【雅思课外精读】女议员勇敢指控性侵，却被称是蒙羞声誉？（下）

　　【雅思课外精读】女议员勇敢指控性侵，却被称是蒙羞声誉？（下）   原文译文  *注：本文选自12月10日 CNN

　　Councilor who accused Japanese mayor of sexual assault voted out after locals said she 'degraded' women

　　因当地人称她贬低女性，控告日本町长性侵的女议员被投票罢免。

　　1. Residents of a small town in central Japan have overwhelmingly voted to remove the local council's only female member after she accused the mayor of sexual assault.

　　日本中部小镇草津町唯一的女性议员指控町长性侵，被投票罢免。

　　2. Shoko Arai, 51, was voted out on Sunday in Kusatsu, which is famous for its natural hot springs and resorts. The dismissal request claimed Arai's allegations had "degraded" the women of the Gunma prefecture town. In total, 92% of votes lodged demanded her removal, according to Kusatsu officials. The controversy began in November last year, when Arai published an e-book claiming she had been forced into a sexual relationship with the town's mayor, Tadanobu Kuroiwa.

　　草津町以自然温泉和度假胜地文明，周日，51岁的新井香子被投票罢免。罢免陈词中说，她的指控“贬低“了群马县女性。草津町当局称，92%的居民投票赞成罢免她。这场争议始于去年11月，当时新井香子发表了一本电子书，声称她被黑田忠信(Tadanobu Kuroiwa)强奸了。

　　3. A motion to fire the mayor was voted down, and Arai was expelled from the assembly a month later. However, the expulsion was appealed, and ultimately reversed by the prefecture. After she was reinstated, a group of 19 residents led by council chairman Takashi Kuroiwa sent a dismissal request to the council, prompting the residential referendum that unseated Arai last weekend.

　　此后，解雇町长的动议被否决，而新井香子却被开除出议会。但是，群马县撤销了此次开除决议。复职之后，议会主席黑岩信田带领议会组织居民于上周的居民公投最终投票罢免了新井香子。

　　4. The dismissal request also claimed that Arai's statements to media about the assault allegations had hurt Kusatsu's reputation. It pointed to several specific remarks Arai had made, including ones that town women were "treated as objects," and that women often became mistresses to powerful male resort owners to gain privileges.

　　罢免陈词称，新井香子向媒体发布的性侵指控生命损害了草津町的声誉。陈词援引了新井香子的几句话，其中包括草津町女性“被物化了”，她们成为有权有势的男人的情妇以获取特权。

　　5. The request pointed out that the mayor had denied the allegations, and Arai's salary as a council member was a "waste" of taxpayer money. In an official response to the council, Arai said the mayor and other council members calling for her removal were the ones damaging the town's dignity and reputation.

　　该罢免陈词称，町长否认了这些指控，而新井香子作为议员简直就是在浪费纳税人的钱。在对议会的正式回应中，新井香子称，那些想要罢免她的町长和议员才真的损害了草津町的声誉。

　　6. Her ousting on Sunday has pushed the resort town into the national spotlight. Since the weekend, the town hall has received dozens of calls criticizing Arai's dismissal, mostly coming from outside the town, said Kusatsu official Kenji Hagiwara. Many callers called the decision unfair and sexist. "This is an unprecedented situation," Hagiwara told CNN. "We worry the image of this town is damaged."

　　她周日的罢免投票使这个度假小镇成为了全国的焦点。据草津町官员萩原宪治说，自周末以来，市政厅已经接到了数十个电话，控诉新井香子的罢免，这些电话大多来自外地。很多人认为这个罢免决定有失公平，存在性别歧视。他说，“这是前所未有的，我们担心这会损害草津町的声誉。”

　　Sexism and power in Japan

　　日本的性别歧视和权力

　　7. Japan ranked 121 out of 153 countries in the World Economic Forum's latest global gender gap index. There are far fewer working women than men in the country -- and those who do work are often sidelined or blocked from senior management roles. At home, too, women take on the bulk of domestic work like childcare, cooking, and cleaning. The gap widens further in politics. As of October this year, 46 of 465 lower house lawmakers in Japan were women. That's fewer than 10%, compared to a 25% global average.

　　在世界经济论坛最新的全球性别差距指数中，日本在153个国家中排名第121位。日本的职业女性比男性少很多，而且职业女性往往被边缘化，她们很难升任高级管理岗。在家里，日本女性承担了大部分家务，她们要照看孩子、做饭，打扫卫生。政治上的差距也进一步扩大。截至今年10月，日本众议院465名议员中仅有46名女性，男女议员比例不到10%，而全球平均水平为25%。

　　8. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged in 2013 to close the gender employment gap, a policy dubbed "Womenomics." The campaign has pushed a number of measures, like setting targets of at least one female executive per company and offering tax incentives to companies that encourage mothers to return to work.

　　前首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)曾在2013年承诺要缩小就业中的性别差距，他的这一政策被称为“女性经济学”。这一运动推出了一系列措施，比如设定每家公司至少有一名女性高管的目标，向鼓励全职母亲重返工作岗位的公司提供税收优惠等。

　　9. But seven years on, the campaign has had limited success, with gender discrimination and inequality still rife. The #MeToo movement led to concrete progress in other countries and a shift in cultural conversation -- but it was met with resistance in Japan. In a case that gained international attention in 2017, freelance journalist Shiori Ito alleged a high-profile journalist had invited her to dinner two years prior, and then raped her.

　　但七年过去了，由于性别歧视和不平等现象仍然普遍存在，这一运动收效甚微。#Metoo运动在其他国家带来了切实的进步，也改变了文化语境——但这一运动在日本遭到了抵制。在2017年引起国际关注的一起案件中，自由撰稿人伊藤诗织(Shiori Ito)称，一名知名记者两年前邀请她共进晚餐，然后强奸了她。

　　10. The response was far from supportive -- she received threats, backlash on social media, and even fled Japan, fearing for her and her family's safety. Even authorities tried to discourage her from pursuing legal action, she said. She won a civil case in December 2019, with the judge ordering her attacker to pay 3.3 million yen ($31,000), in damages. Ito had sought 11 million yen ($105,000) to compensate for her physical and emotional suffering.

　　回应她的不是支持，而是威胁和批判，出于对自己和家人安全的担心，她离开了日本。她说，甚至连当局都曾阻止她诉诸法律。2019年12月，她打赢了这场官司，法官判决施暴者支付330万日元(3.1万美元)的赔偿金。由于身体和精神上的痛苦，伊藤要求1100万日元(10.5万）的补偿。

　　11. The win was celebrated by her supporters as a step toward justice -- but "a win doesn't wipe away everything that happened," she told reporters after the ruling. "I need to face myemotional scars from now. This is not the end."

　　她的支持者庆祝这次胜利，认为这是迈向正义的一步——但“胜利并不能抹去发生的一切，”她在裁决结束后告诉记者。“从现在开始，我需要面对自己精神上的伤疤。这还没有结束。”