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第 93 课:Demonstrations in Bolivia 玻利维亚罢工大游行-1

In Bolivia, life is slowly returning to normal after almost a month of demonstrations. Thousands of mainly indigenous people -- from poor peasant farmers to miners have been demanding nationalisation of the country's gas industry and calling for constitutional reform. 在经历了一个多月的游行以后,玻利维亚的生活又恢复了平静。以本土人为主的上千人组成的队伍——从穷困的农民到矿工,都来游行,要求国家的天然气工业国有化,同时要求进行宪法改革。

The protesters are angry at what they see as the exploitation of Bolivia natural resources by foreign companies and governments. There's a long history of the country's rich natural resources being exploited by foreigners with little financial reward for the population, 60 per cent of whom are of indigenous origin. 抗议者对于目前这种本国自然资源被国外的公司和政府开采的情况十分不满。玻利维亚的自然资源被外国公司开采已经有相当长的历史了,这样的采集并没有给玻利维亚带来什么利益,而开采者中有六成都是玻利维亚后裔。

Many now hope the new president, Eduardo Rodriguez, may find a solution to the country's problems. Rebecca Hampson has been visiting La Paz and witnessed the protests. 很多人期望新总统爱德华多·罗德里格斯能够设法解决这些问题。雷贝卡·汉姆森正在访问玻利维亚,并亲眼目睹了这个情况。

"Put your hands over your ears!" shouted the boy in the hotel. A gang of miners was marching past the front door letting off sticks of dynamite as they went. A few minutes later the sting of police tear gas seeped under the door frame. “把手举起来,放到头上!”酒店里一个男孩喊道。一伙矿工正游行经过该酒店的前门,同时留下了一些炸药。几分钟以后,警察使用的催泪瓦斯的气味从门缝中渗出。

That was three and a half weeks ago, then no one imagined that the protests and gradual shutting down of the country would last this long. 这是三个多星期以前发生的事情。那时,没有人会想到这次的游行和全国的罢工会持续这么久。

"It'll all calm down in a few days" people kept telling us. But we decided to avoid any further trouble and escaped, on what turned out to be one of the last buses, to Sorata, a small town in the beautiful Cordillera Real mountains. “过几天就平静下来了”人们总是这样告诉我们。但是我们为了避免更多的麻烦,还是决定搭乘很罕见的一班公交车,到了科缔利尔·雷亚尔山区的一个美丽的小城——索拉塔。

Two weeks later the whole country had been paralysed by road blocks, and the only way we could get back to La Paz was to join a convoy of protestors. Arrangements were made the night before with an official from the local Aymara -- the largest indigenous group in Bolivia. 两个星期以后,整个国家都处于瘫痪状态,道路被封堵。回到拉巴斯的唯一的途径就是搭乘一辆游行护送车。我们前一天晚上就同一个艾马拉人官员商量好了,这是玻利维亚最大的一个当地组织。

"You'll need to disguise yourselves with scarves and hats so that our brothers at the road blockades don't question you" he told us." and be here in the square at 4.30 in the morning". “你需要用围巾和帽子把自己装扮成我们的兄弟,这样路边那些我们的封锁人员才不会质问你。明天早晨四点,在这个广场集合。

I had no idea how I, with my rosy complexion and short hair, could be mistaken for an Aymara woman with their bowler hats, long plaits and bright skirts with padded hips! But it was an offer we gratefully accepted. ”我怎么也不明白,拥有红润的肤色和短发的我,怎么可能简单地经过投手帽,长辫子和打着补丁的浅色裙子的装扮,就被当成是艾马拉女人了呢。但是我们还是欣然接受了这个主意。

Next morning we were eventually bundled into the back of a crowded bus. The few words of Aymara we'd picked up went down very well with our fellow passengers and the journey passed in jovial -- Spanish conversation. 第二天早上我们终于挤上了一辆拥挤的汽车。用仅会的几句艾马拉语言同其他的乘客交谈,而整个交谈是用艾马拉语和西班牙语穿插进行的。

Eduardo, a high school teacher, explained how the local council leader had designated representatives from every organisation -- schools, hospitals, farms, tour agencies etc -- to go to La Paz to march. There was a long list of names, and anyone extra trying to sneak onto the buses would be kicked off. 一个名字叫埃杜阿多的中学教师向我们解释了地方游行班子是怎样从学校、医院、农场、旅行社等地方选取代表去阿巴斯参加这次游行的。有很多很多的人都想要参加这次游行,除了我们车上的这些人以外的其他人都被淘汰了。