No one who has studied history, even superficially, will for a moment dispute the statement that therehas brooded very steadily over1 the female half ofthe human family an air of repression, of limitation, of hindrance , of disability, of gloom, of servitude. If there have been epochs during which women havebeen regarded equal to men, they have been briefand abnormal.

　　Among the Hindus2, woman was the slave of man , forbidden to speak the language of hermaster, and compelled to use the patois3 of the slaves. The Hebrews pronounced her anafterthought4 of the Deity, and the mother of all evils. The Greek law regarded her as a child, and held her in life -long tutelage. The Greek philosophers proclaimed her a “monster”,“ anaccidental production”. Medieval councils declared her unfit for instruction. The early Christianfathers denounced her as a“ noxious animal”, a“painted temptress”, a“ necessary evil”,“adesirable calamity”, and a“ domestic peril”.

　　In marriage she has been a serf; as a mother she has been robbed of her children; in publicinstruction she has been ignored; in labor she has been a menial, and then inadequatelycompensated; civilly she has been a minor, and politically she has had no existence. She hasbeen the equal of man only when punishment and the payment of taxes were in question5 .

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. Fill in the blanks with proper prepositions and do not refer to the pass age until you finishthe exercise :

　　1. There has brooded very steadily________ the female half of the human family an air ofrepression.

　　2. Women have never been regarded ________equal man .

　　3. As a mother she has been robbed ________her children.

　　4. She has been the equal of man only when punishment and the payment of taxes were________question.

　　Ⅱ. Fill in the blanks with proper words :

　　In marriage she has been a ______( 奴隶) ; as a mother she has been_____( 使失去) of herchildren; in public instruction she has been ______( 忽视) ; in labor she has been a ______( 仆人) , and then inadequately ______( 补偿) ; civilly she has been a minor, and politically shehas had no ______( 存在) . 参考答案 Ⅰ. 1. over 2 . to 3 . of 4 . in Ⅱ. serf / robbed / ignored / menial / compensated / existence

　　阅读导评

　　在男性统治的世界里, 女性不可避免地沦为被压迫、被歧视、被损毁的对象。即使在今 天, 法律上已经赋予了女性完全等同于男性的地位, 但看不见的歧视依然存在。真正实现 男女平等, 任重而道远。

　　阅读导释

　　1. brood over v. 笼罩, 如: A cloud is brooding over the hills. ( 一片乌云笼罩着山岗。) 后面的 air 指的是“笼罩在女性身上的气氛”。

　　2. Hindus n. 印度人, 印度教教徒。文章后面还出现了Hebrew ( n. 希伯来人) , 主要是用来 称呼从犹太人的始祖亚伯拉罕到率领犹太人逃脱埃及的摩西这段时期的古犹太人。希 伯来人最初居住在阿拉伯半岛东南部, 后经两河流域迁到巴勒斯坦。

　　3. patois n. 方言, 土语。本文中是指“( 奴隶的) 语言”。意义与其相似的单词还有dialect, vernacular 等。

　　4. afterthought n. 后来添加的东西, 事后产生的想法。这里是指“ 上帝在造出亚当以后, 为 了怕他寂寞而造出女人夏娃”。

　　5. 正被考虑的, 正在谈论的, 如: The woman in question is sitting over there. ( 提到的那个女人就在那里坐着呢)