原文標題：
Zimbabwe’s pregnant schoolgirls
We want to stay at school
It is still a struggle for girls with babies to continue their education
津巴布韋懷孕的女學生
我們想上學
有寶寶的女學生很難再繼續(xù)接受教育

Why teenage mothers in Zimbabwe struggle to get educated
Stigma and cost matter more than liberal laws
為什么津巴布韋的未成年母親難以接受教育
恥辱和教育成本比法律更重要

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BRILLIANT NDLOVU has never really known childhood. Since the age of seven she has headed her household in Tsholotsho, a town in rural western Zimbabwe, after her parents went to work abroad.
布萊恩·恩德洛夫從未體驗過童年的美好。她的父母在國外打工，于是她從7歲開始就撐起了整個家，她家住津巴布韋西部的鄉(xiāng)村小鎮(zhèn)茨洛特肖。

The oldest of five, she scraped a living growing crops while trying to keep up with her schoolwork.
她是五個孩子中最大一個，在努力跟上學業(yè)的同時，還要種植莊稼勉強糊口。

But in 2020 the covid-19 pandemic struck, coming shortly after a devastating drought. Farmers could not afford to pay child labourers like Ms Ndlovu.
但在2020年，一場毀滅性的干旱之后，新冠接踵而至。農(nóng)民付不起童工的工資，恩德洛夫就是童工中的一員。

“So I looked for a man to help support my family,” she recalls. She found one who demanded sex in exchange for money. Aged 17, she got pregnant.
她回憶道：“所以我找了一個男人來幫助養(yǎng)家糊口。”她以性換取金錢。17歲時，她懷孕了。

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Ms Ndlovu was one of 4,770 Zimbabwean girls to drop out of school in 2020 because of pregnancy, up from about 3,000 the year before, according to government statistics. The true number may be higher.
根據(jù)政府統(tǒng)計，2020年有4770名津巴布韋女孩因懷孕而輟學，恩德洛夫就是其中之一，而2019年這一數(shù)字約為3000。真實數(shù)字可能更高。

Siqinisweyinkosi Mhlanga, who runs Orphan’s Friend, a community centre in Tsholotsho where Ms Ndlovu now spends her days, says that there may be ten times more school dropouts in her province than the official tally.
姆蘭加在茨洛特肖社區(qū)中心經(jīng)營一家“孤兒之友”機構(gòu)（恩德洛夫現(xiàn)在就在這里），她說她所在區(qū)域的輟學人數(shù)可能是官方統(tǒng)計數(shù)字的10倍。

In August 2020 Zimbabwe’s government amended the Education Act to prohibit schools from expelling pregnant girls, joining a growing club of African countries that are letting pregnant teenagers continue with their education.
2020年8月，津巴布韋政府修訂了《教育法案》，禁止學校開除懷孕學生。該國加入了逐漸壯大的非洲國家俱樂部，俱樂部旨在讓懷孕女學生繼續(xù)接受教育。

A third of Zimbabwean women marry before they are 18.
津巴布韋有1/3的婦女在18歲之前結(jié)婚。

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Previously Zimbabwe’s education minister had described student pregnancy as a “misdemeanour of a serious nature”, punishable by expulsion.
此前，津巴布韋教育部長曾將學生懷孕描述為“嚴重的不良行為”，會被學校開除。

But the amendment “didn’t make any difference”, says Ms Mhlanga.
但姆蘭加女士表示，《教育修正案》“沒有起任何作用”。

In 2021, after teenage pregnancies rose during the covid lockdown, the number of pregnancy-related dropouts rose to 5,985, according to official statistics.
2021年新冠封禁期間未成年少女懷孕情況增加，據(jù)官方統(tǒng)計，與懷孕有關(guān)的輟學人數(shù)增至5985人。

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Stigma and cost, rather than laws, push girls out of school.
女孩輟學是因為恥辱感和教育成本，而不是法律。

When they fall pregnant their families often “don’t accept that girls can excel”, says Samkeliso Tshuma, the founder of The Girls Table, an NGO in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, that promotes girls’ rights.
薩姆凱利索·祖馬說，當女孩懷孕的時候，她們的家人往往“不相信女孩會脫穎而出”。祖馬是津巴布韋第二大城市布拉瓦約的非政府組織“The Girls Table”的創(chuàng)始人，該組織致力于提高女孩們的權(quán)利。

Most girls drop out of school before teachers even know they are pregnant.
大多數(shù)女孩在老師知道她們懷孕之前就輟學了。

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The minority who persevere soon run into other barriers.
堅持學習的少數(shù)女孩子也會遇到其他障礙。

When a girl called Happiness became pregnant at 15, she told her parents: “I’m not stopping school.”
一個叫“幸?！钡呐?5歲就懷孕了，那時她告訴父母：“我不會輟學?！?br>
They supported her until she failed her exams, a month after giving birth.
她的父母支持她學習，直到她生完孩子一個月后考試不及格，學習也終止了。

They didn’t have enough money to pay for her to resit them, so she lost the chance to get the highest school-leaving certificate which would have qualified her for entry to a university.
父母沒有足夠的錢來支付她補考的費用，因此她沒有機會取得高中畢業(yè)證書，而這張證書是大學入學憑證。

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The average rural household spends $3.23 a month on education.
農(nóng)村家庭平均每月在教育上花費3.23美元。

For Zimbabweans living below the poverty line (38% of them in 2019, up from 23% in 2011), that is quite a chunk of their income.
對于生活水平在貧困線以下的津巴布韋人來說（2019年為38%，2011年為23%），這占他們收入很大一部分。

In the first half of this year more than half of children were turned away from school because of non-payment of fees. Pregnant girls are often the first to lose out.
今年上半年，一半以上的兒童因未支付學費而被拒學。懷孕的女孩往往是首先出局的人。

And school can be a hostile place for them. Some complain that boys tease them, saying they smell of milk.
學校對她們來說可能是一個充滿敵意的地方。一些女孩訴說著男孩們對她們的嘲笑，稱她們身上有奶味。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量553左右）
原文出自：2022年10月22日《TE》Middle East & Africa版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路
本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡）
2020年8月，津巴布韋總統(tǒng)批準了津巴布韋議會通過的禁止驅(qū)逐懷孕學生的《教育法修正案》。修正案的內(nèi)容是：“任何學生不得因懷孕或不繳納學費而被學校開除?！弊h會教育組合委員會主席說，新頒布的法律將增加女孩接受教育的機會，“通過這項修正法案很重要，因為它對賦予女孩受教育的權(quán)利。這將有效地解決性別差異問題?！?/span>

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【重點句子】（3?個）
A third of Zimbabwean women marry before they are 18.
津巴布韋有1/3的婦女在18歲之前結(jié)婚。

Stigma and cost, rather than laws, push girls out of school.
女孩輟學是因為恥辱感和教育成本，而不是法律。

The average rural household spends $3.23 a month on education.
農(nóng)村家庭平均每月在教育上花費3.23美元。