2007年《高级英语》课文逐句翻译（5）

　　宁为黑人不为女子

　　Lesson Five I'd Rather Be Black than Female

　　我是第一位当选国会议员的黑人妇女，这使我不同凡响。

　　Being the first black woman elected to Congress has made me some kind of phenomenon.

　　国会中还有九位黑人议员和十位妇女议员，但我是第一位同时克服两个不利因素的人。

　　There are nine other blacks in Congress； there are ten other women. I was the first to overcome both handicaps at once.

　　在这两种不利因素中，是个女人比是黑人更糟。

　　Of the two handicaps， being black is much less of a drawback than being female.

　　如果我说做黑人比做妇女更糟糕，也许没有人会对我的说法提出质疑。

　　If I said that being black is a greater handicap than being a woman， probably no one would question me.

　　为什么呢？因为“众所周知”，美国存在着对黑人的歧视。

　　Why？ Because “we all know” there is prejudice against black people in America.

　　说美国存在着对妇女的歧视对于几乎所有男人——还有大多数女人来说——却是不可思议的。

　　That there is prejudice against women is an idea that still strikes nearly all men – and， I am afraid， most women – as bizarre.

　　许多年以来，多数人看不到社会存在着对黑人的歧视。

　　Prejudice against blacks was invisible to most white Americans for many years.

　　当黑人终于通过静坐示威、联合抵制和自由乘车游行的方式以示抗议，来提及这个问题时，他们觉得简直难以置信。

　　When blacks finally started to “mention” it， with sit-ins， boycotts， and freedom rides， Americans were incredulous.

　　“谁，我们？”他们委屈地问道。

　　“Who， us？” they asked in injured tones.

　　“我们歧视黑人？”对美国白人来说，这是漫长而痛苦的再教育的开始。

　　“We're prejudiced？” It was the start of a long， painful reeducation for white America.

　　他们，包括那些自认为是自由主义者的白人——还需要许多年才能发现并消除他们实际上都持有的种族主义态度。

　　It will take years for whites – including those who think of themselves as liberals – to discover and eliminate the racist attitudes they all actually have.

　　消除对妇女的歧视的困难有多大？我确信这将会是一场更持久的斗争。

　　How much harder will it be to eliminate the prejudice against women？ I am sure it will be a longer struggle.

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