双语新闻：印度免费教育能否打破贫富隔阂

2014-09-11 11:56:07来源：中新网

　　NEW DELHI — Is that her mother or her maid?

　　新德里——那是她的母亲还是她的女佣?

　　That was the question a little girl asked out loudabout the woman who had accompanied herschoolmate to a birthday party. In any segment ofthe Indian urban population, the visual distinctionbetween mothers and maids is sacred. The maidslook impoverished and servile, and in a room filledwith the master class they are encouraged toachieve invisibility.

　　一个小女孩大声问出这个问题，她指的是一个陪同她同学参加生日派对的女性。在印度所有的城市人口中，母亲和女佣之间的视觉区别都是神圣不可侵犯的。女佣看上去贫穷、卑躬屈膝，社会鼓励她们在上等人云集的房间里保持“隐形”。

　　The target of the question at the party was of modest means, but she was with the affluentmothers — like an equal, which she was. Her child was a beneficiary of the Right to Free andCompulsory Education Act, which took effect in 2010. The act requires that all private schools inIndia, except those run by and for minority communities, reserve 25 percent of their seatsfor children in the neighborhood who are from 6 to 14 years of age and socially or financiallydisadvantaged. The schools must also provide this education free.

　　在那个派对上，小女孩所说的人看上去不富裕，但她和有钱人家的母亲待在一起——像是与她们地位平等，事实的确也是这样。她的孩子是《免费义务教育法案》(Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act)的受益者。该法案于2010年生效，规定印度所有的私立学校，除了少数族裔学校之外，都要保留25%的招生名额，给社区里6至14岁的、在社会或经济上处于弱势的孩子。而且这些学校必须免费提供教育。

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