雅思寫作中要注意避免性別歧視
近四十年來,盡管非性別歧視語還沒有達到非不可的程度,但它畢竟已進人日常會話和寫作的主流之中。隨便翻開一張英美的報紙,或瞧一下五花八門的宣傳廣告,就會發現supervisor替代了原來的foreman, workmans compensation變成了workers compensation; sales rep, sales associate或seller取代了常用詞salesman等。為此,筆者將有關資料整理如下,供英語學習者參考。請注意,所選用的例句,除個別注明外,均選自Rosalie Maggio編寫的The Nonselist Word Finder: A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage 。
1.盡量不用通性代詞he,除了明確地指代一個男性人物時,都要設法避免使用之。可以根據語境需要,選用下列替換方式:
采用復數形式:
Sexist: When bathing a baby, never leave him unattended.
Revised: When bathing babies, never leave them unattended.
給嬰兒洗澡時,一定不能讓他們無人照料。
2) 用we/us/our改寫原句:
Sexist:From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
Revised:From each of us according to our abilities, to each of us according to our needs.